Live! How this adrift sailor survived 66 days in the sea

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Fri, 03 April 2015

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21:14 How this adrift sailor survived 66 days in the sea

A sailor missing at sea for 66 days was rescued from his disabled boat about 200 miles off the North Carolina coast, officials said Thursday.

Louis Jordan, 37, was reported missing by his father on January 29. He had set sail about a week earlier on the 1950s-era, single-masted sailboat Angel from Bucksport Plantation Marina in Conway, South Carolina.

He was found floating on the overturned hull of his vessel by a German cargo ship, according to the US Coast Guard.

A Jayhawk helicopter later transported Jordan to Sentara Hospital in Norfolk, Virginia. He was able to stand up and walk without assistance and was later released.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today coined a new slogan -- "give it up" -- to exhort the better off sections of society to forego their LPG subsidy that can be utilised in providing subsidised LPG connections to the poor.

Urging the well-off to give up their LPG subsidy, he said "gas cylinders surrendered by them would be transferred to the poor who use wood for cooking. If one crore people give up their LPG subsidy, one crore poor people will benefit as they will be given new LPG cylinders instead.

"Give it up" campaign should be taken up on the lines of "Swacch Bharat" and "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao initiatives, Modi said adding "I appeal to all MPs, MLAs, ministers, IAS and IPS officers, professors and professionals to forgo their LPG subsidy and derive happiness by doing so.

Addressing a public meeting on the sidelines of BJP's two-day National Executive meeting which began here, Modi also pitched for reforms in agriculture sector.

He, however, refrained from making any reference to the controversial land acquisition bill over which the Opposition is on the warpath against the government.

In his nearly hour-long address, Modi assured the people that his government would fulfil all the promises made on bringing back the black money stashed abroad.

19:52 Look no further than Kashmir: Omar to tourists

Amid reports that a big chunk of tourists have shelved plans to visit Kashmir Valley due to rains, NC leader Omar Abdullah has taken to microblogging site twitter to tempt people into visiting the region saying "look no further than Kashmir".

Omar, with over 8,70,000 followers on the microblogging site, has been trying his best to attract people to visit Kashmir.

"The worst of the water logging is behind us & the fear of floods has been dispelled by the government. Please come visit Kashmir in the spring," Omar wrote on twitter today.

To attract tourists to visit the famous tourists destinations including Gulmarg and Pahalgam, Omar wrote,"The tulips will soon be in bloom & the Valley is the most gorgeous green, Gulmarg still has snow & the Lidder is roaring in Pahalgam."

Omar made an appeal to the people who are looking to spend a holiday and also said that the entire Kashmir was waiting for them.

"So if you are looking for a holiday or even a short break look no further than Kashmir. Everyone here is waiting to welcome you," he wrote.

Data from the second black box found in the wreckage of the Germanwings flight that crashed last week in the French Alps confirm the co-pilot acted deliberately, investigators said today.

"A first reading shows that the pilot in the cockpit used the automatic pilot to descend the plane towards an altitude of 100 feet (30 metres)," said the French BEA crash investigation office in a statement.

"Then, several times during the descent, the pilot changed the automatic pilot settings to increase the aircraft's speed," added the investigators.

The latest information appeared to confirm the theory that co-pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately smashed his plane into the mountains, killing all 150 people on board.

Authorities found the second black box, which contains technical flight data, yesterday after a gruelling nine-day search in difficult mountain terrain.

Data from the first black box, which records conversations in the cockpit, suggested that Lubitz, 27, locked his captain out and then deliberately set the plane on a deadly collision course with the mountains.

Union minister Smriti Irani spotted a hidden camera in the trial room of an apparel store in Goa and recorded a statement with the police shortly after, television channels reported on Friday.

"Smriti Irani came to the Candolim Fabindia for shopping. She went to the trial room and she saw a camera ninext to the trial room which was peeping right into the trial room. She immediately called her husband. She alerted me as she knows me. I filed an FIR with the police. We checked the recordings, everything above the stomach level could be seen," Michael Lobo, a Goa BJP leader, told Times Now.

Irani was on a two-day holiday in Goa, Lobo added.

It's a matter of concern that somebody's privacy is being invaded. Somebody wanted to see a woman naked--this is unacceptable. Other showrooms and malls should be investigated," he said.

Families of the hostages of a radical gunman who killed four in a kosher supermarket are suing a French broadcaster over its live coverage of the attack, saying it put the hostages' lives in danger.

