Tuesday News: Haiti Cholera Riots; Building Collapse In India; Beatles To iTunes
UN Troops Kill One During Haiti Cholera Protests
A woman covers her face from the smoke of burning tires set up by demonstrators in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, Nov. 15, 2010. Emilio Morenatti/AP hide caption
Demonstrators threw stones, lit burning barricades, and, according to the UN, at least one person shot at UN peacekeeping troops in Haiti. UN forces returned fire, killing the man.
The protesters blame Nepalese peacekeeping troops for bringing cholera to their country. More than a thousand people have died so far in the outbreak, and authorities fear that number could grow dramatically as health resources are maxed out. From the Guardian:
The US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention found that the strain, which has infected more than 15,000 people and reached all 10 departments, resembled one from south Asia. Haiti's first epidemic in living memory began in the valley a week after the Nepalese arrived.
UN officials have admitted problems with the base's sanitation but denied its soldiers brought the disease, which is spread by contaminated faeces. No official investigation into the epidemic's origin has been launched despite appeals from Haitian leaders and foreign epidemiologists.
Scores Die In New Delhi Building Collapse
Indian rescue workers break concrete to search for bodies amid debris after a four-story apartment building collapsed in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Nov. 16, 2010. Kevin Frayer/AP hide caption
Officials say a ramshackle four story building that housed poor migrants collapsed in New Delhi. At least 66 people are dead. Some 200 people lived in the building. An unknown number were trapped when it collapsed last night. From the Times of India:
The building had been rented out to migrant labourers and some factories and workshops were being illegally run from there.
The building is suspected to have weakened due to the heavy rains during monsoon when Yamuna river flooded the area. The basement of the building was waterlogged for the last two months, nearby residents said.
Rescue workers from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), fire department, police, civil defence and locals had worked overnight to remove tons of concrete from the spot and find trapped people.
Charges have been filed against the building's owner.
iTunes To Carry The Beatles
I'm just going to give you the best opening line from a piece I've seen today. From the WSJ's Ethan Smith:
Steve Jobs is nearing the end of his long and winding pursuit of the Beatles catalog.
That's right, according the Journal and rumors the across the web Apple will announce it will start selling the Beatles on iTunes. Apple and the Beatles have had a long running combative relationship. The Beatles sued Apple in 1978, saying their logo infringed on the band's Apple Corps. That was settled in 1981. Another suit in 1989 over giving the computers more musical capability, Apple had to pay the band $29 million. And then in 2003 a lawsuit over iTunes itself. The computer company won that one.
The Journal didn't have the terms of the deal, and warned the two sides could change their minds at the last minute.