Jet Airways among top ten airlines worldwide

Jet Airways among top ten airlines worldwide

Seasoned travellers have named London City airport the best in the UK in the Wanderlust 2009 Travel Awards.
London City airport had a satisfaction rating of 87.27% from Wanderlust readers, followed by Inverness airport with 83.53% and Southampton airport with 81.71%. Also in the list of the top 10 airports in the UK were Newcastle, Edinburgh, Belfast City, Birmingham, Bristol, Aberdeen and East Midlands.
The largest airport in the UK, Heathrow, was back in 20th position with a satisfaction rating of 64.77%.
No UK airports featured in the top 10 worldwide airports. Singapore Changi airport won yet again, with a fantastic customer satisfaction rating of 94.18%, followed by Paro airport in Bhutan with 91.43% and Hong Kong International airport with 91.3%.
Next highest rated worldwide airports were Denver, Kuala Lumpur, Bergen, Vancouver, Zurich, Amsterdam Schiphol, and Copenhagen, all of which scored comfortably in excess of 80%. No UK airlines were voted among the top 10 worldwide airlines either. Singapore Airlines won again, with a satisfaction rating of 93.78%, closely followed by Etihad Airways with 92.63%. Other top 10 airlines included Qatar Airways, Cathay Pacific, Jet Airways, Emirates, and Swiss International Air Lines.
But UK based airlines fared better in the top 10 low cost airlines. Air Berlin won for the second year in a row with a score of 85%, followed by Air Asia and Virgin Blue. UK airlines in the top 10 were bmi, Jet2.com, Flybe, easyJet and bmibaby. Ryanair was only placed in 19th position.
Nearly 3,000 travellers voted in the annual awards. Between them Wanderlust readers have visited more than 170 countries and 631 cities in the last year.
13/02/09 Holiday Extras

Heathrow most annoying but safest airport; Indian immigration officials second rudest

Saturday, February 14, 2009

Heathrow most annoying but safest airport; Indian immigration officials second rudest

London: Heathrow has been voted the worst international airport for passport queues and baggage problems, a survey of air travellers said on Friday.
New York's JFK and Los Angeles International airports were ranked second and third worst in the survey by online travel and social network WAYN.com
The survey asked 2,250 passengers about passport control, baggage handling, customs and security at major international airports.
Heathrow, the world's busiest air hub, was voted the worst for long passport queues followed by the two American airports, the poll said.
The three were also seen as having the longest wait time for collecting baggage and were considered the most likely to damage luggage, the poll said.
However New York and Heathrow were also regarded as the best airports for security, with British travellers putting Heathrow at number one.
Bangkok, Amsterdam and Rome were considered to have the least-thorough security, the poll said.
Heathrow's passport control officers were also considered the friendliest after Australia's followed by Canada, although British travellers put Heathrow first, the survey said.
US immigration officials were given the unwanted tag of being the rudest, followed by India and Russia.
Travellers wanting the shortest queuing times should head for Amsterdam's Schiphol airport, Changi in Singapore or Frankfurt.
13/02/09 AFP

Spain heralds 'legendary' Nadal

Monday, February 2, 2009

Spain heralds 'legendary' Nadal

The Spanish press heralded Rafael Nadal's Australian Open victory only minutes after the top-ranked player became the first Spaniard to win the season-opening Grand Slam.Nadal beat Roger Federer 7-5, 3-6, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-2 at the Rod Laver Arena to win his sixth major trophy and third straight Grand Slam final over Federer, who was denied a chance to tie Pete Sampras' record 14 major titles on Sunday."Nadal reaffirms his legend in Australia," the Diario de Mallorca wrote on the front page of its Web site. El Mundo's Web site called the victory "Undeniably Nadal," and AS labeled the 22-year-old from Mallorca the "King of Australia."Nadal has won three of the last four majors after taking a fourth straight French Open and first Wimbledon title in 2008. Nadal replaced Federer at No 1 after a record 237 weeks in August and then won the Olympic gold medal at the Beijing Games."He's a great champion, and a great example to all of the young people through the world," said Emilio Sanchez Vicario, Spain's former Davis Cup captain.Nadal has won five of the seven Grand Slam finals he's played against Federer and is 13-6 overall against the Swiss star.Three Spanish players had reached the Australian Open final before Nadal, with Carlos Moya being the last when he lost to Sampras in 1997.
click &read <http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/606/A46841178?s_fromedit=1&s_type=10&s_sport=tennis>& answer<http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090202035125AAynFBh>

