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Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray dead

Mumbai: Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray, passed away at 3:30 pm. He was 86.

"He had suffered a cardiac arrest. We could not revive him despite our best efforts. He breathed his last at around 3:30 PM," Dr Jalil Parkar, who treated the Sena supremo, told reporters after emerging from Thackeray residence this evening. 

Bal Thackeray had not been keeping well since July when he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital where he was being treated for ailments related to both the lungs and pancreas. He was the eldest of nine siblings.

Liquor baron Ponty Chadha, brother killed 

New Delhi: Controversial liquor baron Ponty Chadha and his brother were killed in a shootout in the former's farmhouse in south Delhi today.

The incident took place in Ponty Chadha's farmhouse in Chattarpur around noon. Ponty's brother Harvinder also died in the shootout.

Both the brothers were not on good terms and there were disagreement between them over land ownership.

Though police sources initially said both the brothers shot at each other, they later said that Harvinder opened fire at Ponty. Then Ponty's guards opened fire at Harvinder.

This is the second incident of firing at Ponty Chadha's residence. On October five, firing took place at his ancestral home in Moradabad. 

Sources said the brothers had called a meeting to resolve disputes related to their business.

55-year-old Chadha's business empire encompassed distilleries, multiplexes, sugar and paper mills, real estate, poultry and films. He was producer of the Sunny Deol starrer 'Jo Bole So Nihaal'.

He was one of the prominent names in liquor business in Uttar Pradesh and was granted the sole distributorship for liquor under the Mayawati regime. PTI

4 killed in fresh Assam violence

Guwahati: Bodoland area in lower Assam witnessed fresh trouble with the killing of four persons by armed assailants in Jiaguri even as police arrested a member of Bodoland Territorial Autonomous District in connection with the killing.

The assailants fired randomly on a group of persons at Jiaguri in Kokrajhar police station in which four persons were killed late last night, Inspector General of Police (BTAD) SN Singh said on Saturday.

"Monokumar Brahma alias Jalja, a member of BTAD, was arrested early today in connection with the killing," he said.

"Two AK-47 rifles, magazines of AK-47 rifles and 60 rounds of assorted ammunition were seized from his bedroom. He is currently being interrogated," he said.

Indefinite curfew has been continuing in Kokrajhar district as violence flared up in the area again, the police said.

No hasty laws on abortion: Irish PM  

London: With an Indian dentist's tragic death igniting protests over right to abortion in Ireland, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has said he is awaiting a report by an expert group on the issue but will not be rushed into an immediate decision.

Kenny said his government would go through the report and indicated it will take its own time in arriving at a decision.

Kenny was quoted as saying by state broadcaster RTE News that the report of an expert group will be before the Cabinet on November 27, and can be discussed by "everyone else" after it is published.

He said he will not be rushed on the issue of abortion by pressures from any side, according to RTE.

Earlier, Minister for Health James Reilly also suggested the government will take its own time in arriving at any decision as rushing the issue or coming to wrong conclusions, which could have "disastrous" consequences into the future.

He admitted that right to abortion had long divided opinion in the Catholic country, but said his government was determined to deal with it as a sensitive issue.