US lowers India's safety ranking

US lowers India's safety ranking

NEW DELHI: US aviation authorities have downgraded India’s safety ranking in a “disappointing” and “surprising” move that will hit air links between the countries, India’s aviation minister said on Friday.

The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded India after conducting an audit last year of the country’s aviation regulator that found 31 issues of safety concern, a ministry statement said.

The issues include the need for more and better trained full-time inspectors employed by the regulator tasked with carrying out safety checks on all types of aircraft and helicopters in India, it said.

“They have downgraded us to category 2. It is very disappointing and also surprising,” Aviation Minister Ajit Singh said at a press conference in New Delhi.

FAA has “determined that India at this time is not in compliance with the international standards for aviation safety oversight,” according to the notes it gave to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA).

The rating downgrade brings India below Pakistan and on a par with countries like Bangladesh, Ghana and Indonesia, according to FAA.

The downgrading effectively bars Air India and Jet Airways from increasing flights to the US, and additional safety checks will now be imposed on existing flights to the United States, the FAA’s website shows.

Currently, Air India has 21 flights to the US per week while Jet Airway flies seven.

Indian airlines will also have to snap ties with US airlines, according to the website, but DGCA chief Prabhat Kumar said the downgrade would not affect the code-share agreement.

Jet has a code-share agreement with United Airlines currently, while Air India is joining Star Alliance.

Karachi: Rangers kill two ‘terrorists’ in Baldia Town

Karachi: Rangers kill two ‘terrorists’ in Baldia Town

KARACHI: Two alleged terrorists were killed in a shootout in Baldia Town area of the city, Media reported Friday.

 

According to a Rangers spokesman, the paramilitary force carried out a raid on a tip off in Ittehad Town locality. The spokesman said both the men involved in recent terror attacks on Rangers opened fire on the raiding party.

 

He said that the terrorists were killed when the Rangers returned fire. Identities of the deceased were yet to be ascertained.

Brain scans help predict learning problems: study

Brain scans help predict learning problems: study

STOCKHOLM: Brain scans may help identify children with learning difficulties much earlier by measuring their short-term memory capacity, according to a Swedish study published Wednesday.

 

The study by a team of researchers at Karolinska Institute, published in the Journal of Neuroscience, showed that it is possible to map the development of short-term memory capacity with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI scans).

 

"It would be possible in principle to use the MR scanner to predict something about future development that cannot be predicted by psychological tests alone," neuroscience professor Torkel Klingberg told AFP.

 

"The benefit could be an early identification of children at risk of poor development so that we can give them good help intervention in time."

 

About 10 to 15 percent of children tend to have problems with learning and attention, which can be related to a deficient short-term memory -- the ability to retain information to solve a problem.

 

The scans alone are not expected to predict future learning difficulties, and Klingberg said they would be combined with other psychological tests.

 

"Until now neuroimaging has just given us pictures of behaviour that we already knew about," he said. "Now this is telling us we can use the MR scanner also for something novel."

 

The study involved a random sample of 62 healthy children and youths aged six to 20 and compared their performance in cognitive tests while being scanned.

 

They were tested again two years later, and the study found that the earlier scan could help predict how their learning abilities would develop. (AFP)

Police charge Justin Bieber with assault

Police charge Justin Bieber with assault

TORONTO: Troubled heartthrob pop star Justin Bieber was charged Wednesday with assaulting a limousine driver, Canadian police said, after the 19-year-old turned himself in with a crowd of female fans screaming their support.

The charges are the latest run-in with the law for the teen singer after his arrest in Miami Beach on January 23 for drag racing and impaired driving, and after his Los Angeles mansion was searched because he allegedly hurled eggs at a neighbor´s house.

Bieber will appear in court on March 10, Toronto police said in a statement, just over two hours after he sparked scenes of chaos as he arrived to turn himself in a black all-terrain vehicle.

Social media lit up as word spread that Bieber had surrendered and adolescent fans, most of them female, thronged the police station.

"On Wednesday, January 29, 2014, Justin Bieber, 19, of Calabasas, California, surrendered to police at 52 Division," the Toronto police statement said, adding the troubled star will go before court at Toronto´s Old City Hall.

Bieber is charged with hitting a limousine driver "several times" over the back of the head. The car had picked him and five others up from a nightclub in the city in the early hours of December 30.Earlier, before going to the club, Bieber had been to a hockey game.

"While driving the group to a hotel, an altercation occurred between one of the passengers and the driver of the limousine," the statement said.

"In the course of the altercation, a man struck the limousine driver on the back of the head several times."

The driver stopped the limousine, exited the vehicle and called police. "The man who struck him left the scene before police arrived."

Earlier, wearing a baseball cap turned backwards and a black hooded winter coat, the singer entered the station in Toronto, escorted by officers who rushed him through a large crowd of screaming fans and journalists.

"Move back, don´t push! Don´t push!" a police officer barked as girls shrieked at the sight of Bieber´s large black limousine. CTV television said the pop star pulled up around 7:30 pm (0030 GMT Thursday).Fans rushed in holding up smartphones hoping to get a picture of the clean-cut, baby-faced young star turned tattooed, barely adult bad boy.

A girl screamed "I love you, Justin, I love you!" as dozens of cameras flashed to light up the night.

Finance minister accepts SBP chief's resignation

Finance minister accepts SBP chief's resignation

ISLAMABAD: Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar has accepted the resignation of Governor State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) Yaseen Anwar, Media reported.

 

An official notification issued here confirmed Anwar’s resignation takes effect from January 31, 2014.

 

“Anwar had tendered his resignation a while ago and Minister for Finance will relieve him soon”, a top government official said.

Sources said Finance Minister Ishaq Dar was not comfortable with the outgoing governor of the central bank.

 

According to one of the close aides of the finance minister the finance minister was solely fighting on fiscal as well as monetary front of the economy.

 

A weak governor had failed in controlling the rising inflation and protecting the dwindling foreign exchange reserves.

 

During the tenure of the PPP led regime, it was the governor of central bank who had advised the then government not to go to the IMF that led to depletion of reserves, a heavy price.

 

But the governor had always defended his stance by saying that no crisis had erupted as many economists had argued at that time.

The governor was also not happy with the recent appointments in the central bank. A deputy governor had recently been appointed. However, a highly placed official close to the governor rejected the report of the resignation.

IPC withdraws petition against Zaka Ashraf

IPC withdraws petition against Zaka Ashra

ISLAMABAD: Ministry of inter provincial co-ordination (IPC) has withdrawn its petition against chairman PCB Zaka Ashraf.

Justice Saqib Nisar in his observation mentioned that the government is permitted by law to take any action necessary.

Justice Saqib also said that if any executive has the authority to remove the PCB chairman, it can do so, the court will not interfere in the matter.