• TOLL goes up to 20,000 as a shocked Iran comes to terms with one of its devastating trysts with tragedy. The Southeastern city of Bam, home to a 2,000 year old civilisation is razed to the ground by the quake that measured 6.3 on the Richter scale. About 70 per cent of the buildings in the historic city, a popular tourist spot some 1,000 km from Tehran, collapse and its many residents trapped under the rubble. International aid pours in from all quarters: Russia, Germany, Poland, France, Italy, the United States and other states send help, including doctors, medical supplies and rescuers with sniffer dogs and special equipment to locate survivors buried beneath rubble. • General Musharraf survives the most eventful week of his tenure. Wriggling out from a global storm on new revelations about its alleged transfer of nuclear secrets to countries like North Korea, Iran and even Libya, the General pulls a coup by getting his Opposition to agree on the Legal Framework Order. In return, he assures them that he will resign as the Army chief of staff by December 2004. A day later two suicide bombers crash their trucks into Musharraf’s cavalcade in the cantonment city of Rawalpindi. • Sometimes, it’s time. Maratha strongman Chhagan Bhujbal resigns as the state’s Deputy Chief Minister assuming moral responsibility of an attack on a television channel office. That he was at the receiving end of the Telgi tornado, and that even his boss Sharad Pawar had given up on him, is lost on no one. Bhujbal promptly checks in at the Breach Candy hospital. Pawar appoints Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, 59, a sugar baron from Solapur — and an old rival of CM Sushilkumar Shinde — as the new Deputy Chief Minister. Raosaheb Ramji Patil, 48, state NCP chief and Rural Development Minister, becomes the new Home Minister with a mandate to ‘‘clean up’’ Mumbai Police. • BEST BAKERY opens door to limelight once again as the Gujarat High Court dismisses a state government appeal — prodded by the Supreme Court — against a Vadodara Fast Track Court’s verdict acquitting all the 21 accused. • A Boeing passenger plane crashes into the Atlantic Ocean just after takeoff in the West African country of Benin killing at least 94 people. • The good news continues. Bulls charge ahead taking the S&P CNX Nifty, the premier index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE), to its all-time peak of 1,837.05 on Friday. The BSE Sensex hits the the 5,700 mark as all-round buying continues throughout the trading session. The previous high of Nifty was 1,818 recorded in the 2000 bull run. • Is it over yet? Yes, claims the Telecom ministry as armed with a bundle of concessions and reforms, both mobile operators and WLL players call a truce and agree to put an end to all litigation pending in the Supreme Court. These concessions include reducing licence fee, hiking FDI limits, allowing mergers between companies and an assurance that the Ministry of Finance would talk to financial institutions to resolve individual financial problems of beleaguered companies in the telecom sector. • International cricket was in overdrive this week. Three Tests matches meant cricket held centrestage. For the sub-continent teams - India and Pakistan the trip to Down Under seemed memorable so far. The Indians after the first Test win at Adelaide were eyeing history at Melbourne while Pakistan’s fiery pacemen were making an impact at New Zealand. Back home the A teams from India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka were locked in a triangular series at Eden Gardens. The hosts were the best placed as they had assured a place in the final • Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved hit headlines despite the fact that most of the European football enjoyed a year-end break. Nedved won the European Footballer of the Year Award as he outscored French stars Zidane and Henry.
