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Twin air tragedies averted in Pakistan, probe ordered
Plane crash victims buried
British honour for six Indian-origin scientists
Despite UN presence, army assaults near Damascus, Idlib reported Authorities say ‘terrorists’ bomb army convoy, train
Beirut, April 22Syrian soldiers stormed a town east of Damascus on Sunday and rebels bombed a military convoy in the north of the country as international mediator Kofi Annan urged both sides to work with an expanded team of UN ceasefire monitors.
A man talks to a Moroccan UN observer in Khalidiya district of Homs on Saturday. — AFP
Named in drug case, Gilani’s son returns home to
China’s army warns of confrontation over seas
Indian applicant held for UK visa fraud
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France votes: Economy & job losses sink Sarkozy in Round 1
Paris, April 22 Hollande won between 28 and 30% of the vote in the first round, to Sarkozy’s 24 to 27.5%, according to estimates compiled from ballot samples by several polling agencies. That made Sarkozy the only incumbent French president to lose a first round-vote in the history of the Fifth Republic, which came into being in 1958. The mood at Sarkozy’s campaign headquarters was resigned and sombre. "It's a very good first round score. Dignity paid off," said Socialist spokeswoman Aurelie Filippetti, welcoming the result in the more upbeat venues of Hollande's party headquarters. Ten candidates were in the race — Hollande and Sarkozy being trailed by far-right flag-bearer Marine Le Pen, hard-left firebrand Jean-Luc Melenchon, veteran centrist Francois Bayrou and a handful of outsiders. Le Pen came third with between 17 and 20% votes, beating bitter enemy Melenchon, who scored between 10.5 and 13%. Bayrou won between 8.7 and 10%. Turnout was at least 80%: down on the 84% turnout of 2007, but up significantly on the 72% of 2002 and belying fears that a low-key campaign would be capped by mass abstention. The left has not won a presidential election in a quarter of a century, but with France mired in low growth and rising joblessness, opinion polls had long predicted that the left would beat the right-wing incumbent. Hollande says Sarkozy has trapped France in a downward spiral of austerity and job losses, while Sarkozy says his rival is inexperienced and weak-willed and would spark financial panic through reckless spending pledges. The eurozone debt crisis and France's sluggish growth and high unemployment have hung over the campaign, with Sarkozy struggling to defend his record and Hollande unable to credibly promise spending increases. Hollande voted in his stronghold, the country town of Tulle in the central Correze region, where he is the local member of parliament and heads the regional council. He was warmly greeted by officials and voters alike. "I am attentive, engaged, but first of all respectful," he told reporters. "The day ahead will be a long one, this is an important moment." Sarkozy and his former supermodel wife Carla Bruni cast their ballots in Paris' plush 16th district, a stronghold of his right-wing UMP party.
— AFP
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Twin air tragedies averted in Pakistan, probe ordered
Karachi/Lahore, April 22 In an incident, the fuel tank of a Shaheen Air
aircraft began leaking as it was about to take off from Lahore airport, forcing the pilot to apply brakes just before take-off, the Express News reported. Eyewitnesses said as the plane was taking off, the fuel tank began leaking. All 200 passengers
on board the flight remained unhurt. They were shifted to the waiting lounge at the
airport where they began protesting, demanding that they be flown in another airline, the paper said. Earlier in the day, emergency was declared at Karachi airport when two tyres of an aircraft belonging to same airline burst during landing at a runway. The plane, with about 100 passengers aboard, was bound to land at
the Jinnah International Airport when its landing gear malfunctioned, causing the tyre to burst from the pressure. Embers that sparked from the rims were extinguished with the help of water. All passengers and flight crew were safe, the news report said. Following the Karachi incident, one of the
major runways at the Jinnah International Airport was shut down till 5 pm and larger aircraft were being redirected to Nawabshah airport, however, smaller aircraft continued to land on other runways. Director General Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) Nadeem Khan Yousafzai has ordered an immediate inquiry into the incidents. CAA spokesman Pervez George told The
Express Tribune that Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar has directed the DG CAA to thoroughly check all aircraft of private
airlines. — PTI
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Islamabad,
April 22 Thirteen of those killed were buried late Saturday in Islamabad and funerals for 36 other victims were held in Karachi and other cities early today. TV broadcasts showed footage of distraught relatives, weeping and hugging each other, as dozens of coffins left Islamabad's Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences where the remains had been taken. Nine bodies have not yet been identified and will undergo DNA tests.
