TV reporter punched in the face live on air MOSCOW, August 3 (Reuters): A man walked up to a journalist broadcasting live from a Moscow park on a popular Russian television channel and punched him in the face. The journalist was reporting on Wednesday for the NTV channel from the park, which was filled with former paratroopers lazing in the sun as Russia celebrated the annual Airborne Troops Day. He was approached by a burly, bearded man in a tee-shirt and shorts, spewing curses at him. The journalist, Nikita Razvozzhayev, asked the man to keep away. The man then delivered a right hook to the journalist’s face and walked off. The network cut the broadcast. The attacker, who Russian media said was drunk, was arrested shortly afterwards. Police described him as a known soccer hooligan. Angry social media users blamed the incident on paratroopers, labelled in Russia as a rowdy bunch who drink in public places, bath in fountains and harass passers-by. Pakistan government website hacked Islamabad, August 3 (IANS): A Pakistan government website was apparently hacked on Thursday. Online pictures the hackers posted purportedly showed Indian national anthem and Independence Day greetings on the message board. The official website display of a message “Official gateway to the Pakistan government” was later restored. The attack came months after a pro-Pakistan group hacked the official websites of four prominent Indian institutes -- Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), IIT Varanasi, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) and Delhi University (DU). The group -- “Pakistan Haxors Crew” -- said: “Nothing deleted or stolen. Just here to deliver my message to Indians.” Thailand floods kill at least 23, cause damage estimated at US $300 mn BANGKOK, August 3 (Reuters): Floods have killed at least 23 people in Thailand’s northeastern farming region, the interior ministry said on Thursday, causing damage estimated at $300 million. The Southeast Asian nation is the world’s second-biggest exporter of rice, some grown in its northeast. It is in the middle of the annual rainy season and floods, which began on July 5, have been unusually heavy, authorities said. Ten of Thailand’s 77 provinces are disaster zones, the Interior Ministry said, adding that most of the 700,000 hectares (1.7 million acres) affected were rice-growing farmland. “Losses from the floods are estimated at least 10 billion baht,” or the equivalent of $300 million, Jirapan Assawathanakul, chief of the Thai General Insurance Association, told reporters. The floods had not affected rice exports but it was too early to assess damage as the crop can survive short-term inundation, Chookiat Ophaswongse, president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, has said. In 2011, widespread floods killed more than 900 people and caused major industrial disruption, cutting economic growth to just 0.1 percent. When Thailand’s ruling junta took power in 2014, it proposed a 10-year water management plan to avoid a repeat of the 2011 floods, but it is still under review.
