| Great Indian Storey
If trudging across the length and breadth of Delhi to buy lights, flooring and fittings to furnish your home is a frightening thought, you finally have an option. Now, you can avoid trips in 45 -degree Celsius and shop for home products in an air-conditioned environment, with over 300 brands catering to home furnishings, at The Great India Place, a new mall in Noidas buzzing Sector 38A. One of the stores here, the Home Town, has over 1.25 lakh square feet devoted to everything a house could possibly need: from a screwdriver to curtains, upholstery, furniture and a state-of-the-art bathtub. A tip: wear sneakers before you head here, theres some serious walking to do. Atul Takle, head of corporate communications at Pantaloon that promotes the super store, says, Home Town is based on two models: the Home Depot in the US and Ikea, a Swedish company that promotes the concept of do-it-yourself homes.
Ethiopia: After the Flood
It's a long way from Louisiana. But when you stand on the banks of the Dechatu River that runs through the southern Ethiopian city of Dire Dawa, you can feel that this is a town twinned in tragedy with New Orleans. Maybe 'river' is the wrong word to describe the Dechatu. For most of the year it is little more than a dried out sandy channel – a dead testimony to drought and environmental collapse. During July and August, rains in the Eastern Highlands that surround Dire Dawa strip thousands of tons of topsoil from impoverished hillside farms, dumping it in tributaries that feed the Dechatu. Even then, by the time the river reaches the town it is little more than a trickle. Last year was different. On the 3rd of August, as New Orleans was preparing to mark the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the Dechatu went destructive.
Fire Destroys Family's Factory
A Tahunanui joinery factory was destroyed by a dramatic blaze last night causing an estimated $1 million in damage and ending a 50- year family legacy. Station officer Brian O'Donnell of the Nelson Fire Service said Tahunanui Lifestyle Kitchens was totally engulfed in flames when the fire service arrived about 11pm. Six firefighting crews, from Nelson, Richmond and Stoke, battled the blaze on Tahunanui Drive until about 5am today, he said. Crews were expected to be on site until about 10am to monitor hot spots concealed by large amounts of roofing iron . The cause of the fire was still unknown and the Fire Safety Service was investigating, he said. Flames were clearly visible from surrounding homes and the Tahunanui hills, sparking multiple emergency calls. Lifestyle Kitchens owner Robert Hart said this morning that the building had been the original one on the site.
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