Beslan donates $ 35,700

Residents of the southern Russian town Of beslan, still mourning the loss of 344 people including scores of children in a school hostage dra...

Residents of the southern Russian town Of beslan, still mourning the loss of 344 people including scores of children in a school hostage drama earlier this year, have donated 35,700 dollars to tsunami aid relief, Interfax news agency reported on Friday. ‘‘Our council decided to transfer a million rubles to help those suffering from the disaster in Asia,’’ said Maoerbek Tuayev, who is in charge of municipal council efforts to raise funds for families of the victims of the september hostage taking.

‘‘The residents of Belsan have not forgotten how the whole world mobilised for them. We will always mobilise for people suffering from disasters or terrorism around the world.’’

Nordic govts under fire for lethargy

Stockholm: Survivors, relatives and emergency experts in the Nordic countries have blasted their governments in recent days for failing to respond immediately to the needs of their nationals caught in the tidal waves. Echoed across Sweden, Norway, Finland and Denmark, angry families of thousands of holiday-makers in south-eastern Asia accuse their governments of being slow to react, of offering insufficient assistance and providing little or no information about the situation on the ground.

	US pledges $350 million in tsunami aid

			• WASHINGTON: The United States will provide $350 million in aid for victims of southern Asia’s devastating tsunami, a government official said on Friday. Details of the aid package were still being worked out and it was not clear whether the money was in addition to the $35 million already pledged, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. President George W. Bush had said on Wednesday that the initial US pledge of $35 million was only the beginning. —ENS Story continues below this ad

The vitriol is harshest in Sweden, where 44 nationals are confirmed dead but where Prime Minister Goeran Persson has warned that the fatalities ‘‘could exceed 1,000’’ as 3,500 Swedes remain missing, mostly in southern Thailand. Swedish media has revealed that after being informed oft he tidal waves on Sunday, Foreign Minister Laila Freivalds attended a theatre performance in the evening and did not show up at her office until Monday morning.

Britons contribute 45 million pounds

LONDON: The devastation wrought by tsunami has prompted Britons to give 45 million pounds in aid, nearly matching the 50 million pounds set aside by the British government. Disasters Emergency Committee, the British umbrella aid organisation, said on Friday the number of donations from the public was overwhelming its telephone lines and asked people to consider pledging money via its Web site, http://www.dec.org.uk. “Using the Web site would help alleviate the huge pressure on the phone lines,” a DEC spokeswoman said. The donations continue to pour in and charity staff are hopeful they will match or exceed that set aside for relief by the British government, which more than tripled its pledge of aid on Thursday, saying the scale of the disaster had proven to be far beyond its initial estimates. — Agencies

Among dead in Vijay rally stampede, young mother, couple set to marry

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A rally by actor-politician Vijay in Velusamypuram ended tragically with 40 deaths in a stampede. Non-political workers gathered to see the superstar, but exhaustion, heat, and poor planning caused chaos. People collapsed, ambulances couldn't reach, and police presence was inadequate. Vijay's team ignored instructions, and the narrow roads and insufficient crowd control added to the tragedy.

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