Paris prosecutor's office spokeswoman Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre said today that a preliminary investigation has been opened into the coverage by BFM television.

France's broadcast watchdog reprimanded BFM and several other television and radio stations for their coverage of the market hostage-taking and attack on satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in January.

BFM and other broadcasters notably revealed in live reports that hostages were hiding in the kosher market. The watchdog and the families' lawyers say that could have endangered the hostages if the gunman found.

BFM would not immediately comment today.

15:25 France bans ultra-thin catwalk models

French deputies today voted to ban ultra-thin catwalk models, despite howls of protest from modelling agencies in the world's fashion capital.

"Anyone whose body mass index... is below a certain level will not be able to work as a catwalk model," according to the amendment voted in the National Assembly lower house of parliament.

Agencies found employing models considered too thin could be liable for a fine of up to 75,000 euros (USD 85,000) and six months in prison.

"The prospect of such a punishment will have the effect of regulating the entire sector," said Olivier Veran, the deputy proposing the amendment, who said that similar measures had been taken in Spain, Italy and Israel.

Health Minister Marisol Touraine had previously said that young models should "eat well and look after their health".

"This is an important message to young women who see these models as an aesthetic example," added the minister.

However, the National Union of Modelling Agencies has complained this would affect the competitiveness of French modelling.

The new law comes after a similar amendment was passed that would punish people inciting others to "extreme thinness" to a year in prison and a fine of 10,000 euros.

Saying that Giriraj Singh was suffering from "mental illness" because of which he made the controversial remark on Sonia Gandhi, senior Congress leader Raj Babbar today offered to bear expenses of the union minister's "treatment".

"Giriraj Singh is suffering from mental illness and that is why he is making such statements against Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi," Babbar, a Rajya Sabha member and Congress Spokesman, told reporters in Patna today.

"If the government is not able to get him cured of his illness, I am ready to bear expense for his proper treatment at any mental hospital in Ranchi, Agra or Nagpur," Babbar said.

The actor-turned-politician further charged that a person like Singh was in fact "threat to the society" and wondered why was he continuing at the constitutionally responsible post of a Union minister and said the remark for Sonia Gandhi was "like spitting at the sun."

Twelve-year-old Muslim girl Maryam Asif Siddiqui has won a competition on understanding the Bhagwad Gita in Mumbai.

More than 4,500 participants from 195 schools in Mumbai took part in the competition organised by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness.

In the competition, the participants were tested on their knowledge and understanding of the Bhagwad Gita. Maryam, who studies in the 6th standard has already read the Bible and is attending lectures on the Quran.

"My teacher told me that there is a Gita competition. You can take part. I asked my parents and they said that whatever religion is there, you can take part in it," Maryam said.

"I really like Gita. There were stories on how Krishna told Arjun how to live, speak to everyone, how to respect everybody. I liked all these things," she said as she recalled the teachings.

"It is a matter of joy that a Muslim girl has won the first prize. Whether it is Gita or Quran, these are religious scriptures. Religion unites and not divides," Muslim cleric Maulana Umer Ahmed Ilyasi said.

13:31 Schools in Kashmir reopen post flood threats

Schools in Kashmir valley reopened today after remaining shut for four days in the wake of incessant rains and flood threats in the region, officials said.

Most of the government and private schools in Kashmir reopened today after they were closed on Monday due to heavy rains, they said.

However, some schools in Srinagar and other areas of the Valley remained closed due to water-logging, they added.

The decision to re-open the schools was taken yesterday after some improvement in the weather conditions in the region, the officials added.

Authorities had announced closure of all schools on Monday after the Valley was lashed by heavy rains which led to rise in the water level in river Jhelum and other water bodies.

AAP's Patiala MP Dharamvira Gandhi, who had taken a stand in support of dissidents Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav at the party's national council, has written a letter to party chief Arvind Kejriwal complaining against the "slander" campaign against him.

Gandhi, who is also the party's leader in Lok Sabha, had attended the press conference held by Yadav and Bhushan immediately after they were removed from the National Executive and had attacked the party leadership for "subverting" the foundational principles of democracy.

When contacted, he refused to disclose the contents of the letter although sources confirmed that in the letter sent "two-three days ago", Gandhi has complained about the "slander" campaign against him and instances of his effigies being burnt.

The MP had in the past cautioned the party leadership against infighting, saying that acting "petty" will spell doom for the party.

