Ajitabh
Bachchan's Vashi factory gutted
Mumbai:
A major fire totally gutted down a factory on the outskirts
of Mumbai late on Thursday. The fire broke out at the factory
of Reliance Silicon Private Ltd, believed to be owned by
Amitabh Bachchan's younger brother, Ajitabh, and is located
at Koparkhairane in Navi Mumbai. The fire engulfed the factory
on Thane-Belapur road at around 8.45 p.m. As many as 25
fire engines and water tankers from Vashi, Airoli, CBD Belapur,
Kalamboli, Panvel and Thane were pressed into service to
douse out the fire, the exact cause of which, is yet to
be determined. Fire fighters and engines from nearby factories
viz NOCIL, Herdiliya and Deepak fertilizers were also summoned.
"We reached the spot immediately. The fire was huge. We
first diverted the highway traffic and cut off all electric
lines to avoid any further casualty," said Punjab Ubale,
an assistant police commissioner. According to eyewitnesses,
there was a loud sound like blast after which the fire engulfed
the factory completely. "There was a loud noise. We came
out to see that the factory was on fire. The fire tenders
are trying their best but they are unable to bring the fire
under control," said Sanjay Kumar Avhad. "We were having
food when we heard the noise. We came out and saw that the
factory was on fire," said Nasir Ahmed There were no human
casualties. The factory manufactures silicon- based chemicals,
used for textile-finishing, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.
RSIL was incorporated in 1979 for manufacturing silicones
and other downstream products and went into commercial production
in April 1981.
Two
blasts in Laos, two days ahead of Indian PM visit (Go
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New
Delhi: External Affairs Minister K.Natwar Singh will
arrive tonight in Vientiane, two days ahead of the Prime
Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, for the INDIA-ASEAN Summit
amidst a heightened security alert in the Laotian capital.
The Indian Prime Minister departs for Laos on Sunday 28th
amidst security jitters caused by two midnight blasts in
the South East Asian nation, which is playing host to heads
of government and state of 10 member nations of ASEAN as
well as the Chinese and Japanese premiers. The two blasts,
apparantly engineered by ethnic minority rebels, damaged
a compound wall of an unused govenment building which was
supposed to be a satellite receiving station but had never
been used since being completed four years ago. The area
is near the Friendship Bridge on Mekong River, which separates
Laos from Thailand. Two bombs had exploded near the bridge
on November 9, but there were no injuries. Security concerns
had threatend to disrupt Lao's turn in the international
spotlight. It remains to be seen whether any cancellations
take place as a result of these blasts. As of now, the Communist
regime has guaranteed security with over 6000 extra policemen
having been deployed in the capital. Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh will be in Vientiane from November 28 to 30 and will
sign the India-ASEAN Peace Progress and Shared Prosperity
Partnership document during 3rd India-ASEAN Summit meeting.
India became a summit level partner of the ASEAN in 2002
in Phnom Penh. The Prime Minister will also have one-to-one
meetings with several ASEAN heads of government. uction
of tariffs by both countries on 82 items.
Asif
Zardari reunites with his kids after 8 years (Go
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Lahore:
It was indeed a poignant and emotional moment on Thursday
when Asif Ali Zardari, former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto's
husband, met his three children for the first time after
eight years. According to the Daily Times, Zardari, who
was recently released from jail, met his son Bilawal and
daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa during the course of the day.
Bilawal arrived in Karachi on Thursday morning while his
two sisters landed in the city in the afternoon. Zardari
was arrested on November 5, 1996 from Governor's House in
Lahore. After his arrest, the Ehtesab Bureau headed by Senator
Saifur Rehman, kept him at undisclosed locations for interrogation.
Later, he was sent to jail where his children, who were
very young at the time, used to visit him once a month.
His wife, Benazir Bhutto, left the country with her children
in 1998 and set up base in Dubai. From 1998 to 2003, Mr
Zardari's children had not been able to see him. The government
permitted him to meet his children on Eid and they celebrated
two Eids together, once at Ziauddin Hospital in Karachi
and the second at Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences
in Islamabad. His children were not allowed to spend more
than three days with their father.
Nepali
forces smash rebel camps in Paduan (Go
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Paduan:
Nepalese armed forces have reportedly smashed Maoist
rebel camps in Paduan in the western half of the kingdom,
even as Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba has given the
Maoists a January 13 deadline for entering into peace talks.
January 13 marks the end of the month in the Nepali calendar.
Violence has surged since peace talks failed last year when
rebels demanded elections for an assembly that would decide
the future of the monarchy and prepare a new constitution.
The Nepalese army said on Wednesday it had killed more than
300 rebels and lost 10 soldiers at the weekend in west Nepal
in the bloodiest clash since a temporary ceasefire ended
last month. There was no immediate comment from the guerrillas,
who have demanded the United Nations or an international
human rights organisation mediate the talks. The government
says this is not necessary at the moment.
"This was the area from where the troops attacked. It was
a four-phased attack. This is the place where they were
stationed and we were coming from donwnstairs. Before the
attack commenced, we had placed our support weapons down
and when the first bullet was fired then the supporting
weapons started firing. After that the troops assaulted.
