Fire devastates flower market in Kolkata

A devastating fire destroyed at least 236 shops at Asia's largest wholesale flower market in the commerical hub of Burrabazar here on Friday night.
There was, however, no casualty in the blaze which was brought under control after three hours, fire brigade sources said.

The police said at least 236 shops were destroyed by the fire in Jagannath Ghat near historic Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu).
Fire Brigade sources said 16 fire tenders were pressed into service to contain the blaze that started at around 8-30 pm at Jagannath Ghat beside Strand Road.
Police sources said a gas cylinder burst could have triggered the fire.
Strong wind from the Hoogly river helped the fire spread fast, City Police Commissioner Goutam Mohan Chakraborty said.

South Africa crumble as Ishant strikes

The final session of the opening day's play in the third Test between India and South Africa, at the Green Park in Kanpur on Friday, was torturous for both the teams; a battle of attrition. But, at the end of it, it was the hosts who walked away with a slight advantage. The visitors frittered away a good start and were dismissed for 265 in 83.5 overs.
Ishant Sharma and Harbhajan Singh picked three wickets each, after Neil McKenzie (36), Graeme Smith (69) and Hashim Amla (51) had given the South Africans a good start.
South Africa paid the price for not taking their chances. Some reckless batting and impatience saw them surrender the ascendancy they established in the morning. The Indians, after the early suffering, capitalized on their chances and did well to finish things off.

Stock Market resilient to 3 year high Inflation

The market is showing resilience and trading steady despite poor inflation numbers. Sensex is trading at 15807, up 112 points and Nifty is at 4771, up 38 points from the previous close. The CNX Midcaps index is up 0.25% and BSE Smallcaps index is up 0.50%. The market breadth is positive with advances at 687 against declines of 449 on the NSE.It was quite contradictory to what we saw last Friday when the market immediately reacted and the sensex fell to over 500 points.

17 killed as bus falls into a Ravine in Uttarakhand

17 persons were killed and four injured on Thursday when a bus fell into a deep gorge in this district of Uttarakhand.
The private bus, carrying nearly 40 passengers, was going to Vikasnagar from Tyuni area when the incident occurred at Kuanu area.
Senior police officials along with rescue teams have rushed to the site of the accident.An official statement said that 17 bodies have been recovered.
Chief Minister B C Khanduri expressed grief at the incident and directed local District Magistrate Dehradun Rakesh Kumar to immediately provide financial assistance to the next of kin of the deceased and medical facility to the injured.
The injured have been taken to nearby hospitals.

Kajol Bereaved

Kajol's father Shomu Mukherjee passed away in Mumbai on Thursday morning. He was 75.
The filmmaker had not been keeping well for some time, and died of a heart attack around 8 am.Shomu is survived by his wife, actress Tanuja and two daughters, Kajol and Tanisha.
Son of Shashidhar Mukherjee, the famous Bollywood film producer of the 1950s, Shomu produced and directed films like Chaliya Babu, Patthar Ke Insaan, Lover Boy and Nanha Shikhari in the 1980s. He was also one of the owners of the famous Filmalya studio.The last film that he directed was Sangdhil Sanam in 1994.
The untimely demise comes at a time when his son-in-law Ajay Devgan's debut directorial film U Me Aur Hum is releasing on April 11.

Wisden Award For Zaheer Khan

Zaheer Khan's series-winning performance in England in 2007 has been recognised by Wisden Cricketers' Almanack, which has named him one of its Five Cricketers of the Year. Zaheer, who is the 13th Indian player to be named in the elite list, has broken a five-year drought of Indians being absent from the list -- VVS Laxman was the last Indian to make it to the list in 2002.
Zaheer picked up 18 wickets at an average of 20.33 in the three-Test series in England, as the Rahul Dravid-side, posted the first series win by an Indian team in that country since 1986. On his part, Zaheer credits his stint with Worcestershire in 2006 as the main reason for his success in England.
Zaheer, who had to return during the early part of India's tour of Australia because of injury, has also missed out on the ongoing three-Test series against South Africa at home. He will next be seen in action doing duty for Bangalore Royal Challengers during the first season of the Indian Premier League, which starts on April 18.
The other four cricketers who have joined Zaheer in the Wisden list are Ian Bell, Ryan Sidebottom, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Ottis Gibson.

Man Utd Set Up Semifinal Clash With Barcelona

Manchester United completed a 3-0 aggregate win over AS Roma on Wednesday to join Liverpool and Chelsea in the Champions league semi-finals as the three English teams repeated last season's success.
A Carlos Tevez goal after 70 minutes gave United a 1-0 win at Old Trafford on Wednesday as the English champions maintained their record of never losing a knockout tie in Europe after winning the away leg first.
They will be joined by 2006 winners Barcelona, who beat German side Schalke 04 by a single goal at home to secure a 2-0 aggregate victory after Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure scored shortly before halftime.
Liverpool face Chelsea in the Champions League semi-finals for the third time in four seasons after beating them in 2005 and last year while United, who lost last term to eventual winners AC Milan, play Barcelona.

Camel sourced for $2.7 Million

Dubai’s crown prince has bought a camel for an unprecedented price of $2.7 million during a desert festival in the emirate of Abu Dhabi.
Sheik Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the son of Dubai’s ruler Sheik Mohammed and his heir apparent, bought 16 camels for $4.5 million during a camel beauty pageant taking place during a desert carnival that aims to preserve the nomadic way of life in the oil-rich Gulf.

Sheik Hamdan paid $2.7 million for one camel. It was not clear if the sum was an official record. There was no indication what he would use the camel for, including whether he would race it. Camels are a matter of prestige for the ruling elite.
More than 17,000 camels from the oil-rich Gulf countries — the Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar and Bahrain — were registered for a camel beauty contest taking place over two weeks in the Emirates’ Western desert.
Camels are registered for beauty contest in several categories, defined by age and skin colour.