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Record-breaking heat wave grips western United States

A record early heat wave striking the western United States on Friday is a one-in-500-year event and almost certainly the result of human-caused climate change, experts say. The heat has been toppling records this week and is set to continue into the weekend across western cities while expanding eastward. Four locations in the desert area near the California-Arizona border registered 44.4 degrees Celsius on Friday, a US national record for March. The readings were recorded near Yuma and Martinez Lake in Arizona, and around Winterhaven and Ogilby in California. Read: Intense heatwave grips US, triggering record-breaking temperatures Already, 65 cities have recorded new March highs, ranging from Arizona and California to Idaho, Weather.com reported. Death Valley reached 40°C on Thursday, while typically cool and foggy San Francisco tied its historic March record at 29°C. In Colorado, skiers were seen hitting the slopes shirtless. The National Weather Service issued extreme heat warni...
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Hindus throng Ram temple in India's Ayodhya as it opens to the public

Tens of thousands of Hindus braved biting cold on Tuesday to pray at a new temple to Lord Ram in India's northern city of Ayodhya, a day after its inaugural by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a site believed to be the god-king's birthplace. Hindu groups, Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its affiliates have portrayed the opening as part of a Hindu renaissance. "I was adamant about this ... I will only leave after I have seen my Lord Ram," one of the visitors, Guddu Shukla, who queued at the temple gate at 4 a.m. in temperatures of about 8 degrees Celsius (46 degrees Fahrenheit), told news agency ANI. He was among more than 50,000 devotees who lined up before dawn on Tuesday to enter the temple, among some 200,000 who arrived in the city after the consecration, said a government official, Murli Dhar Singh. The site was bitterly contested for decades by Hindus and minority Muslims, sparking nationwide riots in 1992 that killed 2,000 people, mainly Muslims, police say, after a Hindu mob destroyed the 16th-century mosque there. Read also: Indian devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Hindu temple opens Hindus say the site is the birthplace of Lord Ram, and was holy to them long before Muslim Mughals razed a temple at the spot to build the Babri Masjid, or mosque, in 1528. The Supreme Court handed the land to Hindus in 2019, ordering that Muslims be given a separate plot. "Devotees inside are hugging the temple walls and crying," said a worshipper from central India, who did not give his name. "If you are a true follower of Hindu tradition, you'll have tears in your eyes, because that idol represents the 500-year long struggle." Read: India's Modi leads consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya Police on social media urged people to stay away from the temple area because of the large crowds there and diversions on the route. Analysts say the temple inauguration is expected to boost Modi's effort to secure a third term in general elections due by May. Celebrations were held on Monday across the nation, where Hindus form most of a population of about 1.42 billion, after Modi's call to treat the day like Diwali, the festival of lights, which marks Ram's return to Ayodhya in Hindu mythology. Muslims, who plan to begin building a new mosque in the city in May, have signalled they have moved on from the dispute, saying the temple was built following court orders and they bear no ill-will.

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Indian devotees splurge on jets, gold idols as Hindu temple opens

The private jet parking lots at airports near the Indian city of Ayodhya are full and the shops have run out of gold-plated idols, as wealthy devotees prepare for the invite-only opening ceremony of one of Hinduism's holiest temples. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani are among the 8,000 or so attendees at Monday's inauguration event for the Ram Temple, which devotees believe is built on the birthplace of Lord Ram, a sacred Hindu deity. The construction of the temple, which began after the Supreme Court awarded the site to Hindus in 2019 more than two decades after a Hindu mob razed a mosque there, triggering deadly riots, fulfils a key campaign promise of Modi and his Hindu nationalist party. Read BJP-promised temple transforms Ayodhya: Muslims, locals feel neglected The opening ceremony, organised by the trust that built the temple, comes months before a national election which the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party is widely expected to w...
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