Mass poisonings - Africa and India

Alcohol can kill, especially it it’s laced with crocodile bile, or other lethal additives. In Mozambique, 69 people, including apparently a toddler, have died after drinking home-made beer, ironically, at a funeral.

Health officials believe contamination with crocodile bile made the drink lethal. The woman who brewed it and a number of her relatives are dead, and another 39 people are being treated in hospital.

Meanwhile in India, at least 29 people have died in Uttar Pradesh after drinking toxic liquor at a cricket match, and 100 more are in hospital. Some have lost their sight. Doctors say the drink may have been adulterated with cheap, but dangerous, methyl alcohol. The owner of the shop that sold it has been arrested.

Poisonings of this kind are depressingly common in India. Nearly 170 people died in 2011 in West Bengal, 107 in Gujarat in 2009, and 30 in Uttar Pradesh in the same year.

India - Maoist rebels strike again

India’s Maoist rebels (see my blog of Oct 5) have carried out three bloody attacks this week. On Monday, they detonated a mine under a bus in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh, killing more than 30, including some police officers. (76 people died in another attack in the same area last month.) On the same day, six villagers in Chhattisgarh were found with their throats cut, after the rebels had branded them government spies.

Then today, the rebels killed four paramilitary troops with a mine in West Bengal. Last October, the government deployed 50,000 troops in what it described as a “massive offensive” against them.

The Maoists are also known as "Naxalites" because they launched their uprising in the West Bengal village of Naxalbari in 1967. Today they have up to 20,000 fighters, and are active in eight states.

They claim to be fighting for the rights of indigenous tribespeople and the rural poor, and the length of time for which they have been able to maintain their rebellion is seen as proof that they enjoy a good deal of local support. It’s estimated that more than 6,000 people have been killed in the rebellion so far.

India - storms, rains, floods

Following the torrential rains that brought havoc to the Philippines (see my blog of Sept 28), it is now the turn of the Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. At least 125 people have been killed there in a three-day downpour.

Hundreds of people are still stranded, including many pilgrims in the holy town of Mantralaya, which is under water. The Indian air force and specialist military boats have been taking part in the rescue.

Once again, the underlying problem is a tropical storm – this time a cyclone in the Bay of Bengal. More than 22,000 houses are said to have been damaged, and crops have been broken down.

India often falls a victim to flooding. See also my blog of July 20.