W O R L D

Bomb scare at Heathrow
Cops storm Dubai-bound Boeing, arrest 3
London, January 9
Armed police stormed a packed passenger jet at Heathrow airport here today as it was about to take off to Dubai and arrested three men on suspicion of making a bomb threat. The officers boarded the Dubai-bound Emirates EK004 flight, which had 331 people inside, after air crew alerted police, Sky News reported.

Rift in Maoists’ party: It’s Prachanda vs Bhattarai
A serious rift has surfaced in the main opposition party of Nepal, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), following the controversial remarks of party chairman Prachanda against senior vice-chairman and party ideologue Baburam Bhattarai.

‘Next Bill Gates could be from India or China’
Washington, January 9
A sizeable number of Americans believe that the next Bill Gates would come from India or China - as the two Asian giants are fast marching ahead on the global platform, a new US survey has revealed.

Nigerian ultimatum to US over terror watchlist
Abuja, January 9
Nigerian Senate has given the Obama administration a one-week ultimatum to remove the country's name from a terror screening list or face a possible diplomatic row. The country was blacklisted by the US as a country whose citizens would receive additional searching while passing through American airports.

A devotee shouts as he holds the rope that pulls the carriage of the Black Nazarene during a procession in Manila on Saturday. A large number of devotees thronged the streets as a centuries old black statue of Jesus Christ, believed to have healing powers, was paraded through the old city. — Reuters

2 ex-Maoists lose Assembly membership
A year after they deserted the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), Nepal’s Constituent Assembly today announced that former Maoists Matrika Yadav and Jaga Yadav have lost their membership in the Assembly. In accordance with the report received from the UCPN-M and recommendation made by the Assembly business advisory committee, Assembly chairman Subas Nembang informed the House , saying their memberships had been cancelled from today.

iPhone can even fly a toy chopper!
Las Vegas, January 9
A company that makes accessories for cell phones wants to add something else to the endless list of things you can do with an iPhone - fly a toy chopper! At the International Consumer Electronics Show this week, Paris-based Parrot unveiled its AR Drone - a plastic and foam helicopter that is about a foot long and can be remotely controlled from the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch.

2 NRIs drown in UK lake
London, January 9
Two NRI brothers died and a third narrowly escaped after they fell through the ice on a frozen lake in UK's Leicester city while trying to scatter the ashes of a relative. The three were pulled from the icy water by onlookers and emergency services yesterday.

Bomb scare at Heathrow
Cops storm Dubai-bound Boeing, arrest 3

London, January 9
Armed police stormed a packed passenger jet at Heathrow airport here today as it was about to take off to Dubai and arrested three men on suspicion of making a bomb threat. The officers boarded the Dubai-bound Emirates EK004 flight, which had 331 people inside, after air crew alerted police, Sky News reported.

Emirates said the incident occurred after "remarks" were made as the plane prepared for take-off. Three men, aged 58, 48 and 36, have been arrested on suspicion of making a bomb threat, the report quoted the Metropolitan Police as saying.

Passengers remained on board while officers emptied overhead lockers and sniffer dogs were brought on to the Boeing 777 to search for potential explosives.

The incident comes amid heightened security at airports across the world in the wake of the botched Christmas Day bombing of a US plane by 23-year-old Nigerian Umar Farouq Abdulmutallab.

Heathrow Airport remained open, despite the security alert.Officers are not believed to have found any suspicious substances on the Emirates aircraft.

“Police just swarmed the guy (one of the three men) and rushed him out. I think he was a white male. There was another one but I didn't see him,” passenger Cameron McLean told Sky News.

A Scotland Yard source was quoted as saying by Mail Online that “we are aware of a security incident at Heathrow. The airport and terminal remains open. We have not found anything”. A spokesman for Heathrow Airport also confirmed the incident on the EK004 flight to Dubai. — PTI 

Rift in Maoists’ party: It’s Prachanda vs Bhattarai
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

A serious rift has surfaced in the main opposition party of Nepal, the Unified Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), following the controversial remarks of party chairman Prachanda against senior vice-chairman and party ideologue Baburam Bhattarai.

Prachanda called Dr Bhattarai a pro-India leader saying that Bhattarai’s name had been proposed for prime minister. The latter rebuffed Prachanda’s remarks saying that it was mere attempt to tarnish his political image.

Talking to the media people and different newspapers and television channels Bhattarai said, “I feel pity on our political leadership that has poor mentality and cannot respect other’s personal integrity.”

