Tag: devastated

Rains or not, India faces drinking water crisis

by Trudy HARRIS GANGNAULI, India (AFP) — As large swathes of drought-devastated India desperately wait for the monsoon rains to arrive, one village in the dry, hot north is flush with water. But this farming area’s bountiful water supplies are feared contaminated with heavy metals, underscoring the profound challenges facing the world’s second most populous nation. From toxic pollution of rivers and lakes to contamination of groundwater supplies, together with chronic shortages in drought-hit districts, […]

US gun debate ‘needs to change,’ Obama says in Orlando

by Thomas URBAIN with Andrew BEATTY in Washington ORLANDO, United States (AFP) — President Barack Obama traveled to grief-stricken Orlando Thursday, meeting loved ones devastated by a shooting rampage and using his bully pulpit to demand that the Republican-controlled Congress pass gun control. Four days after the worst mass shooting in US history, Obama made a solemn pilgrimage to meet staff at the Pulse nightclub, emergency responders and some of the dozens of families shattered […]