Experts call Turkish airliner crash 'a miracle'

AMSTERDAM: Safety experts on Thursday hailed the "miracle" that limited the death toll from the crash of a Turkish Airlines jet as it came into

A Turkish passenger plane crashes at the Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. (AFP) More Pictures

land at Amsterdam airport as dozens of investigators pored over the wreckage.

Relatives of the nine dead and 86 injured arrived in the Netherlands as the crash inquiry gathered pace in a field near Schiphol Airport.

"It is a real wreck," Fred Sanders, a spokesman for the Dutch Safety Board said. "That so many people were able to walk out was truly remarkable. Some have called it a miracle."

Turkish transport minister Binali Yildirim has also said the low death toll was a "miracle".

The Boeing 737-800 jet, carrying 127 passengers and seven crew, crashed into a muddy field just short of the runway on Wednesday morning, in what survivors and witnesses likened to a brick falling from the sky.
Witnesses described seeing the tail of the het hit the edge of a busy road in light fog and drag along the ground before the plane broke in three.

The plane glided the final distance before hitting the ground, its tail angled towards the ground, witnesses said. The engines were found some 100 metres from the rest of the wreckage.

Of the nine dead, three were crew members. Six of the 86 injured were in critical condition and 25 were serious, officials said.

Casualties were cut by the fact that the plane did not catch fire when it crashed, said Sanders.

"It may have something to do with the fact that it came down in a muddy field rather than on a concrete road or on a landing strip where sparks would have increased the chances of a fire."

It appeared that the plane fell at a very straight angle, he added.

"This may indicate that the plane had lost its forward momentum, that there was no motor function."

Sanders said the investigation at the crash scene would take a few days, after then the wreckage would be moved away. He said an interim report could be released in weeks.

Accident investigators worked all night at the crash site looking for clues, Rob Stenacker, a spokesman for the Schiphol police said.

About 40 investigators were taking part of the probe led by the Dutch Safety Board supported by local and airport police teams.

Sixty-seven relatives of those on the ill-fated Flight TK 1951 arrived at Schiphol on a special flight from Istanbul on Wednesday night.

Authorities have still not released the identities or nationalities of those killed or hurt, apart from saying they included Dutch and Turkish citizens.

Turkish newspapers criticised Turkish Airlines (THY) and the Turkish government for their handling of the crisis after the crash.

The airline and transport ministry at first said everyone on the jet survived the accident, while Dutch rescuers were still examining the wreckage.

The popular Vatan newspaper called the announcement a "scandal," while Aksam said the crash aftermath "turned from celebration to torture" for relatives.

The liberal Radikal called the handling of the emergency "amateurish" and said the airline and ministry had created a separate "crisis."

Turkey's air workers' trade union, Hava-Is, said "the respectability of the THY and the whole aviation sector was damaged."

THY is one of Turkey's most prestigious public sector companies and has grown steadily, increasing the number of passengers by 89 percent to 19.6 million from 2003 to 2007, according to company figures.

According to the company's web site, in 2007 THY topped 27 airlines that are members of the Association of European Airlines in operational safety, defined as making flights at the planned time with no malfunction of any kind.

Its last deadly accident was in 2003 when a domestic flight to the southeastern city of Diyarbakir crashed on landing, claiming 74 lives.

Army closes in on BDR headquarters

The army is apparently set to enter the BDR headquarters with heavy arms through all gates near Nilkhet and Hazaribagh, flaring up the fear of a heavy bloodshed.

Around 4:15pm, army personnel fired several gunshots on way to the mutineers' centre of operations.

Some private television stations reported that army already entered the BDR headquarters through gate No 2, triggering a battle as the BDR mutineers retaliated.

Residents of the surrounding areas were evacuated.

Home Minister Sahara Khatun earlier told reporters that BDR jawans agreed to surrender arms and go back to barracks.

Egypt's top archaeologist unveils ancient mummy

AP – An Egyptian worker holds a torch by one of eight revealed sarcophagi found inside a 26th Dynasty limestone …

SAQQARA, Egypt – Egypt's chief archaeologist has unveiled a completely preserved mummy inside a limestone sarcophagus sealed 2,600 years ago during pharaonic times.

