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Ten aircraft from Indian's fleet grounded: Govt.(India)

New Delhi, Dec. 19 (PTI): As many as ten aircraft out of state-owned
carrier
Indian's 57 Airbus fleet are grounded at present for maintenance and
want of
engines, Lok Sabha was informed today.

Observing that normally about seven aircraft remained grounded at any
given
point of time, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said during
Question
Hour that nine A-320s and one A-300 planes were presently not in
service for
major maintenance, want of engines or scheduled maintenance.

The Indian has a fleet of 57 Airbus aircraft -- six A-319s, 48 A-320s
and
three A-300s, he said, adding that efforts were on to increase engine
availability so that optimum utilisation of aircraft as per laid down
norms
was achieved.

Asked what steps the government proposed to take on the "arbitrary
decision"
of private airlines to impose a congestion surcharge for hovering over
Delhi
and Mumbai airports, Patel said: "Domestic air fares are not regulated
by
the government after the repeal of the Air Corporation Act 1953.
Domestic
airlines are free to charge air fares as per their commercial
judgement".

Maintaining that the average domestic aviation turbine fuel prices had
declined by about eight per cent, he said the question that government
should impress private carriers to reduce prices "does not arise".

To a question on Air-India's plans to launch direct flights to the US
from
next summer, Patel said the fares on this route have not been decided.
Air-India planned to launch the non-stop service after taking delivery
of
three new ultra-long range Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft in April-May
2007.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200612191440.htm

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=926443

Police bust telemarketing fraud ring
25 Hours,15 minutes Ago

Police and RCMP in Montreal have dismantled an international telemarketing fraud ring that allegedly targeted thousands of seniors, mostly in the U.S. but also in Canada.

Early Tuesday morning, officers with the Centre of Operations Linked to Telemarketing (COLT) fraud, led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, swooped down on "boiler rooms" used to make misleading telephone calls to potential victims and conducted about 50 searches.

"We had to stop this crime from being committed at this point, because a lot of seniors -- mainly in the U.S. -- were losing their life savings," Montreal police Const. Sylvain L'Heureux told CTV News.

"Several suspects are expected to be arrested on fraud charges," the RCMP said in a statement.

Since 2003, this organization allegedly victimized 500 people a week, grossing between $8 million and $13 million annually. An unknown number of victims have lost $1,500 to $65,000 each after they were convinced to pay by a variety of schemes, according to the RCMP.

Telemarketers would contact people throughout North America to convince them to pay fake taxes, buy medical kits or subscribe to lotteries, according to police.

Some victims mortgaged their houses to pay fees demanded by marketers. About $20,000 in cash was seized in the raids.

Western Union management has also agreed to collaborate with COLT by closing seven agent locations in Montreal that have been used to transfer money generated through fraudulent telemarketing.

"We do believe that some of those locations were involved in the fraudulent padouts, so to protect consumers and prevent any further losses, we are voluntarily closing those locations," said company spokesperson Sherry Johnson.

Two additional places with business licences from another company specializing in electronic money transfers will also be searched by the investigators.

L'Heureux said the most flagrant fraud scheme involved a fake lottery.

The telemarketers would call people telling them they were winners, and that they needed to pay a tax ranging from $1,500 to $60,000 in order to collect their winnings. Approximately 90 per cent of the victims in this case were over 60 years of age.

L'Heureux said what was particular about this scheme was that most of the victims are in the U.S., while all the criminals are "home grown."

Further, police are seeing more and more hardened criminals becoming involved in telemarketing schemes.

"Most of the people that were arrested today (were arrested) without warrants, and most of these people have criminal records related to violence or drugs," said L'Heureux.

In the mass telemarketing schemes, the fraudsters used various methods including telling people they were eligible to receive a $7,000 grant, or selling health care kits to companies or billing them for services never rendered.

"The common feature to every scheme in this kind of fraud is that the victims are asked to pay less than $500. And all telemarketing schemes require that the victims send money in the form of a certified cheque or money order," said the RCMP.

The Phonebusters Canadian anti-fraud call centre estimates that 500 to 1,000 criminal telemarketing boiler room operations are conducted on any given day in Canada, grossing about $1 billion a year.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=926818

Traces of polonium found in Swedish tourist
20 Hours,4 minutes Ago

A Swede who stayed at the same hotel as the poisoned Russian former spy, Alexander Litvinenko, has been found to have increased levels of polonium in his body, Swedish news agency TT reported on Tuesday.

