August | SilverScorpio.Com

Manmohan Singh hosts Iftar party

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 19 (ANI): Prime Minister Manmohan Singh hosted an Iftar party here on Friday.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, Congress party president Sonia Gandhi, several foreign dignitaries and many political leaders were among those who attended the party.

Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik, and several prominent Muslim religious leaders were also among the invitees.

During the holy month of Ramadan Muslims observe a daylong fast without water and open it in the evening.

The month-long dawn-to- dusk fast started on August 22, after the sighting of the new moon. (ANI)

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Stabbed West Ham star Davenport takes his first steps

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep.19 (ANI): Looking gaunt almost a month after being knifed in his legs six times, West Ham star Calum Davenport took his first steps in public on Friday.

The unshaven ex-England Under-21 defender, dressed in a navy blue tracksuit and wearing slippers, hobbled on crutches outside hospital, reports The Sun.

He was allegedly attacked on August 22 by the boyfriend of his pregnant sister Cara following a row at her house.

Calum was found bleeding from a leg artery outside his mum’s house in Kempston, Bedford.

Doctors spent four weeks saving his limbs but there are fears he may never play again Yesterday he was greeted at Bedford Hospital by family members and wife Zoey. His loved ones have been by his bedside virtually every day. (ANI)

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Planck spacecraft obtains first peek of big bang’s ‘afterglow’

September 19, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 18 (ANI): European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Planck spacecraft has obtained its first peek at the afterglow of the big bang, revealing it in unprecedented detail.

The ESA spacecraft was launched into space on May 14 this year. It is observing the glow of hot gas from just 380,000 years after the big bang, called the cosmic microwave background (CMB).

According to a report in New Scientist, the detailed properties of this background may contain hints of hidden extra dimensions or multiple universes, as well as providing clues to what caused a brief, early period of incredibly rapid cosmic expansion.

Planck began surveying the microwave background on August 13, a few weeks after reaching its planned perch 1.5 million kilometres from Earth at a point called L2 and cooling its detectors to within 0.1 degrees Celsius above absolute zero.

Now, the Planck team has released the probe’s first image, an observational strip covering about 5 per cent of the sky.

Slight variations in temperature from place to place in the early universe give the image its mottled appearance.

“With a few per cent of the data in, you can see it’s working well and delivering good stuff,” said team member George Efstathiou of the University of Cambridge.

Planck is expected to provide the most detailed all-sky map of the cosmic microwave background yet, improving on the best current map, obtained by NASA’s Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), which launched in 2001.

Planck’s detectors have more than 10 times the sensitivity of WMAP’s, and about 2.5 times the angular resolution.

“Every strip that Planck scans, we’re getting data that is many, many times more sensitive than WMAP,” Efstathiou told New Scientist.

Although Planck was only designed to observe the sky for 15 months, the team believes it could last for more than 30 months, based on new estimates of how long its coolant will last.

The extra time will allow Planck to measure the radiation with even greater precision, since it will scan the entire sky four times – two more than originally planned. (ANI)

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Action plan to phase out consumption of HCFC is on track: Ramesh

September 17, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 16 (ANI): Union Environment and Forest Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Wednesday that India has developed a comprehensive Road Map and Action Plan to phase-out of production and consumption of Hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs) in various sectors.

Addressing the gathering during the 15th International Ozone Day here Ramesh said: “The Government of India has taken a number of policy measures, fiscal and regulatory, to encourage the early adoption of alternative technologies in this area by existing and new enterprises.”

Ramesh hailed the Montreal Protocol as the most successful international treaty to ever achieve universal participation.

“At a time when the world is trying to solve the problem of climate change, the International Ozone Day provided a timely reminder of how international cooperation can help to solve major global environmental problems,” Ramesh added.

India is one of the first developing countries to join the Montreal Protocol and pledge its commitment to protect the Ozone Layer.

As a part of the accelerated phase-out of CFCs, India has completely phased out the production and consumption of CFCs as on 1 August 2008, 17 months prior to the agreed schedule.

Ramesh informed that over 97percent of controlled Ozone Depleting Substances (ODS) have been phased out by the Montreal Protocol.