The mummy was exposed for the first time Wednesday. It lies in a narrow shaft 36 feet below ground at the ancient necropolis of Saqqara outside of Cairo.

It's part of a burial chamber discovered three weeks ago that holds eight wooden and limestone sarcophagi, along with 22 other mummies from the 26th Dynasty — Egypt's last independent kingdom.

Laborers used crowbars to lift the sarcophagus' lid and exposed the linen-wrapped mummy inside.

Antiquities chief Zahi Hawass says the mummies are an important discovery and much of Saqqara has yet to be unearthed.

Bankers challenged to reform system — quickly

WASHINGTON – The top members of a key House panel told banking leaders Wednesday they must win over a disgusted public and work harder to right the deeply troubled financial system.

"I urge you going forward to be ungrudgingly cooperative," said Rep. Barney Frank, the Democratic chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. "There has to be a sense of the American people that you understand their anger ... and that you're willing to make some sacrifices to get this working."

Frank also asked banks to impose a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures until Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner comes up with a systemwide mortgage modification.

The panel's top Republican, Spencer Bachus of Alabama, said the bankers and Congress will have to do their part to sway people by "winning back their trust and their confidence."

Taxpayers are furious with big banks that benefited from the federal bailout designed to get credit moving again but that also spent lavishly on company retreats and office redecorating, and lawmakers are feeling the heat for signing off on the $700 billion plan.

Eight chief executives and company chairmen were testifying before Frank's panel in what was the first examination by lawmakers since they passed the legislation last year.

Members of both political parties have been smarting over the implementation of the financial package, which started under President Bush and now is in the hands of the Obama administration. The lingering suspicions present one of President Barack Obama's biggest obstacles as he attempts the dual challenge of prodding the financial sector to ease credit while aiming to create jobs with an economic stimulus package.

The CEOs were met with deep skepticism from lawmakers who told tales of furious constituents and aggressively quizzed them on how they have used more than $160 billion in taxpayers' money.

Even so, the banking leaders brought a message of accommodation and gratitude. They applauded the program for making more loans available and promised to pay their share of the money back to the Treasury over time. Anticipating confrontations over their own compensation, several asserted that none of the government's money went to bonuses or dividends.

"We are frugal," said Wells Fargo's John Stumpf. "We're Americans first. We're bankers second."

They also generally agreed with lawmakers' calls for better cooperation and better public relations. They were contrite and conceded they face a bitter public. They had little choice but to acknowledge as much, given intense anger by both lawmakers and the public as the troubled financial system continues to spiral downward in the midst of an already deep recession.

"We understand taxpayers are angry" and they are right in demanding that institutions receiving their money take a "conservative, sober and frugal" approach to using it, said Kenneth D. Lewis of Bank of America.

Added Lloyd C. Blankfein of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.: "We have to regain the public's trust and do everything we can to help mend our financial system to restore stability and vitality."

Yet, for all the words of contrition, the CEOs also sought to show they were being prudent.

"We lent more even as customers cut back on their spending" during the last financial quarter of 2008, said JP Morgan Chase & Co.'s Jamie Dimon. Still, he added: "We stand ready to do our part going forward."

Robert P. Kelly of The Bank of New York Mellon promised "a very good return on the investment for taxpayers" and acknowledged "we still have a long way to go" to jump start the U.S. credit market.

Hearings on the bailout were taking place across the Capitol, with the CEOs appearing in the House while Neil Barofsky, the watchdog of the government's Wall Street rescue package, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

FBI Deputy Director John Pistole told that Senate panel that there are 530 active corporate fraud investigations, and 38 of them involve corporate fraud and financial institution matters directly related to the economic crisis.

Meanwhile, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo accused Merrill Lynch & Co. executives of corporate irresponsibility by secretly and prematurely awarding $3.6 billion in bonuses as taxpayers were bailing out the industry.

Cuomo made the claims in a letter to Frank, saying that instead of disclosing its bonus plan in a transparent manner designed to assure the payments were warranted, Merrill Lynch moved the date of bonuses to richly reward "failed executives." Cuomo says Bank of America, which acquired Merrill last fall, was apparently complicit in the move to award bonuses before Merrill's dismal fourth quarter earnings were announced.

