BRASILIA: Search aircraft on Tuesday found a seat and other debris from a plane in a remote stretch of the Atlantic where an Air France flight carrying 228 people disappeared, Brazil's air force said. ( Watch )
The "small remains" were discovered around 1,100 kilometres (680 miles) off northeastern Brazil, some 650 kilometers northeast of Brazil's Atlantic island of Fernando do Noronha.
The items included a seat from a plane, bits of white material, an orange buoy, a barrel and some oil and kerosene slicks, grouped in two floating patches 60 kilometers apart, according to an air force statement.
It could not immediately be confirmed that the debris was from Air France flight AF 447, the spokesman, Colonel Jorge Amaral, told reporters.
There were no signs of survivors, he said.
"The search is continuing because it's very little material in relation to the size" of the Air France Airbus A330, he said.
He added that officials needed "a piece that might have a serial number, some sort of identification" to be sure that it came from the missing airliner.
However the items were found near where the Air France plane sent its final message: an automatic data signal telling of multiple electric and pressurization failures.
Air France flight AF 447 disappeared mid-Atlantic on Monday, four hours into an 11-hour flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris.
A Brazilian air force statement said the debris was discovered at 0300 GMT Tuesday by an Embraer R-99 AWAC plane fitted with onboard radar that detected metallic and non-metallic items floating in the ocean.
After homing in the search to that locale, other air force planes at 0949 GMT spotted the patches of floating debris.
26/11: Freed Lashkar founder Hafiz Saeed wanted in India
New Delhi, Jun 02: Lashker-e-Taiba founder chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, who has been set free by Lahore High court, finds his name among the wanted accused in the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes.
In its voluminous chargesheet, the Mumbai Police had said that Saeed was among the 35 people who "aided and abetted" the strikes.
He had provided military precision-like planning and training to terrorists between 2007 and 2008-end at Muridke (LeT headquarters), Manshera, Muzzafarabad, Azizabad, Paanch Teni in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK).
This is for the first time that the Lashker founder has been named in a chargesheet for his role in hatching the criminal conspiracy to execute the Mumbai terror strikes.
Mumbai Police, which filed the 11,280-page chargesheet in February this year, named 59-year-old Saeed as the first accused wanted for his suspected role in planning the unprecedented attack on the country's financial hub.
With Saeed being named in the chargesheet, India was looking forward to secure a Red Corner Notice from Interpol against him.
Saeed founded LeT, along with Zafar Iqbal, in Kunar province of Afghanistan in 1989. Lashkar is a banned organisation in India, Pakistan, the US, the UK, Russia and Australia. The European Union has also banned the outfit.
An offshoot of Markaz-ud-Dawatul-Irshad, Lashkar renamed itself as Jamat-ud-Dawa, which was also banned by the United Nations. Saeed's clout in Pakistan started during the regime of the military dictator Zia-ul-Haq.
He started raising cadre and funds for campaign against the erstwhile Soviet Union and the socialist government in Afghanistan.
Within two years of the formation of the LeT, several cells were set up by Lashkar in Jammu and Kashmir and its presence saw flow of foreign mercenaries to the state.
Saeed had always been the first target of Pakistan whenever international pressure increased on that country for supporting terrorism.
He was detained on December 21, 2001 after New Delhi accused him of being involved in the December 13, 2001 attack on Parliament. He was under arrest till March 31, 2002, and again held on May 15 and placed under house arrest on October 31 the same year.
After the July 11, 2006 Mumbai train bombings, the provincial government of Punjab in Pakistan arrested him on August 9, 2006 and kept him under house arrest but he was released on August 28, 2006 after a Lahore High Court order.
Since the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, India has submitted a formal request to the UN Security Council to put Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Saeed on the list of organisations and individuals proscribed by the UN for being associated with terrorism.
Attack on Indians: Oz sets up Task Force
Tuesday June 2, 2009, Melbourne:As India raised serious concern over the safety of its citizens Down Under, Australia on Tuesday announced setting up of a new Task Force headed by the National Security Adviser to deal with violence against Indian students in the country.
Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told Parliament that the government was doing everything it can to ensure the perpetrators of the attacks are "found and prosecuted."
Around seven Indian students were assaulted in the country in May which drew sharp reactions from fellow Indian students and the community and New Delhi. India summoned the Australian envoy in New Delhi last week and protested against the assault on students there.
Smith said a new Task Force has been formed to deal with violence against Indian students which will be chaired by National Security Adviser Duncan Lewis.
"The Task Force will include senior officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and trade, the Department of Education and Workplace relations, the Department of Immigration
and Citizenship and the Attorney-general's department," Smith said, adding that the Task Force had already held its first meeting.
"Through this Task Force the Australian government is showing its resolve to play its part in collaboration with states to respond to this issue," the Foreign Minister said.
Smith said Australia takes very seriously its reputation as a safe destination for international students. Commenting on the new initiatives launched by Australian government, Federation of Indian Student Association said "it was a welcome move and showed that the government was taking a serious note of the problem."
Indian students in Melbourne also highlighted the issue at a peaceful sit-in which ended in scuffles as it was broken by police on Monday.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Monday had assured India that perpetrators of the recent assaults on Indian citizens here will be met "with full force of the law".
He condemned the incidents as "senseless" and "deplorable" acts of violence.
Another Indian student attacked in Australia
Tuesday June 2, 2009, Melbourne :A 21-year-old Indian student, Nardeep Singh, was attacked by a group of five men at a car park in suburban Melbourne.
The attackers stopped him and demanded cigarettes and money, following which they attacked him.
The victim, who hails from Ludhiana, is a nursing student at the Chisholm Institute in Dandenong, in Melbourne's east.
At first they asked him for cigarettes, to which he replied that he was a non-smoker. Then the attackers asked him for money and when he refused, they slashed him across his chest with a knife.
Nardeep had come to Melbourne a month ago.
Meira Kumar nominated for post of LS Speaker
NEW DELHI: Five-term Lok Sabha MP Meira Kumar on Tuesday became the consensus candidate of the ruling UPA and the opposition BJP for the post of Lok Sabha Speaker.
Leader of the House Pranab Mukherjee led a UPA delegation to submit Kumar's nomination papers to Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary for the election to the Speaker's post scheduled to be held on Tuesday.
64-year-old Kumar, who will be the first woman to head the Lok Sabha, is expected to be elected unopposed as Mukherjee submitted 13 sets of nomination papers which included a set signed by Leader of the Opposition L K Advani and seconded by BJP leader Sushma Swaraj.
"We have filed 13 sets of nomination papers. The first set was signed by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and I have seconded it," Mukherjee told reporters at Parliament House.
He said the Leader of the Opposition L K Advani had also signed a set of nomination papers.
"It is a historic moment for women," Kumar said. Among others who filed nomination papers included Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel of NCP, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shailendra Singh Yadav of SP, Arjun Charan Sethi and B Mahtab of BJD, Lalu Prasad, Farooq Abdullah and E Ahamed.
Besides Meira Kumar, Pawar, Abdullah, T R Baalu, P K Bansal, V Narayansamy were present when the nomination papers were submitted.
Indian Business News|Business News
GM to see 5,100 salaried job losses in '09
New York:Crisis-ridden General Motors will be handing over pink slips to 5,100 salaried employees this year, in addition to 23,000 job cuts announced earlier.
The once mighty American auto maker filed for bankruptcy protection on Monday and the ensuing restructuring efforts is expected to see thousands of job losses.
General Motors has said that the 5,100 job cuts would be happening in North America this year.
"In line with our structural cost reductions and the reinvention of our company, GM will substantially reduce salaried employment in North America, from its current 32,300 to approximately 27,200. Almost all of these reductions are expected to take place in 2009," the car maker said in a statement on Monday.
The revamping initiatives would affect 4,000 or 15 per cent of the 27,400 salaried employees in the US. Faced with massive losses and tumbling sales, General Motors in April announced that it would trim its hourly workforce by as many as 23,000 people by 2011.
