Lufthansa's Germanwings Airbus 320 Crash: Black Box Found

An Airbus operated by Lufthansa's Germanwings budget airline crashed into a mountainside in the French Alps on Tuesday, March 24th 2015, killing all 150 people on board including 16 schoolchildren. Helicopters and rescue personnel swarmed into the remote, rugged area in southeastern France after the crash but found no signs of life.

The chief executive of Lufthansa’s lowcost arm, Germanwings, said “ On Tuesday morning, the aircraft reached its cruising height of 38,000ft at 10.45am, 44 minutes into the flight, and began to descent just a minute or two later. Contact was lost at 10.53am when the plane was at 6,000ft.”

The ones aboard who are believed to be dead included 45 Spanish, 67 German nationals and a party of 16 German teenagers who were returning from an exchange trip to Spain. At a news conference on Tuesday evening, Heike Birlenbach, the vice president of Lufthansa, said, “At this stage, we consider this to be an accident,” adding that everything else was speculation.

However, Bernard Cazeneuve, French Interior Minister recently made a statement, “a black box has been found and will be delivered to investigators.” In addition, investigators have also recovered the cockpit voice recorder, which captures up to two hours of the pilots’ conversations as well as other cockpit noises, including any alarms that would have sounded as the plane descended.

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PM Emphasizes the Need for Greater Representation; Pitches For an Indian as IMF Deputy

On Monday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for a greater representation of Indians in the top positions at IMF.

In his meeting with Lagarde, who is in India on a two-day visit, Modi stressed “on the need of having greater representation for Indians at the highest level of IMF.”

Lagarde earlier indicated that “one of these days” an Indian can head the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Among Indian who have held top positions at IMF, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan has served as a chief Economist, while Arvind Subramanian (India’s Chief Economic Advisor) has served as an economist at the multilateral organization.

Jagrade, and her predecessor Dominique Strauss Kahn were from France and traditionally, the position of IMF’s MD was held by Europeans. However, in the past few years, many developing countries from Asia and Latin America have emphasized on the need to change this trend.

In addition to greater representation, during his brief meeting with Jagrade, Modi also emphasized on the “importance of having a clear direction and focus,” and indicated that reforms should not merely be restricted to legislation, as implementation and direction were equally important.

According to recent reports, the Finance Minister and the IMF chief jointly agreed to host a high level conference talk in March 2016 on 'Advancing Asia: Investing for the Future.'

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International Pressure Mounts for Nasheed Release

Male: International pressure over the arrest of trial of former President Mohamed Nasheed is taking a toll on the Government.

In a desperate bit the ruling Party PPM's Vice President Abdul Raheem Abdulla and spokesman faced the press on Wednesday. Speaking to the press, spokesman Ali Arif said, that they were deeply saddened by the reaction of the some countries in the International community who dispute the case against Nasheed as politically motivated.

Responding to a query from the press, the Vice President said, “Anyone can take former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to court for any atrocities committed during his tenure in office”. He was referring to the Jail unrest of September 20, 2003 in which Gayoom issued orders to shoot at the crowd to curb the unrest killing 3 and injuring 17 inmates. The parents of one of whom has now filed a case against Gayoom with the PG.

Whether the PG will take the matter to court remains to be seen.

Former President Nasheed has been in detention now for more than 20 days, and his trial is put on fast track. Amidst nightly violent demonstrations in the capital city by supporter of Mr. Nasheed, the Court goes into session in the afterhours. Allegations has been raised by opposition MDP that the Prosecutor General and Judges presiding over Nasheed’s case were seen discussing the case in a popular smokers café in Male, PG denies the allegations.

Nasheed's team of lawyers has left the case claiming the courts fast track policy doesn’t give them sufficient time to do research and prepare themselves for the daily hearing.

The Fast Track sessions is seen as a method of mounting pressure on the defense lawyers to weaken the case for President Nasheed.

The Court issued a statement on Wednesday that the final hearing is on the way this week, a Court ruling is expected on the case as early as next week (3week of March).

If guilty, Nasheed would be jailed for 10 to 15 years.

Despite the massive publicity and media campaign by the government against Nasheed, he remains a popular figure.

Nasheed is viewed by the public as a victim of the PPM struggle to keep control on the country for the next thirty years.

PPM is headed by former President Mr. Maumoon Abdul Gayoom who ran the country with a tight fist.

PPM nominee for President for the 2013 elections Gayoom’s half-brother Yameen was elected President with a difference of 6022 votes in the runoff against Mohamed Nasheed.