The more you walk around, the more bodies you will find,"
Major General Rajendra Thapa of the Royal Nepal Army said
in Panduan village, where the operation took place. "The
main reason is our training, the determination of the soldiers
who fought, immense bravery. As you can see the terrain,
even if one stone rolls down, it will certainly injure lot
of people," he added. For the locals meanwhile, facing continued
harassment for food, shelter and money by the rebels, the
flush out has come as major relief. "We were in trouble
every time they came and ask us to cook rice and sometimes
even ask us to carry the food load for them. Because of
that we had to starve ourselves and no food was left for
us," a local woman said. "They all come during the night,
at all the odd hours and order us to cook for them, it is
a torture for us," another local woman added.
Peace with the Maoists, fighting since 1996 to replace Nepal's
constitutional monarchy with a communist republic, is key
to any election in Nepal, which has been without an elected
parliament since 2002 because of rebel threats. Rebel cooperation
would be needed for voting to take place in large areas
of the country under their control. Deuba, 57, reappointed
in June less than two years after King Gyanendra fired him
for failing to tackle the revolt and hold elections then
set for November 2002, said he was committed to end the
eight-year-old revolt through negotiations. Deuba also faces
sustained and sometimes violent street protests by opposition
parties who insist on the revival of the disbanded parliament,
saying national elections are not possible because of the
conflict. Four opposition parties represented in the dissolved
parliament have vowed to resume anti-government protests
from Friday to press King Gyanendra to fire Deuba and name
an all-party government.
DoT
imposes Rs 1.5 billion penalty on Reliance Infocomm (Go
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New
Delhi: The Department of Telecom(DoT) today imposed
a penalty of 1.5 billion rupees on Reliance Infocomm for
violating licence conditions by routing international calls
as local ones. The Department has presently given Reliance
seven days to respond to its notice asking the company to
cite reasons as to why the penalty should not be imposed.
This penalty is besides the payment of about Rs 100 crore
made by Reliance to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) against
a claim of over 255 crore rupees for avoiding payment of
Access Deficit Charge (ADC) of 4.25 rupees per minute on
incoming international calls, and another 309 crore rupees
levied under the same scheme by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam
Ltd (MTNL).
As per reports, the DoT took the decision to impose the
penalty after seeking legal opinion from the Law Ministry,
even as Reliance had submitted its reply to DoT's first
show cause notice on October 20. Meanwhile, Reliance had
also approached the Delhi High Court seeking to restrain
BSNL from disconnecting the Points of Interconnection till
the final outcome of the controversy of routing of calls.
However, though the Delhi High Court had agreed to Reliance's
demand, BSNL challenged Delhi High Court's order and filed
a Special Leave Petition in the Supreme Court saying the
High Court does not have the jurisdiction to entertain such
case as per the TRAI Act. The case is slated to be heard
on December 3. As per the licensing conditions, DoT can
slap a penalty to the tune of 50 crore rupees for each circle
for the first offence and even take the action of cancelling
the licence in case the operator continues to violate them.
Reliance officials have nevertheless confirmed the receipt
of the notice and said the company would seek extension
of the time period.
ICC
lifts ban on Saurav (Go
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Mumbai:
The International Cricket Council(ICC) today removed
the two-Test ban on Indian cricket captain Sourav Ganguly,
thereby allowing him to lead the team in the Kolkata Test
starting November 28. ICC Chief Executive Officer Malcolm
Speed today informed the BCCI on ICC's decision to lift
the ban on the Indian captain. "We have received a communication
to this effect from Speed. Ganguly is free to play now,"
Board Secretary S K Nair said. Earlier Sourav was slapped
a two-Test suspension by ICC Match Referee Clive Lloyd for
India's slow over rate in the Platinum Jubilee one-dayer
against Pakistan in Kolkata on November 13, following which
Sourav appealed against the decision citing frequent changing
of the ball, the heavy due and injury to Pakistan batsman
Salman Butt as the reasons for the delay. The ICC appointed
New Zealand lawyer Tim Castle as the Appeals Commissioner
to hear the Indian captain's appeal. Sourav was however,
allowed to play the first Test against South Africa in Kanpur
last week pending the hearing, which was done via a teleconference
yesterday. Ganguly who was visibly happy at the lifting
of the two-match ban on him by the ICC, said, that he was
looking forward to the second Test against South Africa
with a 'fresh mind'. "I am happy and relieved. Now I will
go into the second Test from Sunday with fresh mind," said
Sourav.
John
Wright defends use of three spinners (Go
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Kolkata:
India may field three spinners in the second and the
final test match against South Africa to be played at the
Eden Gardens in Kolkata from Sunday. Talking to reporters
here on the sidelines of a practice session, coach John
Wright defended India's decision to opt for only one fast
bowler in the drawn first match in Kanpur. Captain Saurav
Ganguly, a casual off-break bowler, opened with Zaheer Khan
before India unleashed its spin trio -- Anil Kumble, Harbhajan
Singh and Murali Kartik. "My theory is, in India at some
stage on the fourth or fifth day you expect wickets to turn
and sometimes that happens a little bit earlier and that's
not a bad thing because that's what is known about the Indian
cricket. It's been strong with spinners and it has beautiful
batsmen that can play spin really well but also I personally
did not like a game that's decided on a toss.I think that
the first two or three days is a sort out , you want conditions
that everyone can get a bit out of. There 's is a bit in
for the fast bowlers perhaps it less in India generally
than others parts of the world where the batters can get,
score runs and play good cricket," said Wright. India will
be looking to Anil Kumble, who could leave the 120,000-capacity
Eden Gardens as the country's highest test wicket-taker,
to buck the trend with an inspired performance. The 34-year-old
leg-spinner is four scalps short of Kapil Dev's Indian record
434 going into his 90th test.