Last year, the entity's hourly workforce strength stood at 61,000 and the figure is anticipated to come down to 40,000 in 2010.
By the start of 2011, the total number is expected to be about 38,000. "... hourly employment levels will be reduced from about 61,000 in 2008 to 40,000 in 2010, and level off at about 38,000 starting in 2011. This planned reduction is primarily the result of the previously discussed operational efficiencies, nameplate reductions, and plant closings," General Motors had said in April.
On Monday, the car maker said that it would reduce its facilities from 47 in 2008 to 34 by the end of next year. "The manufacturing plan reduces GM's total number of assembly, power train and stamping facilities in the US from 47 in 2008 to 34 by the end of 2010 and 33 by 2012," General Motors said in a separate statement on Monday.
Air-India contractual strike work, indefinitely
New Delhi:The 300 contractual security and commercial staff of Air India went on an indefinite strike demanding better pay package and medical benefits even as the airlines management terminated the services of 21 such employees.
"We are going on indefinite strike after the management did not pay heed to our demands and terminated the contracts of 21 employees yesterday," said Jeet Singh, president of the Indian Airlines Limited-Airport Services Limited (IAL-ASL) Employees Union.
Nearly 300 contractual security and commercial workers of Air India boycotted work at Amritsar, Jaipur and other airports and also staged a demonstration at the Indira Gandhi International Airport here in support of their demand of a better pay package and medical benefits.
A Royal Nepal Airlines flight to Kathmandu was delayed by about three hours on Tuesday due to ongoing strike by the security and commercial staff.
About 200 security staff have the responsibility of checking the aircraft, baggage and also keep a vigil on the aircraft and areas surrounding it so that no one makes an unauthorised entry.
They also handle baggage of several international airlines like Malaysian, Sri Lankan, Nepal, and Pakistan International Airlines, Air Arabia and Ariana Afghan.
The workers, many of whom joined in 2004, claimed they felt cheated as they were unaware about who their employer is, as the advertisements of employment were published in 2004 by erstwhile Indian Airlines. Even the tests and interviews were conducted by them but they got their appointment letter from its subsidiary Alliance.
The employees also alleged that they were meted out step-motherly treatment by the airline's permanent staff. The employees whose contracts have been terminated by the management said that "they were given the termination letter on plain paper without the company's logo and seal, and it also does not have the name of the issuing authority. Singh said that labour commissioner has summoned the airlines management on the issue.
Indian Cricket News|T20 world cup News| French Open
After loss to Kiwis, Indians 'warm-up' against Pak
London:India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni would need pluck and luck in equal measure to score a consolation win against Pakistan in the warm-up match of the ICC World Twenty20 in London on Tuesday.
Dhoni's men lost the first sparring match of the warm-ups to New Zealand yesterday and are up against an opponent who consider themselves unlucky to lose in two previous encounters between the two sides.
Both the previous ties were in the inaugural edition in 2007 and India could cross over the finish line by a matter of chance. Indians prevailed in the first through a 'bowl-out' after the two sides had tied at the same score.
In the 2007 final match in Johannesburg, Pakistan was just a stroke away from victory when Misbah-ul Haq's scoop off Joginder Sharma landed in short fine-leg S Sreesanth's hands.
Pakistan would be determined to settle the score for they might not get another opportunity to get even with the Indians unless both sides make it to the finals this time also. Indians would be resigned to leaving out Zaheer Khan and Virender Sehwag on the bench as both are battling shoulder injuries.
They would be keen though to play Yuvraj Singh who is just about coming to terms with a bout of food poisoning, as disclosed by skipper Dhoni last night.
Fast bowler Rudra Pratap Singh could have another game to get himself sorted out after the pasting of the first match. Irfan Pathan, too, would be hoping for a few more overs under his belt, as would be the ambition of bowlers Praveen Kumar and Yusuf Pathan also.