Ponting reveals long-term plan behind current decline

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Ponting reveals long-term plan behind current decline

The Australian cricket team's current decline is an unavoidable
fallout of a long-term plan to win the 2011 World Cup, insists
embattled skipper Ricky Ponting.

"One-day games and series come and go pretty quickly and while our
current results have been disappointing everybody has to understand
there is a long-term plan in place and things can change quickly,"
Ponting wrote in his column for 'The Australian'.

"Even now we are working toward the 2011 World Cup, blooding
players, testing tactics and finding out who performs under pressure,"
he explained.

Recalling the 0-3 whitewash at the hands of New Zealand ahead of the
2007 World Cup in West Indies, Ponting said his team was lambasted
after that defeat but went on to win the World Cup without losing a
game.

"Australia has not lost a game at the past two World Cups and that
didn't happen by accident, but I wonder if anybody remembers the 2007
one-day series against New Zealand over there," he said.

"I didn't go because my back was playing up. Adam Gilchrist had a
rest, which attracted a bit of comment at the time and Michael Hussey
was handed the captaincy," he recalled.

"It was a time when people like Adam Voges, Shane Watson, Shaun Tait
and Mitchell Johnson were given a chance to show what they had.

"The
results weren't flash. We lost 3-0 and it was right on the eve of the
World Cup. I remember the criticism of the team and the speculation
about whether Gilly and I should have been rested, but it was part of a
plan to ensure our better players, or more experienced players, were
ready for the big tournament," Ponting said.

Ponting said the team is in a similar situation right now.

"We're a bit further out from the World Cup right at the moment, but
it's a similar situation. There's been criticism about me not playing
the next few games and I was probably the person who was most reluctant
about it, but it's all about the bigger picture. A lot of planning has
gone into this decision, just as there was before we decided to rest
Mitchell Johnson for the start of the one-day series," he said.

"People have to be a little patient with some of the younger
players. They are long-term investments. Shaun Marsh and David Warner
are learning on the job. Everybody can see what enormous talent they
have, but in this game there are going to be steps forward and steps
backward," he added.

All means will be used to end terror coming from Pakistan,' says Pranab

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Thursday said that India would use all means at its disposal to end terror coming from Pakistan.

Welcoming the Pakistan Government''s admission that some part of the Mumbai attack conspiracy had been hatched on Pakistani soil, Mukherjee described the 26/11 incident as one of the "most gruesome" manifestations of terrorism."

"Pakistan's response (on Thursday) is a positive response, and we will share whatever we can with the neighbouring country," Mukherjee said.

"It remains India''s goal to bring the perpetrators of the terrorist attacks on Mumbai to book, and to follow this process through to the end. We would also expect that Pakistan takes credible steps to dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan," he told corporate executives in the national capital.

Reiterating India''s determination to end the cross-border scourge, Mukherjee said Mumbai was chosen as the target by Pakistani terrorists as they wanted to hit India''s business and corporate "vistas".

Terrorism, he said, poses multi-dimensional challenges and "the Mumbai attack of 26/11 was only the most recent and the most gruesome example of this scourge of terrorism that needs to be tackled in a resolute manner," he said.

Quoting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said, "We will spare no effort to deal with terrorist and insurgent groups operating from neighbouring countries. We are determined to put an end to terrorism sponsored from across the border with all the means at our command."

