Air Canada flightAn
Air Canada flight from Toronto skidded off the runway as it landed at
the Halifax Stanfield International Airport on Sunday, sending 23 people
to hospital with injuries that are not
Flight
AC624 "took a very hard landing and skidded off the runway", Halifax
Stanfield International Airport spokesman Peter Spurway said.
"Right now, we have some minor injuries. Nothing that is deemed to be life-threatening," CBC News reported Spurway as saying.
There were 133 passengers and five crew members on board. Officials originally said only 16 people were injured in the incident.
Spurway
said the incident was not a crash because it is believed the plane was
under control as it came in. He said there was no indication what caused
the hard landing and he did not know the condition of the plane.
Electricity was out at the airport at the time of the incident, and remained off for at least an hour.
Passenger
Randy Hall said the plane was circling the airport for at least 30
minutes waiting for a good time to land. As the plane was coming down,
there was "a big flash", he said.
Passenger Denis Lavoie said he saw sparks coming from the plane and that it bounced twice upon landing.
The passengers left through the emergency exits after the plane came to a stop.
Washikur Rahman's killing comes just weeks after US secular blogger Avijit Roy was hacked to death.
A
blogger was hacked to death by machete-wielding assailants in the
Bangladesh capital Dhaka on Monday, the second attack in five weeks on a
critic of religious extremism in the Muslim-majority South Asian
nation.
Washikur Rahman, a secular blogger, was attacked
by young religious students on a busy street in the centre of Dhaka on
Monday morning, a police official said.
"Police on duty
near the spot caught two attackers red-handed with three machetes as
they were fleeing the scene after the incident," police official Humayan
Kabir told Reuters.
The killing comes just weeks after
U.S. secular blogger Avijit Roy was hacked to death while returning with
his wife from a book fair in Dhaka. His wife, Rafida Bonya Ahmed,
suffered head injuries and lost a finger in the Feb. 26 attack.
The
attacks come amidst a period of political turmoil in the country, with
the government and main opposition group locked in a months-long
standoff that has created a sense of deepening insecurity across the
country.
In recent years, a string of secular-minded
writers have been targeted by religious militants in Bangladesh as the
government has tried to crackdown on hardline Islamist groups seeking to
create a Sharia-based state in the nation.
Blogger Ahmed
Rajib Haider was killed in 2013 near his home in Dhaka after he led a
protest demanding capital punishment for Islamist leaders convicted of
war crimes during Bangladesh's war for independence.
In
2004, Humayun Azad, a secular writer and professor at Dhaka University,
was also attacked by militants while returning home from a Dhaka book
fair. He later died in Germany while undergoing treatment.
Roy's
wife, Ahmed, blamed her husband's murder in February on religious
fanatics, and acccused police on duty of not doing enough to stop the
attack.
Roy's father also told reporters last week that "apparently no progress" had been made in resolving the case.
Mohammad
Habibur Rahman, secretary of the Bangladesh Police Association and
Superintendent of Police of Dhaka, said the police had been unfairly
criticised over their handling of the crime.
"There are plenty of examples where our police force come forward to save people, risking their own lives," he said.
Media group Reporters Without Borders rated Bangladesh 146th among 180 countries in a ranking of press freedom last year.
Picture for representational purposes.Pakistani
authorities have arrested 18 Indian fishermen and seized their three
boats for allegedly violating the country's territorial waters.
The
fishermen were arrested by Pakistan's Maritime Security (PMS) forces
last night in the Arabian Sea off the Karachi coast, Geo News reported.
No official of the PMS was available to confirm the arrests.
Normally
Indian fishermen arrested by the PMS are handed over to the Docks
police after initial interrogation and then they are produced before a
judicial magistrate.
India and Pakistan routinely arrest
fishermen on charges of entering each other's waters as the maritime
boundaries between the two countries were poorly defined and many
fishing boats lack the technology to be certain of their precise
location.
Many fishermen languish in jail for months even after completing their prison terms.
Governments of both countries have from time to time released these fishermen from their jails as a goodwill gesture.
Last month Pakistan released 172 Indian fishermen as a goodwill gesture after Prime Minister Narendra Modi telephoned his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, informing him about Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar's visit to Pakistan.
A
total of 739 student applications, for a range science and engineering
based courses, have been rejected to prevent extremists gaining access
to the information and materials they need to develop nuclear and
chemical weapons. Photo: ReutersFearing that the knowledge aquired by them could be used to build
weapons of mass destruction, Britain has denied admission to over 700
international students from taking courses in nuclear, biological and
chemical warfare subjects.
A total of 739 student applications,
for a range science and engineering based courses, have been rejected to
prevent extremists gaining access to the information and materials they
need to develop nuclear and chemical weapons, The Telegraph reported.
The students, whose nationalities have not been made public, have been banned under the Academic Technology Approval Scheme.
The
scheme was launched by the government in 2007 to vet students from
outside the EU when they apply to certain science courses which could be
used to make weapons of mass destruction.
But MPs have criticised the limits of the measure which does not extend to British-born students, the report said.
The
chairman of the Committee on Arms Exports Controls, Sir John Stanley,
said: "The fact 739 students have had to be barred indicates this is
grounds for serious concern."
