bhubaneswar

Hundreds of snakes, forced out of their pits by flood waters, have entered villagers’ homes in eastern India, creating panic and adding to the torment caused by monsoon flooding, officials said on Friday. About 1 800 people have been killed — scores of them due to snake bites — since July when swollen rivers burst their banks.

A man was arrested on Monday for slapping India coach Greg Chappell as he left an airport in eastern India with his cricket team, a police officer said. The incident occurred as more than two dozen demonstrators protested against the team’s arrival because no players from Orissa state were included in India’s cricket squad.

At least one million people have lost their homes to floods in eastern India, but the government’s relief effort is slow and inadequate, voluntary groups said on Wednesday. The flooding, triggered by annual monsoon rains over the past week, has hit an area where 2,3-million people live and damaged thousands of hectares of paddy in the coastal state of Orissa.

Cheered by thousands, a four-year-old boy dubbed ”India’s Forrest Gump” who was nearly sold by his impoverished mother ran 65km on Tuesday to enter the country’s foremost record book. Budhia Singh had planned to run 70km, but doctors stopped him after 65km when he showed signs of extreme exhaustion.

Wildlife experts voiced relief on Tuesday that 50 000 Olive Ridley turtles crawled up an eastern Indian beach this week to lay eggs, after the endangered animals missed nesting last year.