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Everest-bound aircraft crashes
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Mexican beauty is Miss Universe
6 MPs among 32 killed in Somalia carnage Chinese plane
overshoots runway, crashes; 43 killed
JuD chief calls for jihad to free Kashmir
Knife-edge seats keep Australians waiting Police admits blunders in hostage ordeal
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Everest-bound aircraft crashes
A small private airliner carrying climbers to the Mt. Everest region crashed in heavy downpour near the Nepalese capital killing all 14 on board, including six foreigners. "There were no survivors as the plane plunged to the ground suddenly and fell apart in pieces in Shikarpur village about 25 km south of the capital," Nepalese officials said. The ill-fated Agni Air Dornier with 11 passengers, including four Americans, one Japanese and a Britisher, and three crew members had taken off from Kathmandu and was bound for Lukla airstrip, gateway to the Everest region, when bad weather forced it to turn back, they said. While, on way back, the Dornier aircraft crashed near the village in heavy rain, breaking up into number of pieces, a statement issued by the Civil Aviation Authority Office at the Tribhuvan International Airport said. The three crew members in the ill-fated aircraft were captain Laxman P.B Shah, co-pilot Sofiya Singh and air hostess Sahara Sherpa. The flight took off for Lukla from Kathmandu at 7:05 am and was diverted back to Kathmandu after failing to land in Lukla of Solukhumbu due to adverse weather conditions. The aircraft lost contact with the airport terminal at 7:26 am. Despite the adverse weather conditions due to incessant rainfall, the rescue team managed to airlift severed and charred bodies of victims to Kathmandu. Meanwhile, the government has formed a five-member probe committee under the convenorship of aviation expert Kumar Prasad Upadhyay to probe into the mishap. According to the Minister for Tourism and Civil Aviation Sarad Singh Bhandari, the government has asked the probe committee to carry out detailed investigation about the accident and furnish report within 65 days. It was a day of mishaps for Nepal's fledgling aviation industry as another private airliner, Makalu Air aircraft flying to Jumla from Surkhet had a narrow escape. The plane made an emergency landing at Surkhet Airport as its door suddenly opened soon after take-off. Eyewitnesses at the Everest-bound plane crash site reported that they saw the aircraft plunge downwards and then heard "a loud bang". "As we rushed to the site, we saw small parts of plane strewn all over a field near a local school and you could see human body parts smoldering," they said. The ill-fated plane was bound for Lukla airstrip which is used by trekking groups and expeditions to Mt Everest. Lukla perched at a height of 2,757 metre has only a 550-metre-long sloping airstrip which is considered one of the most difficult landings in the world. It has been a site of number of air accidents. A twin Otter crashed at the airstrip in 2008, killing all the 18 people on board.
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Mexican beauty is Miss Universe
Las Vegas, August 24 Navarrete, dressed in a red gown with a flowing train, impressed judges by highlighting the importance of teaching children about family values. She was followed by Miss Jamaica Yendi Philipps while Miss Australia Jenista Campbell was the second runner-up at the 59th annual pageant held here last night. Miss Ukraine Anna Poslavska took the fourth place while Miss Philippines Venus Raj rounded up the top five. Miss India Ushoshi Sengupta, 21, from Kolkata did not make it to the top 15, neither did Miss USA, Rima Fakih, who had grabbed international headlines for being the first Muslim American to represent the US in the competition. Navarrete was the first contestant to answer an interview question onstage during the gala ceremony, which was watched by millions of people in almost 200 countries. Asked by Olympic gold-medal figure skater Evan Lysacek how she felt about unsupervised Internet use, Navarrete said the Internet is important but parents need to be careful and watch over their kids. “I do believe that Internet is an indispensable, necessary tool for the present time. We must be sure to teach them the values that we learned as a family,” she said. Navarrete replaces Miss Universe Stefania Fernandez of Venezuela who won the title in 2009. — PTI
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6 MPs among 32 killed in Somalia carnage