“The end of 2009 will mark another significant milestone in the history of its implementation, with the use of potent ODSs -CFCs, Carbon Tetra Chloride (CTC) and Halons, except pharmaceutical-grade CFCs used in the manufacture of Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) – being ceased completely,” he said

The CFCs required for manufacturing for MDIs used by Asthma and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) patients are still available in India, a national transition strategy to phase them out by 2013 is currently under implementation.

“The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), with support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the World Bank recently also launched the India: Chiller Energy Efficiency Project to accelerate the conversion of CFC-based chillers using new, more energy efficient technologies,” Ramesh said.

This year’s theme for the ozone day was ‘Universal participation – Ozone protection unifies the World.’ (ANI)

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No toxic substance found in Urumqui’s latest syringe attack victims’ body

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Urumqui, Sep. 14 (ANI): The blood samples of Urimqui’s latest syringe attack victims showed no trace of radioactive, toxic or viral substances, such as AIDS, an expert at a Beijing-based laboratory has said.

However, Director of Disease Control and Biological Security Office with China’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Qian Jun, has said that the victims have showed signs of depression.

“Although no radioactive or toxic substances were found, some patients showed various levels of anxiety and depression and have been recommended for psychological counselling,” China daily quoted Quian, as saying.

Meanwhile, the first group of syringe attack suspects were prosecuted in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

At least 500 cases of attacks have surfaced in the city since mid-August.

Two men and a woman were given sentences ranging from seven to 15 years in jail for syringe stabbings or robberies in which they threatened their victims with needles.

The court sentenced 19-year-old Yilipan Yilihamu to 15 years in prison for injecting a woman with a hypodermic needle on August 28 at a roadside fruit stall. (ANI)

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Penelope Cruz admits she wants kids in future

September 14, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 13 (ANI): Oscar-winning actress Penelope Cruz has finally revealed her secret “baby desire”.

The star, whose animated Disney film ‘G-Force’ hits the big screen later this month, has admitted that she wants to have children in future.

Her confession comes at a time when she is rumoured to be pregnant with her current beau Javier Bardem’s child.

“Of course I want to have my own kids, as well as adopt some. I love children and I have a tendency to become a mother to everyone around me. I believe in family, love and children and my life wouldn’t be complete without children,” the Daily Express quoted her as saying.

Although unconfirmed, rumours that the happy couple were expecting their first child started in early August, when Cruz was pictured on some red carpets looking tired, and sporting what could be a baby bump.

Cruz refused to comment on the rumour. (ANI)

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Faster, simpler Facebook Lite site available in India, US

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep 12 (ANI): Social networking site Facebook has launched a slimmed-down version of its site for people with slow or poor Internet connections, and it is currently available only in India and the US.

Facebook’s Lite site, which will be faster and simpler because it offers fewer services than the main site, had initially been meant to support users in developing countries, where bandwidth constraints make the current version too slow to use.

The company said around 70 percent of its more than 250 million users were from outside America, with countries in Southeast Asia and Europe seeing a massive increase in growth where fast Internet connections are more common.

News about Facebook testing the Lite site first leaked out in August, with its options said to be limited to letting users write on their wall, post photos and videos, view events and browse other people’s profiles.

“It appears, at a quick glance, to be a better site for Facebook newbies or for anyone who finds the current site overwhelming and noisy,” the BBC quoted Rafe Needleman at technology website Cnet as saying.

“The new layout feels almost Twitter-like,” he said.

Terence O’Brien at Switched.com gave the slimmed-down version of what he called “ol’ blue” the thumbs-up because it “strips away distractions”.

“The simple site loads noticeably faster, is easier to navigate, and is much easier on the eyes thanks to the lack of people sending you ‘virtual booze’ or asking you to join their ‘vampire fraternity’,” he said.

“The new layout seems like a direct challenge to Twitter, which can attribute much of its success to is simplicity and portability,” he stated.

Many industry watchers said they believed that even users with good Internet connections might well flock to Facebook Lite because of its new look and ease of use.

“That is what some US users are planning to do,” Eric Eldon of InsideFacebook.com said.

“Indeed the reaction from US users has prompted Facebook to release it intentionally for US users, something it hadn’t previously planned on doing,” he added.