"It is extraordinary given the
threat we face for the Government to go on refusing to extend this to
those in the UK," Stanley was quoted as saying by the Sun.
According to the Foreign Office, 20,000 applications were made under the scheme by would-be foreign students last year.
Last
month, it launched a new website to make the scheme more accessible
after fending off criticism by a House of Lords report which said the
scheme was contributing to UK universities' struggle to recruit
international students.
Tobias Ellwood, the Coalition's minister
for counter proliferation, said: "The UK's higher education sector is
important to the British economy and it is important that we get the
balance right between meeting our international security commitments and
supporting our higher education institutions."
The number of
Western citizens who have gone to join the Islamic State militant group
is now estimated to have reached 3,400. A number of notorious foreign
extremists and weapons experts have boasted of learning their skills in
UK colleges and universities.
Rihab Taha, dubbed 'Dr Germ', who
worked on Saddam Hussein's biological weapons programme, studied for her
PhD in plant toxins at East Anglia University's School of Biological
Sciences in Norwich between 1980 and 1984.
The UK has some of the most sophisticated laboratories in the world where some of the most cutting edge research is conducted.
Five
girls at an East London secondary school were made subject to a travel
ban this week after three fellow pupils disappeared in mid-February and
allegedly traveled to Syria to join IS.
Senior
UN officials said on Monday that the Boko Haram militant group has been
unable to disrupt the electoral process in Nigeria and following the
involvement of regional forces in Nigeria, the area controlled by the
group has reduced.
Head of the UN Office of West Africa
(UNOWA), Mohammed Ibn Chambas, and the deputy UN emergency relief
coordinator, Kyung-wha Kang, briefed the UN Security Council (UNSC) on
the Boko Haram militancy, according to a Xinhua report on Monday.
The UNSC met to discuss threats to international peace and security posed by terrorism.
Boko Haram had been "weakened", but was still committing "horrendous" acts, Chambas said.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Sunday commended Nigeria's "largely peaceful" presidential and parliamentary elections.
Polling
stations across Nigeria opened on Saturday amid tight security, as more
than 56 million voters cast their ballots to elect a new president.
Earlier
that day, at least 25 people were killed in an attack suspected to be
perpetrated by the Boko Haram on a community in the northeast Nigerian
state of Borno.
The elections had been delayed by six
weeks so that government troops could recapture all the communities
seized by the Boko Haram since last year.
According to
Chambas, Boko Haram's violence and brutality had intensified, with the
militants using children as suicide bombers and human shields. He said
that the Boko Haram allying with the Islamic State (IS) terrorist
organisation showed that its agenda went well beyond Nigeria.
"Though
weakened, the group continues to commit horrendous acts against
civilians, including against women and children," said Chambas, who is
also the special representative of the UN secretary-general for West
Africa.
"Boko Haram's recent allegiance to the Islamic
State for Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), whether for publicity reasons or
to tap into ISIL's support, is also of concern as it is gives a clear
signal that Boko Haram's agenda goes well beyond Nigeria," he said.
Chambas
commended the response of the Lake Chad Basin Commission (comprising
Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Sudan, Algeria
and Libya) countries, notably the joint regional offensive, leading to
the recapture of several key towns in northeast Nigeria.
"Today,
Boko Haram holds only a few areas in Borno State. Moreover, according
to reports by the Nigerian Army, on 27 March, Boko Haram's headquarters
in Gwoza was captured," he said.
According to the deputy
UN emergency relief coordinator, Kyung-wha Kang, the conflict in
northeastern Nigeria and the Lake Chad Basin had forcibly displaced at
least 1.5 million people in Nigeria and the neighbouring countries.
Kang
noted that over 7,300 civilians had been killed by the Boko Haram since
the beginning of 2014, including 1,000 people this year alone.
The
Boko Haram, whose name translated from the local dialect means "Western
education is sin", has been a major security threat to Nigeria since
2009 and had also threatened Nigeria's neighbouring countries, Chad,
Cameroon and Niger. Earlier this month, it declared its allegiance to
the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group.
Starting today, several Delhi Metro commuters would be able to
download new free apps from an application, which would also offer them
redeemable points for recharging their smart cards.
Delhi Metro
Rail Corporation (DMRC) has entered into a tie-up with 'Offer World', an
application for Android users, that in turn will reward users, who will
download apps available in its kitty.
"To get the benefits one
will have to simply download the Offer World app from Google Play Store.
Then simply download any of the selected apps, listed on the offer page
that will give you credits," DMRC Chief Spokesman Anuj Dayal said.
From games, newsportals to e-commerce portals, the range of apps on offer is vast and will grow in the days to come.
For
every recharge, a user can simply redeem his collected credits by
entering his smart card number -- which is printed on the back of every
card -- on the app.
"The card will be recharged within 48 hours of
entering the details. You will also be able to check your available
balance or credits from the home option of the app," he added.
According to the app developers, to get recharge benefits, a minimum of 100 credit points will have to be collected.
Dayal
said, the move is aimed at optimizing and encouraging use of smart
cards by tapping the ever-growing community of Android smartphone users.
"70 per cent of metro commuters use smart cards at present."
The
app will be popularized through media and by advertising it inside the
stations and train coaches. DMRC MD Mangu Singh will launch the app,
following which Offer World will be available on Google Play Store.