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India, Seychelles Sign 4 Packs to Strengthen Security Alliance

India on Wednesday signed four agreements with Seychelles in a bid to strengthen strategic alliance, boost security and maritime partnership. On the first leg of his three-nation tour, Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi arrived in the western Indian Ocean Island on Wednesday, 11 March 2015.

After his talks with Seychelles President James Alix Michel, Modi about his brief visit said, “Seychellesis a vital partner in our Indian Ocean neighbourhood” further adding, “however short it may be, this visit has been very productive. It is no surprise that Seychelles is my first destination in the Indian Ocean Region”

Modi’s visit to Seychelles made top headlines in the news, as he is the first Prime Minister to visit Seychelles in 34 years. It was back in 1981 when Indira Gandhi had visited the country.

After the meeting with Michel, Modi announced that India will give a second Dronier aircraft to the country. He also launched the Coastal Surveillance Radar Project, symbolizing it as cooperation between the two nations.

Furthermore, Modi and Michel witnessed the signing of four agreements: cooperation in hydrography, renewable energy, infrastructure development and sale of navigation charts and electronic navigational charts.

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Delhi Biker's Fest Teaser

The Generation Z of Smartphones

Every year, the world’s top manufacturing brands gather in Barcelona, Spain to showcase what’s hot in the Smartphone industry. Just as the show wrapped up earlier this week, here is a look at what stood out as the best hardware at the expo.

The year 2015 has witnessed major announcements from HTC and Samsung – two companies scuffling out for Android supremacy in the market. However, in the search for the best Smartphone this year, we look at some other new announcements from BlackBerry, Black phone and Lumia as well. 

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

In the most anticipated launch of the year, Samsung unveiled its newest phone, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. This phone infuses premium materials, and offers an order less Aesthetics Fluidic experience through the expanded space.

The hardware of the S6 Edge is equipped with the latest version of the Android OS, 3GB RAM, 5.1-inch Super AMOLED display boasting a resolution of 2560x1440 pixels, and internal storage options that begin at 16GB, going all the way up to 128 GB.

HTC One M9

HTC were quick to snap many headlines with the launch of the new HTC One M9. Featuring an ultra pixel camera, they assume this phone would revolutionize the market for the “best camera phones”. This phone comes with a 5-inch Full HD display and runs the latest edition of Android 5.0 Lollipop.

The hardware of this phone is laden with Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor, supporting 3 GB of RAM. This phone also boats of a 2840 mAh battery.

BlackBerry Leap

Yet again, BlackBerry lives up to its reputation of launching business smartphones. The new Blackberry Leap comes with a 5-inch HD display and a boxy design. Out of the box, this phone runs Blackberry 10 and supports the entire handset maker’s solution, such as BlackBerry Messenger and BlackBerry Assistant. The great thing about this phone is that it now supports Android apps, thanks to BlackBerry’s partnership with Amazon’s Appstore.

Blackphone 2

You must’ve heard this name before! Silent Circle launched the second edition of the Blackphone with updated specifications. The new privacy-centric Blackphone 2 comes with an updated version of the firm’s PrivatOS, Android-based OS. Featuring a features a 5.5-inch full-HD display, Corning Gorilla Glass, it boasts of 3 Gigs of RAM and an octa-core processor.

Microsoft Lumia 640 XL

When they amalgamated Nokia last year, Microsoft indicated on bringing “Lumia” to budget-conscious shoppers. The Lumia 640 XL comes in a wide range of colors, including orange, white and black. With a 5.7 inch display, this phone boasts of a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 5MP front-facing lens. The Microsoft Lumia 640 XL is a great all-around device for those seeking for a smartphone on budget.

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Varanasi to Kathmandu Bus Service Debuts for Budget Travel

Much to the delight of budget travelers, both India and Nepal have agreed on launching a direct bus service between Varanasi and Kathmandu. The new bus service is expected to promote religious tourism on both side of the border.

On the sidelines of the 18th SAARC Summit last November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his counterpart Sushil Koirala had inked this twin-city pact, along with an agreement of $1-billion line of credit to Nepal.

This new bus service will be jointly flagged off on Thursday morning from the Dasharath Stadium by Mr. Bimalendra Nidhi (Minister for Physical Infrastructure and Transportation) and Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae. Featuring a modern 35-seater fully air-conditioned coach, this state-of-the-art bus will play daily from both sides.

In the recent years, the dominance of Maoism in Nepal and the participation of People’s Republic of China in the strengthening of economic and political ties with Nepal have resulted in Nepal distancing its ties with India.

After recent dialogs between the two nations, this new bus service is expected to strengthen the Indo-Nepalese ties.

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