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After driving in the world's cheapest car -- Nano, sporting a price tag of $2500, and the cheapest water filter at $21 with Swach, the Tata group has now set its sights on building the world's cheapest house by the end of the year priced at just Rs 32000 (Euro 500)!

What's more, nicknamed the `Euro 500 home', a 20 square metre house works out to less than Rs 32,000 and can be built from scratch in just a week flat.

All one needs is a small piece of land and a kit of parts like doors, windows, roofs made out of different materials.

Currently being pilot-tested in West Bengal, the world's cheapest home is the brainchild of a team of nearly 15 innovators from Tata Steel's Indian and European operations and will be cheaper than the Tata group's own `Nano homes' project promising homes for $7,800 to urban poor that was rolled out a couple of years ago.

"These houses are typically targeted at beneficiaries of the Indira Awaas Yojana, that has an outlay of around Rs 40,000 per house. The challenge is to make it cheaper and more acceptable to rural users because many pre-fab manufacturers have built demo homes across the country but have failed to gain popularity," said Sumitesh Das, who heads Tata Steel's global research programme, on Friday.

"We have already prepared 2-3 different designs based on discussions with users and are gathering more feedback. Hopefully, in the next 6-8 months we should be able to roll it out in the market nationally," explained Das, who was in town to participate in a conference on intellectual property organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry.

Apart from the basic version, the company is also working on higher end versions like a 30 square metre home for Euro 700 or higher for homes boasting of facilities like a solar panel on the roof or a veranda.

It was on 15th July, 2011 that the proud nation put another feather on the cap on the launch of GSAT 2011 from the space station at Shriharikota. The launch occurred from the Satish Dhawan space center at 4.48pm when the massive satellite was successfully placed into its elliptical orbit.

“I am extremely happy to state that the PSLV-C17 GSAT12 mission is successful. The launch vehicle injected the satellite very precisely into the intended orbit,” said the most delighted ISRO chairman K.Radhakrishnan. The scientists could not refrain themselves from breaking into cheers seeing one of their most wanted dream come true.

GSAT aims at extending the capacity of INSAT for increased facilities related to medicine, resource mapping and education facilities. Due to the failures in the previous two launches in April and December, 2010, the ISRO team without any further experimentation used PSLV for the most safe transmission medium. The total time mission for GSAT is about eight years with an estimated cost of about Rs.2 crore.

The main reason for the launch was to meet the country’s demand for increased transponders which is a device with a transmitter and receiver that will generate a reply signal on proper electronic interrogation. Pleased and delighted with the success of the launch the ISRO chairman has also declared the team’s future plans for designing reliable GSLV cryogenic stage.

The happy Prime minister greeted the whole ISRO team for their success which in turn promised to keep their determination and dedication alive forever for the country’s sake.

Apple Inc.'s South Korea unit last month paid about $950 to settle a court ruling in a case brought by a South Korean attorney who claimed damages over the disclosure earlier this year that the company's iPhone retained location information about users.



On Thursday, the attorney said he was starting a class-action suit against the company. The attorney, Kim Hyung-seok of Changwon, South Korea, said about 300 people expressed interest in joining the suit and that he hoped to win as much compensation for each of them as he got from Apple.



Apple didn't respond to the original lawsuit. As a result, the administrative court in Changwon ordered Apple to pay Mr. Kim 998,000 won, or about $942, within two weeks.



Apple sent Mr. Kim a check to comply with the court's order, a company spokesman in Seoul said, but made no other statements or acknowledgements in regard to Mr. Kim's claim. The Apple spokesman declined further comment.



Mr. Kim then set up a website to allow other South Koreans to join in a bigger lawsuit against the firm.



"I never agreed that my location can be tracked through iPhone. That means Apple tracked my location information illegally and it was an obvious invasion of privacy," Mr. Kim said in an interview.



Apple's retention of location data flared into a controversy in mid-April when data-safety researchers in the U.S. said iPhones stored months of location information in unencrypted form. Within a month, Apple changed the operation of the phone to retain only seven days worth of location information.



The location system is used in applications such as maps and navigation systems and to confirm user eligibility for features like watching TV broadcasts.



Mr. Kim said he filed his lawsuit soon after hearing news coverage of the finding by the U.S. researchers. Mr. Kim said he wasn't aware of using the location service for any apps.