Following Litvinenko's death in London in November, three Swedes were tested to see if they too had traces of the substance in their bodies, according to TT.

The Russian appeared to have been poisoned with a high dose of polonium 210, but the circumstances surrounding his death have so far baffled British police.

The results of the tests on the Swedes show that one of them has slightly raised levels of polonium.

"In one case it has been possible to see a slight increase of polonium in the urine, but it's not at a level that poses a health risk," said Jonas Holst, a medic at the crisis management unit at the National Board of Health and Welfare.

The person with the increased level of polonium visited the barat the hotel in London where Litvinenko stayed. No treatment is required, said Holst.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=926442

Russia satisfied with UN draft resolution on Iran: Sergei
25 Hours,27 minutes Ago

MOSCOW : A draft resolution on Iran that is being worked out in the United Nations largely corresponds to Russia's views and should get Security Council backing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was quoted by Interfax as saying.

"The new proposed resolution... that is now being discussed in the UN Security Council largely reflects our approach," Lavrov said.

"The proposal focuses on those spheres of nuclear activity that concern the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) -- enrichment of uranium, chemical processing and heavy water programmes as well as limiting deliveries... of goods and technology related to creating nuclear weapons delivery systems," Lavrov said.

"We think that on that basis it will be possible to achieve a consensus decision of the UN Security Council that would induce the Iranians to sit down at the negotiating table and ensure active and full cooperation with the IAEA on all remaining questions about Iran's nuclear activities," Lavrov said.

Lavrov's comments came after he spoke with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about outstanding obstacles to agreement of a resolution.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Monday that Russia still objected to a plan to impose travel restrictions on persons and entities thought to be involved in nuclear and ballistic missile programmes.

The West suspects Iran is developing a nuclear weapons programme under cover of a civil nuclear energy programme. Tehran denies this.

Russia, a permanent Security Council member, has close ties to Iran and has balked at earlier international proposals for UN sanctions against Tehran, but has lately appeared more amenable.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=927619

Paris baggage handlers jailed for airport theft scam
1 Hour,2 minutes Ago

PARIS : Sixteen former Paris airport workers were convicted on Wednesday of robbing luggage from hundreds of international air passengers between 2004 and 2005.

The baggage handlers at Paris's Charles de Gaulle airport were arrested in September last year after it emerged that items had gone missing from bags carried in the holds of Air France, Delta and Northwest flights.

A French court handed down prison sentences ranging from three months to three years to 13 airport workers found guilty of theft, and in one case of trafficking in stolen goods, while three others received suspended jail terms.

Four other people, none of them airport staff, were handed fines and in one case a three-month jail term for aiding and abetting theft.

Analysis of security camera footage showed the luggage-handlers breaking into close to 600 bags over a two-year period, stealing watches, telephones, cameras and cash worth an estimated 280,000 euros (US$370,000).

The stolen goods were sold on in the staff locker room or on a nearby car park.

Taking into account the time already spent in detention, only one of the accused will remain in jail.

All but one of the accused were also told to pay damages of 28,000 euros to Air France for harming its image, as well as one symbolic euro to the luggage handlers' former employer, Connecting Bag Services (CBS).

A subsidiary of the French group Vinci, CBS has 800 baggage handlers working at the Paris airport.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=926820

Largest immigrant landing hits Sicily
20 Hours,15 minutes Ago

More than 600 immigrants arrived in the southern Italian island of Sicily in the biggest single immigrant landing there, local officials said on Tuesday.

A total of 648 migrants, including 21 women and seven children, arrived in the southwest Sicilian port of Licata on Monday evening, crammed aboard a 30-meter-long fishing boat.

The boat was towed to Licata by Italian coastguards after it was spotted some 18 miles (about 28.8 km) off the Sicilian coastline.

Most of the immigrants, who were in relatively good health, are believed to be from Egypt, local reports said, adding that they had been taken to several Sicilian immigrant holding centers for identification.

According to the reports, the Italian Northern League, an anti-immigrant opposition party, blasted the six-month-old center-left government over the mass landing.

