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5 years ago
Monday, July 6, 2009
(MY060) 140 killed in riots in west China
URUMQI, China – Tensions between ethnic Muslims and China's Han majority in the far western Xinjiang region erupted in riots that killed 140 people and injured 828, an official said Monday, marking the deadliest unrest to hit the volatile area in decades.
A peaceful protest Sunday of about 1,000 to 3,000 people in the regional capital, Urumqi, apparently spun out of control, as rioters went on a rampage and clashed with police. The official Xinhua News Agency reported hundreds of people were arrested.
There was little immediate explanation for how so many people died. The government blamed Uighur exiles for stoking the unrest. Exile groups said the violence started only after police began violently cracking down on a peaceful protest.
The demonstrators who gathered Sunday had been demanding justice for two Uighurs killed last month during a fight with their Han Chinese co-workers at a factory in southern China. Accounts differed over what happened next in Urumqi, but the violence seemed to have started when a crowd of protesters refused to disperse.
Rioters overturned barricades, attacking vehicles and houses, and clashed violently with police, according to media and witness accounts. State television aired footage showing protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground. Other people, who appeared to be Han Chinese, sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.
A peaceful protest Sunday of about 1,000 to 3,000 people in the regional capital, Urumqi, apparently spun out of control, as rioters went on a rampage and clashed with police. The official Xinhua News Agency reported hundreds of people were arrested.
There was little immediate explanation for how so many people died. The government blamed Uighur exiles for stoking the unrest. Exile groups said the violence started only after police began violently cracking down on a peaceful protest.
The demonstrators who gathered Sunday had been demanding justice for two Uighurs killed last month during a fight with their Han Chinese co-workers at a factory in southern China. Accounts differed over what happened next in Urumqi, but the violence seemed to have started when a crowd of protesters refused to disperse.
Rioters overturned barricades, attacking vehicles and houses, and clashed violently with police, according to media and witness accounts. State television aired footage showing protesters attacking and kicking people on the ground. Other people, who appeared to be Han Chinese, sat dazed with blood pouring down their faces.
(MY058) Bedwetting, being overweight linked to sleep apnea
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – Children who are overweight and wet the bed at night may have obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), researchers report.
Both being overweight and wetting the bed are associated with the nighttime breathing disorder, they found. However, overweight and bedwetting are not associated with each other.
In a "case-control" study, Dr. Joseph G. Barone, of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and colleagues performed overnight sleep studies in 149 children between the ages of 5 and 15 with OSA, and 139 matched control children.
They combined that data with information from medical records, including age, gender, height, weight, frequency of bedwetting, history of snoring, diabetes, nasal allergies, and/or enlarged tonsils.
According to Barone and colleagues, there was a significant association between both bedwetting and overweight and OSA.
Bedwetting raised the likelihood of OSA more than fivefold and being overweight raised the likelihood of OSA more than fourfold. However, their associations are independent of each other, the researchers note.
Barone's team suggests that doctors consider OSA in overweight children who wet the bed, especially when they display other symptoms of OSA or fail to respond to standard bedwetting treatment programs.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, July 2009.
Both being overweight and wetting the bed are associated with the nighttime breathing disorder, they found. However, overweight and bedwetting are not associated with each other.
In a "case-control" study, Dr. Joseph G. Barone, of Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, New Jersey, and colleagues performed overnight sleep studies in 149 children between the ages of 5 and 15 with OSA, and 139 matched control children.
They combined that data with information from medical records, including age, gender, height, weight, frequency of bedwetting, history of snoring, diabetes, nasal allergies, and/or enlarged tonsils.
According to Barone and colleagues, there was a significant association between both bedwetting and overweight and OSA.
Bedwetting raised the likelihood of OSA more than fivefold and being overweight raised the likelihood of OSA more than fourfold. However, their associations are independent of each other, the researchers note.
Barone's team suggests that doctors consider OSA in overweight children who wet the bed, especially when they display other symptoms of OSA or fail to respond to standard bedwetting treatment programs.
SOURCE: Pediatrics, July 2009.
(MY057) Chinese floods kill 15, displace 550,000
BEIJING (Reuters) – Flooding and heavy rain in southern China have forced 550,000 people to evacuate their homes and killed at least 15, Xinhua news agency reported on Sunday.
The heavy rains that have raged for four days across southern provinces have destroyed houses, flooded crops, cut power, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow.
Worst hit was Guangxi, where 285,800 people were moved out of their homes. Parts of the region were experiencing the worst flooding since 1996.
Workers dug sluices to relieve pressure on the Kama reservoir dam in Guangxi's Luocheng county, where a 13.5 meerr (44 ft) section gave way under the weight of the water on Saturday.
Chen Zhangliang, vice chairman of Guangxi region, said the sluices should alleviate the danger from the dam in a few days.
Crops on 103,400 hectares were damaged and 3,600 homes had collapsed by 11:40 p.m. EDT on Sunday, with total damage in Guangxi estimated at 1.34 billion yuan ($196.5 million), Xinhua said, citing the regional civil affairs department.
The rain also flooded 62 schools in Guangxi, where 300 students were trapped in one boarding school alone. Local authorities had managed to restore power supplies and deliver food and drinking water.
After four days of torrential downpours, the rain began to subside in some parts of Guangxi on Sunday, but local authorities warned of more flooding as river levels remained high.
The heavy rains that have raged for four days across southern provinces have destroyed houses, flooded crops, cut power, damaged roads and caused rivers to overflow.
Worst hit was Guangxi, where 285,800 people were moved out of their homes. Parts of the region were experiencing the worst flooding since 1996.
Workers dug sluices to relieve pressure on the Kama reservoir dam in Guangxi's Luocheng county, where a 13.5 meerr (44 ft) section gave way under the weight of the water on Saturday.
Chen Zhangliang, vice chairman of Guangxi region, said the sluices should alleviate the danger from the dam in a few days.
Crops on 103,400 hectares were damaged and 3,600 homes had collapsed by 11:40 p.m. EDT on Sunday, with total damage in Guangxi estimated at 1.34 billion yuan ($196.5 million), Xinhua said, citing the regional civil affairs department.
The rain also flooded 62 schools in Guangxi, where 300 students were trapped in one boarding school alone. Local authorities had managed to restore power supplies and deliver food and drinking water.
After four days of torrential downpours, the rain began to subside in some parts of Guangxi on Sunday, but local authorities warned of more flooding as river levels remained high.
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