TN fire: Officials held, toll reaches
Kumbhakonam: Nearly 88 school children were killed in a mishap and over 30 more are battling for their life in local hospitals, after a fire swept through the school building. The primary school in charge along with four other education officers have been arrested and charged with criminal negligence.

Since the local hospital lacked facilities to cope with the huge numbers of burn victims, some survivors have been sent to Chennai for treatment. The fire apparently started from the kitchen in the building and swept through the premises. An inquiry has been launched to find out as to how the school was operating without a fire license.
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Inflation touches 24-week high at 6.16 per cent
New Delhi: Inflation rose to a 24-week high of 6.16 per cent for the week ended July 3. The surge was mainly on account of the aviation turbine fuel (ATF) turning costlier, along with a rise in the prices of manufactured items. Reacting to the rising inflationary trend, the Government said it plans to watch how the inflation rate behaves over the next two to three weeks.

The point-to-point inflation, according the data released by the Industry Ministry, was up 0.07 per cent from 6.09 per cent during the previous week, even as prices of food articles fell mainly due to cheaper fruits and vegetables. According to the data, the food articles group index plummeted by over one per cent to 183.4 points.
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World Bank hikes funds for projects in Andhra
Hyderabad: The World Bank has in principle agreed to increase the funding for the Andhra Pradesh Urban Development Project from $100 million to $300 million. An appraisal team from the Bank is also expected to visit the State during August 2004.
There are eight ongoing Bank funded programmes in the State and 18 have already been completed. Among the ongoing projects are the AP State Highways project, Community Forest Management; AP 3 Irrigation, AP District Poverty Alleviation, Rural Poverty Reduction, APERP, Structural Adjustment Loan (SAL) and SAL two.
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Bangladesh calls for a strategic tie-up
Kolkata: Bangladesh has called for a strategic alliance with India in the textiles sector post-MFA to combine the available synergies of the two countries for emerging as competitive entities in the global market. Speaking at a CII organized function, Mahmudur Rahman, Executive Chairman, Board of Investment, Bangladesh, said Bangladesh with its strengths in the garments sector, and India with muscle in the primary textiles area should combine their might for mutual advantage in the new emerging world trading environment for textiles as on January 1, 2005, when the quota system would stand abolished.

He said joint ventures in the textile sector in Bangladesh would be beneficial to Indian parties, as Bangladesh in the post-MFA period would still enjoy the GSP benefit (as an LDC exporter), giving it a 12 per cent duty advantage. He also pointed out that FDI proposals in Bangladesh were approved within 72 hours compared to the 35 days it takes in India.
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