There was no immediate comment from the company.

On new bailout initiatives that Geithner announced Tuesday, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the Banking Committee, assailed the administration for what a lack of details.

"He had nothing really to say," Shelby said. "We want to know where the specifics are and he doesn't have them."

The bankers are not sympathetic figures in Congress, particularly in the more populist House. The initial spending of the bailout funds was secretive, lacking strict requirements that the banks account publicly for how they were using the money.

Banks weren't helped by reports that Wall Street firms doled out more than $18 billion in bonuses to their employees last year or that Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo had planned conferences in Las Vegas. Goldman Sachs moved its three-day event to San Francisco; Wells Fargo canceled its employee recognition retreat.

Most of these bankers didn't beg for their money. They were selected because they were relative healthy banks that could spur more banking activity and eliminate the stigma of taking taxpayer money for other financial institutions.

'Ragging' at Cambridge University

LONDON: In what could be described as the outer limits of ragging, students are often initiated into Cambridge University by being asked to drink water containing a live goldfish, eat raw squids and wear kippers around necks.

According to student newspaper 'Varsity', the tests, organised by sport and drinking clubs for first years, usually involve excessive amounts of alcohol and can include carrying out degrading and depraved acts often by female students.

In fact, the "ordeal" involves a "meal" consisting of over 15 courses, specially prepared for those to be initiated, and many of the rituals are carried out shirtless because they often involve vomiting.

"... the first ten courses are served without alcohol, and include such questionable delicacies as a pig's snout with with wasabi sauce, and a pint of water with a live goldfish; a dish, if regurgitated with the said creature still alive, it exempts the diner from two of the following courses," it said.

According to the newspaper, the latest initiation took place last week and featured raw leeks, whole, uncooked squids and entire chillies. The four prospective members were then adorned with kippers around their necks and doused in treacle.

At the end of the trial, they had to down four "dirty" pints in three minutes, each containing foods, spices and some foreign liquids, spurred on by yells from onlookers of "down it, down it!"

World War II bomb found in southern Japan

TOKYO: Flights were cancelled and residents evacuated while an unexploded bomb believed to have been dropped by US forces during World War II was made safe in southern Japan on Sunday.

The 120-centimetre (48-inch) long rusty bomb was found in late January by workers at a construction site in Miyazaki prefecture.

Japanese bomb disposal forces on Sunday safely removed the bomb after ordering 1,700 people out of their homes and delaying or cancelling more than a dozen flights into or out of Miyazaki airport.

"Everything has returned to normal now as the bomb was safely removed," a Miyazaki city official said.

Sixty years after the war ended unexploded bombs and shells are still occasionally found in Japan, particularly on the southern island of Okinawa, the site of an extremely bloody battle towards the end of World War II.

Last month, a construction worker there was severely injured by a World War II bomb while working on an underground water pipe.

9 held in 2008 Bangalore blasts case: Police

NEW DELHI: Nine persons have been arrested in connection with last year's Bangalore serial blasts, police commissioner Shankar Bidari said on

Bangalore blasts accused being produced at police commissioner office. (TOI Photo) More Pictures

Saturday.

With these arrests, the police commissioner declared the serial blasts case solved.

A series of nine bombs rocked Bangalore on July 25, 2008, killing at least two and injuring more than 20 persons.

All the nine are from Kerala, Shankar Bidari told reporters here.

Abdul Sattar, Abdul Jabbar, Sarfudin, Sakariya from Mallapuram, Kerala and Mujeeb, Faizal, Abdul Jaleel, Manaf of Kannur, and Badruddin from Ernakulum have been arrested for their alleged involvement in the July 2008 blasts, Reported PTI quoting DGP Ajai Kumar Singh said.

Four others involved in the blasts were killed in an encounter with the Indian army in Jammu and Kashmir while they were attempting to crossover to Pakistan between October 4 and 7. They were identified as Abdul Raheem, son-in-law of Sattar, Mohammad Fyas, Fayis and Mohammad Yasin from Kerala, he said.

