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Fire breaks out at Chennai railway station

      Chennai: Panic gripped passengers at Chennai's Central Railway Station on Sunday morning when a fire broke out here, disrupting railway services for some time. No causality was reported but the fire, which broke out at around 7.15 a.m., damaged a book shop and a computer centre at the station. Fire service personnel brought the fire under control within 30 minutes after reaching the spot, said officials. However, the blaze forced the railway authorities to delay departures and arrivals of some trains by about an hour.

PM to meet scientists on nuke deal (Go To Top)

     New Delhi: With pressure mounting on the Centre over certain "changes" in the Indo-US civil nuclear deal, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh is likely to meet the scientific community to address the doubts on the issue. The meeting is expected to take place sometime after the Independence Day where Dr Singh will explain government's view on the matter. "The Prime Minister has noted that a number of distinguished nuclear scientists, including former chairmen and members of the Atomic Energy Commission have been critical of the changes sought to be introduced in the July 2005 India-US framework", reported The Hindu. The paper further said, "The Prime Minister proposes to sit down with the critics and to explain the Government's view-point".

     It has also been observed that the doubts expressed by some of the scientists over the July 18, 2005 agreement, have helped to sustain the larger political opposition to the deal. The nuclear scientists have become all the more critical of the accord after the US Congress added some conditions to it. Those opposing the deal say New Delhi is submitting to tough conditions imposed by the US and compromising its nuclear security. However, Dr. Singh had earlier made it clear that India has the option not to accept the bill if it compromised with the July 18, 2005 agreement in any way. The Parliament is also scheduled to discuss the deal next week during which the Prime Minister would address the concerns over the deal. The draft bill was approved with an overwhelming 37-5 in the House International Relations Committee on June 26. However, the deal will take effect only when the Senate also passes a similar legislation later this year. The nuclear energy cooperation deal envisages to give India access to U.S. nuclear fuel and equipment despite not having to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Woman killed in Assam grenade attack (Go To Top)

      Guwahati: One woman was killed and seven others were wounded when ULFA rebels hurled a grenade on a crowd at a temple here yesterday. According to police, two youths of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA), who were on a motorcycle, threw a grenade at a crowd gathered near a temple in the Bamunimaidan area of the city. Police said that security had been stepped up around the city after the attack, and a search operation has been launched to nab the culprits. "We are making special security arrangements and we will try our best to prevent this type of incident (in the future). We will try our best to apprehend the cadres who are in the city. These type of incidences cannot be ruled out, so we are again and again cautioning common people," said Nitul Gogoi, Senior Superintendent of Police. "I was at a distance when I heard the blasts. It was around 7- 7.15 when I heard the blasts. Later, I avoided the place," said Sankar, a local. The injured were rushed to the Gawahati Medical College. Two policemen were killed on Friday by suspected ULFA rebels in an ambush at about 490 km east of Guwahati.

Jet Airways flight lands safely after snag (Go To Top)

      Mumbai: A London-Mumbai Jet Airways flight with 198 passengers, including four infants, was prevented from a major tragedy on Sunday after developing an engine problem. The Airbus A-340-300 had to make an emergency landing at the Sahar International Airport at around 12 noon after the pilot informed the Air Traffic Control (ATC) about the problem. All preparations were made at the airport to meet any eventuality, including fire brigade and ambulances being kept on stand by.

Budhhadev asks Centre to clarify stand on cola

     Chennai: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadev Bhattacharjee on Sunday asked Centre to clarify its position on the controversy surrounding the presence of pesticides in soft drinks. "Government of India will have to take a decision. If two three states ban (the sale of the soft drinks) they will just shift their business to other places. So our position is that the Indian government should come out with its decision," said Buddhadev. Though the Left-ruled Kerala has put a blanket ban on the Coca Cola and PepsiCo products in the wake of recent reports of pesticide traces in soft drinks, West Bengal Government has adopted a wait and watch policy. The Chief Minister said that the State Pollution Control Board was investigating the issue and would soon come out with a detailed report. The Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) in a report had stated that the presence of pesticides continues to exist in colas much beyond the permissible limit and that samples from Kolkata exhibited a much higher percentage of pesticides presence compared to the national average.

     Till date, five state governments have stopped the sale of the drinks manufactured by Coca Cola and PepsiCo at or near schools, colleges and hospitals after CSE said it had found pesticide residues in 57 samples of the two firms' products. Meanwhile, the companies have refuted the allegations saying that Cola-Cola soft drinks manufactured in India, met European Union purity standards for pesticides in bottled water. A similar study by the CSE in 2003 had briefly dented sales of the two companies' drinks when it reported levels of pesticide in excess of international standards, highlighting weak food safety laws in the country. The CSE had said it found pesticide levels of 11.85 parts per billion drinks tested in 12 Indian states, 24 times higher than limits agreed, but not yet enforced, by the Bureau of Indian Standards.

