Pakistan female fighter pilot Marium Mukhtiar mourned after crash

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Image captionFlying Officer Marium Mukhtiar’s body was transported to Karachi

The first Pakistani female fighter pilot to die on operational service has been laid to rest after a funeral at a Karachi air force base.

Flying Officer Marium Mukhtiar was on a routine training mission on Tuesday when her plane met with an “in-flight emergency” over Mianwali district in Punjab province, the air force said.

She and her co-pilot ejected. She later died from her injuries in hospital.

Her body was taken to Karachi where the ceremony was held later that day.

Flying Officer Mukhtiar, who was 24, spoke to BBC News last year of her journey into a traditionally male-dominated world.

Media captionMarium Mukhtiar explains why she decided to train to be a fighter pilot

She was among about 20 female fighter pilots in the Pakistan Air Force (PAF), which only began inducting women in combat roles in 2006.

It was not immediately clear why her aircraft crashed. The male pilot was not badly injured and is recovering in hospital.

Pakistani Air Force officials were present as well as family members for the funeral prayers, local media said.

Source: Sabkura News Pvt. Ltd.

19 pumps charged for duping clients

Nov 25, 2015- The Metropolitan Police Crime Division has raided 19 pump (fuel) stations in Kathmandu Valley which were found to be tampering with the meter and duping customers for around a year.
The MPCD made public 13 mechanics and petrol pump owners, including four Indian nationals, who had been using tricks to dispense less fuel than the volume read by the meter. In the process, they cheated customers 200 to 300 millilitre petrol or diesel on sale of every five litres.
On Tuesday, the MPCD raided two more refuelling centres in the Valley—Prabin Oil, Gatthaghar and Kamukhya Petrol Pump Koteshwor. Prabin Oil owner Prabin Shrestha is absconding while the charges against the Koteshwor-based owner are yet to be known.
The four Indians apparently brought in equipment such as remote controllers, receivers and switches and installed them at petrol pumps in Ekantakuna, Chapagaun and Balkumari in Lalitpur and Balaju, Chabahil and Samakhusi in Kathmandu.
Nashim Siddiqui, 44, of Bihar, India, who has worked as a technician with various fuel centres in Nepal for the past 25 years, is believed to be the mastermind. Police arrested Siddiqui and his team mates who helped the authorities figure out the pumps that had been cheating customers.
Other arrestees have been identified as Ayub Alam, 35, of Gorakhpur, India; Hamid Hussain ‘Mintu’, 25, and Mohammad Abrar of Bihar and Shek Imtiaj, 35, of Rautahat. They are all technicians abetting the pump owners in the heist.
Police identified the entrepreneurs as Sailendra Nath Bade, 40, of Gayatri Devi Oil Stores, Ekantakuna; Shiva Timilsina, 35, of Mahalaxmi Bishwokarma Traders, Chapagaun; Gopal Maharjan, 48, of Unique Fuel Centre, Balkumari; Yunus Pradhan, 34, of Tri-Shakti Fuel Centre, Sanepa; Kalyan Khadka, 47, of Crystal Fuel Suppliers, Balaju; Punyaram Bakhadeya, 49, of Bhaktapur Fuel Centre; and Sitaram Ghimire, 32, of New Bangalamukhi Oil Stores, Sano Bharyang.
Police are hunting for owners of four refuelling centres who are at large following the raid. They have been identified as Buddhi Ratna Maharjan and Dipak Thapaliya of Rajdhani Oil, Gopi Krishna; Amir Lama of New Pushpanjali Oil Traders, Jay Bageshwori; Rajiv Sharma of Puja Kothi Oil Store, New Bageshwori; Tilak Shrestha of Divya Suppliers, Samakhusi.
Five other filling stations have been sealed and are under watch, said the MPCD, without disclosing their names. SSP Sarvendra Khanal, chief of the police division, said the technicians would install chips to be used by the owners to control fuel flow remotely. “The devices used in manual pumps could be removed by the owners themselves while digital dispensers needed technicians for installing and removing them,” said SSP Khanal.
The police were assisted by the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology in the raid. SSP Khanal said the owners would be charged for cheating and black marketing.

