KSRTC driver dies during duty

Thamarassery: A KSRTC driver belonging to the Thamarassery depot collapsed and died during duty. The deceased is N K Mohanan (51). The driver encountered difficulty in breathing and uneasiness when he was undertaking service in the morning to Perambra. He immediately parked the vehicle on the side of the road at the 27th Mile and collapsed on his seat. He was rushed to a nearby hospital by the passengers and the local people. After initial investigations, he was taken to Medical college where he died on way to hospital.

Aircraft tracking changes considered after MH370 mystery

Aircraft tracking changes considered after MH370 mystery Tracking aircraft by satellite, cloud storage of black box data and other technological innovations are being considered by aviation officials in the wake of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370's disappearance. MONTREAL: Tracking aircraft by satellite, cloud storage of black box data and other technological innovations are being considered by aviation officials in the wake of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370's disappearance. The fate of MH370 has become one of the greatest mysteries in aviation history since it vanished on March 8 during a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board. Despite a massive international search in the Indian Ocean, no trace of the missing Boeing 777 has been found. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is holding a special meeting on Monday and Tuesday in Montreal to discuss how to prevent a recurrence of this tragedy as well as the mystery that surrounds it. "Meeting participants will explore the use of existing technologies that may provide the means to support globally track airline flights at a reasonable cost," said a statement. These technologies could allow, for example, basic data such as an aircraft's position, altitude, speed and course recorded and transmitted via satellite in the event of a sudden change, said the ICAO. French authorities had already lobbied the ICAO to adopt the new standards following the June 2009 crash of an Air France flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris that killed 228. The jetliner's black box was not recovered from the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean until 2011, after an exhaustive search of a zone not covered by ground radar. "For the general public, it has become unthinkable that a flight can simply disappear," says a European Union discussion paper posted on the ICAO website. "An aircraft should be permanently tracked, even beyond radar coverage and in case of an accident, it should be immediately located." Ahead of the two-day meeting, the ICAO asked industry groups for a complete list of technologies that might be useful to the airline sector. Twenty-two companies, including Globalstar and Rockwell Collins, responded to the call. "The responses received so far to the ICAO questionnaire showed that there are existing commercial off-the-shelf solutions providing global coverage for hardware costs under USD $100,000," said the ICAO. British satellite operator Inmarsat has also offered a basic tracking service to all of the world's passenger airlines free of charge. Inmarsat, which has played a role in the search for the missing plane, said the service would allow a plane to determine its location using GPS and send that data over Inmarsat's global network at 15-minute intervals. While GPS (Global Positioning System) is commonplace in cars and mobile phones, the international air traffic control network is still almost entirely based on radar. In the so far fruitless search for the Malaysian jet, electronic pings from Inmarsat equipment on the lost plane led investigators to search for wreckage in the Indian Ocean. Inmarsat said it would also offer a "black box in the sky" service under which a plane that had deviated off course -- which is believed to be the case with flight MH370 -- could transmit historic and real-time information from the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. The ICAO meeting is expected to lead to a working group that should present its recommendations within five months. - AFP/fa

Govt to ensure availability of low-interest loans

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Ooommen Chandy on Wednesday said that steps would be taken to ensure that loans at low interest rates were available for the people. Addressing the media soon after the cabinet meeting, he said Bankers’ committee meeting would be convened on May 22 in this regard.  

“The Co-operative minister has been given instructions to take necessary steps to make available small-interest-rate loans from the Cooperative sector. The government will ensure that loan institutions under the government abide by RBI criteria,” said Chandy.

The chief minister said that strict action would be taken against ‘blade’ mafia and raids were being conducted under the home minister’s instructions. Complete details of police link with ‘blade’ mafia were yet to be out and once that was available, disciplinary action would be taken against erring police officers.
 
In a different context, Chandy said, the government had urged the Centre to remove impractical clauses from Paddy-lake protection law.

