Moore, Oklahoma: A monstrous tornado of rare power roared through an Oklahoma City suburb, killing at least 51, flattening neighborhoods with winds up to 200 mph (320 kilometers) and destroying at least one school. Officials said children were among the dead.

The death toll was expected to rise, an Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office spokeswoman said. More than 120 people were being treated at hospitals, including about 70 children. Some were in critical condition.

‘Hearts are broken’ for parents looking for their children, Governor Mary Fallin told a news conference.

The storm – less than 1 percent of all tornadoes reach such wind speed – ripped through scores of buildings in the suburb of Moore in a region of the US known as Tornado Alley. Block after block lay in ruins. Cars and trucks were left crumpled.

The National Weather Service estimated that the tornado reached up to a half-mile (.8 kilometers) wide and was an EF-4 on the enhanced five-point Fujita scale, the second most powerful type of twister.

In video footage, the dark funnel cloud moved slowly across the landscape, scattering shards of wood, pieces of insulation, shingles and glass over the streets.

The focus quickly turned to Plaza Towers Elementary School, where the storm tore off the roof, knocked down walls and turned the playground into a mass of twisted plastic and metal.

Several children were pulled alive from the rubble. Rescue workers passed them down a human chain to a triage center in the parking lot.

James Rushing, who lives across the street, heard reports of the approaching tornado and ran to the school, where his 5-year-old foster son, Aiden, attends classes. Rushing believed he would be safer there.

‘About two minutes after I got there, the school started coming apart,’ he said.

The students were put in the restroom.

US_tornado_image_295.jpgAfter the tornado roaded through, Tiffany Thronesberry said she got a panicked call from her mother, Barbara Jarrell.

‘I got a phone call from her screaming, ‘Help, help! I can’t breathe. My house is on top of me!” Thronesberry said. She hurried to her mother’s house, where first responders had already pulled her out with cuts and bruises.

Dangers remained. Downed power lines and open gas lines posed a risk Monday night, Police Capt. Dexter Nelson said.

The same suburb was hit hard by a tornado in 1999. That storm produced the highest winds ever recorded near the Earth’s surface – 302 mph (486 kph).

‘Oklahoma City has had more tornado strikes than any other city in the United States,’ the city government’s website says.

President Barack Obama called Fallin to express his concern

Thiruvananthapuram : Setting at rest speculation of an impending cabinet reshuffle of the UDF ministry which entered its third year in office, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today made it clear such an exercise was not in the agenda.

Speaking to reporters after meeting KPCC Chief Ramesh Chennithala here, he said a reshuffle was not on the cards now but there was a vacancy following the resignation of K B Ganesh Kumar, a nominee of Kerala Congress (B) who had held the Forest portfolio.

‘Ruling UDF will discuss the matter connected with filling the vacancy created by the resignation of Ganesh Kumar and a decision will be taken, Chandy said.

Asked whether Ganesh Kumar, who ran into trouble following a domestic discord, would return as minister, Chandy said it was not discussed during the meeting with Chennithala. Kumar, the lone KC(B) nominee in the ministry, resigned from the cabinet last month after his wife lodged a police complaint alleging domestic violence against him.

On media reports that Chennithala would join the cabinet with a plum portfolio, Chandy said he had not expressed a wish to do so.

‘During the meeting today also, he (Chennithala) did not give any hint to join the ministry’, he said adding it was for the KPCC chief to take a decision on that issue.

Chandy said the KPCC President’s post was a bigger position than a cabinet berth.

‘At no point of time was the matter of reshuffle or Chennithala joining the ministry discussed in the UDF but the media made its own reports,’ the Chief Minister said. Ever since UDF came to power in 2011, Chandy had said Chennithala could join the cabinet any time but that it was for him (Chennithala) and the high command to decide. Congress leaders have clearly indicated that the vacancy left by Kumar should be filled by a Congress nominee.

NEW DELHI: Visiting Chinese PM Li Keqiang pledged on Tuesday to open up domestic markets to Indian businesses and narrow a gaping trade deficit between the two countries.

‘As for Indian concerns over the trade deficit, the Chinese side is willing to provide facilitations for more Indian products to access the Chinese market,’ Li said during a speech to Indian business leaders in New Delhi.

‘I am confident we have the ability to mitigate the trade imbalance between our two countries,’ he added.

China is India’s largest trading partner, with two-way commerce totalling $66.5 billion last year. But trade is skewed significantly in China’s favour with the deficit totalling $29 billion in 2012, according to Chinese figures.

Li said China understood that balanced trade was crucial to good relations between the world’s two most populous countries.

‘China never has the intention to pursue a trade surplus. Only a dynamic trade balance is a sustainable trade relation,’ said the premier who is in India on his first foreign visit since taking office.

During his speech, Li reiterated China’s desire to build up trust with India after both sides agreed on Monday to work towards resolving a long-running border dispute in the Himalayas.

‘A peaceful and stable South Asia is consistent with China’s development interests and will enable China to focus on addressing problems at home,’ he said.

Thiruvananthapuram: All parties should come together to work for the development of Kerala and the Congress was willing to take the lead in starting such a dialogue, the party’s state president Ramesh Chennithala said Thursday.

Chennithala told reporters that he had said at the beginning of his month-long campaign of the state that there would be a change in political thinking once it ended.

‘We, the Congress party, are ready to join hands with all other parties for the upliftment of our state. We should work together for our state,’ Chennithala said.

He began his road tour April 18 and ends it at the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border near here Thursday night.

‘We have no hesitation in taking the lead in starting a dialogue with all other political parties and we wish to know if the CPI-M is ready for it,’ he said, referring to the main opposition party.

‘We want to move away from the conventional style in which parties work. We feel the need of the hour is to work for the needs of the people.’

The grand finale of the cross-state campaign, which would have passed through all 140 assembly constituencies, will be on Saturday evening when national party vice president Rahul Gandhi addresses party workers here.

Responding to reports that he might join the Oommen Chandy government, Chennithala said no such talks had taken place.

‘What Chandy said is true. If I wanted, I could have joined the cabinet before,’ said the veteran leader who has been president of the state unit for nine years.

He said the Congress, unlike the CPI-M, was open to criticism.

‘Yes, it’s true that Hindu social group leaders and minority community leaders do criticise… and while we are very soft on them, the CPI-M is not. We are open to criticism and maintain absolute calm because we are not a party that would gag those who take us on. This should not be seen as our weakness,’ said Chennithala.

On Saturday, the Chandy government celebrates its second anniversary. Speculation is rife that Chennithala will join Chandy’s cabinet, a move aimed at the majority Hindus in the state.