Two
firemen killed in Delhi blaze
New
Delhi: Two firemen were killed and dozens more injured
as a blazing building in New Delhi's biggest furniture market
collapsed early on Friday. Officials said most of the two-dozen
people trapped under the debris have been rescued but for
a few who could still be inside. The massive blaze began
from a timber warehouse in the wee hours of the morning
and quickly spread to the wood-laden shops in the region.
Over 40 fire tenders are battling the still raging blaze
and fear a few more building could still crumble. The area
has been evacuated but hundreds of curious locals defied
safety warning and peered from rooftops at the inferno.
"There are many reasons. Some one is saying it was short
circuit, there could be other reasons as well. Because it
was a wood godown (warehouse), it was very sensitive. Our
teams are working and after cleaning the area we will inquire
about the reason behind it," Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
B.L Joshi, who rushed to site to oversee rescue and relief
said. Spread across several acres, the congested mart has
hundreds of godowns, retail shops and even homes, crammed
into the largely unorganised space. New Delhi, home to a
massive migrant population, has numerous such shop clusters
wedged between skyscrapers, plush bungalows and apartments.
Lt
Gen Thakur new VC (Go
To Top)
New
Delhi: The Vice Chief of the Army Staff Lt General Shantonu
Choudhry today retired from service after 41 years of dedicated
service to the nation. Lt General BS Thakur, the Commander
in Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command, succeeds him.
Gen Choudhry who was commissioned into the army in the Regiment
of Artillery on September 27, 1963 today morning paid homage
at the Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate and later inspected
a Guard of Honour at the lawns of the South Block.
An
alumnus of the National Defence Academy and the Defence
Service Staff College Wellington, Gen Choudhry held various
Command, Staff and Instructor appointments in his illustrious
career, including serving as Director Military Operations
and Additional Director General Military Intelligence at
the Army Headquarters, as an Instructor at the Defence Services
Staff College, Wellington and as General Officer Commanding
of a Counter Insurgency Force in Kashmir. His successor
Lt General Thakur who was commissioned in to the Central
India Horse (Armoured Corps) on June 27, 1965 is the first
army officer to head the Tri Service Command. He has also
held important instructional appointments at the Armoured
Corps Center and School, Nigerian Defence Academy (Koduna,
Nigeria) and School of Artillery, Deolali. His other appointments
include Deputy Military Adviser to the Chief of the Army
Staff, Additional Director General Military Operations in
Military Operations Directorate and Chief of Staff in Headquarters
ARTRAC and GOC of a strike corps.
Meanwhile,
the army also appointed Lt General Arvind Sharma as the
new GOC-in-C Eastern Command and Lt General S. Pattabhiraman
as the new GOC-in-C Western Command. While Lt General Aditya
Singh has been appointed as the Commander in Chief of the
Andaman and Nicobar Command, Lt General Charanjit Singh
has been appointed as the Director General Artillery at
the Army Headquarters today.
Pak
court sentences Indian to death for bomb attack (Go
To Top)
Islamabad:
The Mirpur District Criminal Court in Pakistan has awarded
10 death sentences to an Indian for carrying out a bomb
attack in Pakistan. The jury consisting of Sessions Judge
Abdul Rasheed Sulehriya and District Qazi Maqboolur Rehman
also awarded the convicted 14 years of rigorous imprisonment
along with a fine of 50,000 rupees for possessing explosives.
According to the Daily Times, Shabir who hails from the
state of Jammu and Kashmir had reportedly carried out the
bomb attack on December 17, 1999 in the town of Islamgarh
near Mirpur. Officials have claimed that Shabir arrested
from a village in Kotli, close to the Pakistani side of
the Line of Control, in reality worked for the Indian intelligence.
Benazir
Bhutto reunites with husband in Dubai after eight years
(Go
To Top)
Karachi:
Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto had an
emotional reunion with her husband Asif Ali Zardari in Dubai
after he was freed from eight years in jail and allowed
to travel abroad, officials said today. Zardari flew in
last night to the United Arab Emirates, where his wife is
in self-imposed exile to avoid graft charges in Pakistan,
and was greeted by his son Bilawal and members of his wife's
Pakistan People's Party. According to Dawn, there were highly
emotional scenes at the airport when Bilawal hugged his
father, a party spokesman said. He then went to his Dubai
residence where Bhutto and other family members were waiting
for him. "This will be the first New Year the family will
celebrate together for eight years," party spokesman Aijaz
Durrani told foreign news agency. On Thursday, a large number
of Pakistan People's Party leaders and activists thronged
the Jinnah Terminal to see him off. "Finally, I am going
to see my family. I am grateful to God. I will welcome the
new year with my family and the first thing I am going to
do is to perform Umra with my family," Zardari told reporters.
The
50-year-old PPP leader, who was arrested on November 5,
1996, in the Punjab Governor's House following the dismissal
of the Benazir government by then President Farooq Leghari,
was released on November 12. Zardari, who was initially
detained under the Maintenance of Public Order (MPO), was
first arrested in the Mir Murtaza Bhutto murder case in
November 1996, after the high court set aside his detention
under MPO. Later, he was charge-sheeted in the container
case, Justice Nizam murder case, attempt to commit suicide
case, Alam Baloch murder case, SGC reference, ARY Gold reference,
tractor reference, Sajjad Ali murder case, Polo Ground reference
and BMW reference. Out of the 17 cases, Zardari was acquitted
in four and one of the cases was quashed. He was granted
bail in rest of the cases before he was set free. Zardari,
represented by Shahadat Awan, was acquitted in two cases
of attempt to suicide and in the Sajjad Hussain Shah murder
case.
Eight
Maoists, two civilians killed in Nepal (Go
To Top)
Kathmandu:
At least eight Maoist rebels and two civilians have
been killed in three separate incidents in the ongoing bloody
civil war in Nepal, police said today. According to The
News, five rebels were killed in a clash with the security
forces at Mrigauliya in Dhanusa district southeast of Kathmandu
while another three were killed in a similar clash at Dahagadi
in Makwanpur district, south of the capital, early on Friday,
a police spokesman said. In yet another incident, two civilians
were killed on Thursday night when the Maoists allegedly
caught them spying, the spokesman said.