Trifurcation
of the erstwhile MCD has resulted in a policy paralysis and has brought
two municipal corporations on the verge of bankruptcy.While
the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is primarily responsible for the
financial mess in civic bodies in Delhi ruled by it, the six-week rule
of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Delhi has only aggravated the crisis.
Trifurcation of the erstwhile MCD and policy paralysis during BJP's
nearly eight-year rule in the civic bodies have brought the East and
North Delhi municipal corporations on the verge of bankruptcy.
The
financial health of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation is also not
very sound. With inadequate resources the civic bodies took up the
ambitious 'Swachh Bharat Mission' but the drive has fallen flat owing to
strike by the sanitation workers alleging non-payment of salary for the
last two months. The AAP-led Delhi government has also refused to
provide monetary assistance to the cashstrapped MCDs while it ordered
termination of services of all contractual workers, including the
sanitation workers.
The ongoing stir of the sanitation
workers in East Delhi Corporation is essentially due to financial crisis
which began with the trifurcation of the MCD in 2012.
Officials
said the expenses on salary and other establishment costs went up by
three times but inequitable distribution of municipal assets also
brought down the revenue generation from internal resources. The
property tax collection in EDMC came down to Rs.126 crore in 2013-14 from Rs.140 crore the previous year. On the other hand, the North and South Delhi corporations could only improve their collection by Rs.10 crore and Rs.6 crore during the same period.
Political
compulsions owing to successive elections in Delhi prevented the
political leadership from increasing the tax on property, advertising
and parking in the Capital. For more than 10 years, the property tax,
which is the prime source of revenue, has not been revised in Delhi.
The
Municipal Valuation Committee Report, which proposes hike in property
tax rates, is pending for the last eight years. At the same time, the
corporations introduced amnesty schemes that put additional burden on
their financial health. Despite fund crunch, the municipal corporations
increased the old age pension amount to Rs.1,200 from Rs.1,000.
North
Delhi Mayor Yogendra Chandolia alleged that the grant from the Delhi
government was converted into loan with high interest rate.
This,
he said, worsened the situation. Lack of coordination between the
municipal bodies, the Delhi government and the Central government is
another cause of worry from sanitation point of view in Delhi. The
Centre can only transfer funds to the civic bodies via Aam Aadmi
Party-led Delhi government and the ongoing verbal spat between AAP and
BJP can aggravate the crisis.
About 12,000 sanitation
workers of the BJP-ruled East Municipal Corporation had started to throw
garbage on the roads for not receiving their salaries.
The
workers not only refused to clean up the streets, but gathered at
various locations and dumped rotting garbage on the streets.
Madan Mohan MalviyaThe
country's highest civilian award Bharat Ratna was conferred
posthumously upon educationist Madan Mohan Malviya at Rashtrapati Bhavan
today.
The award was received by Malviya's family for
his contribution in the country's freedom struggle and in the field of
education.
A host of other other personalities included veteran BJP
leader L K Advani and Punjab Chief Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal
(SAD) leader Parkash Singh Badal, were honoured with Padma awards by Mukherjee at a glittering ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan here.Members
of Malviya's family received the Bharat Ratna from Mukherjee at the
traditional ceremony held in the historic Durbar Hall with Prime
Minister Narendra Modi, Vice President Hamid Ansari, Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley along with other senior cabinet ministers in attendance.
President
Pranab Mukherjee presents Padma Vibhushan to Lal Krishna Advani during
the function of Padma Awards 2015 at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Photo: PTI The
prominent who were awarded the Padma Vibhushan, the second highest
civilian award, included Advani and Badal, while Padma Bhushan was
awarded to lawyer Harish Salve and journalists Swapan Dasgupta and Rajat
Sharma.
Amongst
the prominent Padma Shri awardees were film director Sanjay Leela
Bhansali, writer-lyricist Prasoon Joshi, physician Dr Randeep Guleria,
creator of popular cartoon character 'Chacha Chaudhary' Pran Kumar
Sharma (posthumously), shuttler PV Sindhu, Hockey star Sardara Singh and
amputee Everest climber Arunima Sinha.
Last week, the President had awarded the Bharat Ratna to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee at his house in Delhi.
Malviya, an educationist with a vision, was behind the establishment of the Banaras Hindu University.
Born
on December 25, 1861, Malviya was catapulted into the political arena
immediately after his first moving speech at the second Congress session
held in Kolkata in 1886. He was President of INC in 1909 and 1918.
Malviya is also remembered for his stellar role in the Independence movement and his espousal of Hindu nationalism.
He was one of the initial leaders of the right-wing Hindu Mahasabha.
The much awaited Asus Zenfone 2 is going to launch in India till the
last week of April. This is according to a company statement made on
Monday. This statement is in accordance to another statement by Asus
Taiwan, which had also claimed an April launch.
The smartphone
will come in several versions. While one will have a 5-inch display,
another will have a 5.5-inch display and a maximum of 4GB RAM.
The
top-end version, Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML will have 64GB inbuilt storage
and 4GB RAM, and was recently unveiled at a price of TWD 9,990 (around
Rs 19,900).
