LaNUBlog™

The new Application developed by a British psychiatrist aims to cure a fear of spiders. Sadly it's arrived more than a century late for poor James Payn. Author Jeremy Clay tells the shuddersome tale of the man trapped in a darkened train teeming with tarantulas.

The scene here is pretty desolate and distraught. The families who survived, a few hundred people, are at the top of the valley. The women and children sit on the open hillside where they spent the night. The men are lining up for aid and trying to secure their shelter.

Rescuers in Afghanistan have given up hope of finding any more survivors in a double landslide that is feared to have killed more than 2,500 people. They have stopped digging through the earth and mud that swamped a whole village in the remote north-east province of Badakhshan on Friday.

Onlookers rushed to help put out the flames that engulfed Kamruzzama Fauji An Indian regional politician has died of burn injuries five days after he was targeted during a TV election debate by a man who had set himself on fire. Kamruzzama Fauji, the local leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party in Uttar Pradesh state, was taking part in the recorded debate on Monday.

Lithium is a Metal Element found primarily in molten rock and saltwater, its a Alkali metal with the atomic number 3, its Flammable and highly reactive, it is the lightest of all metals, its Used in heat-resistant glass, alloys for aircraft building, and red fireworks. It is Also useful as a mood-stabilising drug Limits on energy density are not the only problem, because it is not the only thing you care about in a battery.

Maoist rebels have waged a campaign of violence across several Indian states Two bombs planted by suspected Maoist rebels have killed at least 12 people in the eastern Indian state of Chhattisgarh as voting continues in the general election.

Paintings and carvings in ancient Indian temples challenge Western ideas of the relationship between spirituality and sexuality, says writer and historian William Dalrymple. In the early summer of 1819, a British hunting party, lost in the arid mountains of the Western Ghats, made a remarkable chance discovery.

A court in India has sentenced three men to hang, under a new law which carries the death penalty for those convicted of multiple sexual assaults. The men were convicted of raping a photojournalist in Mumbai last year. But they were also among five men sentenced to life last month for raping another woman in a separate incident in the city.

Minister faults World Bank’s classification of Nigeria based on large population. The Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, on Thursday reacted to the pronouncement by the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, classifying Nigeria among the world’s “extreme poor countries.”

The Indian firm has been implicated in unsavoury mining acts in Mozambique. The Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth Nigeria, ERA/FoEN, has cautioned the Federal Government from going ahead with a rumoured deal with Jindal Power and Steel India, to revitalise coal mining in the country.

The World Bank is to raise its lending capacity to about $300 billion Amid plans by the Federal Govt. to release the figures of the country’s newly rebased Gross Domestic Product, the World Bank on Tues classified Nigeria among the world’s five extreme poor countries. Nigeria’s GDP is expected to be boosted based on a current nominal value of about $305 billion by 40%, to 60%, to surpass that of South Africa, which currently stands at $350 billion.

Mohammed Shami finished with nine wickets on his debut as India crushed West Indies by an innings and 51 runs in the first Test in Kolkata. The 23-year-old claimed a five-wicket haul in the second innings (5-47), with no Indian fast bowler having claimed more wickets on their maiden Test appearance. Earlier on Friday, India were bowled out for 453 after resuming day three at Eden Gardens on 354-6. Man of the match Rohit Sharma (177) fell 23 runs short of a double century in his debut Test innings, while Ravichandran Ashwin was bowled by Shane Shillingford (6-167) on 124 to end his own stubborn resistance. Trailing by 219 runs, West Indies made a promising start and looked in good shape at 101-1, with Chris Gayle (33) the only victim. However, Shami tore through the middle order as West Indies crumbled, surrendering the last nine wickets for just 67 runs as they were bowled out for 168. Ashwin also chipped in with three wickets as India took a 1-0 lead in the two-Test series. It ...

Nearly 30 million people around the world are living as slaves, according to a new index ranking 162 countries. The Global Slavery Index 2013says India has the highest number of people living in conditions of slavery at 14 million. But Mauritania has the highest proportional figure with about 4% of its population enslaved. The report's authors hope it will help governments tackle what they call a "hidden crime". 'Better measure' Estimated number of slaves 1. India - 13,956,010 2. China - 2,949,243 3. Pakistan - 2,127,132 4. Nigeria - 701,032 5. Ethiopia - 651,110 6. Russia - 516,217 7. Thailand - 472,811 8. DR Congo - 462,327 9. Burma - 384,037 10. Bangladesh - 343,192 The index was compiled by Australian-based rights organisation Walk Free Foundationusing a definition of modern slavery that includes debt bondage, forced marriage and human trafficking. "A lot of governments won't like hearing what we have to say," WFF chief executi...