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Thursday said that 99% of the terror attacks had been stopped in the country, thanks to various measures, including improved intelligence. Addressing a press conference

in Bhubaneswar, a day after serial bombings in Mumbai killed at least 17 people and injured more than 130, the Congress MP called for efforts to stop terrorist attacks in the country.



"It is very difficult to stop any single terrorist attack," he said, adding that 99% of the attacks have been stopped. "We must stop 100% attack." Referring to Wednesday's attack, Gandhi said the response of the government was prompt.



"We are responding to it in a quite organised fashion." Gandhi, the son of Congress chief Sonia Gandhi, is on a two-day visit to Orissa beginning Wednesday to strengthen the grassroots base of the party.



He returns to New Delhi on Thursday.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said that the security cameras installed around the blast sites in Mumbai have given very crucial information and they are being examined and analysed.



The Maharashtra Chief Minister has also said that the state Home Minister RR Patil informed the Cabinet on the investigations in Wednesday's blast.



The Maharashtra Cabinet on Thursday held a special meeting to discuss the fallout of Wednesday's bomb blasts. The state Cabinet discussed about the medical facilities of the injured. Security post 26/11 was also discussed.



Terror struck Mumbai once again on Wednesday when three bomb blasts rocked some of the most crowded places of the city killing at least 17 people and injuring 131 others.



The first blast took place at 6:54 PM at south Mumbai's crowded Zaveri Bazaar. Within a few minutes Opera House and Dadar, too, were hit by powerful explosions.



Wednesday's blasts took place just two days after the fifth anniversary of the Mumbai serial train blasts on July 11, 2006 in which at least 186 people were killed. The blasts also evoked horrific memories of serial

blasts in the past as both Dadar and Zaveri Bazar have been targeted earlier too.

Terror has struck Mumbai once again killing

at least 21 people and injuring more than

hundred. Two days after the fifth

anniversary of the 7/11 serial bombings,

three explosions rocked the Maximum city

once again.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar

said at least 21 people were killed and over

100 injured in the attacks.The Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed a

terror plot and said that Improvised

Explosive Devices had been used in the

blasts. It had said at least 20 people had

been killed in the attacks and 113 others

injured.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj

Chavan had earlier said thirteen people

were killed and 81 hurt in the attacks. He

said the police officials had reached the

spot, adding he was in constant touch with

Home Minister P. Chidambaram. He

appealed to the Mumbaikars to maintain

calm. The home minister leaves on

Wednesday night for Mumbai.

The MHA said the leads pointed to the Indian

Mujahideen's hands.

Mumbai Police are questioning two IM

members, who had been arrested on

Tuesday. Internal Secretary, Home Ministry,

UK Bansal said the attacks at dense areas

were intended to cause maximum damage.

All the blasts occurred at Mumbai's crowded

market places in the peak rush hour. The

explosions occurred at Zaveri Bazar, Dadar

and Opera House between 6:45PM and 7PM.

The first blast took place in south Mumbai's

Zaveri Bazaar, near the famous Mumbadevi

temple. Four to five cars have been badly

damaged.

The second bomb went off in a taxi in

Dadar's Kabutar Khana area, a stone's throw

distance from Dadar railway station. The

number of that taxi is MH-43 A 9384. Two

people are said to be in the taxi. They have

been injured in the blast. Police have also

recovered a tiffin box from the area.

The third explosion occurred at the Opera

House building next to Pancharatna

Diamond Market. The blast took place in the

Prasad Chamber of the building.

According to JJ Hospital, 10 people have

been brought from the Zaveri Bazar blast

site. One of them has been confirmed dead,

while nine others are seriously injured.

All mobile networks have been jammed in

the blast areas.

While Chidambaram chaired a high-level

meeting in Delhi, Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh spoke to Chavan to stock of the

situation.

Chidambaram said all the injured had been

evacuated. "The explosions took place

within minutes of each other, hinting at the

co-ordinated terror attacks," he said,

appealing for calm. He said the Home

Ministry will issue statements on every two

hours.

Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik,

on being asked if it was a terror attack, said,

"I believe so."

Union Home Secretary Raj Kumar Singh has

spoken to the DGP of Maharashtra. An NIA

team has been rushed to Mumbai for probe

into the serial blasts.

