Moscow : Russian officials probing the crash of a Syria-bound military plane said today that there was no explosion on board, but equipment was functioning abnormally when it plunged into the Black Sea.
“There was no explosion on board, I can say that for certain,” said Sergei Bainetov, head of flight safety for the Russian airforce. “But an act of terror is not necessarily an explosion, so we are not discarding this version.”
Transport Minister Maxim Sokolov said the probe has established that the plane was not working normally but will not issue any conclusions before January, cautioning journalists not to jump on any theories.
“It is obvious that the equipment was functioning abnormally. Why that happened is up to experts to work out,” he said at a joint press conference on the crash which killed all 92 on board, including scores of performers from a feted Red Army Choir troupe.
The Soviet-era Tu-154 plane went down shortly after takeoff from the Sochi airport Sunday morning, after stopping to refuel on its way to Syria.
The military ensemble was due to give a concert to Russian soldiers at the Hmeimim base, Moscow’s main outpost for its bombing campaign in support of President Bashar al-Assad.
Bainetov said that the Tu-154, which is not used by commercial airlines, has been grounded by the air force “until the first conclusions” are made about the crash.
Sokolov said that the “main phase” of the major search operation for plane debris mounted off the coast of the southern city has finished.
“At this time, everything that has to do with the plane’s crash has been brought to surface,” he said.
So far only 19 bodies and some 230 body parts have been discovered, Sokolov said.
The outgoing Obama administration is planning a series of fresh sanctions against Russia for its alleged role in cyber hacking into servers and emails of American political parties and leaders in the run up to the general elections, multiple media reports have said.
Quoting unnamed senior administration officials, CBS News and CNN said the new set of sanctions is likely to target the Russian intelligence agency and its official.
The sanctions could be announced as early as Thursday, CNN reported.
President Barack Obama has already announced investigations into the alleged Russian hacking.
The report is expected early January.
US president-elect Donald Trump told reporters that the administration “should do the best they can, figure it all out.”
CBS News said the White House is seeking measures the incoming administration can’t reverse. Trump has so far refused to acknowledge Russia’s role in the cyberattacks.
Administration officials would also like to make it difficult for President-elect Donald Trump to roll back any action they take.
“Part of the goal here is to make sure that we have as much of the record public or communicated to Congress in a form that would be difficult to simply walk back,” one senior administration official told The Washington Post.
Reacting to media reports, Russia has said such a move by the US would be considered as provocative and warned of retaliation.
The sanctions is likely to name individuals associated with the hacking and having close contacts with the government.
“If Washington really does take new hostile steps, they will be answered…Any action against Russian diplomatic missions in the US will immediately bounce back on US diplomats in Russia,” a spokesperson of the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
According to CNN, the US actions are expected to include expanded sanctions and diplomatic measures.
In October, the United States formally blamed Russia for political hacking attacks, saying they were intended to interfere with American elections. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Interfax that the accusations are “nonsense.”
Earlier this month, CIA officials told US media they had “high confidence” that Russian hackers had attempted to sway the US election in Trump’s favour.
The Trump team responded to those reports by saying “these are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction”.
Islamabad : Power-starved Pakistan today received a major boost as a China-backed 340 MW nuclear power plant in its Punjab province was inaugurated by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who termed it as an “important milestone” in the government’s efforts to end the menace of load shedding.
The fourth nuclear plant Chashma-3 is located about 250 kilometres southwest of capital Islamabad at Chashma in Mianwali district where another plant Chashma-IV is also being built.
Sharif described the completion of C-3 as “another important milestone in the journey to eliminate the menace of load shedding from the country,” Radio Pakistan reported.
He said the project is reflective of closer cooperation between Pakistan and China in science and technology.
“This cooperation is also beginning of a new era of development in the region,” he said.
Sharif expressed confidence that Chashma-IV nuclear power plant would also become operational before its deadline of mid next year.
Chashma two and three power plants are the most efficient plants in the country, providing more than 600 MW of electricity to the national grid. Pakistan’s first nuclear plant was supplied by Canada in 1972.
Sharif appreciated Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) for its efforts for self reliance in fuel fabrication and said his government would extend every possible assistance to the Commission to help overcome the shortage of electricity in the country.
Referring to the generation target of 8,800 MW of nuclear energy by 2030, Sharif urged the Commission to accept the challenge of producing more than the target and play its full role in the development of the country.
