46 perish in floods

BEIJING: At least 46 people have died in torrential rains lashing southern China as Premier Wen Jiabao called for an “all-out effort” to combat floods devastating the area, media reports said on Wednesday. — AFP

BJP leader dies

New Delhi: Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sunder Singh Bhandari, who recently invited criticism from party hardliners for his demand for a probe into the 2002 Gujarat riots, died of a heart attack here on Wednesday. He was 84. — HNS

Over 330 hurt in blast

BEIJING: A powerful explosion ripped through a warehouse in north China where confiscated explosives were stored, injuring 336 people, reports said on Wednesday. — AFP

Leopard lifts baby

SHIMLA: A baby asleep between his parents was lifted away by a leopard in a village in Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, taken into a jungle and killed on Tuesday, newspapers reported on Wednesday. “We awoke when the leopard leapt out of the window with the baby in his jaws and disappeared into the jungle,” Chande Ram, father of the two-month-old baby, was quoted as saying. — HNS

Warrant against MP

PATNA: A court in Bihar has issued a non-bailable arrest warrant against Rashtriya Janata Dal MP Mohammad Shahabuddin following his failure to appear in a criminal case. — HNS