Eldon also said he believed a “worldwide rollout doesn’t seem too far away”.

Facebook has acknowledged this is a possibility in a statement on the site, which said the firm was “working on translating Lite into other languages”.

Anyone who switches to Facebook Lite and does not like it can switch back to the fuller version of the site. (ANI)

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Flood situation grim in Madhya Pradesh

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Hoshangabad (MP), Sep 12 (ANI): Floods situation continued to remain grim in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.

Incessant rains, which have lashed Madhya Pradesh for last few days, have led to water overflowing many dams, submerging low lying areas.

State Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan made an aerial survey of the flood-affected region on Friday.

“River Narmada is flowing above the danger level and due to this many villages have been inundated and water has entered many houses. Tributaries flowing in the catchments areas are also flowing above the danger level due to incessant rains and this has resulted in crop damage,” he added.

Air Force helicopters were pressed into rescue and army men took marooned people to safety.

State’s disaster management agencies and district collectors have been alerted. A relief and rescue plan has been worked out in case the situation worsens.

Monsoon has revived over northern India after deficit rainfall in July and August, bringing rains in the Indo-Gangetic plains and snow in the Himalayas.

Two days of rainy weather has caused floods as water level rose in rivers and reservoirs. (ANI)

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Airborne laser to shoot ballistic missile as part of flight test

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, September 12 (ANI): Soon, the Airborne Laser (ABL), built into a customized Boeing 747, is ready for flight tests, in which it will try to shoot a ballistic missile.

According to a report in New Scientist, the US Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) has developed the ABL.

The ABL aims to focus a beam of laser energy in the megawatt range for several seconds onto a missile at a “militarily significant distance” – more than 100 kilometres.

So far, the laser has only operated at near full power on the ground. On August 18, it was fired successfully from the air, but at reduced power.

That, however, was no mean feat, as aircraft vibrations play havoc with the precisely aligned optical components needed to generate a laser beam.

Firing at full power poses other challenges as well.

At powers high enough to destroy missiles, any surface contamination or tiny flaw in the laser optics can absorb so much heat that they crack or shatter.

High-power laser beams also heat the air they pass through, creating perturbations that can disperse or divert the beam.

To counteract those effects, the ABL uses an adaptive system that senses atmospheric changes along its path and makes optical adjustments to compensate.

To test that system, the MDA plans a series of increasingly powerful shots at modified ballistic missiles loaded with sensors to measure the distribution of laser power on the target.

Engineers will assess each shot’s performance and use the results to fine-tune the adaptive optics.

Once this is done, the MDA will test the laser again in varying conditions, and attempt to destroy actual missiles.

The first of these tests is planned to take place late this year, with two more to follow in early 2010, according to an MDA spokeswoman. (ANI)

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Malaysian spiritual seeker who ‘went through bad karma in India’ leaves for home

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep. 11 (ANI): A Malaysian spiritual seeker, who landed in a Varanasi jail for violating Indian immigration laws, has finally left for home in Johor.

After being released from jail on August 27, Lim Soon Seng was waiting to obtain his exit certificate from the Foreigners Regional Registration Office in Delhi to leave India.

“I was shattered in prison. All I wanted to do was to heal and help people but I went through some bad karma in India. There were so many legal complications.

“It placed so much stress on my family and me. Now I am free and happy to go home and see my sister,” The Star Online quoted Lim as saying before his departure on a Malaysia Airlines flight for Kuala Lumpur.

A follower of the Krishna Consciousness movement, Lim of Johor landed on the ghats of Varanasi in 2001. For the next six years he diligently renewed his visa as he wandered in orange robes with sadhus and lived a life of solitude.

But Lim’s spiritual sojourn turned into a nightmare when his passport expired in 2005 and he failed to renew it.

For the next 20 months, Lim, in his 50s, languished in Varanasi jail, one of the most crowded and dreaded Indian jails where notorious criminals are held.

Lim was charged under Section 14 of the Foreigners Act, where offenders can face a jail sentence of between six months and seven years.

A German diplomat, who visited the jail to meet a fellow citizen, came across Lim and notified the Malaysian High Commission in Delhi about his predicament.