Previously, Asus Taiwan had revealed the price of the
Asus ZenFone 2 ZE551ML(4GB RAM, 32GB storage) at TWD 8,990 (roughly Rs
18,000), Asus Zenfone 2 ZE551ML (2GB RAM) at TWD 6,990 (roughly Rs
13,900), Asus Zenfone 2 ZE550ML at TWD 5,990 (roughly Rs 11,900) and the
Asus Zenfone 2 ZE500 CL at TWD 4,990 (roughly Rs 9,900).
All of
the above mentioned variants run on the ZenUI , which is based on the
Android 5.0 Lollipop and sport Intel Atom SoCs. All versions also come
with storage expandable upto 64GB.
Salman Khan
In
a fresh twist to the 2002 hit-and-run case, actor Salman Khan's driver
Ashok Singh told a Mumbai court that he was driving the SUV that ran
over people sleeping on a pavement, killing one and injuring four
others.
On Friday, Salman recorded his statement before
the court for the first time and claimed he was not driving the car.
"Salman Khan has told the court that his driver Ashok Singh was driving
the car and he had not consumed alcohol," the actor's lawyer had told
reporters outside the court. The actor told the court that he sat next
to Singh in the SUV which he claimed had two more people.
Salman
denied that he was drunk and that he drove his Toyota Land Cruiser at a
high speed in the early hours of September 28, 2002. "My left door was
jammed and I could not open it. So I had to get out from the driver's
side," he said.
Salman Khan is being tried for culpable homicide not amounting to murder. If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in jail.
Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas president Nritya Gopal Das (centre). The trust operates under the Vishva Hindu Parishad.The NDA government may be silent on the issue, but Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas president Nritya Gopal Das believes Prime Minister Narendra Modi will take a decision on construction of Ram temple in Ayodhya soon.
Indicating
that they were looking for a solution to the problem outside the court
and the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was gearing up to make a
law through Parliament, Das stressed that the time has come for
construction of the Ram temple.
"The time of Lord Ram's
stay in a tent is over. PM Modi is taking solid steps for construction
of a magnificent temple in Ayodhya soon," Das said. The Nyas, which
operates under the Vishva Hindu Parishad (VHP), has already constructed
thousands of columns for the temple at Karsevak Puram in Ayodhya. The
trust claims that it would fix the columns and construct the temple
within a few days of getting permission for it.
Modi's tenure
"We
are expecting that even the Opposition parties would support the Modi
government in Parliament on this issue. The entire process of
construction of Ram temple will be started and completed during Modi's
tenure as PM," Das said.
However, a senior BJP leader
told MAIL TODAY: "The party does not want to rake up the issue as of
now. Ram temple is a sensitive issue. The government is now focusing
mainly on the pro-reform agenda and the land Bill."
Meanwhile,
the Akhara Parishad, one of the largest organisations of sadhus, has
said the issue of Ram temple is close to their heart and they won't let
the Union government take any decision unilaterally.
More meetings
"The
Akhara Parishad cannot let anything happen at the cost of annoying the
Muslim community. This is why we are also in the process of coming out
with a formula after discussion with the sadhus and the clerics," said
Mahant Narendra Giri, the newly-elected president of the parishad. Giri
said he would soon meet Hashim Ansari, the oldest plaintiff in Ram
Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid case, to give final shape to the plan.
According
to Akhara Parishad, they would convince the Muslim religious leaders to
help the Ram Janmabhoomi Nyas in construction of Ram temple at the
disputed site. All four Shankaracharyas, along with important Muslim
clerics, would participate in 'bhumi pujan' for By Piyush Srivastava in
Lucknow the temple. Later, a masjid would also be constructed with the
help of Hindu religious leaders.
"We will have a concrete
plan by August this year and present it before the sadhus of the
country during Nasik Kumbh," Giri said.
When asked,
Ansari said, "I am against leaving Ram Lala in a tent. But that doesn't
mean that we will allow the government to ignore the Muslim point of
view. We had sought audience with Prime Minister Modi to discuss this
issue. I welcome Narendra Giri to discuss this issue. I consider Akhara
Parishad an important organisation which is capable of taking any
decision on religious issue. Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid is a religious
issue which is unnecessarily vitiating the atmosphere. I also believe
that only a bilateral talk can solve the dispute."
Zafaryab
Jilani, additional advocate general of UP and counsel of the Sunni Waqf
Board, one of the parties in the case, has already said that they would
prefer the Supreme Court to decide the case.
Scientists
at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI) have come up with
new Geographical Information System (GIS)-based methods that can help
identify potential tree-planting sites in urban areas.
"We
have developed a computer programme for preparation of different maps
such as digitising, road, building, green space and tree map as well as
to classify them. Using the Global Positioning System (GPS) the existing
trees can physically be documented with altitude, latitude, botanical
name, common name etc," said Dr R.N. Sahoo, senior scientist, IARI.
The
scientists from the IARI's Centre for Protected Cultivation Technology
(CPCT), Division of Floriculture and Landscaping, Division of
Environmental Science did a comprehensive study of 50 tree species of
the 3,700 trees on the institute's campus.
"Estimating
potential tree canopy cover and identifying potential tree-planting
sites is important for expanding the urban forest. Urban trees help in
controlling heat gain and mitigate urban heat islands," said Dr Sahoo.
"Mapping
the trees on campus and thus developing an inventory of them will lead
to a more sustainable campus in a number of ways. For example,
identifying the species can help maintain biodiversity by locating rare
species and ensuring that they are not removed. Non-native trees can be
identified and in the future they can be removed and replaced with
native species if necessary," said he added.