Police, however, did not reveal the name of the group they belonged to. Police also did not divulge anything regarding its association to any militant outfits like Lakshar-e-Toiba.

The module was "radicalised by general feeling of perceived injustice to Muslims in India due to Babri Masjid demolition and Godhra incident and Gujarat riots," the police officer said.

They decided (to trigger blasts) on Bangalore due to the iconic status it acquired after the IT boom and the economic prosperity and that it was BJP-ruled, they said.

Oxford to honour 1971 Indo-Pak war refugee activist

LONDON: A poverty campaigner, Fazle Hasan Abed, who founded the Bangladesh rural advancement committee (BRAC) in 1972, will be given an honorary Doctor of Letters by the University of Oxford.

Abed founded the BRAC after the 1971 war of independence from Pakistan to provide relief and rehabilitation to war refugees in a remote area of Bangladesh before turning to long-term poverty alleviation.

The organization now works in health, education and microfinance and is the world's largest NGO.

Abed is among seven leading figures from various fields to receive honourary degrees from the university on June 24.

The degree of Doctor of Letters will also be conferred on Philip Pullman, a novelist of international distinction. He is best known for the 'His Dark Materials' trilogy, which is being made into a series of films.

Pullman's novels, many of them aimed at children and young teenagers, have won a large number of literary prizes. These include two awards as Author of the Year, the Carnegie Medal, the Children's Book of the Year Award and the Whitbread Book of the Year.

Others to get the honour are: Dr Santiago Calatrava-Valls (architect), Professor Natalie Zemon Davis (historian), Prof Erwin L Hahn (physics), Professor Barry Marshall(microbiology) and Mitsuko Uchida (pianist).

'Al-Qaida is a growing challenge for US'

WASHINGTON: In the backdrop of reports that al-Qaida has established a strong base in Yemen to target America, the US has termed the terrorist organization as a "growing challenge" for it.

Without going into specifics of reports related to Yemen, the state department spokesperson, Robert Wood told reporters in response to a question that the US is working with partners across the globe to eliminate the threat of al-Qaida.

"It's not easy. This is a growing challenge for the United States," Wood said and referred to the recent statement of President Barack Obama in which he had said that "this is something that the US has to meet, there is no alternative but to meet this challenge".

"We need to work closely with our partners and others around the world to try to do what we can to eliminate the threat," Wood said.

He said there are concerns about al-Qaida activity in a number of places around the world, not just Yemen.

"Let me just say that al-Qaida remains a concern for us in a number of places around the world. It's still active. It still remains a threat to the US and its allies. And we'll continue to pursue al-Qaida," he said, adding that al-Qaida is operating in a number of places around the world.

Mother should 'pay' in US incest case

HARRISONVILLE, Missouri: The older sister of a girl allegedly molested and impregnated four times by their father said Thursday their mother allowed the abuse and should face more than a child-endangerment charge.

"I want her to get more charges," the 20-year-old said outside a western Missouri courthouse. "I want her to pay as much as my father. I don't want either of them to get away with a slap on the wrist."

The mother is charged with one count of endangering the welfare of a child. Cass County prosecutors said additional charges were possible but declined to elaborate. The woman is free on $10,000 bond.

The Associated Press is withholding the names of the suspects and other family members to protect the identity of the daughter who was allegedly sexually assaulted. A judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of the mother and father during their initial court appearances, prosecutors said.

The 47-year-old mother was allowed to miss a scheduled court appearance Thursday; a preliminary hearing was set for March 5. Her public defender, Angela Weatherford, declined to comment on the case.

Her husband, also 47, faces charges including second-degree murder in the death of a boy born in November 2006. The infant is believed to have died months later after not receiving medical treatment for pneumonia.

The baby's remains were found last month in a cooler on a rural property where the family once lived near Harrisonville, a town of about 9,000 people about 40 miles south of Kansas City.

Two other babies the man is suspected of fathering with his now 19-year-old daughter also died. Charges have not been filed in those cases.

The body of one of those babies was found in a different cooler last month on the Harrisonville property. The other infant is believed to have been buried in Oklahoma, where the family briefly lived.