Source: Sabkura News Pvt. Ltd.

Russia warns citizens off travel to Turkey after plane downed: Lavrov

MOSCOW, Nov 24, 2015 (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday recommended against Russians travelling to Turkey for any reason, citing the threat of attacks.
“The critical mass of terrorist incidents on Turkish soil, according to our estimates, is no less of a threat than in Egypt. For this reason of course we do not recommend that our citizens travel to Turkey for tourism or any other reason,” Lavrov said in televised comments from Sochi after Turkey downed a Russian warplane on the Syrian border.
Lavrov cancels visit to Turkey
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Tuesday cancelled a visit to Turkey for talks with his counterpart after Ankara shot down a Russian jet.
“The decision has been taken to cancel the meeting that was planned for tomorrow in Istanbul between the foreign ministers of Russia and Turkey,” Lavrov said in televised comments.

Source: Sabkura News Pvt. Ltd.

Country’s score in budget transparency plummets to 24

Nepal’s score in terms of transparency and accountability with its national budget has plummeted to 24 out of 100. The country’s score in the 2015 Open Budget Index (OBI) is substantially lower than its score in 2012, when the country scored 44 out of 100.

The biennial report released by an international civil society organisation, International Budget Partnership (IBP), has identified that the government is weak in providing the public with opportunities to engage in budget process. It also pointed out the weak performance of the legislature in budget oversight. However, the report has said that the country’s budget oversight by the supreme audit institution is adequate.

The overall transparency and accountability index slipped in the last two years as there was absence of parliament and the government was run by former bureaucrats, who unveiled the budget for fiscal 2013-14. The report has said, however, that the regression in transparency observed in Nepal ‘appears to be temporary in nature’.

The research period in Nepal ended on June 30, 2014. The IBP conducts the survey based on the internationally accepted criteria developed by the International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, and International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The Open Budget Survey for Nepal was carried out by Freedom Forum.

While comparing the score achieved by the SAARC countries (that was included in the survey), Bangladesh has performed high with a score of 56, India (46), Pakistan (43), Afghanistan (42) and Sri Lanka (39). Nepal has received minimal score as compared to the global average score of 46.

New Zealand ranked at the top in the open budget index with a score of 88. Sweden with a score of 87, Norway with 84, the United States with 81 and United Kingdom with 75 rounded up the top five among the 100 countries surveyed for budget transparency. Between 2012 and 2015, the average OBI score for 100 countries for which comparable data are available rose from 43 to 46.

IBP has made some crucial recommendations to improve Nepal’s ranking and ensure transparent and accountable budget. It has suggested to consistently publish the executive’s budget proposal in a timely manner, produce and publish pre-budget statements and increase comprehensiveness of the year-end report by presenting more details on planned versus actual debt and interest and also planned versus actual macroeconomic forecast.

For the improved participation, the country needs to prioritise credible and effective mechanisms like public hearings, surveys and focus groups for capturing the range of public perspectives on budget matters. IBP has also suggested legislative hearings on budget-specific ministries, departments and agencies and establishing a formal mechanism for the public to assist the supreme audit institutions to formulate its audit programme.

Source: Sabkura News Pvt. Lmt.

Fuels imported from China in Upper Mustang

The transport entrepreneurs in Upper Mustang have imported euro-4 fuels of petrol and diesel from Tibet, the autonomous part of People’s Republic of China.

The entrepreneurs have imported the fuels as per their need in Lho Manthang, Ghami, Surkhang, Chhoser and other areas to run motorcycles, jeeps and goods carrying trucks.

Trader Pasang Gurung of Lho Manthang said that Nepalis are bringing the fuels from the depots in Dhongwasen district of Tibet.

With the opening of track of Kali Gandaki corridor upto Korala checkpoint in the district, the number of vehicles in the Upper Mustang has also increased in the recent days.