Once the embassy assured the local district magistrate that he would be repatriated to Malaysia safely, Lim was released. (ANI)

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Indo-Kazakh expedition team reaches Mount Marble Wall summit

September 12, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Astana (Kazakhstan), Sep 11(ANI): A mountaineering expedition team comprising six members of the Indian Army and eight from the Kazakhstan Army has successfully scaled the Mount Marble Wall Peak in Kazakhstan.

The expedition was jointly led by Lt Col SS Shekhawat and Ilinski, and the team reached Base Camp on August 23 at 3300 meters and established three camps on the mountain by August 27.

On September 3, the summit team left for Camp- III, located at a height of 5200 meters, and after nearly 11 hours of grueling climb finally summitted the peak on September 4.

The summit was a great challenge, as continuous inclement weather during the ascent and alpine climbing used by the teams further increased the degree of difficulty.

This was the first Indian expedition to Marble Wall Peak. (ANI)

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Indian woman suspected of murdering husband chased back to Malaysia

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Kuala Lumpur, Sep 10 (ANI): An Indian woman, who is suspected of murdering her husband in Malaysia, was chased back into the arms of Malaysian law by relatives of the victim.

The suspect, a 30-year-old woman, had fled with her 8-year-old daughter late last month after the brutal murder of her husband, Khalid Abdullah, a restaurant owner and moneychanger.

The woman, an Indian national, stayed with relatives in Chennai but unknown to her, her husband’s relatives also lived in the same neighbourhood, The NST Online reports.

The husband’s relatives had been following the murder case closely through online news portals and when reports that the wife might have fled to India appeared, they tracked her down to the house in Chennai.

They contacted their kin here who advised them not to harm the woman but to harass her into leaving India.

The woman is the victim’s second wife. Khalid’s first wife and children are also in India.

Unable to take the constant abuse, the woman gave herself up to the Indian authorities. The woman and her daughter arrived at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport at 7 a.m. on Wednesday and were immediately arrested by the police.

Ampang district police chief Assistant Commissioner Abdul Jalil Hassan said their Indian counterparts notified about woman’s return to Malaysia.

Jalil said the woman was being held for questioning. They would apply for a remand order at the Ampang magistrate’s court today.

The woman had sought a friend’s help on August 22 to dispose of a suitcase, which she claimed contained a stolen golden statue.

The friend and the woman drove the victim’s Nissan Grand Livina towards Bentong and threw the bag into a secluded spot off the Karak Highway. (ANI)

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CBI records Buta Singh’s statement in bribery case

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 10 (ANI): The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday recorded the statement of Buta Singh, Chairman for the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), in connection with a bribery case involving his son Sarobjit Singh.

A two-member CBI team recorded Buta Singh’s statement at his NCSC office in the Lok Nayak Bhavan in the national capital.

Heavy security arrangements were made at the Lok Nayak Bhavan during the recording of Singh’s statement.

Singh had informed the Delhi High Court on August 31 that he would appear before the CBI only after it clarified that he is required as a witness and not as an accused in the case.

Earlier, Singh, had struck a defiant note saying CBI has no authority to question a constitutional functionary having powers of a civil court, without Central Government’s sanction.

The CBI arrested Sarobjit, on July 31 for allegedly demanding a bribe of Rs one crore from a Nashik-based contractor to dispose off an atrocity case against him pending before the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NCSC) headed by Buta Singh.

The Lok Nayak Bhavan was declared out of bounds for the public and also to the media till 2 p.m. (ANI)

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Gen Kapoor flags in all-women Army team that scaled Siachen’s highest peak

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 9 (ANI): Army Chief General Deepak Kapoor flagged in the first ever women expedition team for army corps of engineers to Indira Col, Siachen, today at Army Headquarters here.

The Indian Army has achieved another milestone in the history of Indian mountaineering by undertaking an ‘All Women Officers Expedition’ to Siachen glacier.

The Corps of Engineers in consonance with its spirit of adventure has organised this unique expedition to the highest and coldest battlefield in the world, Siachen Glacier, a junction point of three countries – India, China and Pakistan.

The expedition led by Major Megha Astagikar summitted Indira Col, located at an altitude of 20,187 feet, after trekking 103.10 kilometers on August 15, which coincided with the 62nd Independence Day.

