Caste is my biggest political rival: Kamal Haasan
Chennai (PTI): Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Sunday termed caste as his 'biggest' political rival.
The Makkal Needhi Maiyam president was talking after inaugurating "Neelam Books," an initiative by well-known Tamil cinema director Pa.Ranjith, as part of his Neelam cultural centre .
"My biggest rival, my political rival is caste, I am saying this since I was 21 Years old and I still say it, my opinion has never changed."
"God is the greatest creation by man after wheel. We can't accept our own creation if it attacks our own self." Haasan said.
Ranjith, known for critically acclaimed movies, said Haasan "is the one who cultivated the formula of making an art film and yet succeeded in popularising it to the mainstream audience."
About his "Neelam books" Ranjith said he only wanted to keep books that make people understand politics, make them politically responsible apart from mainstream literary books and non-political books.
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At least 19 killed as methane leak causes explosion at eastern Iran coal mine, state TV reports
Tehran (AP/PTI): A methane leak sparked an explosion at a coal mine in eastern Iran, killing at least 19 people and injuring another 17, Iranian state television reported Sunday.
The report said the deaths happened at a coal mine in Tabas, some 540 kilometers (335 miles) southeast of the capital, Tehran.
Authorities were sending emergency personnel to the area after the blast late Saturday, it said. Around 70 people had been working there at the time of the blast.
Oil-producing Iran is also rich in a variety of minerals. Iran annually consumes some 3.5 million tons of coal but only extracts about 1.8 million tons from its mines per year. The rest is imported, often consumed in the country's steel mills.
This is not the first disaster to strike Iran's mining industry. In 2013, 11 workers were killed in two separate mining incidents. In 2009, 20 workers were killed in several incidents. In 2017, a coal mine explosion killed at least 42 people.
Lax safety standards and inadequate emergency services in mining areas are often blamed for the fatalities.