Italian Welfare Minister Paolo Ferrero announced earlier this month that Italy would have a new immigration law, relaxing restrictions adopted by the previous center-right government in 2002.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=927558

US: Pakistani convicted for financing Sikh militant group
1 Hour,54 minutes Ago

A Pakistani has been convicted by a US federal jury for providing financial aid to the Sikh militant group Khalistan Commando Force, responsible for thousands of deaths in India, and could face a maximum of 45 years in prison.

After two weeks of trial, the federal jury convicted a guilty verdict against Khalid Awan, a Pakistani national living in New York for links with the KCF. Awan is said to have provided money and financial services to the KCF.

He will be sentenced on March 7, 2007, and faces a maximum of 45 years in prison.

The conviction was announced by US Attorney Roslyn Mauskopf of the eastern district of New York and Assistant Director in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New York Mark Mershon.

"The war on terror is a global battle.We will not permit individuals in our jurisdictions to finance terrorist groups responsible for murder and violence in any part of the world," Mauskopf said.

The justice department maintained that the KCF, which is comprised of Sikh militants seeking a separate state in Punjab, has engaged in numerous assassinations of prominent Indian government officials -- including the murder of the then Punjab chief minister Beant Singh in 1995 and hundreds of bombings, acts of sabotage and kidnappings.

The attorney's office in New York and the FBI began investigation in 2003 after an inmate at a detention centre in Brooklyn where Awan was incarcerated for credit card fraud told authorities that Awan had boasted his relationship with Paramjit Singh Panjwar, the leader of the KCF and one of the 10 most wanted fugitives in India.

According to the attorney's office of New York, the government's evidence at trial included recordings of Awan's prison telephone calls to Panjwar in Pakistan, in which Awan introduced the inmate as a potential recruit for the KCF and statements by Awan admitting that he sent hundreds of thousands of dollars to KCF.

It also included testimony by two New York-area fund raisers for the KCF who stated that they delivered money to Awan's residence in Garden City; and testimony by the assistant inspector general of the Punjab Police Intelligence Division that the KCF was responsible for the deaths of thousands of innocent victims in India.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=927409

Tape shows attack against U.S. Embassy in Damascus
5 Hour,28 minutes Ago

DAMASCUS, Syria - A video surveillance tape broadcast Wednesday carried graphic detail of an attempt in September to blow up the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, an attack that was foiled by Syrian security guards.

The tape, carried by ABC News, shows three unidentified gunmen parking their car in front of the American Embassy and attempting to storm its front gate.

"A civilian is seen falling to the ground, cut down by the attackers' gunfire," ABC said in a statement describing the video. "The tape shows three of the attackers being felled one by one."

The report — individual video frames presented in rapid chronological order — then showed the car blowing up and several passers-by lying on the sidewalk amid raging flames and smoke. ABC did not disclose how and when it obtained the surveillance footage.

Syrian authorities have said three gunmen and a Syrian guard were killed in the Sept. 12 attack when guards exchanged gunfire with the assailants outside the compound's walls.

A fourth attacker who was shot as he fled an explosives-laden truck without detonating it died a day later in hospital before he could be questioned by investigators, Syrian investigators said.

No American was hurt in the attack, but a dozen other people were wounded.

The Syrian investigation said in October that the gunmen did not appear to have links with terrorist organizations outside Syria but had followed religious training in neighboring Saudi Arabia,

Syrian authorities were not immediately available overnight Wednesday to comment on the new video tape, and Syrian diplomats in the US declined to comment.

http://www.keralanext.com/news/?id=927387

United States considers build-up to warn Iran
5 Hour,55 minutes Ago

The Bush administration is weighing options for a naval build-up in the Persian Gulf as a warning to Iran over its nuclear programme and alleged support for Shia militias in Iraq.

Under the proposed build-up the Pentagon would send an aircraft carrier to join one already in the region. The proposed deployment has been described as a message to Teheran not to take provocative steps, rather than preparation for an attack.

The idea of sending a second aircraft carrier was initially raised earlier this month by the commander of US forces in Iraq, General John Abizaid. But it also comes amid mounting pressure from Saudi Arabia against a withdrawal of US forces from Iraq.

Pentagon officials were yesterday considering Abizaid's request, but few other details were immediately available. A Pentagon spokesman said there would be no comment on military movements.

"The administration has been pretty clear about Iran's role in the region, which is that Iran has to stop being provocative," White House spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D Eisenhower has been in the region since September, along with four other ships and submarines.