"The government is fully aware and seized of the fact that security is not only of paramount importance in the life of the nation, but is also deeply intertwined to the running of business in our country," he said.

He said a large number of measures and significant steps had been taken to strengthen the apparatus for dealing with emerging challenges to national security. Mukherjee''s response came hours after Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani''s Adviser for Interior Affairs, Rehman Malik, confirmed that part of the strategy for the terror attack on Mumbai between November 26 and 29, 2008, may have been hatched on Pakistan soil.

However, Malik also fired 30 questions at the Indian Government such as details of fingerprints of the 10 gunmen, their intercepted phone conversations with their handlers and the DNA of lone surviving terrorist Ajmal Kasab, saying answers to them were needed by Islamabad to complete a credible probe from its end.

Malik urged India to provide more inputs to help Pakistan secure convictions of personnel allegedly involved in the 26/11 strikes.

Pakistan, he said, wanted Kasab''s national identity card, electronic and digital diaries seized and the confessional statement made by him in the Indian court and details of who helped in refuelling of one of the three boats used by the terrorists.

The other questions relates to the probe by Indian investigators on local links in the Mumbai carnage, call details from each of cellphone used by the terrorists since they had Indian SIM cards and DNA details of the nine dead terrorists.

Pakistan also wanted inputs on how Kasab identified Lashkar-e-Taiba Operations Commander and alleged 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi.

The Indian Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement that the Government will follow the process of action initiated by Pakistan through to its logical end as it is keen to ensure that perpetrators of the crime are brought to justice.

The statement was issued soon after Indian High Commissioner in Islamabad Satyabrata Pal was "informed officially" by Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir of Pakistan''s response to the dossier of evidence that India had given to Pakistan on January 5 linking the Mumbai attacks to perpetrators in Pakistan.

It is expected that Mukherjee will give a formal response to Pakistan''s latest disclosure Friday.

ICBM test to launch India into Big Five

BANGALORE: India will test its most ambitious strategic missile next year, in what will be its first step towards having potent ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capabilities, largely the preserve of the Big-5 countries till now.

With the design work on the 5,000-km-range Agni-V virtually over now, DRDO chief M Natarajan on Friday said the missile would certainly be tested before December 2010. "I am very confident we will be able to do it,'' he said, speaking on the sidelines of the Aero India-2009 show here.

The work on the nuclear-capable Agni-V basically revolves around incorporating a third composite stage in the two-stage Agni-III, along with some advanced technologies like ring laser gyroscope and accelerator for navigation and guidance.

Agni-III, with a strike range of 3,500-km to accord the capability to strike targets deep inside China, on its part, has been successfully tested only two times till now.

Defence scientists want the solid-fuelled Agni-V, for which the government has sanctioned around Rs 2,500 crore, to be a canister-launch missile system to ensure it has the requisite operational flexibility to be fired from any part of the country.

Agni-V will be slightly short of true ICBMs, which have ranges in excess of 5,500 km. "We have the capability to go in for much higher range but it is for the government to give a go-ahead. At present, we have a green signal for only Agni-V,'' said a scientist.

As reported recently by TOI, while China is several leagues ahead, India continues to lag behind even Pakistan in the missile race. At present, only the 150-to-350 km short range Prithvi missile can be said to be "fully operational'' in the armed forces. The 700-km Agni-I and 2,000-km Agni-II are still in the process of being inducted into the forces.

India, of course, hopes to gate-crash into the very exclusive club of countries like US, Russia and China, which have both ICBM as well as SLBM (submarine-launched ballistic missile) capabilities, by 2010-2011.

DRDO is working on the K-15 SLBM, having tested it from submersible pontoon launchers till now, with the aim to integrate it on the indigenous nuclear submarines being built under the secretive ATV (advanced technology vessel) project.

Though not in the range of the over 5,000-km SLBMs in the arsenal of US, Russia and China, the 750-km range K-15 will accord India with the desperately-needed third leg of the "nuclear weapon triad''. India currently depends on the Agni missiles as well as fighters like Mirage-2000s as its platforms to deliver nuclear weapons.

