S P O T L I G H T

Oil prices fall in London
LONDON, Sept 29 (AFP) — Oil prices fell to within a whisker of $ 30 a barrel in London today following fresh reassurance from Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdel Aziz that Saudi Arabia was willing to release as much oil as necessary to stabilise the markets. The benchmark Brent North Sea crude oil November contract fell as low as $ 30.05 a barrel before rebounding to $ 30.17, against 30.35 at the opening and 30.54 at the close on Wednesday.

Veerappan stand
CHENNAI, Sept 29 (UNI) — Toughening his stand, forest brigand Veerappan has made it clear that he will release Kannada film star Rajkumar and two other hostages only if his main demand of release of TADA detenus held in Karnataka is fully met. In an audio cassette sent to Tamil National Movement (TNM) leader P. Nedumaran, transcript of which was made available to the press by the TNM office here, the brigand said that the Tamil Nadu and Karnataka Governments’ argument that they had taken all legal steps for the release of the TADA detenus and hence he should release the hostages in advance was in no way acceptable.

‘Crorepati’ boy
MUMBAI, Sept 29 (UNI) — Mumbai boy Harshvardhan Navate has become the first contestant of the popular game show “Kaun Banega Crorepati” (KBC) to hit the jackpot winning a crore. Star TV officials were tight-lipped to give further details of the winner, a resident of Ghatkopar, North-East Mumbai. Even the boy’s parents, while accepting congratulatory messages over telephone, declined to comment on their son’s success. Star TV officials said the episode would be telecast on October 19.