A surviving child, a 3-year-old boy, is in state custody. The man also is charged with endangering the welfare of a child, statutory rape and two counts each of incest and abandoning a corpse. He is being held on $500,000 bond.

Family members and investigators have said the daughter who had the babies was 13 when the molestation started. She has not been charged with any crime.

Row in Oxford over 'kababs'

LONDON: A 'kabab' vendor in Oxford has been asked to move his van away from a college area as the alleged smell of cooking wafts to students’rooms and prevents them from sleeping.

Saeid Kashmiri has been selling kababs near the Christ Church College for 15 years from a van called 'Sid's Kitchen', but now the university authorities have applied to the Oxford City Council to revoke his licence.

The council, however, rejected the university's application and instead asked Kashmiri to move his van 200 yards away from the college in a compromise agreement.

Kashmiri, 62, sells kababs between 7 pm and 3 am every day, reports from Oxford said.

An Oxford University spokesman said: "The smell from the van outside the college lingers on long after it leaves for the night. A number of staff members have raised concerns over whether it is suitable for students to work best in such conditions.

"We encourage students to eat healthy but the issue with Sid's Kitchen has nothing to do with that. The college is concerned with students having the best possible environment for study," spokesman said.

But Kashmiri insisted he was providing a useful service. He said: "For 15 years, we have been serving people including the students. They come down and get a baked potato when studying at night. They are quite happy we are here."

US newspapers fight back

WASHINGTON: US newspapers, reeling from sagging print advertising revenue, dropping circulation and the migration of readers online, are fighting back.

In a full-page advertisement in The New York Times, The Washington Post and other newspapers on Monday, a group called the "Newspaper Project" made the case that news on the printed page is not on the verge of extinction.

"More people will read a newspaper today than watched yesterday's big game," the ad declared in a reference to Sunday's American football championship, the Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona Cardinals.

"With 100 million daily readers, newspapers are a tremendous scoring opportunity," the group said in a message aimed at advertisers.

"We acknowledge the challenges facing the newspaper industry in today's rapidly changing media world," said Donna Barrett, a member of the Newspaper Project and Community Newspaper Holdings president and chief executive.

"However, we reject the notion that newspapers -- and the valuable content that newspaper journalists provide -- have no future," Barrett, who is also president of Southern Newspaper Publishers Association, said in a statement.

On its website, NewspaperProject.org said it was launched by a small group of newspaper executives "to support a constructive exchange of information and ideas about the future of newspapers."

"Unlike websites that feature negative, gloom-and-doom stories about newspapers, this website will be devoted to insightful articles, commentary and research that provide a more balanced perspective on what newspaper companies can do to survive and thrive in the years ahead," it said.

The Newspaper Project said it planned to run ads in more than 300 other newspapers across the United States.

Other members of the group include Randy Siegel, president and publisher of Parade Publications, Brian Tierney, CEO and publisher of Philadelphia Media Holdings, and Jay Smith, former president of Cox Newspapers.

Social network Facebook on Monday was the venue for another initiative aimed at saving newspapers that has attracted tens of thousands of followers.

Chris Freiberg, a reporter with an Alaskan newspaper, the Fairbanks News Daily-Miner, launched "Buy a Newspaper Day" on Facebook urging people to buy their local newspaper on Monday.

"It doesn't matter if it's a daily or weekly, right-leaning or left-leaning. If you're a college student and you get the school paper for free, buy the town paper," Freiberg said.

The crisis in the US newspaper industry has been exacerbated by the recession and a steep drop in advertising.

Online advertising revenue has grown at many US newspapers but has failed to keep pace with the slide in print advertising revenue.

More than 15,600 newspaper employees were laid off or took buyouts last year, according to figures compiled by Erica Smith, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch journalist who tracks the cuts on her blog at graphicdesignr.net/papercuts.

The Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns the Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times and other dailies, is one of the most prominent victims of the crisis and filed for bankruptcy protection in December.

The prestigious New York Times is also struggling and reported last week that net profit fell 47 percent in the fourth quarter of the year.