Bomb investigation unit of the NSG and a

forensic team of CFSL are also being sent to

Mumbai. High alert has been sounded in 14

cities including Delhi, with Delhi Police

spokesperson saying, "We are keeping eye

on the situation in Mumbai." The quick

reaction team of the Army has been put on

standby.

Maharashtra PWD Minister Chhagan Bhujbal

advised people to stay indoors.

Panic and shock gripped the food

bazaars of South Mumbai and the busy

weekday market of Dadar as a series of

explosions rocked the crowded locations on

Wednesday evening. At Zaveri Bazar as well

as Opera House, it was the peak-hour rush

at the two khau gallis that became the

target. Dadar Market, on any day, is a sitting

duck.

From the scenes of crime to the halls of

healing , ordinary citizens sidestepped glass

shards and pools of blood to cart corpses,

injured persons and severed body parts to

hospital. Volunteers diverted traffic and gave

right of way to ambulances and fire engines

even as civic workers helped the police

gather evidence and remove debris.

The street lights went out in the alleys of

Zaveri Bazar and the rain dampened rescue

efforts. Sho cked shop owners pointed to

the remains of the scooter upon which the

explosive had been placed.“We saw an

umbrella wrapped in wires on the scooter.

The vehicle did not bear a number plate and

did not belong to any of the local

residents,”said eye-witness Vinod Divecha.

Added another volunteer, Snehal Shah, “This

area is abuzz with traders and workers who

park their scooters as they stop by for

food.”

All hands on deck as Mumbai goes into

emergency mode

Snehal Shah, a volunteer, lamented the

inaction on the part of the authorities

despite repeated complaints about illegal

parking in the Zaveri Bazar area.

Although the jamming of mobile phone

networks for two hours added to the panic,

Mumbai rose to the occasion magnificently,

going into emergency mode with all hands

on deck. Taxi drivers allowed bystanders to

pile in the dead and the injured and ferried

them to hospital free of charge. Medical

institutes threw open all their operating

theatres and casualty wards and recalled the

entire staff, including those who were off

duty.

A melee erupted outside the barred gates of

Harkisondas Hospital as distraught relatives

and doctors tried to fight their way through

crowds of anxious blood donors and

onlookers. Inside, the white tiles of the

casualty ward were marked with bloodied

footprints. The victims’ identities slowly

began to filter through. Twenty-one-year-old

Pankaj Soni, who worked with his father in

the family’s jewellery store at Lamington

Road, was in Zaveri Bazar for some work.

Onlookers say he had gone to khau galli to

eat when he was trapped in the blast. His

relative , Ramesh Soni, said that Pankaj was

declared dead at GT Hospital.

Suparna Adhikari was waiting at KEM

Hospital, Parel, for news of her father

Dhananjay Adhikari. She said, “He left our

home in Parel for Opera House at 3.30pm to

meet a friend.” When she heard about the

blast, she kept trying his phone but he didn’t

answer. Her brother then found out through

friends that their father was admitted to

KEM.

Dharavi resident Sanjay Jadhav had been

running from one hospital to another,

looking for his 55-yearold mother Bhima.

The woman, a fruit vendor, usually sat at the

site where Wednesday’s blast occurred. “I

went to the site but she wasn’t there. I have

come to KEM and her name is not in the list,”

Jadhav said.

There were others who survived by a stroke

of fate. Rajan Mandalik was close to the blast

site at Zaveri Bazar. He had walked a few

metres away from the spot to attend a

phone call seconds before the blast. His

friend Kishan Mandal (32), however , was

not as lucky. Mandal was missing till late at

night, by which time his friends had

checked out four hospitals. “His name is not

there on either the deceased or missing

persons lists,” said Mandalik. “He was sitting

on a bike and was dangerously close to the

blast spot. We are keeping our fingers

crossed.”

List Of Victims

GT Hospital

Sunil Raut, Shivraj Patil, Ravi Bora, Raju Yadav

Saifee

Sandeep Champaklal Shah, Ali Azgar

Batatawala, Tushar, Ramesh Chandra, One

unknown, Sanjay Mehta, Mohd Darodia

St Georges Hospital

Lalchand Ahuja

Harkisandas Hospital

Sunil Kumar Jain, Bhupat Nabadia, Mohan

Nair, 2 unknown

Bombay Hospital

Himmatbhai Kalubhai Gudiya