GPS and GIS
are already being used in other countries for mapping and taking
inventory of trees within in an area for the purposes of tree
management.
"With this idea can also explore the
possibility of identifying the gaps in the plantations and also identify
open areas that are suitable for re-plantation. As and when there is
tree damage in either we must replace the tree with the same plant
species or if needed native trees must be considered that have good
canopy and better living index for the human beings," he said.
A rhinoceros found killed by militants in Assam's Kaziranga National Park.The
government of Assam has said extremist outfits using AK-47 and AK-56
guns are killing rhinoceros in the state's Kaziranga National Park.
Establishing
the link between poachers and terrorists, the state authorities, in
response to an RTI application, have accepted that the Karbi People's
Liberation Tigers (KPLT), an extremist outfit, was actively involved in
the poaching of rhinos and trade of its horns.
Outdated weapons
The
replies have also revealed that assault rifles like AK-47 and AK-56s
were used by the poachers, outpacing forest guards who continue to use
outdated weapons. Kaziranga is a UNESCO World Heritage site and is one
of the largest breeding grounds for single horned rhinos in the world.
Also,
the Assam government and the Centre have claimed of tightening the
noose around poachers but not a single of the 243 poachers arrested in
the last five years has been convicted under Wildlife Protection Act
1972.
Further, not a single poacher out of the 52 arrested by the Kaziranga authorities themselves has been convicted till date.
The
figures, obtained through an RTI application by wildlife activist Rohit
Choudhury, revealed that in the last five years, 84 poachers were
arrested in the Karbi Anglong district surrounding the Kaziranga
National Park and tiger reserve, while 29 were held in the state's
Golaghat district.
Fifty poachers were arrested in
Sonitpur while 80 were apprehended in Nagaon jurisdiction, as part of
the KNP. Two poaching cases in Nagaon are being probed by the CBI.
Kaziranga
authorities and the district police of Karbi Anglong, Golaghat,
Sonitpur and Golaghat districts disclosed that massive arms and
ammunition were recovered from inside and the boundaries of the park and
tiger reserve, including .303 rifles, Sten Guns, INSAS rifles, SLR guns
and more.
Explanation
"It is now
officially proved that AK series weapon is used by militants, who are
not only killing the animals but are involved in purchase of more
sophisticated arms," Choudhury said.
"It also points to
the sheer inability of the Kaziranga authorities to combat the poachers
as the field staff is only equipped with .303 rifles," said Choudhury,
who is also contending a case in the NGT on the increasing man-animal
conflicts on NH-37 inside the park.
When asked, a top
official of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, the Union Environment
ministry's wildlife intelligence wing, said, "We have been barred from
speaking to the press."
M.K. Yadava, Director, KNP, said,
"The use of AK rifles is not a secret. We have even sent a report on
this and the involvement of extremists to the government and have also
submitted the same before the Guwahati High Court in August 2014."
A
CAG report on the use of sophisticated weapons and involvement of
militants in Kaziranga is also expected to be tabled in the state
Assembly on Tuesday.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis
Maharashtra
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has defended his Minister Girish
Mahajan who is being criticised for attending a children's event with a
revolver tucked in his waist.
The CM said Mahajan has not broken any law.
Mahajan
also later clarified that he carries the weapon for self-defence and
that he has not been involved in any kind of violence.
The
issue of Water Resources Minister Mahajan carrying a revolver, which
was very much visible, at an event on Saturday for deaf and mute
children in Jalgaon city was raised in both the Houses of state
Legislature here on Monday.
In the Assembly, the
Opposition Congress and NCP demanded sacking of the minister for
attending a function of differently-abled children with a revolver
tucked in his waist as it sent a wrong message in the society. The
Opposition members boycotted the Question Hour in protest.
Fadnavis
said the Opposition was trying to create an unnecessary controversy.
"Mahajan has a licence to carry weapon for last two decades. Licence
holder is expected to carry the weapon and not keep it at home," he
said.
However, he agreed that the weapon was visible
while the minister attended a function and necessary directives would be
given to him in this regard.
When the matter was raised
in the Council, Fadnavis said, "Girish Mahajan has a licence for keeping
a weapon. He is carrying it with him from the last 25 years. A licence
is given only when a person needs to keep a revolver for his safety. He
has not broken any law by carrying a revolver."
The chief
minister was replying to Sunil Tatkare (NCP), who took a jibe at
Mahajan and questioned the need to carry a revolver at the children's
event.
"His revolver was tucked in his waist and a
controversy was created out of it by news channels when a portion of the
pistol became visible inadvertently," Fadnavis said.
Meanwhile,
Mahajan later said that his revolver is merely for self-defence and
that he has not been involved in any kind of violence before.
"I
admit that the revolver was visible. But never have I pointed a
revolver, or gotten involved in violence of any kind in my life. The
revolver is merely for self-defence," the minister told reporters here.
Earlier,
the issue was raised by NCP group leader Jayant Patil in the
Legislative Assembly soon after the House assembled for the day.
He wondered if the state's law and order situation was so bad that a minister needed to carry a revolver to a school.
NCP leader Ajit Pawar demanded sacking of Mahajan.
