Mumbai: Wonder if massive traffic snarls on the Western Express Highway are here to stay. Many meetings have been held by the traffic police and civic officials but a concrete solution is eluding them. However, the traffic load on the highway can be reduced to certain extent if encroachments on SV Road, which stretches from Bandra to Dahisar, are removed mercilessly. The width of this arterial road is reduced to just one lane at several places because of heavy encroachment by shopkeepers. For example in the Jogeshwari stretch sellers of antiques (many are fake) occupy the road with zero fear of the BMC. The media had highlighted the problem sometime ago after which the BMC officials carried out demolitions at a few places. But it is business as usual now. Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani should set up a task force and have all the illegal shop extensions removed in a time-bound manner.

The Supreme Court recently called for the restoration of all footpaths to pedestrians. This is a most welcome move. Wish the apex court too had prescribed stringent punishment for those who illegally occupy pavements or abet in the encroachment.

In Mumbai the problem is massive corruption in ward offices. For example, in F/north ward the flower sellers occupying an entire footpath near Matunga post office are so powerful that they got the ward officer Nitin Shukla shunted out for daring to demolish their stalls. The new ward officer Arun Kshirsagar is blissfully indifferent to the heavy encroachment because of which pedestrians are forced to walk on roads risking their lives. Sab chalta hai….

Elections were held in several suburban gymkhanas recently. The campaigning was so heavy that one would think the general elections are on. Members were wine and dined liberally. Any number of whatsapp messages were posted soliciting votes for one panel or the other. Also whisper campaigns were launched to demonise members of rival panels. The conduct of some of the members would have put professional politicians to shame. What is the point in blaming our “netas” when educated middle class persons indulge in unethical practices just to be a member of the managing committee?

Chennai, Oct 27: TVK president and actor Vijay will on Monday hold a meeting with families who lost their loved ones in the Karur stampede tragedy.

The meeting, organised at a private resort in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, comes exactly a month after 41 people died during a TVK rally in Karur, marking the first time Vijay will personally interact with the bereaved families.

On Sunday, TVK functionaries arranged for the families to be brought from Karur and the surrounding districts to Mahabalipuram. Around 38 families arrived in eight private buses arranged by the party, while two families are scheduled to reach by air on Monday morning. A family from Tiruppur, however, has chosen to stay back.

About 50 rooms have been booked at the seaside resort along East Coast Road for their accommodation.

According to TVK sources, the families were first picked up from their homes and transported to a common assembly point in Karur before being taken to Mahabalipuram by road. The arrangements were coordinated by three district secretaries representing Karur, Coimbatore, and Erode.

Initially, Vijay had planned to visit Karur to meet the families at their residences. However, the plan was dropped due to security and logistical constraints. The party then decided to bring the families to a common venue to facilitate a quiet and private meeting.

The meeting will begin with a candlelight tribute for the 41 victims at the resort’s convention hall. Vijay will then meet each family individually to offer his condolences and extend assistance. The event is expected to conclude by 3 p.m., followed by lunch, after which the families will begin their return journey.

Party functionaries described the event as “a solemn, humane occasion” meant to express solidarity rather than seek publicity.

“Vijay wanted to stand by the families in their moment of grief and assure them that their pain has not been forgotten,” a senior TVK leader said, adding that the meeting is intended to bring comfort and closure to the affected families.

Washinton, Oct 27: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that he believes the US has reached a framework agreement with China to avoid imposing an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese imports.

“I think we’ve reached a substantial framework for the two leaders who will meet next Thursday… that tariffs will be averted,” Bessent said on Sunday to media from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where President Donald Trump arrived on Saturday for a weeklong Asia diplomacy tour.

Trump is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea later this week.

Earlier, Chinese International Trade Representative Li Chenggang said the US and China had reached “preliminary consensus” on trade issues during discussions in Malaysia, according to Chinese media.

Bessent did not provide details about the framework but said on media that he anticipates the US would get “some kind of deferral” on rare-earth export controls.

The minerals have been central to trade tensions between the top global economies.

Bessent said the framework sets up Trump and Xi “to have a very productive meeting,” adding, “I think it will be fantastic for US citizens, for US farmers, and for our country in general.”

Bessent indicated that an escalation in tariffs on China is “effectively off the table” following what he described as “very good” trade talks with his Chinese counterparts.

President Trump had threatened an additional 100 per cent tariff on China from November 1 over Beijing’s efforts to impose export controls on critical rare earths, ratcheting up tensions between the US and China.

Asked about the status of those tariffs, Bessent told media on Sunday that tariff threat has “gone away” after two days of talks in Malaysia.

“We had a very good two-day meeting. I would believe that the – so it would be an extra 100 per cent from where we are now, and I believe that that is effectively off the table.”

He added, “I would expect that the threat of the 100 per cent has gone away, as has the threat of the immediate imposition of the Chinese initiating a worldwide export control regime.”

US and Chinese trade negotiators reached a “basic consensus” on how to address their “respective concerns,” Chinese state media said on Sunday, following talks between the two sides over the weekend in Kuala Lumpur.

A delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with US officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jameson Greer for the talks, which come days ahead of a highly anticipated meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.

The two leaders are expected to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea, though Beijing, unlike Washington, has yet to confirm the meeting.

Earlier on Sunday, Bessent said the two sides had “set the stage for the leaders’ meeting” with a “very successful framework for the leaders to discuss”.

“The two sides engaged in candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges and consultations on major economic and trade issues of mutual concern,” the Chinese state media readout said.

It listed out those issues as including US penalties on China’s maritime logistics and shipbuilding industry, reciprocal tariffs, fentanyl tariffs, agricultural trade, and export controls – a sweeping set of frictions that have set the world’s two largest economies at loggerheads.

“Two sides reached a basic consensus on arrangements to address each other’s concerns. Both sides agreed to further finalise the specific details and fulfil their respective domestic approval processes,” the readout said.

Trade and tech tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have heightened in recent weeks after the US expanded its export blacklist, hitting China’s access to American high-tech, while China ramped up its own export controls on rare earth minerals.