Enroute to Indira Col, the team halted at eight camps to carry out acclimatisation, training and build-up of essential logistics. Braving inclement weather and extremely difficult terrain conditions, Indira Col was summitted well before the planned schedule.

The team traversed across the most treacherous high altitude terrain characterised by high avalanche-prone snow bound area with deep crevasses, steep ice-walls and scarce oxygen.

The 17 women officers expedition team was flagged-off by the Vice Chief of Army Staff, Lt General Noble Thamburaj on August 3.

Prior to undertaking the expedition, a detailed planning and rigorous training in basic ice-craft and mountaineering skills was carried out by the team at the Army Mountaineering Institute, Siachen Base Camp.

Major AR Ramakrishnan, the trainer of the expedition team, inspite of being a battle casualty during ‘Operation Vijay’ summitted Indira Col alongwith the team making the achievement of the expedition spectacular and creditable. (ANI)

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S. African athlete Semenya tries to gloss over gender controversy

September 10, 2009 By admin 1 Comment

Johannesburg, Sep.9 (ANI): South African athlete Caster Semenya has completed her transformation from gender troubled sporting champion into national celebrity with a photo shoot in the country’s leading gossip magazine.

While the controversy rumbles on over whether the teenage runner is really male or female, her handlers have sought to end the debate with the aid of a costume change, make up and some studio lights.

With the front cover headline: “Wow, look at Caster now!” You magazine proudly boasts that it has turned her from “power girl” into “glamour girl” and apparently, “she loves it”.

Inside, the 800 m world champion – whose gender is being tested by the international athletics authorities – says the whole issue is a joke.

“It doesn’t upset me. God made me the way I am and I accept myself. I am who I am and I’m proud of myself,” The Sun quoted Semenya, as saying.

In the magazine, Semenya poses in skinny jeans, stilettos and a black and white evening dress.

News that the athlete would have to undergo testing was leaked before the 800m final at the world championships in Berlin, putting her under enormous pressure.

Following her victory, the ruling African National Congress seized upon her case to score political points, with left-wing firebrands such as Winnie Madikizela Mandela and ANC Youth League president Julius Malema accusing the athletics authorities of racism.

They have also sought to use Semenya to stir up populist feeling against what is seen as the right wing of the ANC, represented by Trevor Manuel, President Jacob Zuma’s planning chief.

Semenya received a heroine’s welcome in her home village in South Africa’s impoverished Limpopo province at the end of August, with VIPs and a 200-strong crowd singing a version of the Communist Party anthem, which included the lyrics: “My mother was a kitchen girl, my father was a garden boy, that’s why I’m a champion, that’s why I’m a champion.”

The cover shoot has reignited the debate in South Africa over the athlete’s appearance, with radio talk shows inundated with callers.

The 18-year-old has refused to be drawn on what she is going through at present, telling the magazine: “I don’t want to talk about the tests – I’m not even thinking about them.” (ANI)

Filed Under: Sports News Tagged With: 800m, African National Congress, aid, anc, anc youth league, ANI, anthem, appearance, athlete, August, Berlin, black, boy, case, Caster, celebrity, champion, change, Chief, communist, Communist Party, Congress, controversy, Costume Change, country, cover, crowd, debate, dress, end, evening, evening dress, father, feeling, front, garden, gender, Girl, glamour, glamour girl, god, gossip, Gossip Magazine, headline, heroine, home, issue, Jacob Zuma, Johannesburg, joke, Julius Malema, kitchen, Kitchen Girl, league, League President, Limpopo, limpopo province, magazine, mandela, mother, national, national celebrity, NEWS, party, Party Anthem, photo, planning, power, Power Girl, president, President Jacob Zuma, pressure, province, racism, radio, ruling, runner, S African, score, Semenya, Sep, shoot, skinny, skinny jeans, South Africa, sporting, stilettos, studio, Sun, talk, testing, transformation, trevor manuel, version, victory, village, vips, way, wing, Winnie Madikizela Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-, world, world champion, youth

Pak intelligence’s severe ‘torture’ saved Rauf from being extradited to UK

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

London, Sep.9 (ANI): The Pakistani intelligence had tortured Rashid Rauf, the alleged mastermind of the airliner bombing plot, so badly that Britain had to abandon its plan to prosecute him.