— AFP
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British honour for six Indian-origin scientists London, April 22 The society, which was founded in 1660 to
recognise, promote and support excellence in science, has over the years awarded the Fellowship to nearly 1,500 individuals, including Albert Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Isaac Newton and Tim
Berners-Lee. The Fellows, elected for life, include more than 80 Nobel laureates. The six Indian-origin scientists are among 44 experts elected for 2012 and include Tejinder Singh
Virdee, Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, who is distinguished for the design, construction and exploitation of the huge CMC (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment at the CERN Large Hadron
Collider. Virdee originated the concept of CMS with four colleagues around 1990 and there are now over 3,000 participants from 38 countries. He devised a new technology for the large CMS electromagnetic calorimeter and one of his earlier innovations was employed for the hadron
calorimeter. Banglaore-based Professor Krishnaswamy VijayRaghavan, Director of the National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, is described as an "inspirational leader successfully promoting excellence in Indian biology."
— PTI
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Violence persists in Syria
Beirut, April 22 The group of unarmed military monitors has been operating in Syria for a week, overseeing a 10-day-old truce agreement that has curbed some of the violence but failed to bring a complete halt to 13 months of bloodshed. The UN Security Council agreed on Saturday to expand the mission to a 300-strong observer team, part of Annan's plan to halt the killing and launch a political dialogue between President Bashar al-Assad and opponents seeking his downfall. Annan said the council's decision was a "pivotal moment in the stabilisation of the country" after more than a year of turmoil in which more than 9,000 persons have been killed. The former UN secretary-general called on both Syrian government forces and opposition fighters to put down their weapons and consolidate the ceasefire accord.
— Reuters
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Murdoch to be quizzed on his UK political sway London, April 22 It could be an uncomfortable few days for Britain's ruling class. Murdoch is "not somebody you'd like to get into a battle with,'' said Steve Fielding, the director of the Centre for British Politics at the University Nottingham. "I don't think he thinks that he has very much to lose." Rupert Murdoch's appearance before Lord Justice Brian Leveson's inquiry this week is expected to focus on the network of personal and professional ties that have bound his newspaper and television operations to some of the most senior politicians in the United Kingdom. Those ties have frequently come under criticism, with many observers saying British politicians were scared of crossing Murdoch because of his company's domination of the British media landscape. Murdoch's papers account for a third of the national daily newspaper market and more than 40 percent of the national Sunday market. The top-selling The Sun tabloid is particularly influential and claimed credit for swinging the 1992 election in the Conservative Party's favour.
— AP
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Earth Day special: Bulb with 20-yr life
Washington, April 22 The bulb swaps filaments for light-emitting diodes to provide a pleasing and natural-looking light. Using LEDs endows the light with a long life and a hefty price tag. The first versions are set to cost $60. However, media reports say Dutch electronics giant Philips, the maker of the bulb, has arranged discounts with shops that will sell it for only $20. The bulb triumphed in the Bright Tomorrow competition run by the US Department of Energy that aimed to find an energy efficient alternative to the 60-watt incandescent light bulb. The DoE challenged firms to develop a design that gave out a warm light similar to that from an incandescent bulbs but was much more energy efficient. LED bulbs face competition from compact fluorescent lights which are almost as energy efficient and cost a lot less. Production of 100 watt bulbs has ceased in the US and Europe.
— PTI
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Named in drug case, Gilani’s son returns home to Pakistan
Ali Musa, who was recently elected to the National Assembly, the lower house of
Parliament, returned to the country last night after he was asked by the Premier to come back and face the charges against him. The Anti-Narcotics Force last week named Ali Musa among the accused in the ephedrine scam. The Premier has said his son is being framed in a politically motivated case. The Supreme Court is examining allegations about out-of-turn quotas for importing ephedrine that were granted to two pharmaceutical companies by the Health Ministry, allegedly under the influence of Ali Musa. Speaking at an official function shortly after the ANF named his son as an accused, Gilani said he was being "punished for standing by the President".
— PTI
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China’s army warns of confrontation over seas Beijing, April 22 China's official Liberation Army Daily warned that recent jostling with the Philippines over disputed seas where both countries have sent ships could boil over into outright conflict, and laid much of the blame at Washington's door. American and Filipino troops launched two weeks of annual naval drills on April 16 amid the stand-off between Beijing and Manila, who have accused each other of encroaching on sovereign seas near the Scarborough Shoal, west of a former US navy base at Subic Bay. The Pentagon said this was a regular exercise "not tied to any current situation".
— Reuters
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Indian applicant held for UK visa fraud
London, April 22 The agency, which is responsible for immigration, referred the applicant to the police in New Delhi. The applicant's application has been refused and she has been banned from the UK for up to 10 years. According to the recently released figures by the National Audit Office, there was a surge in the number of forgeries detected in student visa applications lodged in New Delhi during 2010, when the British High Commission stopped accepting new applications.
— PTI
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Islamabad, April 22