According to the latest reports the Taiwanese president confirmed that the total number of casualties caused by the flood and mudslides could cross 500. Out of the total 500 people killed, 400 are from a single village. The village of Hsiaolin was hit by a massive mudslide that leveled all but two houses. One can only realized the magnitude of the damage that has happened in Hsiaolin after visiting the place. The village has been converted into a river bed with no structure standing. The entire village has been engulfed by a mud avalanche and is expected to be 20-30 meters deep. It is expected that nearly 400 people are still buried under the mud at the village site. The mud avalanche was so strong that it took with it a 17 meter bridge. The rescue teams reaching the site have a mammoth task ahead for them, they have not got a single clue on where to start digging. Even if they would have reached the site in time, they still would have not been able to do much.

In the last few days thousands of people have been moved to safer shelters by airlift, yesterday alone 2000 people were airlifted to safer locations. Most of the effected areas are in the mountains and the only way to reach them is by helicopters. As the weather is clearing the authorities are speeding up the rescue process. Most of the roads and bridges connecting these locations have been totally destroyed. As many as 34 bridges and 253 sections of road have been destroyed by flooding and it will take a minimum of three years to rebuild them.

Typhoon Morakot caused damages worth US $ 910 million and the reconstruction cost could well exceed US$ 3.65 billion. As the Typhoon passed over the island nation it unleashed more then 200 cm of rain which caused massive flooding and mud avalanches.

Schools, Junior Colleges, Multiplexes, Single Screen Cinema Halls and even some shopping malls have been closed on a temporary basis to avoid the spread of the swine flue H1N1 virus. Schools, Junior colleges and even private coaching classes have been ordered to close down for a week. All Multiplexes and single screen cinema halls will remind closed for next three day.

Mumbai considered as the financial and commercial capital of the country has till now reported 3 deaths due to the deadly virus. The state of Maharashtra has had 11 deaths of the total 19 in the country. The state Chief Minister confirmed there is no state of panic and this step is only a prevention measure. He also said that this decision to shutdown after many residents and public bodies came back to the minister with the same suggestion. As per the minister this would only impact four working days the remaining three of the seven days are holidays.

Most of the people who have been confirmed as cases of swine flu have contracted the virus outside country.  As per the latest reports Bangalore reported its first swine flu death on 13th August. The death toll in the country due to the H1N1 has now increased to 21.

On Tuesday afternoon, two more cases of swine flu deaths have been reported from Gujarat and Maharashtra. The 63-year old elderly lady, Sayeeda Dorjeewala, a resident of Mumbra, in close by Thane district was admitted on 6th August to the Noor hospital in Mumbai, died after enduring major health complications subsequent to being tested affirmative for the H1N1 virus. Earlier, the 53-year old Famida Panwala was the earliest swine flu victim from Mumbai. This sums up the death toll in Maharashtra that has steadily increased to seven.

In Vadodara, Gujarat, a seven year old minor girl also died after succumbing to swine flu in Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad Hospital, a Government hospital. The seven year old girl identified as Arya Borde was admitted to the hospital in a precarious condition last Wednesday. Her swabs were sent for viral pneumonitis analysis to the National Center for Disease Control or NCDC located in Delhi that came out to be affirmative on 8th August.

Ravi Saxena, the Principal Secretary of Health said that the girl had been started on a dose of Tamiflu following her admission to the SSG hospital and was kept on ventilator support from 7th August. This morning her health deteriorated considerably and she died at close to 12:30 hours.

This ups the death count in Gujarat to two, with the first fatality being the 43-year old NRI, Praveen Patel who passed away on Sunday in a civil hospital.

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.

As per the latest reports coming out of Islamabad, Pakistan’s most wanted man with a US$ 5 million reward on his head is said to have died in Wednesday’s drone strike. Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed when two US missiles hit the house of Taliban chief’s father-in-law, Malik Ikramuddin. Mehsud’s second wife was also killed in the same missile strike. Latest report confirm that there was a large gathering the next day for funeral of the leader confirming the point that a high value target had been executed.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi, foreign minister Pakistan confirmed that the Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud was killed and the authority was in the process of doing ground verification before they give a 100% confirmation. The attack was done once the forces received solid intelligence on the ware bouts of the Taliban leader.

Taliban has not yet released any statement on the issue and is yet to confirm the leader’s death. But there have been reports that Taliban leadership is gathering in Southern Waziristan to elect the successor of Baitullah Mehsud. Three names have come under consideration as the probable replacements. Hakimullah Mehsud, Maulana Azmatullah and Wali-ur-Rehman are the names in running for the successor.

Baitullah Mehsud had been blamed for many suicide attacks including the one that killed Benazir Bhutto. He was also blamed for September 2007 bombings in Rawalpindi and the March 2009 Lahore police academy attack. Mehsud had his strong hold in South Waziristan and was the leader of Tehrik-i-Taliban since 2007.