The navy could move other carriers into the region within six weeks.

However, if the US were to contemplate a military strike, it would need far more than two carriers, said Reva Bhalla, an analyst at Strategic Forecasting Inc. The US deployed five carriers ahead of the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Outgoing UN secretary general Kofi Annan said on Tuesday that military intervention in Iran would be "unwise and disastrous," as the Security Council debated a resolution that would impose sanctions on Teheran over its nuclear programme.

The council's latest draft resolution would order all countries to ban the supply of specified materials and technology that could contribute to Iran's nuclear programmes.

Reports that the US is leaning towards an even stronger posture against Iran reflects indications that Washington wants to deepen its military presence in the region. It follows warnings from Saudi Arabia that it would fund Sunni militias in Iraq in the event of a US troop withdrawal.

"The aircraft carrier is a way of assuring the Saudis that the inclination is to do more rather than less, and that we are not going to leave them in the lurch," said John Pike, a military analyst.

The tougher posture on Iran and a temporary troop surge in Iraq would both run counter to the findings of the Iraq Study Group earlier this month which recommended a withdrawal of US combat forces from Iraq by early 2008, and the opening of diplomatic talks with Iran and Syria.

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=803070

Last update - 00:18 20/12/2006

U.S. calls on Syria to open diplomatic relations with Lebanon

By Haaretz Service and The Associated Press

The U.S. State Department called Tuesday on Syria to abide by the
wishes of
neighboring countries and open diplomatic relations with Lebanon.

Spokesman Sean McCormack rejected a statement by President Bashar Assad
in
Russia that he wants a dialogue with the United States but "will not
take
instructions" from Washington.

McCormack said Syria is under no obligation to follow U.S. instructions
but
should respond positively to requests from neighbors.

One such request, he said, is for Syria to open an embassy in Beirut.
"That
would be a signal that they have completely renounced and given up on
the
idea of getting back into Lebanon," McCormack said.

They could also help Lebanon "by not trying to manipulate the Lebanese
political system, not helping Hezbollah sponsor marches in the street,
not
stand in the way of finding out who was responsible for the murder of
former Prime Minister Hariri, and seeing those people brought to
justice,"
he added.

Assad, wrapping up a visit to key ally Russia, was asked by reporters
about
proposals by a special U.S. panel that the United States should open
talks
with Iran and Syria.

He said said he was always ready to talk to the U.S., provided the
subject
matter was appropriate.

"Any dialogue is useful providing you are discussing common interests
of
two countries but not to discuss other interests and ignore your
interests," he said.

Putin, speaking earlier at the Kremlin, said he was concerned about the
Middle East moving from one conflict to another and planned to discuss
turmoil in Gaza with Assad.

"Unfortunately the situation in the [Middle East] region remains
tense,"
Putin said. "We see that the region is practically developing from on
conflict to another and that cannot but concern us."

Assad described his meeting with Putin as "successful and constructive"
but
gave few concrete details beyond praising Moscow's role in the region
and
saying it could be a sponsor of a peace settlement.

The Syrian leader declined to comment on Russian arms sales to Syria
and
rejected as a "fabrication" suggestions that Russian weapons had been
provided by Syria to Lebanon.

Syria represents 4% of Russia's annual arms sales, and they purchased
$6.1
billion in weaponry from Russia in the past year.

Arms deals between Syria-Russia have come under harsh criticism from
the
United States and Israel, with Israel alleging that Russian antitank
missiles sold to Syria were handed over to Hizbollah for use against
Israel
in the recent war in Lebanon.

Russian analysts maintain that Syria is interested in acquiring an air
defense system aimed at the Israel Air Force.

Syrian sources state they want to upgrade their military, but don't
necessarily have the economic means to do so outside of favorable deals
with Russia.

A recent resumption of high-level contacts between Syrian and European
officials and calls for talks with Damascus by the Washington panel
have
opened the way for a possible rapprochement between the West and Syria.

But U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has rejected the
bipartisan
panel's recommendations, saying the price of engaging Syria and Iran
was
likely to be too high, the Washington Post reported last week.

Washington imposed sanctions on Syria in 2004, mainly for backing the
Palestinian Hamas movement and the Shi'ite Hezbollah group in Lebanon.