The Times is also seeking to sell its stake in the Boston Red Sox baseball team and to sell part of its two-year-old headquarters building to a firm that specializes in sale-leaseback transactions.

A survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press last year also found that the Internet has surpassed newspapers as the main source of national and international news for Americans.

Meeting celebrities banned, Michelle Obama tells daughters

WASHINGTON: In a bid to lead a normal family life in the White House, US First Lady Michelle Obama is believed to have banned her two daughters,Malia and Sasha, from socialising with celebrities.

Michelle Obama is "trying to keep them grounded" and insisting on no "special treatment" as they begin their new lives in the US capital, meaning "an end to hanging out with celebrities", the 'US Weekly' quoted family friends as saying.

In fact, the US First Lady's priority as self-styled "mom-in-chief" is to make sure her daughters -- ten-year-old Malia and seven-year-old Sasha -- settle in well at Sidwell Friends School, a prestigious private academy, they said.

"Michelle is spending a lot of time talking to the girls about the new school and she's reached out to fellow parents at Sidwell," a family friend was quoted as saying.

Although the Obamas did not speak directly to the magazine for the report, they posed for a family portrait and clearly authorised friends and staff to be quoted, on and off the record.

In fact, a couple of days back, a British tabloid had reported that the 45-year-old wife of America's first Black President "is believed to be pregnant and expecting her third child" -- "a White House baby".

The leading tabloid had also cited a blog posted by Los Angeles' celebrity blogger, Perez Hilton, to corroborate its report: "This is completely unconfirmed and at this point just a 'rumour' but... we're hearing the talk in (Washington) DC is that Michelle Obama is pregnant. Could this be true????? It'd be happy news! Hopefully it's a boy!"

One year on, France's first couple settles in

PARIS: She still has a singing career, has become active in the AIDS campaign and during her first year of marriage to the French president, has gingerly carved out a role as a discreet but modern first lady.

Carla Bruni and Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

A year ago on February 2, the supermodel-turned-singer and the president exchanged vows surrounded by some 20 close friends and relatives at the Elysee presidential palace.

The wedding ceremony held in strict privacy stood in contrast to the glitzy first months of their romance that began at a Paris dinner party hosted by advertising magnate Jacques Seguela in November 2007.

"We have a quiet life, we have settled in," said Sarkozy in a recent interview to Le Point magazine. "Our families get along... No really, I have nothing to complain about, she is great."

A leftist, Bruni is known to wield some influence over her right-wing husband.

"I accord a lot of importance to what she tells me. Her views broaden my perspective, my thoughts," Sarkozy was quoted as telling Le Point.

France found out about their president's new romance when the couple were photographed together at the EuroDisney theme park outside Paris.

They were later seen on vacation together in Egypt and Jordan, their every move followed by a horde of paparazzi.

Since then, Bruni has lowered her profile, making fewer public appearances and dramatically toning down her image from her modelling days when she brazenly declared that "monogamy bores me."

At 41, the first lady has recorded a third album "Comme Si De Rien N'etait" (As If Nothing Happened) that has received a lukewarm reception in France, with revenues from sales going to charity.

In December, she became a world ambassador for the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, saying she hoped to draw attention to the plight of mother-to-child HIV transmission.

Bruni made a splash when she accompanied Sarkozy during his state visit to Britain in March, curtsying before Queen Elizabeth II and dominating frontpage news coverage in London for days.

With the British press proclaiming that "Carla" stole the show, the French meanwhile agreed that she had deftly handled the protocol required of a first lady.

At her husband's request, she met Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama in southern France in August after the president decided against a meeting that would have angered Beijing.

The Italian-born first lady also pulled strings to prevent the extradition to Italy of convicted Red Brigades member Marina Petrella, whose health was failing.

Bruni and her sister, actress Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, announced the decision personally to Petrella at her hospital bedside.

After Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi described US President Barack Obama as "young, handsome and tanned", Bruni-Sarkozy hit back: "I'm so happy I decided to become French!" She has given up her Italian passport.

Sarkozy's marriage to Bruni was his third and came after he and his wife of 11 years, Cecilia Ciganer-Albeniz, divorced in October 2007. Cecilia has since re-married, with events organiser Richard Attias.