DRDO, of course, is also going to shortly conduct the third test of the fledgling two-tier BMD (ballistic missile defence) system, capable of tracking and destroying incoming hostile missiles both inside (endo) and outside (exo) the earth's atmosphere.

The BMD system was tested for the first time in November 2006 when an "exo-atmospheric'' hypersonic interceptor missile was used to destroy an "enemy'' Prithvi missile at an altitude of 40-50 km.

The second time, in December 2007, an "endo-atmospheric interceptor'' took on an enemy missile at an altitude of 15-km. "After the third test in a month or so, we will test the endo and exo together in an integrated mode later this year,'' said a scientist.

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/ICBM-test-to-launch-India-into-Big-Five/articleshow/4126401.cms

Kashmir opens airport to international traffic

SRINAGAR: Revolt-hit Indian Kashmir opened its high-security airport to international traffic Saturday in a move officials say will lead to a tourism boom.

The upgraded airport terminal, equipped with all the modern gadgets like escalators, aero-bridges, central heating systems and lifts, was inaugurated by Sonia Gandhi, the chief of India's ruling Congress Party.

Minutes later the inaugural flight, from Dubai, landed at summer capital Srinagar's international airport with over two dozen passengers.

Gandhi received the passengers as they disembarked from an Air India plane.

"It is a very happy moment for all of us," said Gandhi, adding that the new airport would "boost tourism and help the locals."

Around 30 Kashmiris were to fly to Dubai later Saturday.

The project to upgrade the airport was approved by the Indian government in January 2005, a year after India and Pakistan launched a peace process to resolve their disputes, including the one over Kashmir.

Initially, there will be a flight between Dubai and Srinagar every Saturday, India's civil aviation minister Praful Patil said.

"We will surely extend the service to other parts of the world," he said.

Violence has declined sharply in Kashmir since the start of the peace process, prompting India to unleash a wave of economic plans to win over Kashmiri Muslims, most of who favour an independent Kashmir.


Soruce: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Kashmir-opens-airport-to-foreign-traffic/articleshow/4128795.cms

We may seek Kasab's custody if investigation demands: Pak

NEW DELHI: Pakistan may demand for the custody of Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor among the accused of the Mumbai terror attacks, from India, interior minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.

“So far, we have not asked India for the custody of Kasab. But we may seek it if the investigation demands,” Rehman Malik said in the southern port city of Karachi, adding that at the moment, it would be premature to say anything else in the matter.

According to IANS, Malik said that Kasab was one of the eight suspects named in a FIR registered by the Federal Investigation Agency on the Mumbai strikes. Six of the suspects have been arrested while two are at large.

According to sources, both Hemant Karkare, the former head of Maharashtra anti-terror squad, as well as Lt Colonel Srikant Purohit, whom he probed for the Malegaon blasts, figure in Pakistan's response to India's 26/11 dossier.

Sources say that Pakistan has sought details of eyewitness accounts of Karkare's killing. There is an oblique reference to Purohit as well.

These questions form part of the dossier that Pakistan gave to India on Thursday.

The questions assume significance in view of the doubts — since quelled by US's charge against a Pakistani national Asif Kashmani — that Purohit and his group, Abhinav Bharat, could have been involved in the Samjhauta Express blast in February 2007.

Karkare's death became an issue after Cabinet minister A R Antulay raised doubts that he was deliberately thrown in harm's way on 26/11 by people who were upset with the ATS probe into Malegaon blasts.

Sources, however, said the questions were perfunctory and did not seem designed to stoke a controversy, probably meant for Pakistan's domestic audience.

Other questions — about DNA, fingerprints, photographs, intercepts, etc — were simple and India would have no trouble answering them.

Indian officials, however, have noted that while Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah of the Lashkar-e-Toiba have been charged by Pakistan, Yousuf Muzammil has remained out of the net. He has been named as one of the top planners of the attacks.