Noting that there has been a marked reduction in load shedding during the last three years, Sharif pledged that the menace of load shedding would be over in 2018.
Sharif said generation of additional 2200 MW of electricity through K-II and K-III would contribute towards this effort.
Pakistan has been grappling with power shortage and the unusually long hours of power outages has been haunting its people for about a decade.
Sharif urged PAEC to take all possible measures to strengthen safety of existing and future power plants as per international standards.
Sharif thanked China for extending cooperation in nuclear field and said the two countries are actively cooperating in many other areas, including construction of roads, motorways, airports and upgradation of Pakistan Railways.
He said many projects were initiated under CPEC and their impact was now visible.
These projects are being implemented speedily and this would result in overcoming challenges of unemployment, poverty, backwardness and accelerating the pace of socio economic development, besides bringing all regions of the country more closer, he said.
New Delhi, Dec 28 : In a blow to three copyright societies which claim to hold rights to issue licences to play music and songs of various artists in public, the Delhi High Court has restrained them from granting any such licence till April 24 next year.
Justice Sanjeev Sachdeva, in an interim order, restrained the Indian Performing Right Society (IPRS), the Phonographic Performance Ltd (PPL) and Novex Communications Pvt Ltd from contravening section 33 of Copyright Act which mandates that only registered societies can grant licences in respect of copyrighted work.
The order assumes significance as these societies would not be able to collect revenues for live events and parties planned for the upcoming New Year celebrations at hotels, restaurants and other venues.
The court also issued notice to the Centre, the Copyright Office, the three societies and the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Associations of India seeking their replies to the plea of Event and Entertainment Management Association (EEMA) which has sought an enquiry against PPL, IPRS and Novex for allegedly violating section 33 of the Act.
EEMA, represented by advocate Abhishek Malhotra, argued before the court that the registration of PPL and IPRS had lapsed on June 31, 2013, and has not been renewed yet, while Novex was never registered as a copyright society.
The Centre and the Copyright Office, represented by standing counsel Sanjeev Narula, submitted that they have received complaints that PPL and IPRS were violating the Act and have already initiated an enquiry.
The counsel also said a notice has been put up on the website of the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion to inform the public that IPRS and PPL are no longer registered as copyright societies.
“Since the respondent 1 (Centre) and 2 (Copyright Office) have already initiated an inquiry and are taking action vis-a-vis the respondents 3 (PPL) and 4 (IPRS) and their stand is that neither of the three respondents, i.e 3, 4 and 5 (Novex) are registered in terms of section 33 of the Act, till the next date of hearing, respondents 3 to 5 are restrained from acting in contravention of section 33 of the Act..,” the court said and listed the matter for further hearing on April 24 next year.
New Delhi : The Union Health Ministry in collaboration with AIIMS will come up with a National Death Registry which will have data about deaths, including their causes, in hospitals across the country.
“The objective is to have a nationwide database about the causes of deaths occurring in hospitals in various regions of India. This will help policy makers have a better understanding of disease outbreaks so as to optimise the resources and healthcare facilities in respective regions,” Deepak Agrawal, chairman, computerisation, AIIMS, said.
AIIMS has already implemented the pilot version of the death registry with the unique feature of having a coding system called the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine (SNOMED), an international standard of providing codes, terms and synonyms and definitions which cover anatomy, diseases, findings, procedures, microorganisms, etc.
“This is the first time that such an international coding system is being implemented in healthcare in India,” said a Health Ministry official.
The official said the ministry has called a meeting of all state health departments so as to have the programme rolled out across India.
AIIMS will be technical as well as the implementing partner for this programme.
“Currently as health is a state subject, the entire death data is not being transmitted to the central depository, it is creating hurdles for policymakers in framing health and disease related policies.
“As of now the data that we have is tentative but under this system deaths will be uniformly coded along with the cause and details of the patients,” the official said.
“Once notified by the state health department it will become mandatory for all hospitals including private ones to implement the same,” the official added.
New Delhi : An ordinance to extinguish the liability of the government and the RBI on the demonetised high denomination notes is likely to come up before the Union Cabinet .
Sources in the government said the ordinance is being brought as it was found to be necessary to prevent future litigations against the government for junking Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Seeking to prevent harassment and any ambiguity, a proviso would be added to ensure that certain category of people can still deposit the old notes in RBI branches between December 31 and March 31 next, they said.
