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Classical dancers swaying to the beat A float sequence adding a dash of Bollywood
Prince Charles doing the honours at the inaugural ceremony
A R Rahman singing the CWG 2010 anthem Jeeyo, Utho, Badho, Jeeto (Live, Rise, Move, Win)
Jai Ho! LET THE GAMES BEGIN Lights, fire & action PTI NEW DELHI, OCT 3
A dazzling display of fireworks light up the sky during the XIX Commonwealth Games opening ceremony at the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. PTI NEW DELHI, OCT 3
India today put behind a nightmarish build-up of scandals, filth and dirt and missed deadlines to come up with a dazzling and vibrant opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Games— the country’s biggest sporting spectacle—watched live by a global audience of around three billion. Against the backdrop of an early October sun set, the spanking new Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium turned into a golden hue as the Rs 44 crore aerostat lifted
into the skies and a bevy of puppets danced and over 800 drummers heralded the event. A spectacular laser fireworks show lit up the evening sky and India took a giant leap, 28 years after it hosted the Asian Games. In a neat diplomatic compromise, Prince Charles, representing Queen Elizabeth, the head of the Commonwealth, and President Pratibha Patil did the honours at the inaugural ceremony, amid thunderous cheers from the capacity 60,000 crowd. “I have much pleasure in declaring the 19th Commonwealth
Games open”, the prince said reading out a message from the British monarch. This was followed by the address of President Patil, who concluded by saying “ The 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi are now open. Let the Games begin”, signalling the formal commencement of the sporting extravaganza. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his cabinet colleagues, former President APJ Abdul Kalam, Congress President Sonia Gandhi, General Secretary Rahul Gandhi, Delhi Chief Minister
Sheila Dikshit, Maldives President Mohammed Nashid, Prince of Monaco Albert II, Commonwealth Games Federation President Mike Fennell, Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi and a host of dignitaries were present at the ceremony. The past few weeks of negative publicity that had dogged the nearly Rs 70,000 crore megaevent was quickly forgotten as the glittering opening ceremony, which encapsulated a fascinating mix of culture and modernity, kept the spectators enthralled (Continued on page 10)
Fifth plane gets bird-hit at Dabolim HERALD REPORTER VASCO, OCT 3
An Air Arabia flight encountered yet another bird strike at Dabolim airport in the wee hours of Sunday, the fifth such incident within barely 23 days. According to reports, the plane, which arrived from Sarjah, encountered a bird strike while landing at Dabolim International airport at about 3.30 am. During the last 23 days, five such incidents have been reported at Dabolim airport. On September 11, two bird strikes were reported within three hours, while on September 17, an Indian Airline from Mumbai-Goa with 163 passengers on board encountered with bird strike while landing at Dabolim airport and on September 25, an Air Arabia flight was delayed due to bird-hit incident.
Cheers & jeers for Kalmadi PTI NEW DELHI, OCT 3
It was both cheers and jeers for Suresh Kalmadi, the chairman of the Organising Committee of the Commonwealth Games, when he made his speech while it was cheers all the way for Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit. Kalmadi, who has been under attack over alleged corruption and several missed deadlines, received a round of boos when
he made his speech at the opening ceremony of the Games. Kalmadi was followed by Commonwealth Games Federation chief Mike Fennell, whose references to Dikshit were received by rounds of applause by the audience. Even when Kalmadi referred to Dikshit, whose government built the city’s infrastructure and cleaned up the mess in the Games Village, the spectators cheered her.
About 1,200 moving lights, 25 stacks of speakers and about 2,700 shots of fireworks spread across the roof of the Jawaharlal Nehru stadium combined with a stage weighing 500 tonnes to create a spectacular opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games. The gigantic main stage, inspired by the ‘mandala’, a Sanskrit word for the geometric designs symbolic of the universe in Hinduism and Buddhism, which is one of the largest built for an opening and closing ceremony. The stage was built within seven days by about 500 workers, weighing an approximately 500 tonnes. The stage is large enough to hold 500 people under it.
Website war: BJP slaps notice on Congress HERALD CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI, OCT 3
The Bhartiya Janata Party is piqued at its identity theft on the Internet. It has served a legal notice on the Congress with proof that its dirty trick managers have hijacked the BJP’s presence on Internet by either acquiring or registering the website titled www.bjp.com. Anyone logging into this site is immediately directed to the Congress website www.congress.org.in baffling thousands being dished out the Congress stuff when they try to connect it to know the BJP’s views. The BJP’s own website is www.bjp.org and there are a score of others connected with the party who use BJP as part
of the website name they use on the Internet. It had to carry out a long research on how the Congress is able to use BJP as a web address to hoodwink people before slapping a seven page legal notice on the Congress through Delhi lawyer Pratibha M Singh. All that it could find out was that the said bogus website is registered in the name of Bharat Journal and Publishers whose acronym is also BJP and it is only meant to redirect people to the official Congress website. Relief sought: As a remedy, the BJP has asked the Congress to transfer the domain name www.bjp.com to it. The legal notice says: “ur client is ready and willing to reimburse the
US warns citizens of terror in Europe PTI WASHINGTON, OCT 3
The United States today warned its citizens travelling to Europe to guard against potential terror threats in view of intelligence reports that Pakistan-based terror outfits are planning Mumbai-type attacks in cities like London and Paris. The ‘travel alert’ issued by the US State Department advised US citizens living or travelling in Europe to take more precautions about their personal security, and is a step below a formal travel warning. Citing the potential for terrorists “to attack public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure”, the travel advisory said: “US citizens
should take every precaution to be aware of their surroundings and to adopt appropriate safety measures to protect themselves when travelling”. The alert has been prompted by the volume of intelligence on possible terror threats, amid reports that Pakistan-based terror outfits are planning Mumbai-type attacks in cities across Europe. “Current information suggests that Al-Qaida and affiliated organisations continue to plan terrorist attacks,” it said. “European governments have taken action to guard against a terrorist attack and some have spoken publicly about the heightened threat conditions,” the alert, which expires in January next year, says.
registration/transfer charges in this behalf.” It also asks the Congress to stop redirecting and linking the site with www.congress.org.in or any other Congress website or one of any other entity, warning that the BJP as the leading opposition party in India will be constrained to take appropriate action to protect its rights under law.. Challenging registration of the domain name “bjp.com” and its “illegal, unlawful, deliberate, impermissible and mischievous” linking to the website of the Indian National Congress, the notice says redirecting users from the impugned domain name to its own website “would not be (Continued on page 10)
The opening ceremony would have never been that spectacular had it not been for the lighting arrangements. 1,200 moving lights, 120 space cannons and 16 follow spots weighing approximately 75 tonnes was what it took to enchant the about 60,000 spectators. The 25 stacks of speakers produced 500,000 watts of sound. If one was impressed by the fireworks, it was because of the 2,700 shots spread over 88 locations on the roof of the stadium. The crowd had erupted in joy as the firecrackers went up in air heralding the beginning of the Games. The entire system was supported by over 50 km of power cables that were used to provide constant power for the opening ceremony.
Ayodhya dispute PTI AYODHYA, OCT 3
Fresh moves appear to be afoot to resolve the Ayodhya dispute out of court, three days after the Allahabad High Court verdict (Continued on page 10)
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