"Why was the minister trying to scare the citizens by displaying his weapon?" Pawar asked.
Leader
of Opposition in Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil and NCP member
Chhagan Bhujbal also criticised Mahajan for possessing a revolver while
addressing children in school.
They demanded a statement from the government and discussion on the matter.
Assembly
Speaker Haribhau Bagde said the minister's conduct was inappropriate
and that he would issue necessary directives to the government in this
regard.
Education Minister Vinod Tawde said Mahajan was expected to return to Mumbai in the evening.
"It is only then we can know his side of the story," Tawde added.
Shiv
Sena leader and state Environment Minister Ramdas Kadam said that if
the minister was carrying a licensed weapon, there should be no problem.
Virat Kohli and Anushka SharmaYuvraj
Singh has defended Virat Kohli and his girlfriend Anushka Sharma on
Twitter. He has appealed to the cricket fans to respect Kohli and his
girlfriend Anushka Sharma's personal lives.
Virat Kohli scored just one run in the crucial World Cup semifinal against Australia.
Anushka,
who was in attendance at the Sydney Cricket Ground, was blamed for
Kohli's failure in the match which the team lost by 95 runs.
The comment came after social-media went viral with several jokes on Anushka.
"To
all our real Indian fans who support us in our wins and loses ! Let's
respect @imVkohli and @AnushkaSharma personal life," Yuvraj wrote on his
twitter handle.
The 33-year-old Yuvraj, who was Man of
the Tournament in the 2011 edition but could not find a place for the
just-concluded mega-event, was also supportive of Kohli.
"Someone who's scored 5 hundreds on Aus tour deserves much more respect and support from his fans !
"I'm sure in the coming times he will shine for his country again and again," he said.
The Bollywood fraternity, too, took to the micro-blogging site to extend its support to Anushka
The PM2.5 level in Delhi was found to be five times the normal standard (60 g/m3). If
you are wheezing because of the deadly Particulate Matter 2.5 in
Delhi's air, then blame the neighbouring states of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab
and Haryana for polluting your breath. The rural regions - having an
abundance of brick kilns, coal plants, cement and other air-polluting
manufacturing units -could be loading winds with as much as 50 per cent
of the PM2.5 that is choking Delhi.
The National Capital
Region townships - full of smelters, tanneries, textiles, chemical
making and paper units - are further contributing to the Capital's PM2.5
density. The share of the toxic discharge from Noida and Ghaziabad that
lie to the East could be a whopping 44 per cent while the contribution
from Gurgaon and Faridabad that are on the South could be as much as 22
per cent.
The Study
These
are the findings of a three-year study done on North India's
meteorological model, air flow patterns, air pollution levels and
sources of PM2.5.
'An Investigation of Potential Regional
and Local Source Regions Affecting Fine Particulate Matter
Concentrations in Delhi' is authored by Jhumoor Biswas and Soma
Roychowdhury of the Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business
Management, Kolkata; Saikat Ghosh of Air Quality Center, Ohio
University, the US; Sarath Guttikunda of Desert Research Institute,
Reno, the US; and Mugdha Nayak of Ansal Institute of Technology,
Gurgaon. It was published in the Journal of the Air & Waste
Management Association in January 2015.
Brick kilns, coal plants, cement factories are contributing to the city's PM2.5 level.Of
all the noxious elements that constitute polluted air - SOx (sulphur
oxides), NOx (nitrogen oxides), Co2 (carbon dioxide), etc - particulate
matter is considered to be the most dangerous to human health. They
comprise solid particles such as dust and products of vehicular and
industrial combustion as well as liquid droplets such as acids and
organic chemicals. Particulate matter between 2.5 and 10 micrometers in
diameter (PM10) is smaller than the width of a human hair and can easily
lodge in the lungs.
However, particulate matter smaller
than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) is a primary issue of concern as it travels
further into the bloodstream to cause heart diseases and cancer.
Biswas
said: "Another trouble with PM2.5 is that being extremely lightweight,
it stays in the air for a long time and travels hundreds of miles in the
prevalent wind direction. We used Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian
Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration, US to distinguish regional and long distance
sources of PM2.5 in Delhi. Wind and its direction was monitored at
Delhi's IGI Airport to determine local sources while concentration-
weighted trajectory approach was employed to quantify the contribution
of each." At times, the PM2.5 level in Delhi was found to be five times
the normal standard (60 g/m3).
Treatment
Biswas
added: "Whenever the concentration went upwards of 120 ug/m3, we found
Delhi's South-South-west arc - Gurgaon and Faridabad - to be pushing in
at least 22 per cent of the PM2.5. Noida and Ghaziabad chipped in with
44 per cent. In Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, power plants, coal
plants, cement units and brick kilns in summers, and biomass burning in
winters, load the air. "
The authors emphasised on a
holistic treatment to the problem. Guttikunda said: "Vehicular emissions
in the city are indeed high, but Delhi having a peculiar geography
wherein it amasses pollution from the whole region, needs a more
comprehensive management."
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. Photo: PTI
Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna on Tuesday took pot shots at the Aam Aadmi
Party, which
has been hit by a massive implosion that has been making
headlines for days now.
"Hamaam mein sab nange hain!