Rape accused Barnala's son in custody (Go To Top)

      Chandigarh: A court here on Sunday remanded Gaganjit Singh Barnala, the son of Tamil Nadu Governor Surjit Singh Barnal, to a day's police custody on charges of raping a domestic help. Judicial magistrate Atul Marya pronounced the order here. Gaganjit, Shiromani Akali Dal-Badal (SAD-B) MLA from Punjab's Dhuri constituency, was arrested on Saturday night following a complaint lodged by the victim, who had been working in his house as a masseur. The 45-year-old servant in her complaint said that she was raped by the MLA at his hostel residence in Sector-3. The 44-year-old Gaganjit is married and was elected MLA for the first time.

Ceasefire in Middle East(Go To Top)

     East Beirut (Lebanon): As the Israeli cabinet backed the truce deal on Sunday evening, the Middle East would finally see the end of gun fires and air strikes from 0500 GMT on Monday. The ceasefire accepted both by Israel and the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah would come into force tomorrow morning ending the four-week long crises in this part of the world for the time being. Endorsing a UN Security Council resolution by a 24-0 vote with one abstention, the Israeli cabinet however said that it would not leave the parts held by them in southern Lebanon until peacekeepers are deployed in the region. Sunday witnessed a spurt in the attack as Hezbollah fired 150 rockets into the Israeli territory even though Israel fighter planes continued bombing southern Lebanese city of Tyre. Thought he ceasefire may come into force there are apprehensions that minor attack would continue in the southern part of Lebanon as Hezbollah has warned the Israeli troops to leave the place as early as possible and that they would continue attacking till "last Israeli soldier has left Lebanese soil'.

     Meanwhile, UN said that it would take them ten days more to deploy peacekeeping force in the region. Earlier, Lebanese Government and Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah endorsed the UNSC resolution that called for a ""a full cessation of hostilities", and UN and Lebanese troops to replace Israeli forces in southern Lebanon. Resolution 1701 also called for immediate end to attacks on the Israeli troops by the Hezbollah, while Israel must end "offensive military operations" in Lebanese territory. Other key points included were: a.) 15,000 peacekeeping troops for the existing UN Interim Force in Lebanon, which will receive a mandate to monitor and enforce the ceasefire b.) Lebanese Government to deploy troops to the south of the country, previously that were held by Hezbollah fighters. c.) Israel required withdrawing troops currently in southern Lebanon as UN and Lebanese forces are deployed. More than 1,000 Lebanese and close to 120 Israelis have been killed so far in the conflict that erupted after the Hezbollah militants captured two Israeli soldiers on July 12.

'Rice is slowly getting left out in cold' (Go To Top)

      Washington: On January 28, 2005 when Condoleezza Rice became US' 66th Secretary of State, President George W. Bush while praising her "abiding belief in the power of democracy" had called her as the right person to fill the "big shoes left by the outgoing Secretary Colin Powell". But after two and half years, Rice is experiencing 'exclusion' and marginalisation. Ironically, the current effort to sideline Rice comes in the wake of her support for diplomatic negotiations with Iran to prevent its development of nuclear weaponry. According to former advisor to Bill Clinton, Sidney Blumenthal, a powerful and a strong lobby of neo-conservatives are leaving no stone unturned to "Dump Condi", as a sustained campaign to leave her powerless strolls through the Capitol Hill. "Confused, ineffectual and incapable of filling her office with power, Rice has become the voodoo doll that Powell was in the first term. Even her feeble and counterproductive gestures toward diplomacy leave her open to the harshest attacks from neo- conservatives", wrote Blumenthal in an article.

     Quoting extensively from the July 25 edition of the rightwing Insight Magazine, Blumenthal wrote: "Conservative national security allies of President Bush are in revolt against Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, saying that she is incompetent and has reversed the administration's national security and foreign- policy agenda". Neo-conservatives highly critical of 'let's talk' policy presently followed by Rice and her subordinates vis-`-vis Iran and the ongoing Mid-East crisis, have earned the State Department officials wrath from Newt Gingrich, a frontrunner for the Presidential elections from the Republican party. Gingrich recently went on to say on records: "We are in the early stages of World War III," adding, "Our bureaucracies are not responding fast enough. We don't have the right attitude." Gingrich though have avoided directly attacking Rice, but in a hyphenated assault on the current President's diplomatic policy said that the present dispensation was sending signals that no matter how much you would provoke us, no matter how viciously would you describe things in public, no matter how many things you would be doing with missiles and nuclear weapons, the most you would get out of US was talk. However, in spite of vitriolic criticisms that the White House is earning "Condoleezza's influence on the President is undiminished", Blumenthal states.

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