The cabinet meeting  decided to convene Assembly session from June 9. The Mullaperiyar issue will be a topic of hot debate during the session. The cabinet meeting also decided to appoint Antony Chacko as KSRTC  MD.

Godman arrested for raping TV actress, duping her of Rs 25 Lakh

MUMBAI: A self-styled godman has been arrested for allegedly raping a television actress and duping her of Rs. 25.70 lakh under the pretext of exorcising her and her property in suburban Kandivali, police said today.

According to Charkop police, 35-year-old accused Ismail Kasim Khan was arrested recently after the 27-year-old victim accused him of sexually abusing her and conning her of around Rs. 25.70 lakh on pretext of curing her saying that she was possessed by an evil spirit. Khan's 60-year-old accomplice Bhagwan Das is still at large, police said.

In her complaint, the actress claimed that she was suffering from constant mental and physical stress when she had come in contact with Bhagwan Das in June last year, police said.

Bhagwan Das conned her of Rs. 70,000 by performing rituals to cure her of evil spirits over a period of time, but his efforts went in vain. He then introduced her to his associate Khan, they said.

Khan also performed rituals and allegedly forced her to get intimate with him. He also took money to the tune of Rs. 25 lakh on different occasions and then vanished. After realising that she had been cheated and sexually assaulted for nearly a year, the victim lodged a complaint with the Charkop police on May 9. The police tracked down Kasim Khan the same day, while a manhunt was on to nab Bhagwan Das.

Khan was produced before a court and was remanded to police custody till May 16. Khan has been booked under IPC sections 376 (Sexual Offences including rape) and 420 (Cheating), while Bhagwan Das has been booked for cheating, police said.

Teenager gang-raped by four including brother and uncle

NASHIK: A 14-year-old girl was allegedly gangraped by four persons, including her brother and uncle, in Mangal Wadi slum area here, police said today.

Three of the accused have been arrested in connection with the offence, they said.
The girl was sexually assaulted after being beaten up at her house in the slum area in Old Gangapur Naka locality near Chopda lawns, between April 27 and May 8 when she was alone at home, police said.

The girl's mother died about one year back and the accused took advantage of her being alone in the house when her father, a labourer, used to go for his work, they said.
The three accused were arrested yesterday by Sarkarwada police after the girl's father lodged a complaint against them.

Those arrested have been identified as Raju Daruppa Mala (22- girl's uncle), Naresh Bhandari (22) and Prabhakar Harijan (22), (both friends of the girl's brother), all residents of the same slum area where the girl lived.

A search has been launched to nab the girl's brother, identified as Raju Hanumanta Mala (22), they said

Offences have been registered against all the four accused under sections 376(2) (gangrape), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of IPC and relevant sections of Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

Two cabbies get 20-yr imprisonment for gangraping techie

HYDERABAD: A local court today convicted two cab drivers for the gangrape of a young woman software employee here in October last year and sentenced them to 20 years' rigorous imprisonment. Satish and Venkateshwarlu, private car drivers (both aged around 25), were arrested by Cyberabad Police on October 22 last year on charges of raping a 22-year-old software professional near a forest area on the city outskirts after abducting her in their four-wheeler. Both the accused were found guilty of gangraping the young woman after kidnapping her and convicted under relevant sections of IPC by the Metropolitan Sessions Judge Court of Cyberabad (Ranga Reddy), Public Prosecutor Nagaraju said. According to the Public Prosecutor, the court sentenced Satish and Venkateshwarlu to 20 year RI under section 376 D, three years under section 363 and for one year under section 342 of IPC, besides imposing Rs 1,000 fine on each of them. All the sentences will run concurrently. The defence, in the meanwhile, said they will challenge this court order. According to prosecution, the techie, working in a IT company in the city, was on her way to her hostel and was waiting to hire a vehicle near a shopping mall under Madhapur police station limits when the duo approached her and offered to drop her. With the help of NIA, the Cyberabad police had got the enhanced CCTV footage of the car passing through the route on the intervening night of October 17 and 18 last year. Instead of dropping her at the hostel, they took her towards the Kolluru forest area in neighbouring Medak district and committed the crime. The duo were earlier booked by Cyberabad Police on charges of kidnapping, gang rape, criminal intimidation, illegal confinement and other relevant charges under IPC.