According to the Guardian, Rauf was treated so badly that he could not be extradited.

Rauf, who was born in Pakistan in January 1981 and raised in Birmingham, is described as a key figure in Al-Qaida’s most ambitious conspiracy against the western world since the 9/11 carnage.

Rauf has also been named as a possible ‘facilitator’ of the July 7, 2005 London terror attacks by MI5 and MI6.

Rauf, wanted in London for murder, was arrested in Pakistan in August 2006, but he later escaped from police custody in Rawalpindi in broad daylight just two weeks before the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

His escape also aborted an alleged plan said to be mutually agreed between Islamabad and London to exchange Rauf for two high-profile Baloch leaders wanted for allegedly waging war against the Pakistan army.

The Baloch leaders seeking sanctuary in the UK were arrested for the exchange purpose but after Rauf’s escape the court apparently released them for want of evidence. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: airliner, al, al-qaida, ANI, army, assassination, August, baloch, benazir, Benazir Bhutto, bhutto, birmingham, bombing, Britain, broad daylight, carnage, conspiracy, Court, custody, daylight, escape, evidence, exchange, facilitator, figure, former prime minister, guardian, intelligence, Islamabad, January, July, London, London Terror Attacks, mastermind, mi5, mi6, minister, murder, Pak, Pakistan, Pakistan army, plan, plot, police, police custody, prime, purpose, Rashid, Rashid Rauf, rawalpindi, Sanctuary, seeking sanctuary, Sep, Severe Torture, terror, U.K, uk london, war, world

Six charged with sedition in Malaysia’s ‘cow-head protest’ case

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

Shah Alam (Malaysia), Sep. 9 (ANI): A Sessions Court in Malaysia has charged six persons with sedition in connection with last month’s cow head protest.

On August 28, nearly 50 protesters gathered at State Secretariat building’s gate carrying a cow’s decapitated head. They were protesting against a temple relocation proposal in Shah Alam city.

The accused arrived at the court at 8.40am and were greeted by scores of supporters in a packed courtroom, the New Strait Times reports.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar asked for bail to be set at 15,000 ringgits each. Bail was later reduced to 4,000 ringgits each.

The case is up for mention again on October 21.

The accused were later taken to a Magistrate’s court for charges of illegal assembly (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: ANI, assembly, August, bail, building, case, city, connection, Court, courtroom, cow, cow head, decapitated head, deputy, Deputy Public Prosecutor, Dusuki, gate, head, Illegal Assembly, magistrate, magistrate court, Malaysia, mention, Mohd, Mokhtar, month, New, new strait times, October, proposal, prosecutor, protest, protesters, Public, relocation, relocation proposal, secretariat, sedition, Sep, sessions, sessions court, shah alam, Shah Alam Malaysia, state, state secretariat, strait, Temple, times

Jet Airways deadlock continues, flights cancelled

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 9 (ANI): Jet Airways flights were cancelled for a second consecutive day on Wednesday following a row between the airline management and its pilots over the sacking of two of their senior colleagues.

The management has sacked five more pilots, bringing the total number of those fired to ten. owever, the striking pilots are seeking a compromise formula, as a meeting will be held between them and Jet Airways chairman Naresh Goyal.

Earlier, Goyal said inconvenienced passengers were being accommodated on other foreign and domestic airlines in the country.

“We are trying our best, we are transferring passengers to a lot of domestic carriers in India, and lot of foreign airlines in India so that we minimise the inconvenience to customers… We are willing to sit with them (pilots) and to follow certain guidelines and rules and not create inconvenience to customers and passengers,” Goyal told TIMES NOW.

Jet Airways had also sought the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) intervention to resolve the crisis. Last month, Jet Airways had terminated the services of two of its senior most pilots, saying their services were not required after both formed a trade union body within the company.

A conciliatory meeting was called on August 31 between the Jet Airways management and the union, which claims to have representation of over 650 pilots. Jet Airways has 1000 pilots on its rolls.

