Hindu Janajagruti Samiti calls ex-HC judge Nagamohan Das 'anti-Hindu and anti-national'

New Delhi, Jan 7: Fifty-three people were killed after an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 hit Tibet near the Nepalese border today, news agency AFP said quoting Chinese media Xinhua. The tremors of the earthquake were felt in several parts of India, including Bihar, Assam and West Bengal.

The epicentre of the earthquake was in Tingri county in Shigatse city. Tingri is about 400 km southwest of Tibet's capital Lhasa and is on the border with Nepal. It is a tourism hub for those visiting Mount Everest. 

According to the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), the earthquake was recorded at 6:35 am. NCS data reveals that two more earthquakes hit the region shortly after the first one. 

The second earthquake of magnitude 4.7 was recorded at 7:02 am at a depth of 10 km and the third earthquake of magnitude 4.9 at 7:07 am at a depth of 30 km. 

Nepal is nestled in a geologically active region, where the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates collide, forming the Himalayas and making earthquakes a frequent occurrence. In 2015, nearly 9,000 people died and more than 22,000 were injured when a 7.8-magnitude quake struck Nepal, destroying more than half a million homes.

The tremors were particularly felt in Bihar where people were seen outside their houses and apartments. There have been no reports of any damage to property because of the earthquake.

A new report released by the UN Human Rights Office says Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on hospitals in Gaza have had a catastrophic effect on the territory’s healthcare system.

Jeremy Laurence, Spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said on Tuesday the regime has used heavy bombs to attack civilians taking shelter in hospitals.

Laurence added that the UN office has also verified the precision targeting of people inside hospitals, including healthcare workers.

He stressed that deliberate attacks on places where the sick and wounded are treated is a war crime.

“And beyond the conflict itself, civilians were seriously impacted. Women, especially pregnant women, have suffered gravely,” he said.

“Our Office received reports that newborns had died because their mothers were unable to attend postnatal check-ups or reach medical facilities to give birth,” he added.

“Intentionally directing attacks against hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are treated, provided they are not military objectives, is a war crime,” he said.

“Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities is a war crime. And intentionally launching disproportionate attacks is also war crime,” he stated.

Laurence said the Israeli regime’s pattern of deadly attacks on Gaza hospitals has pushed the healthcare system to the brink of total collapse.

His remarks came after UN human rights chief, Volker Turk, said earlier that Gaza's hospitals have become a death trap.

He urged independent and credible investigations into hospital-related incidents in Gaza.

Gaza’s population has been reduced by 6 percent since the beginning of the Israeli regime’s campaign of genocide in the besieged Palestinian territory in 2023, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics said.

According to the bureau’s report published on Tuesday, the Israeli offensive has left 45,541 Palestinians dead, 11,000 missing and believed to be under the rubble. At least 100,000 have also been forced to flee, the report said.

The report reveals that “90% of children aged 6 to 23 months and pregnant women” face severe nutritional deficiencies in Gaza.

The report also indicates the Israeli forces deliberately “target specific groups of the population, such as children and youth,” which leads to a significant “distortion … of the population.”

According to the bureau, this will greatly reduce the birth rate, and negatively affect the age and gender structure of the population during the years to come.

Mandya: A 21-year-old man died after he allegedly blew himself up with a gelatin stick in front of the house of a girl he was in love with after her family rejected him, police said on Monday.

The incident occurred at Kalenahalli village of Mandya district on early Sunday morning, they said.

According to police, Ramachandra was in a relationship with a minor girl. Last year, he was booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act after he eloped with the girl. He was arrested in the case and spent three months in jail as an under-trial.

After getting released from jail, he entered into a compromise with the girl's family and the case was refuted in the court. But later, he started calling the girl and continued to maintain his relationship with her, police said.

Apparently, the girl's family was planning to get the girl married to someone else once she attained the legal age, a senior police officer said.

Ramachandra, a resident of a neighbouring village in Nagamangala taluk was allegedly upset with the girl's family for rejecting him. Suddenly on Sunday, he reached in front of the minor girl's house and detonated the gelatin stick he carried with him and the explosion claimed his life on the spot, the officer added.

Based on the complaint from the deceased person's family, calling it suspicious death, a case has been registered, police said. His family was in quarrying business and that's how he got access to gelatin stick, police said.