The category may include people in armed forces, people who were abroad and ordinary citizens who can explain that the money is part of their legitimate income and they could not deposit it in banks due to some reasons.
The government is also mulling imposing penalty on people for possessing certain quantity of old notes after December 30 but there is no confirmation.
In 1978, a similar ordinance was issued to end the government’s liability after Rs 1,000, Rs 5,000 and Rs 10,000 notes were demonetised by the Janata Party government under Morarji Desai.
The government had, while announcing the demonetisation of the old currency on November 8, allowed holders to either exchange them or deposit in bank and post office accounts.
While the facility to exchange the old notes has since been withdrawn, depositors have time till Friday to deposit the holding in their accounts.
New Delhi, Dec 27 : Licences of around 20,000 of 33,000 NGOs have been cancelled by the government after they were found to be allegedly violating various provisions of the FCRA, thus barring them from receiving foreign funds.
This was conveyed to Home Minister Rajnath Singh during a review of the Foreigners Division of the Home Ministry here today.
Giving a detailed presentation, Home Ministry officials said after cancellation of FCRA licences of around 20,000 NGOs, only 13,000 NGOs in the country are legally valid now to receive foreign funds.
The exercise of reviewing the working of the NGOs was started about a year ago and the process is still continuing, official sources said.
Among the 13,000 valid NGOs, around 3,000 have submitted applications for renewal while Ministry of Home Affairs received 2,000 new applications for registration under the FCRA for the first time.
An additional 300 NGOs are currently under prior permission category but not registered under the FCRA.
However, FCRA licences of around 16 NGOs were renewed by the Home Ministry under the “automatic” route and all the cases were reviewed thoroughly and except in two cases, 14 NGOs have been put under the prior permission category while papers of the two NGOs are under examination.
As per FCRA, if an NGO is put under prior permission category, it is barred to receive foreign funding from abroad without taking permission from the Home Ministry.
Backed by ships, helicopters and drones, Russian rescue teams searched Sunday for victims after a Russian plane carrying 92 people to Syria crashed into the Black Sea shortly after take off. Investigators said they are looking into every possible cause for the crash, including a terror attack.
All 84 passengers and eight crew members on board the Soviet-built Tu-154 plane operated by the Russian military are believed to have died when it crashed two minutes after taking off at 5:25am in good weather from the southern Russian city of Sochi.
More than 3,000 people — including over 100 divers flown in from across Russia — worked from 32 ships and several helicopters to search the crash site, the defence ministry said. Drones and submersibles were also being used to help spot bodies and debris. Powerful spotlights were brought in so the search could continue around the clock.
Emergency crews found fragments of the plane about 1.5 kilometres (1 mile) from shore. By Sunday evening, rescue teams had recovered 11 bodies and transport minister Maxim Sokolov said fragments of other bodies were also found.
Asked if a terror attack was a possibility, Sokolov said investigators were looking into every possible reason for the crash.
The plane belonging to the defence ministry was taking its world famous choir, the Alexandrov Ensemble, to a New Year’s concert at Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia. Those on board also included nine Russian journalists and a Russian doctor famous for her work in war zones.
Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to declare Monday a nationwide day of mourning.
“We will conduct a thorough investigation into the reasons and will do everything to support the victims’ families,” Putin said.
The Black Sea search area — which covered 10 square kilometers (nearly 4 square miles) — was made more difficult by underwater currents that carried debris and body fragments into the open sea.
Sokolov said the plane’s flight recorders did not have the radio beacons common in more modern aircraft, so locating them on the seabed was going to be challenging.
The Tu-154 is a Soviet-built three-engine airliner designed in the late 1960s. More than 1,000 have been built, and they have been used extensively in Russia and worldwide. The plane that crashed Sunday was built in 1983, and underwent factory check-ups and maintenance in 2014 and earlier this year, according to the defence ministry.
Magomed Tolboyev, a decorated Russian test pilot, said the circumstances of the crash indicated that all on board had died.
“There is no chance to survive in such situation,” he said, according to the Interfax news agency.
Before Sokolov spoke to reporters in Sochi, senior Russian lawmakers had ruled out a terror attack, arguing that the military plane was tightly secured. Security is particularly tight in Sochi, which hosted the 2014 Winter Games and is regularly visited by Putin, who has a residence there.
But some experts noted that the crew’s failure to report a malfunction pointed at a possible terror attack.