Addressing party cadres at a closed-door session in Kathmandu on Sunday in the absence of Bhattarai, Maoists chairman Prachanda accused India of creating a divide within the party by projecting Bhattarai as the new prime minister. The following day, the party’s central committee said that it had decided that Prachanda would be the party’s leader if the existing government bows out. However, Prachanda was quick to clarify that he had tried to avoid a rift within the party and blamed the media for distorting his statement.

He said that some officials owing allegiance to India had proposed Bhattarai’s name for prime ministership after he (Prachanda’s) earlier announced that he would not become prime minister again. Taking Prachanda’s remarks seriously, Bhattarai said it was a pre-mediated move by rivals in and outside the party to drag him under controversy and defame him among the party cadres and people.

‘Next Bill Gates could be from India or China’

Washington, January 9
A sizeable number of Americans believe that the next Bill Gates would come from India or China - as the two Asian giants are fast marching ahead on the global platform, a new US survey has revealed.

“When asked where the ‘next Bill Gates will come from,’ 40 per cent of Americans predicted either India or China,” said a national survey released by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) on the sidelines of the world's largest consumer technology trade show at Las Vegas. The vast majority of them, believe that innovation was critical to the future success of the US as a world economic leader, but they were concerned that the rising federal deficit would jeopardise prosperity of future generations, the survey said.

The economic survey, conducted by Zogby International, found that 68 per cent of Americans think innovation was key to the future success of their place of employment, with 50 per cent maintaining that innovation was important for their job remaining in the US.

According to the survey, nearly 60 per cent Americans agreed that the rising national deficit would have a "major impact" on the prosperity of future generations. But when it comes to reducing the deficit, they were largely split on three issues: discontinuing corporate bailouts (23 per cent), reducing military spending (20 per cent), and relying on the free market to correct the imbalance (31 per cent). — PTI

Nigerian ultimatum to US over terror watchlist

Abuja, January 9
Nigerian Senate has given the Obama administration a one-week ultimatum to remove the country's name from a terror screening list or face a possible diplomatic row. The country was blacklisted by the US as a country whose citizens would receive additional searching while passing through American airports.

Senate's spokesperson said it would take "appropriate action" if the US failed to remove the country's name from the watchlist. He said the "obvious flaws" by the US security system led to the failed attack and accused the American security agents of incompetence and irresponsibility. Notably, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, was arrested after allegedly trying to set off a bomb hidden in his underwear on a US Northwest Airlines flight on Christmas day.

Earlier, the country's House of Representatives Committee Chairman on the Diaspora, Abike Dabiri-Erewa had critisised the inclusion, saying that there was no Al-Qaida terror cells in Nigeria.

Besides Nigeria, the US terror watchlist of 14 countries, includes Iran, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. — PTI

2 ex-Maoists lose Assembly membership
Bishnu Budhathoki writes from Kathmandu

A year after they deserted the Unified Communist Party of Nepal-Maoists (UCPN-M), Nepal’s Constituent Assembly today announced that former Maoists Matrika Yadav and Jaga Yadav have lost their membership in the Assembly. In accordance with the report received from the UCPN-M and recommendation made by the Assembly business advisory committee, Assembly chairman Subas Nembang informed the House , saying their memberships had been cancelled from today.

Protesting against the party leadership’s decision to merge the then CPN-Maoists with a fringe Left party, CPN-Unity Center party member Matrika Yadav had registered his own party.

iPhone can even fly a toy chopper!

Las Vegas, January 9
A company that makes accessories for cell phones wants to add something else to the endless list of things you can do with an iPhone - fly a toy chopper! At the International Consumer Electronics Show this week, Paris-based Parrot unveiled its AR Drone - a plastic and foam helicopter that is about a foot long and can be remotely controlled from the screen of an iPhone or iPod Touch.

The copter connects to the iPhone over wi-fi and is equipped with two cameras: one to calculate its speed and another that streams its field of vision to the phone's screen. Parrot also plans to release games that meld the real world seen by the AR Drone with "augmented reality". — AP

2 NRIs drown in UK lake

London, January 9
Two NRI brothers died and a third narrowly escaped after they fell through the ice on a frozen lake in UK's Leicester city while trying to scatter the ashes of a relative. The three were pulled from the icy water by onlookers and emergency services yesterday. A fourth man was with them at the time but did not fall through the ice into the water, the police said.

Paramedics and firefighters tried to revive the two rescued men at the scene but they died later in hospital. Police were uncertain why the brothers, accompanied by another man, had gone so far out on to the lake.

Early reports said the men, said to be Gujaratis, had been performing the Hindu ceremony of scattering a relative's ashes into water. However, the police cast doubt on the suggestion.