Hundreds of nurses from Kerala caught up in Yemen's civil war face a stark choice between returning home to financial ruin or taking a chance by staying on in more lucrative jobs that allow them to pay off their debts.

The government is trying to get around 4,000 nationals, more than half of them nurses, out of Yemen, where Shi'ite Houthi fighters have swept into the southern port city of Aden despite an air campaign led by Saudi Arabia to check their advance.

The medics' predicament highlights the dilemma facing Indian health workers, many from poor families who borrow heavily to educate their children and then send them abroad to earn the money back.

The debts are sometimes owed to middlemen who charge exorbitant fees to place Indians in jobs abroad, and the government has moved to crack down on the practice by banning foreign recruitment by private companies nationwide.

Read more HERE

Goa minister Francisco Mickky Pacheco, who was convicted of assaulting an official, has resigned.

His conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court earlier this week.

Pacheco, whose party Goa Vikas Party is an ally of the ruling BJP, was sentenced to six months in jail for slapping a junior engineer in 2006.

The engineer, Kapil Natekar, had complained that he had been called to the minister's office for not answering a phone call by Mr Pacheco's personal assistant.

Sources say Pacheco was asked by Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar to resign.

Hindus will become the world's third largest population by 2050, while India will overtake Indonesia as the country with the largest Muslim population, according to a new study.

According to the Pew Research Center's religious profile predictions assessed data released on Thursday, the Hindu population is projected to rise by 34 per cent worldwide, from a little over 1 billion to nearly 1.4 billion by 2050.

By 2050, Hindus will be third, making up 14.9 per cent of the world's total population, followed by people who do not affiliate with any religion, accounting for 13.2 per cent, the report said.

The people with no religious affiliation currently have the third largest share of the world's total population. Muslims are projected to grow faster than the world's overall population and that Hindus and Christians are projected to roughly keep pace with worldwide population growth, the report said.

CNN-IBN reports: There is no end to the row over Union Minister Giriraj Singh's racist comments. Strongly objecting to comments by ministers, controversial British filmmaker Leslee Udwin who directed the documentary on Nirbhaya said that Singh is "no better than a rapist".

"This really sickens me. The hypocrisy of mini mouthed, unthinking comments by those who say my film gives platform to rapists, but why has Indian Parliament for many years, given a platform to politicians making such misogynist comments. They are no worse, no better than Mukesh Singh's comments," she said.

She also added that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should sack ministers like Giriraj Singh.

"We need to understand the issues here. I think anyone who makes such a statement should be removed from office or any authority of power," she said.

11:39 India may bid for 2024 Olympics

NDTV reports: Prime Minister Narendra Modi is reportedly keen that India hosts the 2024 edition of the Olympics. He is expected to discuss the possibility of the country bidding for the biggest sporting event of the world with International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach when the German visits New Delhi later this month.

While India has never hosted the Olympics, PM Modi is keen that the sports spectacle comes to the country. Sports secretary Ajit Sharan confirmed to NDTV that he already met IOC officials in Laussane last month to initiate talks on the matter.

Even IOC chief Bach is learnt to be keen that India play a greater role in international sports events. "How can we ignore a country of 1.2 billion people?" Bach, who will visit the capital on April 27, has been quoted as saying.

Read more HERE

Bollywood actress Nandita Das recently received drew flak for a comment she later clarified for not having made at all. Reportedly, the social media went viral with one of her statements which said that 'all men are rapists'.

The actress however took to micro-blogging site Twitter to clarify that she never said such a thing, and she was being misquoted. Nandita posted: "I'm being falsely quoted. Never said all men are rapists. What kind of a stupid generalisation is that? sad that 1 have to even explain this."

After 'all men are rapists' quote went viral, Nandita Das hashtag started trending on Twitter, which made the actress annoyed and compelled her to tweet about her clarification, reportedly.

Star Indian cricketer Suresh Raina is all set to begin his second innings as he will tie the knot with fiancee Priyanka Chowdhary in New Delhi on Friday.

The wedding is scheduled to take place at Hotel Leela Palace.

It is learnt that Priyanka and Raina's friendship dates back to their childhood days. Priyanka is presently working in The Netherlands.

Raina returned to the country with his teammates after the semifinal loss to Australia in the World Cup last week.

Raina is a key member of the Chennai Super Kings, who are scheduled to kick start their campaign in the eighth edition of Indian Premier League on April 9, barely six days after his wedding.