Rajniti mein AAP walon ne bhi kapde utaar diye. Kejriwal aur unki party
ka abhinandan (Everybody is in the buff in the community bath. Politics
made the AAP people shed clothes too. Welcome, Kejriwal and his party),"
the editorial said.
The BJP ally attacked the AAP -
which had positioned itself as an alternative to conventional politics
when it was launched two years ago - for falling into the same
trappings. "The AAP doesn't need to teach wisdom to other parties now,"
Saamna said.
On the removal of AAP rebels Yogendra Yadav
and Prashant Bhushan from the party's national council, the Uddhav
Thackeray party said, "They made all empty slogans for transparency and
inner democracy, but the way the two have been removed shows how murky
the whole affair is."
"The party is going through the
same fate that Indira Gandhi suffered when the Congress broke and the
Janata Party was formed," the editorial said.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
A former Aam Aadmi Party MLA on Tuesday alleged that Arvind Kejriwal
had given his consent to fake calls made to party MLAs in the name of
senior BJP leaders Nitin Gadkari and Arun Jaitley offering them money to support the BJP.
"The
calls were made with Arvind Kejriwal's consent from private numbers. We
have evidence regarding the same," Rajesh Garg said, claiming that he
had also received a similar call.
Garg alleged that the callers offered Rs 10 crore to the
MLAs to support to the BJP while Delhi was under President's Rule. Last
year, Kejriwal had alleged that the BJP was engineering horse-trading in
order to avoid elections in the national capital.
"A
party MLA stated that calls were received from Nitin Gadkari and Arun
Jaitley. I filed a complaint and after the investigation, a man was
caught for the same," Garg said, saying he has documentary evidence to
prove his allegations.
Earlier this month, Garg had
released an audio tape which purportedly showed Kejriwal asking him to
poach six Congress MLAs. The AAP suspended Garg and dismissed the audio
tape, saying it was an attempt to defame the party.
A woman is carried to a safer place from her partially submerged house after incessant rains in Srinagar.
Six
bodies were recovered on Tuesday increasing the death toll to 16 in
Jammu and Kashmir as a devastating flood in the state forced thousands
to flee to
safer places. Several areas of the Valley and parts of Jammu were in
deluge caused by heavy rain over the weekend.
The six
bodies were recovered from the debris in Laden village in Chadoora of
Budgam, a senior police official said, adding that one person who was
trapped in mudslides was feared dead.
Process to
evacuate affected people was underway as eight teams of National
Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were rushed to Kashmir, PTI reported.
Armed
forces, along with four helicopters, have been placed in readiness for
deployment at short notice after local authorities declared a flood
situation in the Valley.
The central government on Monday granted Rs 200 crore as immediate relief as Prime Minister Narendra Modi rushed minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi
to Kashmir for an on-the-spot assessment of the situation and
coordinate with state authorities with regard to the requirements.
Due
to heavy rains over the weekend, river Jhelum was flowing above the
danger mark at several places including Sangam in Anantnag district and
Ram Munshi Bagh in the city.
Flood water entered several
low-lying areas of Kashmir, including capital Srinagar, leading to
panic among the locals for whom memories of the devastating deluge only
seven months back are fresh in mind.
Over 280 people had
died and tens of thousands left homeless and property worth hundreds of
crores damaged in unprecedented floods in the state in September last
year.
Both Advani and Joshi were present at the site when the mosque was taken down.The
Supreme Court on Tuesday issued a notice to BJP veterans LK Advani, MM
Joshi and 18 others who are the accused in the 1992 demolition of Babri
Masjid in Uttar Pradesh's holy city of Ayodhya.
Acting on
a petition filed by lawyer Haji Mehmood, the apex court gave them four
weeks to respond to its notice. The plea questions the delay in appeal
for filing the Special Leave Petition and the merits of the appeal.
Babri
Masjid, a 16th century mosque said to be built by one of the generals
of Mughal emperor Babar, was demolished by a mob on December 6, 1992.
Both Advani and Joshi were present at the site when the mosque was taken
down.
Right-wing
groups claim the site where the mosque once stood is the birthplace of
Lord Ram. The demolition had led to communal riots all over the country
killing hundreds of people.
China said on Wednesday it would welcome any move by India
to grant visa on arrival for Chinese citizens, amid reports that the
Indian government may announce the move when Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits China in May.
The
Chinese Foreign Ministry said it would welcome the move and would
consider reciprocating the gesture to allow greater travel between both
countries.
As Mail Today reported on Wednesday, the
matter was discussed in New Delhi at a high-level meeting chaired by
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh
on Tuesday, with visa on arrival proposals being considered for
citizens of China, the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Canada.
The
Tourism Ministry has suggested the move would boost revenues from
tourist arrivals. China has emerged as among the biggest outbound
tourism markets in recent years. Last year, the number of outbound
Chinese tourists crossed 100 million, with net spending reaching $ 165
billion - more than any other country. Few Chinese, however, travel to
India, preferring Sri Lanka and Maldives as destinations in South Asia -
almost four lakh travelled to Maldives last year, more than three times
the number to India.
China said on Wednesday it was
willing to work with India to boost two-way travel. On the proposed visa
on arrival move, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told
reporters, "We welcome this and we are willing to work with the Indian
side to facilitate the personnel exchanges between the two countries."