Engg/medical results tomorrow

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The results of engineering and medical exams conducted for the professional colleges of the state will be announced tomorrow. 1,48,589 students wrote the exams conducted on April 21,22 and 23 held in 332 centres.

There were centres in Bombay, Ranchi, Delhi and Dubai also.

Nigeria 'willing to talk' to Boko Haram over missing girls

ABUJA: Nigeria said it was willing to talk to Boko Haram militants, as the US sent its top Africa general for talks on the rescue mission of more than 200 kidnapped schoolgirls.

The governor of Nigeria's northeastern Borno state, Kashim Shettima, confirmed that all of the girls shown in the latest video released by the militant Islamist group had been identified as students in the school attacked in Chibok last month.

President Goodluck Jonathan yesterday requested a six-month extension to the state of emergency declared in Borno and two neighbouring states a year ago because of the "daunting" security situation.

Special duties minister Taminu Turaki restated the Nigerian government's position that it was open to negotiations on ending Boko Haram's increasingly bloody five-year insurgency.

Turaki, who last year headed a committee tasked with pursuing an amnesty pact with some of the group's fighters, told AFP: "Nigeria has always been willing to dialogue with the insurgents.

"We are willing to carry that dialogue on any issue, including the girls kidnapped in Chibok, because certainly we are not going to say that (the abduction) is not an issue."

Nigeria's interior minister had previously dismissed a suggestion from Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau in a video released on Monday that the girls could be swapped for imprisoned militants.

But the military later said it would "explore all options" to end the crisis. Boko Haram fighters kidnapped 276 schoolgirls from the remote nor heastern town of Chibok in Borno state on April 14 and 223 are still being held.

The group's latest video purported to show some 130 girls, in an undisclosed rural location, wearing Muslim dress and praying, and said they had all converted to Islam. A special viewing of the footage was organised for the missing girls' parents.

"All the girls in that video were identified to be students of the Government Girls Secondary School, Chibok," Borno Governor Shettima said in Abuja.

Earlier, the leader of the Chibok community in the capital, Tsambido Hosea, said the video had stirred up conflicting emotions back home.

Eurolot to launch Wroclaw-Lublin connection

The frequency of flights is planned at four times a week, with the flight time estimated at just over an hour. Meanwhile, a direct train connection between the two cities currently takes over eight hours.

The move comes as Eurolot already flies from Lublin, south-east Poland, to the Baltic city of Gdansk as well as Milan. From Wroclaw, Eurolot currently serves Gdansk, Zurich, Brussels and Paris.

“For our airline, this new connection is a courageous step in the realisation of the strategy to link the biggest regions in Poland,” Eurolot CEO Tomasz Balcerzak said in a press release, Monday.

“We want passengers to have a quick and direct mode of transport to travel across the country,” he added.

Lublin airport, near the town on Swidnik, was opened in December 2012. Until the end of March 2014, it had served around 250,000 passengers. Currently, the airport serves London, Oslo, Dublin, Gdansk, Milan and Rome.

German national carrier Lufthansa is also set to start regular connections between Lublin and Frankfurt from July 2. (jb)

World's oldest man born in Poland

According to the Guinness Book of Records, at 111 years-old Aleksander Imich, born in Czestochowa, southern Poland but now resident in New York, is the world's oldest living man.

Aleksander Imich: screenshot TVP

“I have good genes and lead a healthy lifestyle,” Alexander Imich has told the TVP public broadcaster.

Imich was born Czestochowa, which was then part of the Russian Tsarist empire but fled to the Soviet Union when the Nazis invaded Poland in 1939.

When his wife refused to accept Soviet citizenship, the couple were sent to a gulag.

In 1951, Mr and Mrs Imich moved to the USA and settled in New York, where Aleksander has lived a happy, and long, life ever since. (pg