Random news reports

More reports for the weekend...

WASHINGTON (AFP)- An American woman who held the record for being the world's oldest person for over a year died Wednesday at the ripe old age of 115 years, 220 days, the Los Angeles-based Gerontology Research Group said.
Edna Parker of Shelbyville, Indiana, was born on April 20, 1893 -- when Queen Victoria still ruled the British empire and before X-rays were even invented.
Parker was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest person in August 2007 following the death of Japanese Yone Minagawa, who was four months her senior.
According to the research group, which maintains a list of the world's oldest people, Parker was the 14th oldest validated supercentenarian in history.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081128/tts-health-us-record-972e412.html

I really have to take my hat off to this lady for having lived a long life. Shoot, I just realized that she shares the same birthday as me some more!! What a coincidence... exactly 90 years apart!! :-O

And this is really sad...

SINGAPORE: When she met friends at a wedding two weeks ago, Ms Lo Hwei Yen told them that she was headed to India for work. She seemed excited about the trip, said the friends who met her.
On Friday, Ms Lo, 28, was identified as the Singaporean hostage held in the Mumbai terror attacks. Her body was found on the 19th floor of the Oberoi Hotel.
Friends whom TODAY spoke to expressed shock and sadness at the sudden loss. “She was so young,” said a former Victoria Junior College classmate, who declined to be named. Another who saw her at the wedding said: “She seemed very radiant the last two times I saw her. I was very happy for her.”
Ms Lo, the eldest of three sisters, was engaged to Mr Michael Puhaindran in 2006 and they got married in Bali last year.
Rumours of Ms Lo’s fate had been circulating since Friday afternoon. On Friday evening, as word about a media briefing was to be held by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs spread, one friend, who knew her, spoke for many when he said: “Many of her friends are still hoping there is some good news.”
As friends turned to news websites about the Mumbai attacks, Ms Lo’s name stood out for some. Said a former junior college schoolmate: “Her name was quite unique among all those I knew. Most are Hui Yan or Hwee Yen. She’s Hwei Yen with a capital 'I’, with a nice radiant smile. She will always stand unique in her friends’ hearts.”
Arrangements are being made to bring Ms Lo’s body back to Singapore. “MFA and our mission in Mumbai will do everything necessary to assist the family in this very difficult time. We wish this tragedy had not occurred,” said Mr Jai. “We have done everything that we could. Our sympathies are also with the families of the other hostages who were killed in the attacks.”
No more Singaporeans are stranded in any of the hotels in Mumbai, he added. Some 115 Singaporeans have registered their presence in Mumbai. Four remain uncontactable.
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong has expressed his sadness over the tragic incident. He knows Mr Puhaindran’s family and had attended their wedding last year. Upon learning the news, SM Goh visited the family, who were in a state of shock, reported Channel NewsAsia. He told reporters: “Unfortunately, what we feared came true.”

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/cna/20081129/tap-024-shock-sadness-singaporean-hostag-231650b.html

It's really sad that a woman so young, nice and innocent could be taken away all of a sudden. Imagine the grief that her family and friends, most particularly her husband of slightly more than a year, had to go through. She was one of may unfortunate people who fell victim to a tragedy that nobody could have expected... and because of this unfortunate turn of events, I'm not even gonna say "at the wrong place, at the wrong time". The hotel where Miss Lo died alongside many others was thought to be one of the safest places in the region. My heart also goes out to the other casualties of the Mumbai bombings... :-(

MUMBAI (AFP)- Commandos Saturday killed the last remaining gunmen in Mumbai's Taj Hotel to end a devastating attack by Islamic militants on India's financial capital that left 195 dead, including 22 foreigners.
Shortly after dawn broke on the third day of the siege in Mumbai, heavy gunfire and loud explosions signalled the final commando offensive against the militants, who had held hundreds of security personnel at bay for 60 hours.
"All operations are over. All the terrorists have been killed," Mumbai police chief Hassan Gafoor said, as the special forces units emerged from the smoke-filled hotel and firemen moved in to douse a fierce blaze.
On Friday, elite troops had stormed a Mumbai Jewish centre and killed two gunmen -- but also found five dead Israeli hostages, including a US-based rabbi and his wife, who were murdered as the commandos closed in.
"They were the kind of people with no remorse -- anybody and whomsoever came in front of them, they fired," an Indian commando said of the young gunmen.
Witnesses said the attackers had specifically rounded up people with US and British passports.
Both the United States and Britain expressed condolences and offered to help investigate the assault on Mumbai, which has been hit by terror attacks before. Nearly 190 people were killed in train bombings in 2006.
US President George W. Bush said he was "deeply saddened," and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he was sending police to help with the probe. India's newspapers laid much of the blame at the door of the intelligence agencies.

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20081129/tap-india-attacks-5bb9277.html

Finally, the nightmare had ended, but it was not without much loss. Way too similar to the Bali bombings, except the guilty individuals had been terminated within days. It's a relief that justice had finally been served on those inhuman, remorseless terrorists-cum-BASTARDS... but their actions have forever left a deep scar in the hearts of many whose loved ones they had taken away.