Mogadishu, August 24 The two militants from the Shebab insurgency disguised as government security forces then blew themselves up to avoid arrest after the attack on the hotel which was crowded with Somali officials. “Thirty people died in this ambush. Six of them are members of the Somali parliament and four are Somali government civil servants,” Abdirahman Haji Adan Ibbi told reporters after the deadly rampage at Hotel Mona. “The 20 others are innocent civilians who died in this horrible incident,” he added. An official and witnesses told an AFP reporter on the scene that two fighters from Shebab disguised as government security forces smuggled themselves into the hotel and sprayed gunfire on its occupants. “They detonated the suicide vests they were wearing when our forces surrounded the hotel,” he said on condition of anonymity. The bold attack was the deadliest of its kind against high-ranking officials from the Western-backed transitional federal government since the al-Qaeda-inspired Shebab launched an offensive to conquer Mogadishu last year. “They have no motive other than to terrorise the Somali people. This is a deplorable act in this holy month of Ramadan. It shows their brutality and lack of respect for humanity,” Information Minister Abdirahman Omar Osman Yarisow said in a statement. Parliament speaker Sharif Hassan Sheikh Aden condemned the attack when he spoke to AFP from Nairobi. “This is the work of the Shebab, who are committed to disrupting the efforts of the transitional federal government which is pacifying the country,” Sheikh Aden said. —
AFP
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Chinese plane overshoots runway, crashes; 43 killed Beijing, August 24 The ill-fated Henan Airlines plane crashed as it was to land at the Lindu airport in Yichun at 9.36 pm (local time), said officials with Heilongjiang provincial government. The airport was shrouded in fog when the incident took place. Bodies of 43 passengers were recovered from the wreckage, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Another 53 injured passengers have been hospitalised, Hua Jingwei, head of the publicity department of the Yichun city committee of the ruling Communist Party of China said. There were 96 passengers, including five children, and five crew members on board, officials with Civil Aviation Administration of China were quoted as saying by Xinhua. Earlier, reports said the E-90 aircraft of Henan Airlines, with plate number VD8387, had 91 passengers on board. The E-190 jet had taken off off shortly before 9 pm from the provincial capital Harbin. Fire engines, ambulances, and trucks carrying rescuers have arrived at the scene. The last major passenger jet crash in China was in November 2004, when a China Eastern airplane plunged into a lake in northern China, killing all 53 on board. — PTI
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JuD chief calls for jihad to free Kashmir
Islamabad, August 24 Saeed, who India blames for masterminding the 2008 Mumbai attacks, made the remarks while addressing a meeting of JuD workers at the Jamia Masjid Mukarram at Daska in Punjab province yesterday. He said the sacrifices of “Kashmiri martyrs would soon become fruitful and the sun of freedom of Kashmir will rise soon”. Increasing human rights violations, custodial killings and “genocide of innocent Kashmiris” by Indian security forces, he said, were “enough to shake the conscience of the international community”. Saeed was put under house arrest for about six months after the UN Security Council banned the JuD in the wake of the Mumbai attacks but was freed on the orders of the Lahore High Court last year. Even as India insists that Saeed, who was the founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba, masterminded the Mumbai terror attack, the Pakistan government has ruled out his arrest, saying India has not provided any evidence linking him to the incident. — PTI
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Knife-edge seats keep Australians waiting
Melbourne, August 24 With four seats still in question following Saturday's cliffhanger polls, the latest count for the two major political parties, Labor and the Liberal-National Party Coalition, stood at 71 each. With neither major party appearing to have achieved the 76 seats needed to govern in their own right, negotiations have begin with the three independents, who have emerged as kingmakers. The 'gang of three' — Tony Windsor, Rob Oakeshott and Bob Katter — gathered in Canberra to discuss their strategy. — PTI
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Police admits blunders in hostage ordeal
Manila, August 24 Commandos fired dozens of bullets into the bus and smashed its windows with sledgehammers as they tried to storm it, but were then forced to wait outside for over an hour as the hijacker used his captives as human shields. "We saw some obvious shortcomings in terms of capability and tactics used, or the procedure employed and we are now going to investigate this," Manila police commander said. — AFP
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A small private airliner carrying climbers to the Mt. Everest region crashed in heavy downpour near the Nepalese capital killing all 14 on board, including six foreigners. "There were no survivors as the plane plunged to the ground suddenly and fell apart in pieces in Shikarpur village about 25 km south of the capital," Nepalese officials said. 
India’s Ushoshi Sengupta disappoints