“Possible malfunctions … certainly wouldn’t have prevented the crew from reporting them,” Vitaly Andreyev, a former senior Russian air traffic controller, told RIA Novosti, adding that it points at an “external impact”.
Russian planes have been brought down previously by terror attacks.
In October 2015, a Russian plane carrying mostly Russian tourists back from vacation in Egypt was brought down by a bomb over the Sinai Peninsula, killing all 224 people aboard. Officials said the explosive device was planted in the plane’s luggage compartment. The local affiliate of the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.
In August 2004, two Russian planes were blown up in the skies over Russia on the same day by suicide bombers, killing 89 people. A Chechen warlord claimed responsibility for the twin attacks.
In the last year, the Russian military has repeatedly flown Russian singers and artists to perform at Hemeimeem, which serves as the main hub for the Russian air campaign in Syria. This plane was carrying performers for New Year’s, the main holiday for most Russians.
The passenger list for the Sochi plane released by the defence ministry included 64 members of the Alexandrov Ensemble, including its leader, Valery Khalilov. The ensemble is the official choir of the Russian military and also includes a band and a dance company. The choir sang “Get Lucky” at the opening of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, becoming an instant online sensation.
The damage to the choir was reported to be devastating. Viktor Yeliseyev, head of the rival choir of the Russian National Guard, said “most singers of the choir have died”.
Also on board was Yelizaveta Glinka, a Russian doctor who has won wide acclaim for her charity work, which has included missions to war zones in eastern Ukraine and Syria. Her foundation said Glinka was accompanying a shipment of medicine for a hospital in Syria.
“We never feel sure that we will come back alive,” she said when Putin presented her with an award earlier this month. “But we are sure that kindness, compassion and charity are stronger than any weapon.”
Syrian President Bashar Assad was among numerous foreign leaders who sent a condolence note to Putin, saying he received the news “with deep grief and sadness”.
In recent years, Russian airlines have replaced their Tu-154s with more modern planes, but the military and other government agencies in Russia have continued to use them. While noisy and fuel-guzzling, the plane is popular with crews that appreciate its manoeuvrability and ruggedness.
“It’s an excellent plane, which has proven its reliability during decades of service,” veteran pilot Oleg Smirnov said in televised remarks.
Still, since 1994 there have been 17 major plane crashes involving the Tu-154 that have killed over 1,760 people. Most resulted from human error.
In the latest previous deadly crash of a Tu-154, a plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others crashed in April 2010 while trying to land at a military airport in Smolensk in western Russia, killing everyone on board. Investigations by both Polish and Russian experts blamed pilot error in bad weather, but Polish authorities have launched a new probe.
Beijing, Dec 23 : China today said it has an “open attitude” to India joining the USD 46 billion economic corridor but it wants to know New Delhi’s response to a top Pakistani army general’s offer to participate in the project.
“I wonder what is India’s take on this whether this is a good sign from Pakistan,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said when asked about Pakistan Southern Command Commander Lt Gen Amir Riaz’s remarks that India should join the CPEC along with Iran, Afghanistan and other Central Asian countries and enjoy its benefits.
“On China’s part, the CEPC is a cooperation framework and we hope this programme can not only serve the interest of Pakistan but also Asia and the region as a whole,” Hua said.
She said CEPC is an important part of China’s One-Belt and One-Road (OBOR) also known as new Silk Road project.
“It is an open proposal and we are willing to work with Pakistan to discuss the participation of any third country under principle of wider consultation and joint contribution,” she said.
Asked whether Pakistan has discussed India’s participation with China, Hua said “as (whether) China has negotiated with Pakistan on this, I have nothing to offer”.
“I can tell you that this programme is very important part of OBOR initiative and China holds an open attitude for such cooperation. We have seen reports about other countries who are willing to join the programme. We want to discuss this with wider consultants and consensus,” she said.
Hua’s comments came as the state-run Global Times carried articles suggesting that India should accept the “olive branch” offered by Lt Gen Riaz and join the project.
India’s concerns over CEPC being laid through the Pakistan-occupied Kashmir is one of the three major issues bedevilled the relations between the two countries besides China blocking India s admission to Nuclear Suppliers Group, (NSG) and UN ban on JeM leader Masood Azhar.
The two countries have been holding talks on these issues and Riaz’s comments were seen by officials here as an attempt to gauge India’s reaction.