Meanwhile, Air India has come to the rescue of the Indian cricket team scheduled to go to Colombo today by a Jet Airways flight for the tri-nation one-day series.

Air India will fly a special plane to carry the Indian cricket team to Colombo. The plane will take off from Chennai and go to Bangalore to take Indian captain M S Dhoni and leg spinner Harbhajan Singh before finally leaving for Colombo. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: air, air india, airline, Airline Management, ANI, August, aviation, Bangalore, body, captain M S Dhoni, chairman, Chennai, civil, Civil Aviation, Colombo, company, compromise, Compromise Formula, country, Cricket, crisis, day, deadlock, dgca, directorate, directorate general, Domestic Airlines, Domestic Carriers, flight, Foreign Airlines, formula, general, Goyal, Harbhajan, harbhajan singh, inconvenience, India, indian captain, indian cricket team, intervention, jet, jet airways, leg, lot, m s dhoni, management, meeting, minimise, month, naresh, New Delhi, number, owever, plane, representation, rescue, row, Sep, series, Singh, spinner, Striking Pilots, team, times, today, trade, tri nation, union, Wednesday

Jet Airways sacks three pilot, calls strike illegal

September 10, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep. 8 (ANI): Jet Airways, which had to cancel 190 flights by 2 p.m. on Tuesday due to mass sick leave taken by its pilots, has sacked three pilots.

The airliner has called the agitation illegal, and has secured a restraint order from Bombay High Court against any strike.

“The Bombay High Court has passed an order restraining any kind of strike,” Jet CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer was quoted as saying.

“We were assured by the National Aviators Guild last night that there would be no strike and we went by this assurance. But we were shocked by the mass sick leave by about 360 pilots… it is nothing but a simulated strike,” he added.

The Jet pilots have been protesting the sacking of two of their colleagues by the management for reportedly joining the guild.

Asked what action the management would take against the striking pilots and if the two-sacked pilots could be reinstated, Prock-Shauer declined to comment.

Prock-Schauer also said that he was confident about normal services by Wednesday.

“The matter is on in the Labour Commission and we would not like to comment,” he said.

Jet Airways had earlier sought the Directorate General of Civil Aviation”s (DGCA) intervention to resolve the crisis.

Last month, Jet Airways had terminated the services of two of its senior most pilots, saying their services were not required after both formed a trade union body within the company.

A conciliatory meeting was called on August 31 between the Jet Airways management and the union, which claims to have representation of over 650 pilots.

Jet Airways has 1000 pilots on its rolls.

Although the National Aviators Guild (NAG) has decided not to go on the proposed strike, its members have decided on an alternate course of protest like going on mass casual leave to hamper operations of the private carrier. (ANI)

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Jet Airways pilots defiant, flights cancelled

September 8, 2009 By admin Leave a Comment

New Delhi, Sep 8 (ANI): At least ten Jet Airways flights and its subsidiary out of Delhi were cancelled on Tuesday after a large number of pilots did not report to work in protest against the sacking of two of their colleagues.

According to airport sources, at least 10 early morning flights of Jet Airways and JetLite were cancelled, as the pilots failed to report for duty.

In a press statement Jet Airways said some pilots have resorted to a simulated strike by reporting sick.

Jet Airways had last month terminated the services of two of its senior most pilots, saying their services were not required after both formed a trade union body within the company.

A conciliatory meeting was called on August 31 between the Jet Airways management and the union, which claims to have a representation of over 650 pilots. Jet Airways has 1000 pilots on its rolls.

While the National Aviators Guild (NAG) has decided not to go on the proposed strike, its members have decided on an alternate course of protest like going on mass casual leave to hamper operations of the private carrier. (ANI)

Filed Under: International News Tagged With: airport, Alternate Course, ANI, August, Aviators, body, carrier, colleagues, company, course, defiant, Delhi, duty, Guild, jet, jet airways, JetLite, leave, management, mass, meeting, month, morning, morning flights, nag, national, New Delhi, number, press, private carrier, protest, representation, Sep, statement, strike, subsidiary, trade, Tuesday, union

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Jet Airways deadlock continues, flights cancelled

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Jet Airways pilots defiant, flights cancelled

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