Author: Chanda Vaikar

Plot given to a trust in 1999 by CIDCO for multispecialty hospital, but 20 years later, the ground plus four storey building remains unutilised Navi Mumbai:Seawoods residents participated in a serial hunger strike to draw CIDCO’s attention over the non-utilization of a building constructed on a plot leased to a trust in 1999 for the purpose of having a multi-specialty hospital in the area. Residents of Sector 48 A, comprising 48 multi storied buildings and nearly one lakh population, came out in large numbers on October 5 to participate in a serial hunger strike. A ground plus four storey building…

Torkham crossing was closed after forces from both sides exchanged fire, stranding thousands of travellers and hundreds of trucks. Islamabad, Pakistan – A key border crossing between Pakistan and Afghanistan has been reopened for pedestrian and vehicular traffic after remaining closed for nine days, following an exchange of fire between the security forces of the two countries. Muhammad Anas, an official in Khyber district of Pakistan’s northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the Torkham border crossing is located, confirmed the development to Al Jazeera on Friday. “We opened the border gates after 7.30am today [Friday]. Immigration and custom officials arrived to resume their duties…

The Key Issue Millions of impoverished Afghans are bearing the brunt of receding international aid to Afghanistan, the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. International organizations operating in the country have been forced to cut their assistance to Afghans in the fields of health care and food aid in recent months, largely due to funding shortages. The UN World Food Program (WFP) said last week that it would cut emergency assistance to 2 million vulnerable Afghans by the end of the month because of a “massive funding shortage.” Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross stopped funding 25 hospitals across Afghanistan on August…

On April 17, 14 people died from heatstroke at an event where the Maharashtra Bhushan award was conferred on the spiritual leader Appasaheb Dharmadhikari in Navi Mumbai. Over 20 lakh followers had turned up at the event. A probe was ordered after the incident, which is progressing at a snail’s pace A couple of months ago, Manohar alias Sambhaji Bhide, a radical Hindutva leader from Sangli generated controversy when he made derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi’s parents. Opposition parties carried out protests in several parts of the state seeking his arrest. But despite widespread criticism, Bhide was not arrested, though…

After 11 years spent on the run, Kosovo has arrested one of two fugitives sentenced to life in prison in North Macedonia for the 2012 murder of five men near Skopje – a crime that continues to haunt the country. Alil Demiri, 38, an ethnic Albanian citizen of North Macedonia, has been arrested in Kosovo thanks to cooperation between the police forces of Kosovo and North Macedonia, North Macedonia’s Interior Ministry said on Thursday. The arrest was based on an international arrest warrant issued by North Macedonia, where Demiri is wanted “for the criminal act of terrorism”, the Interior Ministry…

These declarations from the NCP camp have left many in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) puzzled. Mumbai: The scheduled meeting of the India Bloc in Mumbai on August 31 and September 1 has raised concerns following Sharad Pawar’s statements favouring his nephew Ajit Pawar. Pawar Sr’s daughter and MP Supriya Sule stated on Thursday that there is no split within the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and her father endorsed this statement. These declarations from the NCP camp have left many in the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) puzzled. President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), Nana Patole, questioned on Saturday whether…

The Taliban has delivered peace to the war-torn country, a terrible peace though it may be. Two years ago, the Afghan government constructed and armed at Washington’s great expense dissolved one provincial capital at a time. The Taliban occupied Kabul on August 15. America’s role in Afghanistan’s tragedy came to an inglorious and shocking end. Today the Afghan people are impoverished and isolated; the Taliban leadership is fanatical and tyrannical. The so-called Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as yet recognized by no nation, is in the global cellar on almost every measure. If anything, failure has only made the extremist leadership more obdurate:…

Even as the police register more FIRs against seven builders, case is expected to be transferred to the Economic Offences Wing; meanwhile, man claims his ‘innocent’ stamp-maker father has been trapped in the scam AMID talks that the Economic Offences Wing will take over the Rs 3,000-crore housing scam case, the Virar police have filed three different FIRs against seven builders for unauthorised constructions using fake documents. Meanwhile, the son of an accused in the Rs 3,000-crore scam case claims his father, a maker of rubber stamps, is innocent. The three new FIRs were filed on Wednesday night for the construction of three residential…

A popular proverb in the Chinese Shaanxi Province says: “He who sows diligently reaps gold”, as the Central Asian saying goes, “He who sows will reap, he who sows will reap. Let us strive shoulder to shoulder and actively push for common development”. This is the focus of the importance of the Gulf rapprochement with the countries of Central Asia for China after the Gulf summit with the countries of Central Asia. The Gulf Summit with the Group of Central Asian Countries comes after the first joint ministerial meeting of the strategic dialogue between the Cooperation Council and the Central…

Two days after a 25-year-old man fell into a stream at Malad East, his body was found several kilometres away in a nullah at Malad West amid Friday’s downpour. Chandan Sahu, the deceased, used to live at Kranti Nagar in Kandivali East and worked with a movers and packers agency. On Wednesday, he had ventured with friends to hilly regions near the Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Malad East. Police said he was trying to cross a stream when he slipped and fell inside. Before friends could pull him out, he was swept away. His friends searched for him before informing the Kurar police. Officers said the force…