Jaipur: Two days after a massive fire broke out at the IOC fuel depot near Jaipur, the flames died down in five of the 11 storage tanks even as three more bodies were recovered from the site on Saturday, taking the toll to nine.
Chief Fire Officer Ishwarlal Jat said that the flames in four tanks died in the wee hours and in the fifth one this afternoon.
The fires in the remaining six tanks -- three each of diesel and petrol -- and the thick black smoke emanating from them would probably die down tomorrow as the fuel quantity was constantly declining, he said.
Police said the three bodies recovered from the site in Sitapura Industrial area this morning have been identified as that of IOC employees Harish Gangal, S K Saroh and Pramod Kumar, SHO Sanganer Sadar police station Subodh Sharma said.
Meanwhile, the sudden sound of a siren in the industrial area this forenoon created a flutter and panic as residents came out of their houses and security personnel of the IOC and policemen rushed to nearby stations, the police said.
Later it was detected that the sound came from a IOC-gas pipeline station due to the low pressure created, they said, adding there was no untoward incident.
Don't politicise my Arunachal visit, Dalai tells China
TOKYO: Ahead of his proposed visit to Arunachal Pradesh, the Dalai Lama today hit out at China for opposing his trip to the state saying it was"politicising too much" the issue as he was going there solely for teaching.
The Tibetan spiritual leader said he was surprised and saddened by China's criticism of his visit to Tawang monastery in Arunachal Pradesh.
"I was surprised at China's criticism. If my visit creates problem, I am very sad, that's all," the Tibetan leader, on a visit here told journalists, implying that he intends to go ahead with his visit on November 8.
"The Chinese government politicises too much wherever I go. Where I go is not political," the 74-year old Nobel Peace Prize winner said.
Contending that he was travelling to Arunachal in connection with teaching his beliefs, the Dalai Lama said Tawang held great memories for him as this was his first stop 50 years ago when he was forced to flee Tibet, Kyodo said.
India and China were recently engaged in a verbal spat over Dalai Lama's proposed visit to Arunachal over which China lays claim.
China objected to his visit, but India rejected the objection, saying the Tibetan leader was free to travel anywhere in India.
New Delhi, however, has made it clear that the Dalai Lama is not supposed to indulge in political activities or discuss India-China boundary question.
Train youths to fight terrorists: J&K 'braveheart' Rukhsana
RAJOURI (J&K): A day after militants carried out a revenge attack on her house, Rukhsana Kausar, who became a household name after she slayed a LeT ultra recently, today said youths should be imparted training in fighting terror.
"These militants are very powerful... I feel young boys and girls should be imparted proper training so that they can drive militants away," she said.
"The training will enable the youth to handle firearms if need arises," Rukhsana said.
"Yesterday, they (militants) tried to attack my house. They want to burn my house," the 21-year-old girl said voicing concern about the safety of her family.
Trying to exact revenge, militants last night hurled two grenades at Rukhsana's house in Rajouri, but none was hurt.
Militants also fired at her house at Bhatti, a remote hamlet in Shadra-Sharief belt, at around 1045 hours.
Neither Rukhsana nor any member of her family was present at the house at the time of twin strikes.
The vengeance attack came over a month after she along with her brother Aijaz, aged 18, overpowered the LeT militants who had barged into their house, snatched an AK 47 from one of them and fired at him killing him instantly.
The remarkable courage of Rukhsana, who had never picked up a gun before the September 27 incident, came in for praise from President Pratibha Patil and Home Minister P Chidambaram during their visits to Jammu and Kashmir.
No change in my leadership: Yeddyurappa
Bangalore/New Delhi: Putting up a brave face amid stepped up dissident activities against him, Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa asserted that he will not be removed from the post.
"There is no dissidence in BJP. The only demand is that Assembly speaker Jagadish Shettar should be given some suitable position. He would be made a minister," he said after performing special pooja for Lord Subramanya.
Yeddyurappa claimed there would be no change in his leadership which has been amply made clear by party leader Arun Jaitley, who was rushed here for patch-up efforts but failed to broker a truce between the warring factions.
"Jaitley himself has praised my leadership and my Government's working," he said even as both the camps were engaged in the numbers game.
Legislators loyal to Yeddyruappa joined the "number game race" claiming that their camp enjoyed the support of 85 members while rebels asserted they have 80 MLAs 80 on their side. The BJP legislature party has 117 members.
"Some of the MLAs whose support the rebels are claiming are actually with Yeddyurappa," Labour Minister B N Bacchegowda told reporters after releasing a list of 85 MLAs including Yeddyurappa to counter the dissidents' claim that their numbers were swelling.
However, sources in the dissident camp, which is trying to project Shettar as an alternative to Yeddyurappa, claimed the numbers have shot up to 80 from 67. More than 60 MLAs have been shifted to Hyderabad and Goa by rebel leader and Tourism Minister Janardhana Reddy, sources said.
Indian Business News
Sensex dips below the 16K level
The 30-share benchmark Sensex plunged 10 per cent in two weeks to fall below the psychological level of 16,000 points even as the market showed signs of a further slide ahead on growing concerns of a likely interest rate hike after the RBI raised inflation projection.
Heavy losses after the market touched more than its 17-month high of 17,493.17 on Diwali `muhurat' trading on October 17 is seen by analysts as a healthy correction to the overbought market.
In the week to October 31, the Bombay Stock Exchange tumbled by 914.53 points or 5.44 per cent to end the week at an eight-week low of 15,896.28 from its last week's close, while it recorded a 10 per cent fall or that of 1,596 points from the `muhurat' trading high.
