Four bombs kill more then 40 and injured more then 200 people in two cities of Iraq.

More then 130 people were wounded and 23 people were killed as the Northern city of Mosul was stuck by two truck bombs. In the city of Baghdad two truck bombs went off close to construction sites killing 16 people and injuring more then 80 people. Most of these killed were labors who had gathered for work at the start of the day.  This comes after the Friday attacks in Shia dominated areas when 36 people were killed.

The Mosul blasts happened in village of Khaznah and happened at around 0100 hrs GMT. Khaznah is just 20 kilometers fro Mosul. The blast of such high intensity that they destroyed 30 houses belonging to the small Shia Shabak ethnic group. Death toll is expected to rise as it is believed that some people are still stuck under the rubble. Mosul is the second largest city in Iraq and is of mixed Shia and Sunni Muslims. Mosul is the capital of Ninewa province and is located 405 kilometers north of Iraqi Capital Baghdad.

The city of Kabul woke up to a horrified dawn as it was hit by eight rockets on Tuesday. This is the first time in last five years that the Afghan capital was hit by so many rockets on such a short interval of time. According to the Afghanistan’s Interior Ministry spokesman, Najib Nikzad – there was not injuries or casualties in the Tuesday’s attack and the attack was to disrupt and derail the August 20 presidential elections.

The first explosion happened around 4 am. One of the rockets landed close to the U.S Embassy. The rockets were not targeted at any specific area of the capital and landed in different locations across the city.

US, NATO and Taliban forces have been fighting the Taliban insurgents who have asked to boycott the election process. For the NATO forces it has been a bad start to the month as they have already lost nine troops, not to forget July which was a record high month of casualties for the NATO forces.

Just yesterday there was a blast targeting the governor of a district of Herat province in which the District Police Chief lost his life. The blast happened in the City of Herat in Western Afghanistan killing 12 and injuring over 20 people.

The City of Herat in Western Afghanistan was rocked by bomb attack killing 12 people and injuring at least 20 as the attackers had tried to target a police convoy. The attacked killed and wounded both civilians and the regulars of Afghan Police. These attacks have increased in recent days as the country gets ready for its Presidential elections, scheduled for August 20.

Western Afghanistan has not been in news for such attacks for a long time as the concentration of such attacks have been in Taliban strong hold in South and East part of the country. Police officials confirmed that the bomb used in the Herat attack was remotely detonated using a remote control and was place in a rubbish bin on the roadside.

As per latest confirmed reports, two police men lost there lives along with a women and a child. Also injured in the bomb blast is the District Police Chief. The Bomb Blast was targeted on the governor of a district of Herat province who was believed to be a part of the convoy.

Herat is the Afghan gateway to Iran and a city is of great importance to the country as it generates revenue for the government in the form of customs.

The Black Sea coastal region of Turkey has been facing the ravages of dire weather with Giresun bearing the brunt of this calamitous situation with most parts been heavily inundated. Coincidently, Giresun has been assigned as a catastrophe zone and has been on the receiving end for funding from the Prime Minister’s emergency fund.

The heavy rains that lashed out persisted all through Monday, intensifying during the dusk hours, inflicted mass devastation in cities located in the east Black Sea and some towns being taken unawares post dusk with colossal flooding in many districts. Regions like Giresun, Trabzon, Rize and Ordu have witnessed the most terrible destruction, with traffic interrupted in several places and many residences and business establishments significantly submerged in water. Though there are no cases of fatalities being cited as yet, more than 100 homes are submerged in water. The sporadic rains and landslides are make matters worse for the rescue operations.

Mustafa Demir, the Public Works Minister made a declaration yesterday that corroborated the facts that farming property and the city’s infrastructure has suffered extensive damage. An amount of 6,00,000 TL from the Prime Minister’s emergency fund has been obtained and would be going towards crisis management and emergency shelter for the inhabitants.

A hugely reverberating and destructive blast took place outside the paramilitary Civil Guard barracks located in Burgos, Northern Spain. The car bomb that exploded close to 0230 GMT shattered all glass over a large area, with the nearby structure facing considerable damage and pumping a hole in the ground. The splinters that flew have injured close to forty people, many of whom are civil guard agents and their kin.

The Interior Ministry official has charged ETA, the Basque separatist faction for plotting this heinous act, though they did not receive any prior warning regarding the bomb, quite contrasting to past ETA attacks. ETA in its long lasting battle for Basque independence has been found guilty of taking more than 800 lives. The faction concluded an armistice two years back and is believed to be pressurised by the detention of a large number of their senior holding leaders.

There were no injuries in the past car bomb that took off in Durango town located in Basque on 9th July. While the past month, ETA was accused of initiating a car bomb in Bilbao city that took the life of a police officer.

All the four latest swine flu victims in Pune belong to the schools in that city. Two of them were from Symbiosis School located in Prabhat road while the remaining two belonged to the New India School.

