BSP leader, supporters booked for assaulting woman

LUCKNOW – A leader of Uttar Pradesh’s ruling Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and five of his supporters have been booked for allegedly tying up a woman and beating her till she fell unconscious in a village in Aligarh district.

Moolchand Baghel, president of the BSP’s Aligarh unit, and his five supporters roughed up a 45-year-old woman [..] Read the original article: here.

Low-cost airline easyJet unveils plans to fit ash detectors on planes

easyJet unveils plans to fit ash detectors

LONDON – European low-cost airline easyJet PLC unveiled plans on Friday to fit its planes with radar to detect volcanic ash.
easyJet said the devices – designed to be placed on the tail fin and detect ash within 100 kilometers (60 miles) – are the first of its kind and … Read : Low-cost airline easyJet unveils plans to fit ash detectors on planes.

Indian telecom JV survives fire scare in Nepal

KATHMANDU – United Telecom Ltd (UTL), a joint venture between three Indian companies and a Nepali firm, survived a fire scare Friday when a blaze in a building housing its main office here was doused before it could reach the outfit’s premises.

Police said a fire broke out at the Triveni complex in the city’s busy … Read : Indian telecom JV survives fire scare in Nepal.

Fire races through apartment buildings in Bangladesh capital, killing at least 110

Bangladesh fire kills 110, injures over 100

DHAKA, Bangladesh – Survivors wept Friday for lost loved ones, including 15 members of a wedding party, as the death toll from the Bangladeshi capital’s worst fire in recent history rose to 110. More than 100 others were injured, many with severe burns.
The blaze started Thursday night when an …. Source  : Gaea News Network.

Official linked to 220 bank accounts reinstated

RAIPUR – An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer in Chhattisgarh who allegedly had at least 220 bank accounts in various names and assets worth millions of rupees has been reinstated, official sources said Friday.

B.L. Agrawal, a 1988 batch officer, was suspended Feb 11 after the income tax department told the government that raids at his … Read more >>>.

‘Furious’ Obama returning to Gulf for oil spill update; postpones trip to Australia, Indonesia

‘Furious’ Obama heading to Gulf for spill update
WASHINGTON – Determined to project both command and compassion, President Barack Obama is returning to the Louisiana coast for a fresh reality check on work to stanch the oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico and the spiraling effects of the nation’s …. Source article on Gaea Times at  : ‘Furious’ Obama returning to Gulf for oil spill update; postpones trip to Australia, Indonesia.

BP seats cap on blown-out Gulf well as oil still spews; Obama to make 3rd trip to La. coast

Cap placed atop Gulf well; oil still spewing
GRAND ISLE, La. – A cap was seated atop a blown-out Gulf well but the volcano of oil obscured it from view early Friday making it impossible to tell if BP’s latest attempt to curtail the nation’s worst spill was having any success.
Robots a mile beneath … Original source on Gaea Times at : BP seats cap on blown-out Gulf well as oil still spews; Obama to make 3rd trip to La. coast.

Despite cold snap, Florida tomato growers end season with unexpected surplus, falling prices

Fla. tomato farmers have surplus despite cold snap

MIAMI – Tomato prices skyrocketed just three months ago, but they’re falling now with an unexpected glut in Florida.
The Sunshine State is the only place in the U.S. where tomatoes are grown on a large scale during winter. But even there, cold weather in January and February killed …. Source  : Gaea News Network.

CRPF trooper kills man over land dispute

LUCKNOW – A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper shot dead his neighbour over a land row in Uttar Pradesh’s Pratapgarh district, police said Friday.

Hari Shankar Shukla, 30, killed 50-year-old Ram Samujh Thursday with a licensed rifle of his father in Shukulpur village, some 150 km from here.
“Investigations reveal Shukla killed Ram Samujh in … Read : CRPF trooper kills man over land dispute.

Brutal race killing, body dragged for 16 km

WASHINGTON – A white man has been arrested after an African American was shot dead and his body was dragged behind a pickup truck for nearly 10 miles (16 km) in South Carolina.