Big wigs from politics and entertainment world, besides fellow cricketers, are expected to attend the bash.

Hundreds of Iranians took to the streets in Tehran early Friday to celebrate a breakthrough in talks with the West that may end the country's 12-year-long nuclear crisis.

Read this story HERE

Gunmen raided a Kenyan university early Thursday, killing students and taking others hostage during morning prayers.Al-Shabaab, the Somalia-based Islamist militant group, has claimed responsibility.

Here are a few early takeaways from the terror attack.

Read this story HERE

03:36 Saddam's tomb haunts Tikrit residents

Saddam Hussein's execution and burial in 2006 did not exempt him from prosecution; he was still wanted even after his death. The grave was attacked and vandalized several times by various parties, while his body mysteriously vanished.

The Tikrit battles have brought back talk about Saddam in the media.

The conflicting parties there, whether the Popular Mobilization Units or the Islamic State, all have motives to attack his grave, which made the issue of searching for Saddam's body an important story in the Iraqi and Arab media.

Read the full story HERE

A Russian trawler capsized in the waters just off the country's Kamchatka peninsula on Thursday, leaving at least 56 dead.

A total of 63 people from the Dalniy Vostok have been rescued by other fishing vessels, Russian news agency TASS reported.

Read the full story HERE

People use Google's Gmail to firm up brunch plans with a friend, exchange notes with colleagues and say hi to their mom. Now, Google wants to add another use to that list: paying bills.

Read this story HERE

The Ukraine crisis has brought the world closer to nuclear war than at any point for a generation, according to an account of a secret meeting between Russian and American military and intelligence figures.

Read this article HERE

03:04 Curiosity has hit a Martian mineral jackpot

NASA's Curiosity rover has spotted a bizarre-looking network of Martian mineral ridges '" and that has piqued the curiosity of the rover's science team.

They say the two-tone veins suggest there were separate stretches of time when there were wet conditions in the area that Curiosity is currently studying.

The ridges rise as high as 2.5 inches (6 centimeters) above the level of the bedrock at a site nicknamed Garland City, on the slopes of a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. They're about an inch (3 centimeters) thick, and are made of light and dark material.

Read the dull story HERE

Comedian Chris Rock made light of racial disparities in police treatment of whites and blacks with a tongue-in-cheek guide to not being beaten by the police.

He encapsulated the frustration and grief caused by a New York grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer in the death of a black man with a simple tweet: "This one was on film."

read this story HERE

Here are the key parameters of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran's nuclear program that were decided in Lausanne, Switzerland.

These elements form the foundation upon which the final text of the JCPOA will be written between now and June 30, and reflect the significant progress that has been made in discussions between the P5+1, the European Union, and Iran. Important implementation details are still subject to negotiation, and nothing is agreed until everything is agreed.

Read the full text HERE

Two American women, influenced by the dreaded terror group ISIS, were arrested here today for plotting terror strikes on US soil using "weapons of mass destruction", with authorities saying the duo conspired to construct car and pressure cooker bombs

Noelle Velentzas, 28, and Asia Siddiqui, 31, both US citizens and former roommates in a Queens apartment here were charged with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction against persons or property in the United States.

The two are scheduled to appear later today before US Magistrate Judge Viktor Pohorelsky of the Eastern District of New York. The two face a maximum sentence of life imprisonment if convicted.

The complaint against them said that since August 2014,the women allegedly plotted to construct an explosive device for use in a terrorist attack on American soil.

01:12 Top headlines of the last 24 hours

4 gunmen killed, 150 may be dead in Kenya university attack
300 more Indians evacuated from Yemen
'Beedi' baron's gaffe incurs oppostions' ire
Fake lady IAS trainee claims she bribed to stay at the academy
2 more AAP leaders shown the door for backing Yadav, Bhushan
3 Army personnel killed in Arunachal ambush
It's an unforgettable trauma, says Yemen returnee

The newly established military courts in Pakistan today sentenced to death six militants while sending another to life imprisonment on terrorism charges, the first such convictions since the courts were set up after the deadly Taliban school massacre in December.

Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif confirmed the death sentence given to six terrorists, military spokesperson said.

Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said that seven men accused of heinous crimes of terrorism, manslaughter, causing colossal damage to life and property, suicide bombing and abduction for ransom were tried by the military courts.

The courts awarded death sentence to six and life imprisonment to one militant. These sentences of death were confirmed by General Sharif.

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