Mohammed Yusuf, 39 leader of the Boko Haram the Nigerian version of Taliban has died in police custody; human right campaigners have called the killing unlawful. Boko Haram has been blamed for the unrest in north eastern Nigeria which has resulted in hundreds of people dead. The group like Taliban is against western education and wants to convert Nigeria into an Islamic state and also wants to implement a strict version of Islamic Sharia Law.

Mohammed Yusuf was killed in a shootout by the security forces when he tried to escape. This was confirmed to the Nigerian Television by Moses Anegbode, regional Asst. Inspector-General of Police.

This mass unrest in North Eastern Nigeria started on Sunday in Bauchi and then spread to the other towns. There have been several gun battles since Sunday between the Islamic militants and Government lead security forces. Hundreds of militants have tried to attack government and police buildings and have more then 300 people dead, but some estimate that the death toll could have even exceeded 600. Nigeria has a population of 150 million which is equally split with Muslims dominating the North and Christians dominating the South.

The president of the Civil Rights Congress, Shehu Sani stated that the recent outbreak of violence in North Nigeria on Tuesday has taken the death toll to more than 400 with panicked people taking shelter in hospitals, police and military barracks. Officials have stated that the gory violence that persisted on Tuesday in Maiduguri has the radical Islamic groups going loggerheads against the government police and troops located in the north-central part of the nation.

A police representative stated that after the Islamic rebels launched attacks on Government institutions on Sunday, police personnel and troops have been moved to the militant dugouts. The ensuing gun battle took the lives of 41 individuals. To get matters under control, there have been 176 arrests in Bauchi.

The Islamic rebels, who have also launched attacks on government institutions and Islamic clergy in the neighbouring Yobe and Borno states, are opposed to the manner in which the government has undertaken the teaching of Islam which they believe has borne influence from Western culture.

The police commissioner of Yobe, Alhaji Muhammed Abbas stated that twenty-three fundamentalists believed to be involved in the bomb attack on a police station located in Potiskum that killed two and hurt seven have been detained.

While the police spokesperson in Borno, Isa Azare stated that the Islamic radicals launched an unexpected attack on the police due to which they were able to take the lives of two policemen in the headquarters during late Monday.

The Islamic rebels armed with guns, bows-arrows, knives went on a killing spree, with the terrorised inhabitants in all the three affected states preferring to stay indoors and closing down all shops and business establishments.

The 37-yr old comic star, Sacha Baron Cohen who plays Bruno has been compelled to beef up security measures for himself and his kin, since he has been receiving death threats from Islam terrorists. As an act of vengeance, the extremists have targeted him for his deriding remarks about a terrorist faction in the film where he dons the role of a gay fashion idol.

Yesterday, Baron Cohen’s lawyers have informed the Daily Star that he has been targeted by an extremist faction that has taken accountability for the latest terror attacks. The group most probably, the Al Aqsa Martrys’ Brigade have been offended by Baron Cohen calling Osama bin Laden, the Al Qaeda head, a ‘dirty wizard or a homeless Father Christmas’ in his film ‘Bruno’.

In the movie, the ostentatious fashion correspondent is seen telling the group’s believed head, Ayman Abu Aita that he wants to be famous and wants the best guys in the industry to kidnap him. Ayman Abu Aita is seen irately summoning for Bruno to go away after he affronts Bin Laden saying he was interrogated under phony pretence and asserted that he no more belonged to the militant faction.

The Martyrs’ Brigade have made an announcement in which they condemned the misuse of their brother Ayman’s name and the name of Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade for which they were rightful in responding to this misdeed in a way they found appropriate.

Baron Cohen has even made a verbal punch at Hamas, the Palestinian military group, gaffing them for hummus, the chick pea paste in the movie.

Osama bin Laden’s son, Sa’ad bin Laden is considered to be dead following a US Predator drone strike in Pakistan’s clannish area. The US intelligence bureaus is 80-85% convinced that Sa’ad bin Laden was killed in the former part of the year due to a drone attack. According to US intelligence, Sa’ad bin Laden, a well-known character involved in the gloomy association between Iran and al Qaeda, was considered to have spent many years in house detention in Iran prior to going to Pakistan.

It is still quite fuzzy as to whether he was present close to his father during the drone attacks. Sa’ad bin Laden believed to be close to his thirties, was not regarded as significant enough to be made a target, considering he was accidently present at the inopportune time.

Al Qaeda which is known to issue proclamation of martyred top leaders and chiefs has neither refused nor authenticated Sa’ad’s death.

According to sources, Sa’ad made crucial judgments for al Qaeda and belonged to a tiny al Qaeda faction that was engaged in managing the group from Iran. Sa’ad had come to Pakistan in September to meet up with Zawahiri.

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.