The police have charged Gregory Collins, 19, with the murder of Anthony Hill, CBS News affiliate WLTX reported.
Hill and Collins worked in …. Read the original article  : here.

Suspended officer with 220 bank accounts reinstated

RAIPUR – An Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer here who allegedly had at least 220 bank accounts in various names and had assets worth millions has been reinstated, official sources said Friday.

B.L. Agrawal, a 1988 batch officer, was suspended Feb 11 after the income tax department informed the government that raids at his residence and … Read more >>>.

BP establishes $360M escrow account to pay for Louisiana sand berms to protect against oil

BP establishes escrow fund for La. sand berms

GRAND ISLE, La. – BP is establishing a $360 million escrow account to fund a project to build six sand berms that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal hopes will protect the state’s wetlands from the growing Gulf of Mexico slick.
The company said late Thursday it approved the accounts. The … Original article on : BP establishes $360M escrow account to pay for Louisiana sand berms to protect against oil.

Mumbai flight about to land as another waits to go

MUMBAI – A potential disaster was averted at the airport here early Friday when a flight was cleared for landing while another plane was waiting to take off on the same runway, airport sources said.

A Chennai-bound Spicejet flight with 201 passengers was cleared for take-off just after 1.30 a.m. But the pilot detected a snag …. Original article on Gaea Times at  : Mumbai flight about to land as another waits to go.

Andaman; Tsunami Warning

PORT BLAIR, INDIA(GaeaTimes.com)- Andaman Islands witnessed an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 on Tuesday which have led the seismologists apprehend an impending Tsunami. Reportedly, the Andaman earthquake dropped in sharp at a depth of 80 miles (127 kilometres). The USGS (US Geological Survey) told the media that the Andaman earthquake had an epicenter of 120 kilometers … Original article on : Andaman; Tsunami Warning.

Rathore’s bail plea adjourned till June 29

CHANDIGARH – Former Haryana police chief S.P.S. Rathore, convicted for molesting teenager Ruchika Girhotra in 1990, will continue to be in jail till at least June 29, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court Friday adjourning his bail plea and revision petition.

The vacation bench of the high court said the case would now be taken …. Source  : Gaea News Network.

Pilot does belly landing after seeing it once on YouTube

LONDON – A private pilot who landed his plane on its belly in Corsica after the landing gear locked said it was “a dangerous thing” to to but he had “seen it done on YouTube”.

Klaus Gerecht, from Germany, safely brought down his Cessna light aircraft at Figari airport in Corsica, the Daily Mail reported Friday. … Read more »»».

Court hints at political patronage in police-drug nexus

PANAJI – The Goa government is unwilling to hand over the police-drug mafia probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) as “more skeletons may tumble out from the cupboard of the police-drug dealers nexus”, the Panaji bench of the Bombay High Court has observed.

In what could be construed as an indictment of a … Read more >>>.

Near miss at Mumbai: Flight about to land as another waits to go

MUMBAI – A potential disaster was averted early Friday when a flight was cleared for landing while another plane was waiting for take-off on the same runway at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport here, airport sources said.

A Chennai-bound Spicejet flight (SG-206) with 201 passengers was cleared for take-off shortly after 1.30 a.m. but the flight …. Source  : Gaea News Network.

Girl stalked, father dies fearing media spotlight

DHAKA – The father of a girl who was stalked by a youth in Bangladesh died of a heart attack as he feared media attention.

Saiful Islam Munna, a resident of Bogra town, died outside the police station moments after pleading with journalists not to click photographs and run the story of his daughter being stalked. … Read more : Girl stalked, father dies fearing media spotlight.

Fire at apartment buildings kills up to 108, injures over 100 in Bangladeshi capital

Bangladesh fire kills up to 108, injures over 100
DHAKA, Bangladesh – A huge fire raced through several apartment buildings and devastated a rooftop wedding party in the Bangladeshi capital, killing at least 108 people and injuring more than 100 others, officials and local media said Friday.
The blaze started when an electric transformer exploded …. Original article on Gaea Times at  : Fire at apartment buildings kills up to 108, injures over 100 in Bangladeshi capital.