New Delhi - The death toll from a stampede near a temple in central India rose to 109 after many of the injured succumbed, an official said on Monday. Thousands of Hindu pilgrims were crossing a bridge leading to a temple in Madhya Pradesh state on Sunday when they panicked at rumours the bridge would collapse, triggering a stampede. The district medical officer RS Gupta said that autopsies had been carried out on 109 bodies by late Sunday. Relatives of the dead crowded the state-run hospital in Datia district to take the bodies after the autopsies. Others searched frantically for their relatives among the injured in the hospital. Hundreds of thousands of devotees had thronged the remote Ratangarh village temple in Datia to honour the Hindu mother goddess Durga on the last day of the popular 10-day Navratri festival. It was not immediately clear how many people were on the two-lane bridge over the Sindh River in the Chambal region of Madhya Pradesh when the stampede started. Local...

A stampede on a bridge outside a Hindu temple killed at least 60 people in India on Sunday and dozens more may have died after they leapt into the water below, police said. "Sixty people are confirmed killed and the figure could reach 100," local Deputy Police Inspector General DK Arya told AFP. "More than 100 others have been injured" in the disaster in the Datia district of central Madhya Pradesh state, he added. Arya said the stampede was triggered by rumours that it might collapse after being hit by a heavy vehicle. "There were rumours that the bridge could collapse after the tractor hit it," he said. "Many people are feared to have fallen into the river and are unaccounted for." Hindus are celebrating the end of the Navaratri festival, dedicated to the worship of the Hindu god Durga, which draws millions of worshippers to temples especially in northern India.

A huge cyclone that has forced as many as 500,000 people to flee their homes has made landfall in eastern India. Winds were measured at 200 km/h (125mph) as Cyclone Phailin hit the coast near Gopalpur, Orissa state, at about 21:15 (15:45 GMT). Authorities had predicted a storm surge of at least 3m (10ft) that was expected to cause extensive damage. Officials say they are better prepared than in 1999 when a cyclone killed thousands of people in Orissa. Cyclone Phailin has been classed as "very severe", and the head of India's Meteorological Office, LS Rathore, said it would remain in that category for six hours before losing strength. At the scene ByAndrew North BBC News, Orissa As we arrived in Brahmapur, just inland from where the cyclone had first hit the coast, we were met with a scene of apocalyptic devastation. The town was in total darkness, the headlights of our vehicle illuminating felled trees and power lines blocking roads. Store signs and other debris...

Hyderabad - Widespread power cuts and a strike by government employees opposed to the creation of a new state have crippled life in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. Most districts in Andhra Pradesh were in darkness after nearly 30 000 power workers went on strike to protest the decision to cleave the state into two and carve out a new state of Telangana. Hundreds of thousands of government employees opposed to the division are also on strike in the state. Trains, water supply and cellular phone services have been hit. Hospital and emergency services were running on generators on Tuesday. Police clamped a curfew on Vijayanagaram after violence erupted in the town. Andhra Pradesh's top elected official has urged scrapping the decision to split the state and talks to resolve the crisis.

Israel's prime minister says Iranians "deserve better" than their current government and that their lives could get worse if it gains nuclear weapons. In an interview with BBC Persian, Benjamin Netanyahu warned: "If they get nuclear weapons this brutal regime will be immortal, like North Korea." He also said the new President, Hassan Rouhani, could not "change the real decisions" made by the Supreme Leader. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Mr Rouhani have said they reject nuclear weapons. They insist Iran's nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes, but world powers suspect they are not being truthful. There has nevertheless been a recent thaw in relations between Iran and the United States, with Mr Rouhani and President Barack Obama recently discussing the issue - the first top-level conversation between the two countries for more than 30 years. On Tuesday, Iranian diplomats at the United Nations reacted angrily after Mr Netanyahu describe...

Protests have been held in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh after the government approved the formation of the new state of Telangana on Thursday. Media reports say that at least four federal ministers have offered to quit in protest against the decision. Telangana would comprise 10 districts of the southern state, including the city of Hyderabad. In recent years, there have been protests for and against the creation of India's 29th state. Backers of the new state say the area has been neglected by the government. Opponents are unhappy that Hyderabad, home to many major information technology and pharmaceutical companies, would become a shared state capital. Telangana *.Population of 35 million *.Comprises 10 districts of Andhra Pradesh, including city of Hyderabad *.Landlocked, predominantly agricultural area *.One of the most under-developed regions in India *.50-year campaign for separate status *.More than 400 people died in 1969 crackdown Telangana, with a popul...

"There are… many needy females in India," says Patel. "The food, shelter, clothing and medicine, healthcare is not free for all in India. People have to fend for themselves." I saw my son, but then they took him straight away Vasanti Patel says she encourages the women to use their earnings wisely. Vasanti and her husband are building a new home. "The house I live in at the moment is a rented house, this one will be much better," says Ashok. "My parents will be pleased that their son and his wife have managed to build a house. Our status in society will go up, which will be a good thing." But the new house comes at a price. It will not be built in the same area as their old one, because of hostility from neighbours. "If you are at home then everyone knows that we are doing surrogacy, that this is a test tube baby, and they use bad language. So then we can't stay there safely," says Vasanti. Vasanti and Ashok with their daugh...