A
rescue helicopter from the French Gendarmerie lands behind a media
satellite dish seen during operations near the crash site of an Airbus
A320, in Seyne-les-Alpes, on March 26, 2015. Photo: ReutersThe
co-pilot of a Germanwings jet that went down in the French Alps,
killing 150 people, appears to have crashed the plane deliberately, a
Marseille prosecutor said on Thursday.The German
citizen, left in sole control of the Airbus A320 after the captain left
the cockpit, refused to re-open the door and pressed a button that sent
the jet into its fatal descent, the prosecutor told a news conference
carried on live television.
Just one of the two pilots of
the Germanwings airliner that crashed in the French Alps was in the
cockpit at the time it went down, a German state prosecutor said on
Thursday.
The statement came after the New York Times
reported that "black box" recordings showed one of the pilots had left
the cockpit and could not get back in before the plane crashed, killing
all 150 onboard.
"One
was in the cockpit and the other wasn't," Christoph Kumpa at the
prosecutors' office in Duesseldorf told Reuters by telephone, adding
that the information came from investigators in France.
Kumpa
said he did not know whether it was the captain or the co-pilot who was
in the cockpit. Neither Germanwings nor parent company Lufthansa has
released the identity of the two pilots.
Investigators
were still studying the voice recordings from one of the "black boxes"
for answers on Thursday while the search continued for a second in the
ravine where the plane crashed, 100 km (65 miles) from the Riviera city
of Nice.
The recordings did not make clear why the pilot
left the cockpit or why he could not regain entry as the plane operated
by budget airline Germanwings steadily descended toward a mountain range
in a remote area of the French Alps on Tuesday.
"The guy
outside is knocking lightly on the door and there is no answer," an
investigator described only as a senior French military official told
the New York Times, citing the recordings. "And then he hits the door
stronger and no answer. There is never an answer."
"You can hear he is trying to smash the door down," the investigator added.
"VERY SMOOTH, VERY COOL"
The cockpit audio had showed "very smooth, very cool" conversation between the pilots in the early part of the flight.
"We
don't know yet the reason why one of the guys went out," the official
said. "But what is sure is that at the very end of the flight, the other
pilot is alone and does not open the door."
A spokesman
for Germanwings' owner Lufthansa said: "We have no information from the
authorities that confirms this report and we are seeking more
information. We will not take part in speculation on the causes of the
crash."
It confirmed that the main pilot had over 6,000
hours of flying time, while the more junior co-pilot had just 630 hours
and had been with Germanwings since September 2013.
In
France, the interior and defence ministries said they had no information
on the newspaper report. The prosecutor of the city of Marseille
handling the legal side of the investigation was due to give a news
conference at 1130 GMT, and Lufthansa also announced a briefing for
later in the day.
France's BEA air investigation bureau
was not available for comment on the report. On Wednesday, it said it
was too early to draw meaningful conclusions on why the plane went down.
"We
have not yet been able to study and to establish an exact timing for
all the sounds and words heard on this file," BEA director Remi Jouty
told a news conference.
Jouty expected the first basic
analysis in days but warned that the read-out could be subject to errors
and that more work would be needed for a full interpretation.
Although
he said "words" had been heard on the tape, Jouty would not confirm
whether that meant the Airbus A320's pilots were conscious, and he gave
no details of the recordings.
POST-9/11 RULES
The
BEA said the plane started descending a minute after reaching cruising
height and lost altitude for over nine minutes. The pilot's last words
to the ground confirmed the next navigational waypoint, ending with a
call-sign and "thank you".
Pilots may temporarily leave
the cockpit at certain times and in certain circumstances, such whilst
the aircraft is cruising, according to German aviation law.
Lufthansa
said that its cockpit doors can be opened from the outside with a code,
in line with regulations introduced after the Sept. 11 attacks.
However, the code system can be blocked from inside the cockpit,
according to an Airbus promotional video posted online and confirmed by
the planemaker.
The BEA on Wednesday already ruled out a mid-air explosion and said the scenario did not look like a depressurisation.
It
also noted the airliner had flown in a straight line directly into the
mountain, but had no word on whether that seemed to be at the hand of a
pilot or auto-pilot.
The retrieval of one of two black
boxes came on Wednesday as French President Francois Hollande, Germany's
Angela Merkel and Spain's Mariano Rajoy visited the crash site to pay
tribute to the victims, mostly Germany and Spanish.
Germanwings
said 72 Germans were killed in the first major air passenger disaster
on French soil since the 2000 Concorde accident just outside Paris.
Madrid revised down on Thursday the number of Spanish victims to 50 from
51 previously.
As well as Germans and Spaniards, victims
included three Americans, a Moroccan and citizens of Britain,
Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Colombia, Denmark, Israel, Japan, Mexico,
Iran and the Netherlands, officials said. However, DNA checks to
identify them could take weeks, the French government said.
The
families of victims were being flown to Marseille on Thursday before
being taken up to the zone close to the crash site. Chapels had been
prepared for them with a view of the mountain where their loved ones
died.
Police and forensic teams on foot and in
helicopters pursued searches but said the impact of the crash was so
violent that the airplane had been shattered into small pieces.
"When
we go to a crash site we expect to find part of the fuselage. But here
we see nothing at all," said Xavier Roy, coordinating air operations.