However, most of the motorcycles running in the upper part in the district are illegal as they bear the Chinese number plates.

It is said that the local entrepreneurs in the district have stored the fuels for nearly six months and there is no fuel shortage in Mustang. RSS

Source: Sabkura News Pvt. Lmt.

Bangladesh bans Facebook, chat apps for security reasons

DHAKA, Nov 24, 2015 (AFP) – Bangladesh authorities insisted Tuesday an almost week-long ban on Facebook and mobile messaging services would remain until security in the tense country improved.
The government last Wednesday ordered Facebook, WhatsApp and Viber blocked over fears of unrest after the country’s highest court rejected appeals by two top opposition leaders against the death penalty for war crimes.
The telecoms regulator said the ban would stay after the two leaders were hanged on Sunday morning, prompting calls for a nationwide strike and raising fears of violence from their supporters.
“They (services) will be reopened the moment the government feels it’s safe,” Shahjahan Mahmud, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, told AFP.
Commission spokesman Zakir Hossain Khan declined to confirm media speculation the ban would be lifted later Tuesday.
Analysts said the shutdown was aimed at stopping opposition parties organising rallies in the run-up to the executions, amid anger over what rights group have called “flawed and unfair” war crimes trials.
The regulator also temporarily banned messaging services Viber and Tango in January after they became a popular way of mobilising large numbers of activists for anti-government protests.
Bangladesh hanged Ali Ahsan Mohammad Mujahid, from the country’s biggest Islamist party, Jamaat-e-Islami, and Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury, a key aide of opposition leader Khaleda Zia, after they were convicted of atrocities during the 1971 war against Pakistan.
Similar convictions in 2013 triggered the country’s deadliest violence since independence, with some 500 people killed — mainly in clashes between Jamaat activists and police.
Protests held this week have been largely peaceful. But two Islamist students were beaten to death on Tuesday in the western city of Jessore, a police chief told AFP, with Jamaat blaming members of the ruling Awami League.
Bangladeshis slammed the ban on Twitter, saying it was curbing free speech and further fuelling anger against the government.
Bangladesh’s fast-growing online retail industry said the ban has hit their business, with some reporting reduced sales.

Source: Sabkura News Pvt. Lmt.

Happy I got to abuse in ‘Tamasha’: Deepika

She is known to be a soft, shy person in real life but actress Deepika Padukone admits she loved using a few expletives in a scene for her upcoming film “Tamasha”.

The official trailer of “Tamasha” sees Deepika abusing a man, who does not allow her to make a phone call.

When asked about the sequence, she said, “Abusing people does not come naturally to me. So, in the scene where I am asking a man to allow me to make phone call and he does not budge and I abuse him, I enjoyed it a lot.

“It was fun because I don’t get to do that in real,” Deepika told reporters here.

The actress alongwith actor Ranbir Kapoor and director Imtiaz Ali was in the capital to promote “Tamasha”, which arrives in theatres this Friday.

It has been eight years since Deepika started her showbiz journey and the actress has undergone immense transformation and today stands tall with films like “Piku”, “Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani”, “Finding Fanny” and “Cocktail” to her credit.

The actress said she is finally in a place where she is enjoying her craft and being in front of the camera.

“I don’t think I can talk about my own growth but I can say I have learnt a lot. It has not been easy, specially for a person who comes from a different lifestyle, completely different background, to adapt to a new city, new profession and people, not understanding anything about the craft but being here because I am very passionate to be the best that I can be…

“I have that thing to learn. I don’t mind criticism and accepting my mistakes and learning from all the films that I have done and the experiences that I had. I have learnt a lot and most importantly reached a stage in my life today where I really enjoy my craft and I enjoy spending time in front of the camera and milking that,” the actress said.

Post “Tamasha”, Deepika, 29, will be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s “Bajirao Mastani”, which also stars her rumoured boyfriend Ranveer Singh and Priyank Chopra.

When asked who out of Ranbir and Ranveer is a prankster, Deepika named her ex-flame.

Source: Sabkura News Pvt. Lmt.