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Western Railway suspends six over Samalaya train mishap

     Ahmedabad: Western Railways has suspended two officials and four lower-level staff, charging them with dereliction of duty and negiligence in connection with Thursday's train collision at the Samalaya railway station. The collision between the Sabarmati Express and a stationary goods train resulted in the deaths of 17 people and injuries to 114 others. Western Railways Chief Public Relations Officer Shailendra Kumar said that the station master on duty, the assistant engineer (signal and telecom), the senior section engineer (signal), two signal maintainers posted at B-cabin and a helper had been suspended. The accident took place about 30 kms from Vadodara.

Manmohan calls for global solutions to fight terrorism (Go To Top)

     Jakarta: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said that the menace of terrorism could only be tackled through global solutions, and added that the absence of a consensual international order had created an atmosphere of insecurity worldwide. Addressing the plenary session of the 50th Afro-Asian summit here this morning, Dr. Singh said: "Our countries have their own distinct perspectives on measures to combat international terrorism. We are well-equipped to initiate and sustain meaningful dialogues among civilisations, instead of subscribing to the theory of the so-called clash of civilisations. Our voice must be heard in this regard." Dwelling on the challenges of pandemics like AIDS,HIV and the Avian Flu, he said these also needed to be tackled through global solutions. "The threat of pandemics such as avian flu, the challenges by HIV/AIDS, all require global solutions," Singh said. Leaders of the 106 countries attending the day-long summit were also told that the key to maximising the benefits of the opportunities offered to all from time to time lay in the creation of "new structures of mutual support, solidarity and cooperation." This application would "ensure benefit of best practices and appropriate technologies", and added that "along with opportunities, globalisation brings with it new challenges." "The globalisation of disease and the insecurity and the management of scarce natural resources are challenges that confront us. A cooperative and consensual international security order eludes us, and its consequence in insecurity, not common security," the Prime Minister said.

Manmohan meets Chinese President Jintao in Jakarta (Go To Top)

     Jakarta: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought equal trade opportunities with the developed world as he began parleys with other Asian leaders to forge greater trade ties, improve cooperation and overcome bitter rows, at the landmark Asia-Africa summit being held in Jakarta on Saturday. From staunch allies of the United States to fierce critics of Western dominance of world affairs, presidents, kings and ministers from 100 countries, many of them among the world's poorest, are in the Indonesian capital for the summit, which this year celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1955 conference, where the Third World sought to assert itself for the first time, inspiring the Non-Aligned Movement. The leaders struck what they called a historic deal to build economic and political links as the declaration, after two days of talks in Jakarta pledged to boost trade and investment ties and stressed multilateral approaches to solving conflicts. The "New Asian-African Strategic Partnership" will also seek to address issues such as terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and organised crime, the four-page declaration said. It commits countries to meeting internationally agreed targets for poverty eradication, development and growth. After his address to the summit plenary session, Singh met the Chinese President Hu Jintao. The meeting comes less than a month after the world's two most populous nations agreed on a roadmap to settle a decades-old border dispute and build a new "bridge of friendship." Singh and Chinese premier Wen Jiabao, had announced a cooperative and strategic partnership for peace and prosperity and inked several agreements from the border issue, to more passenger flights, expanded military cooperation and efforts to boost trade, earlier this month. Relations between the nuclear powers have been steadily improving, and their rapid emergence as economic superpowers forms a strong foundation for greater cooperation.

2 mln $ India aid to tsunami-hit Indonesian island  (Go To Top)

     Jakarta: Expressing solidarity and compassion with tsunami-hit residents of the Indonesian island of Nias in the country's North Sumatra province, the Indian Government has handed over two million dollars worth of aid for distribution. Reports reaching here said that the Indian Vice Consul in Medan, S.M.chakraborty, handed over the relief consignment to Rudolf Pardede, the Deputy Governor of North Sumatra. The aid is in the form of medicines, sugar, milk, cookies and oil, sources were quoted as saying.

Nepal should restore democracy: Manmohan Singh  (Go To Top)

     Jakarta: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh today met Nepal King Gyanendra and told him that he must resume dialogue with all political parties to restore multi-party democracy in the Himalayan Kingdom soon. On the question of how best to tackle the problem of insurgency in Nepal, Dr. Singh told the King that only dialogue offered the best route for a solution. Nepal has left over 11,000 dead in the last decade. Nepal was told to lift its emergency laws imposed since February 1, 2005. The dismissal the Nepalese Parliament. This was the first high level meeting between India and Nepal since February 1. On Friday, the Prime Minister said that, "Geography binds us together. We can choose our friends, not neighbours. Whatever happens in Nepal affects India directly. I will see how India's concerns are taken onboard, he added."

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