Of the total count of 48 persons who have contracted swine flu in Pune, thirty three of them are students from schools located there. On Sunday, a helpline service has been put into place by the local authorities to provide assistance to anxious kin.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, there were sixteen fresh cases accounted of swine flu across India raising the tally to 429. The ministry has stated that of the 1,946 individuals who had been tested, 429 turned out to be positive.

Of the four cases reported from Delhi, one was of a 14-yr old girl student from Vasant Valley School located in Vasant Kunj, who had arrived from Britain. The class she belonged to has been suspended for a few days. The other case was that of a thirty year old man who had come back from Singapore and had displayed symptoms on arrival, following which he was taken to a health care facility. A twenty year old man in Delhi has been infected from an individual who had previously been tested affirmative with the H1N1 virus.

Of the confirmed swine flu cases, seven individuals were detected with the virus in Pune, two cases from Kozhikode and one case each cited from Gurgaon, Bangalore and Hyderabad.

Afgan city Khost came under attack from Taliban fighters as thy attacked the police chief’s office. Many people heard sounds of explosions and gunfire in the main city complex with houses the main police station, attorney general’s office, courts and a local bank branch. Suicide bombers tried to enter the main police station. There is a fierce gun battle taking place and casualties are expected on both the sides. Police and army have taken position on the main roads of the city and as of now the city is empty. The Taliban fighters are armed with rockets and AK-47’s. The fighters have taken up position in the building and they are surrounded from all sides.

This is not the first time when Khost has come under attack from Taliban fighters. Earlier in May Taliban fighters had launched attacks on government buildings and killed seven people.

This region of Afghanistan has faced regular Taliban attacks. Gardez just 50 miles from Khost was attacked by Taliban fighters killing four security personal. In Gardez too the targets of attack were government buildings including police chief’s office, a police station, the intelligence directorate and the governor’s compound. In another attack in the city of Jalalabad a security personel was killed.

Private buss operators and taxi operators have brought the bustling city of Kolkata to a halt. The third most populated city has been hit by a strike, with schools and universities postponing the exams. Most of the schools have declared holiday. This strike is due to a government ruling to implement a ban on all commercial vehicles which are 15 years plus. This is to cut down the pollution in the city. The ban will come to effect on 1st August 2009. More that 60,000 cabs and 10,000 busses are part of the strike and this has made a major impact on daily commuters in the city.

In a recent study it has been found that out of the 18 million residents of Kolkata, 70% suffer from respiratory problems. There has also been a sharp increase in lung cancer cases in the city. This ban by the Kolkata high court is to cut down the pollution in the city.

The operators are ready to work with the government and are ready to move to green fuels or even going for new vehicles. But need the government to support them with soft loans with easy repayment schemes. They also need some time before they can make the switch.

The monsoons that swathe the subcontinent during the months of June through September, despite the fact that they hail in the much sought after respite to arid farm areas, drinking water reservoirs, they also cause mass mayhem leaving mud slides, destruction of life and property with inundation taking countless lives. Karachi, the biggest city in Pakistan experienced unusual rain of close to 22.9cms or 9inches that commenced Friday night and went on till Sunday. The Mayor, Syed Mustafa Kamal has stated that this scale of rainfall has not occurred since 1977.

Clearout operations unfurled post the most devastating monsoon rains during the weekend that has taken dozens of lives and severed power to 15million for nearly 28 to 30 hours. This record breaking rainfall that has surpassed the scale seen in 32 years, has the death counter running at 32 and still counting. Majority of them have died due to drowning or due to crumpling of property. Life came to a standstill with water inundating establishments causing loss of water and shut down.

There were widespread demonstrations by distraught inhabitants who thronged the streets hauling stones at offices of the power corporation, complaining about the substantial power cut in the south city.

Deadly bomb blasts tore through the two best and the most secured hotels in Jakarta killing 9 and injuring over 40 people. The blasts occurred at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel and J.W. Marriott Hotel. There are amongst the most luxurious hotels in the southern part of the city of Jakarta, Indonesia. The hotels are just 50 meters apart from each other.

The blast happened at 7:45 a.m. local time, and from the first reports they look like a coordinated blasts and were times to impact at the time of breakfast. Both the hotels are normally visited by foreign tourist, expats and business visitor’s .The blast targeted the restaurants in both the hotels. As of now the police have moved all the guests to secured locations and teams forensic experts are at the blast sites collecting all the evidence.

The blasts have blown massive holes in the hotel walls and also blew the windows of the hotels. From eyewitness reports one could see the restaurants shattered and also blood marks. It also is reported that it could a work of suicide bombers.

This is not the first time the Marriot has been targeted; in August 2003 a suicide bomber drove a vehicle loaded with explosives into the motor lobby of the hotel. That blast had killed 12 people and injured many as it happened during the lunch hour.

The blasts also put a big question mark on the security arrangements in the city of Jakarta. Its will be a huge puzzle for security experts to solve as to how some one could get through metal detectors and the security personal guarding the hotel entrances. The hotels have multiple layer of security with sniffer dogs and each guest is thoroughly check.