94 die in Gujarat rains

AHMEDABAD: At least 94 people have died and some 200,000 have been evacuated due to heavy rains and flash floods in India’s western coastal state of Gujarat, officials said on Friday. — AFP

Nine killed in Manipur

GUWAHATI: Five Indian soldiers and at least four separatist guerrillas have been killed in fighting between the two groups in India’s restive northeastern state of Manipur, police said on Friday. — AFP

Flu claims 6,000 birds

BEIJING: China raised on Friday the number of migratory birds killed by avian flu in an island sanctuary in the country’s northwest to 6,000 from the previous figure of 5,000. “There’s now a total of 6,000 migratory birds dead from avian flu on Qinghai island,” an agriculture ministry spokesman said. — AFP

Goswami in custody

PATNA: Former Patna district magistrate Gautam Goswami was on Friday remanded in five days’ police custody for interrogation in the flood relief embezzlement scam in which he is a key accused. The case against Goswami, who surrendered on Thursday and was subsequently suspended, was heard by a special vigilance court here. — HNS

Two killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: Muslim separatists staging a protest in the Indian Kashmir summer capital of Srinagar were baton charged on Friday by police, witnesses said, as police reported another two people killed by suspected rebels in the restive region. The march was held by the moderate faction of the region’s main separatist alliance. — AFP

239-kg catfish found

BANGKOK: Fishermen in north Thailand netted a giant catfish weighing a whopping 239-kg, a new record, reports Xinhua. The catfish, believed to be the biggest ever, was caught along the Mekong river, which boasts of more species of large fish than any other river. — HNS