The broader 50-share Nifty of the National Stock Exchange also dropped by 285.
ATF fuel prices hiked by Rs 3,400
NEW DELHI: State-owned oil firms today hiked jet fuel prices by nine per cent to over Rs 39,000 per kilolitre following a spurt in international oil rates.
Aviation Turbine Fuel prices will be increased by an average of Rs 3,400 per kilolitre effective midnight tonight, an official of the Indian Oil Corp (IOC), the nation's largest oil firm, said.
IOC, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum had for three consecutive fortnights reduced ATF rates mostly because international oil prices had eased and rupee strengthened against US dollar.
In three cuts, jet fuel prices in Delhi came down to Rs 36,188.27 per kl from Rs 39,188 at the beginning of September.
The hike announced today would negate all the cuts and ATF prices would be back to their September levels.
The official said the new rates at the four metros were being worked out and will be announced later.
The three oil firms revise jet fuel prices on the first and the 16th day of every month based on the average global oil price in the previous fortnight.
Indian Sports News|Sports News
India restrict Australia to 229 for five
New Delhi: India contained Australia to 229 for five in the third cricket one-dayer despite Michael Hussey's rollicking unbeaten 81 and Ricky Ponting's fighting half century on a tricky pitch here on Saturday.
Electing to bat after winning the toss, The Aussies found, the runs difficult to come by on a slow Feroze Shah Kotla track.
Michael Hussey and Ricky Ponting (59) relied on their experience to score the bulk of the runs for the visitors, who have now left India to score at an asking rate of 4.40 runs per over to take a 2-1 lead in the series.
While Shane Watson (41) also chipped in with a useful contribution, none of the other Australian batsmen could hang around for long on a pitch which was not conducive for strokeplay.
Ponting, opening the innings for only the second time in his career, and Shane Watson provided a solid start to the innings with both the batsmen playing cautiously on the slow track.
Watson, however, began on an aggressive note by square cutting paceman Praveen Kumar to the point boundary in the last ball of the opening over of the day.
Both Ponting and Watson curbed their natural strokeplay and took their time to adjust to the bounce of the pitch, which had produced a number of low-scoring matches during the recent Champions League.
Praveen Kumar and Ashish Nehra bowled a tidy opening spell but never looked menacing as the two Australian batsmen negotiated them with ease, prompting Indian captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni to introduce spinner Ravindra Jadeja as early as in the 11th over.
India thrash Thailand 15-0, one win away from semis
BANGKOK: Rani Ramphal led the charge with six goals as Indian eves inched closer to the semi-final by thrashing hosts Thailand 15-0 at the Women's Asia Cup hockey tournament at the Queen Sikrit Sports Centre on Saturday.
With six points from two matches, India is now a win away from cementing their place in the knock-out stage and they have to beat either Malaysia or China in the next group outings.
India earlier steamrolled novice Singapore 13-0 in their campaign-opener on Thursday.
Ramphal won the hearts of sparse but appreciating crowd present at the ground with dazzling display and deft stick-works. After finding the back of the net twice in first half, Ramphal sounded the board four times more in the second session of the match.
Veterans Mamta Kharab and Saba Anjum accounted for three goals each, while captain Surinder Kaur, Ritu Rani and Monika Bardan also joined the party with one goal each.
Ritu first sounded the board as India surged ahead in the 11th minute, followed by another by Mamta in the first half.
Ramphal then ravaged the porous Thailand defence-line to bring her overall tally in the tournament to eight, three adrift of Korea's Seul Ki Cheon.
Although a rustic India struggled midway through in the first half, Mamta showed her class with a deft drive off their fourth penalty corner to break the deadlock.
India was leading 6-0 during the break. Mamta scored a brace early in the second half also to swell the lead, which opened the floodgate for India.
India's chief coach MK Kaushik introduced fresh legs in the second half and gave chance to the young players like S Sunila Kiro, Mukta Barla, Vartika and Moika Bardan.
"Fielding youngsters is worth doing. We would have liked to score 20 goals and thus put the Chinese under pressure. But over all, I am happy with the performance," Kaushik said after the match.
India, after two days rest, will play China on Tuesday and Malaysia the next day. But Surinder's team is expected to sail through with Malaysia standing 10 rungs below in world ranking to India's 14th.
Meanwhile, defending champion Japan crushed Sri Lanka 20-0, while Korea defeated Hong Kong 10-0.
China opened their campaign in the tournament with a 13-0 facile victory over Singapore.
Saina, Jwala-Diju lose in French Super Series quarters
NEW DELHI: Indian challenge ended in the French Super Series badminton tournament after Saina Nehwal and the mixed doubles pair of Jwala Gutta and V Diju crashed out with respective quarter-final defeats in Paris.
Eighth seed Saina squandered a first-game lead to go down to top seed Chinese Wang Lin 21-15, 11-21, 15-21 in a 49-minute hard fought battle in women's singles on Friday.
The sixth seeded Indian pair of Jwala and Diju also played their heart out before going down to the Indonesian combo of Nova Widianto and Liliyana Natsir 21-6, 20-22, 10-21 in 42 minutes.
Saina played better at the nets but she couldn't negotiate the powerful smashes of her opponent, who scored 14 points compared to the Indian's nine.
In the first game, Saina opened a 5-0 lead and pushed Lin to the back foot who was left to do the catch up act till the end.
However, the Chinese bounced back in the second game and first opened a 3-0 lead and then widened it from 3-2 to 10-2 before pocketing the game.
In the decider, the Hyderabadi failed to raise her game and after being tied 2-2, Lin moved ahead as Saina's game crumbled.
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