It would have been easy to get carried away: Tendulkar
New Delhi:Sachin Tendulkar, who had taken up the cudgels against criticism of senior players last year, has said that he hardly pays heed to criticism.
"People will have opinions but that doesn't mean they are correct. They are only opinions and I have bigger things to deal with. Guys that have all the time in the world to discuss these things, discuss them. I don't," Tendulkar told men's fashion magazine 'GQ'.
Last year, Tendulkar had defended his senior teammates who were under attack during India's home series against Australia.
Tendulkar said the senior players had made major contributions, which needed to be acknowledged and appreciated.
Dwelling on his own career, Tendulkar said he had moments when he could have "got carried away" but hard work and resolve helped him reach the pinnacle of success.
"Given the things that have happened in my life it would have been easy to get carried away," Tendulkar said. "There were times when I felt that, yeah, I should bunk practice and spend time with my friends and go out for a movie. But my coach would turn up and make me sit on his bike and take me all the way to practice," he recalled.
Tendulkar, who holds umpteen cricketing records, said success did not come automatically to him. "I have made an effort. It doesn't happen automatically," he said.
Federer avoids following Nadal out of Paris
Paris:Roger Federer roared and 15,000 fans hollered as the Swiss clung on by his fingertips to his French Open dreams on Monday and avoided joining Rafael Nadal on the Roland Garros scrapheap.
With the claycourt major still reeling from the shock exit of four-times champion Rafael Nadal just 24 hours earlier, Federer was on the brink of the same fate before finding the strength to bury German Tommy Haas 6-7 5-7 6-4 6-0 6-2.
Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic completed a miserable three days for the Serbs when she followed compatriots Novak Djokovic and 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic out with a 3-6 6-0 9-7 defeat by little-known Romanian teenager Sorana Cirstea in the last 16.
American sixth seed Andy Roddick slammed his racket, complained about the fading light and stormed off court in anger after his hopes of a first Paris quarter-final were dashed 6-4 6-2 6-3 by Frenchman Gael Monfils as dusk set in.
But Roddick and an out-of-form Jankovic's losses barely caused a stir after Federer's great escape on Centre Court.
When Haas swiped a service return wide after three hours and seven minutes of nerve-shredding action, Federer leapt high and let out an almighty roar to mark the moment he had booked a quarter-final with Monfils.
Only 70 minutes earlier, it had looked like the Swiss would suffer his earliest grand slam loss since 2004 when he came within five points of defeat.
At two sets and 3-4 down facing a break point, Federer conjured up a screaming forehand winner to bring the scores back to deuce. Federer earned his get-out-of-jail-free card two points later when Haas dragged a forehand long.
Jankovic falls to teenager from Romania
Paris:Serbian fifth seed Jelena Jankovic was outfoxed by Romanian teenager Sorana Cirstea’s devastating net play on Monday when she lost 3-6 6-0 9-7 in the French Open fourth round.
Jankovic stormed through the first three games before being broken in the seventh. She immediately broke back and claimed the set when 19-year-old Cirstea hit long. The former world number one never got into the second set as Cirstea made regular charges to the net to send a series of winners past her.
Jankovic served for the match in the 11th game of the third but the tenacious world number 41 broke when the Serb hit long. Cirstea unleashed a sizzling crosscourt backhand to reach her first grand slam quarter-final against either Australian 30th seed Samantha Stosur or France’s Virginie Razzano.
Meanwhile, after struggling in two earlier matches that lasted three sets each, second seed Serena Williams reached the quarter-finals with a 6-1 6-2 victory over No 24 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada.
“My most focused match so far,” said Williams, who stretched her Grand Slam winning streak to 18 matches. On Monday, she took a 3-0 lead in all of six minutes, thanks in part to a 7-0 edge in winners. She finished with 25 winners and only eight unforced errors. Next up for her is a match against 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who outlasted 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-4 1-6 6-1 on Monday.
In a late match on Sunday, Maria Sharapova came back strongly, defeating China’s Na Li 6-4 0-6 6-4 to reach the last eight.
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