The Pakistani questions wound their way to the Mumbai police on Friday, though it will be a while before India will be able to furnish credible answers. The response will be worked out by the home ministry and the security agencies.

While most of the questions from Pakistan relate to the Mumbai attacks, there is also an attempt to probe deeper into the Indian system. Among other things, Pakistan wants to know how India came to the conclusion that someone like Abu Hamza was involved in the attacks. Abu Hamza's name had not been immediately discernible in the aftermath of the attacks, and Indian investigators have gone to some trouble to trace him out as one of the planners of the Mumbai attacks.

Abu Hamza remains at large and though he figured in Pakistan's investigations as well, Pakistan's questions on the Indian investigation might not find willing takers here. India named Abu Hamza after interrogating Sabauddin Ahmad, another LeT operative, who was caught in early 2008. Ahmad, along with Fahim Ansari, had apparently been part of the recce team for Mumbai. Abu Hamza was also named by the US FBI, after they interrogated Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist.

Soruce: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

We may seek Kasab's custody if investigation demands: Pak

NEW DELHI: Pakistan may demand for the custody of Ajmal Kasab, the lone survivor among the accused of the Mumbai terror attacks, from India, interior minister Rehman Malik said on Saturday.

“So far, we have not asked India for the custody of Kasab. But we may seek it if the investigation demands,” Rehman Malik said in the southern port city of Karachi, adding that at the moment, it would be premature to say anything else in the matter.

According to IANS, Malik said that Kasab was one of the eight suspects named in a FIR registered by the Federal Investigation Agency on the Mumbai strikes. Six of the suspects have been arrested while two are at large.

According to sources, both Hemant Karkare, the former head of Maharashtra anti-terror squad, as well as Lt Colonel Srikant Purohit, whom he probed for the Malegaon blasts, figure in Pakistan's response to India's 26/11 dossier.

Sources say that Pakistan has sought details of eyewitness accounts of Karkare's killing. There is an oblique reference to Purohit as well.

These questions form part of the dossier that Pakistan gave to India on Thursday.

The questions assume significance in view of the doubts — since quelled by US's charge against a Pakistani national Asif Kashmani — that Purohit and his group, Abhinav Bharat, could have been involved in the Samjhauta Express blast in February 2007.

Karkare's death became an issue after Cabinet minister A R Antulay raised doubts that he was deliberately thrown in harm's way on 26/11 by people who were upset with the ATS probe into Malegaon blasts.

Sources, however, said the questions were perfunctory and did not seem designed to stoke a controversy, probably meant for Pakistan's domestic audience.

Other questions — about DNA, fingerprints, photographs, intercepts, etc — were simple and India would have no trouble answering them.

Indian officials, however, have noted that while Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi and Zarar Shah of the Lashkar-e-Toiba have been charged by Pakistan, Yousuf Muzammil has remained out of the net. He has been named as one of the top planners of the attacks.

The Pakistani questions wound their way to the Mumbai police on Friday, though it will be a while before India will be able to furnish credible answers. The response will be worked out by the home ministry and the security agencies.

While most of the questions from Pakistan relate to the Mumbai attacks, there is also an attempt to probe deeper into the Indian system. Among other things, Pakistan wants to know how India came to the conclusion that someone like Abu Hamza was involved in the attacks. Abu Hamza's name had not been immediately discernible in the aftermath of the attacks, and Indian investigators have gone to some trouble to trace him out as one of the planners of the Mumbai attacks.

Abu Hamza remains at large and though he figured in Pakistan's investigations as well, Pakistan's questions on the Indian investigation might not find willing takers here. India named Abu Hamza after interrogating Sabauddin Ahmad, another LeT operative, who was caught in early 2008. Ahmad, along with Fahim Ansari, had apparently been part of the recce team for Mumbai. Abu Hamza was also named by the US FBI, after they interrogated Ajmal Amir Kasab, the lone surviving terrorist.

Soruce: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/