Youth held on charge of sexually assaulting student after barging into hostel

Mangaluru, Mar 10: Four airports which are run by the Airport Authority of India (AAI), including Mangaluru International airport, have been adjudged among the best aerodromes in the world, winning 10 awards in four different categories at the 2019 ASQ awards.

ASQ is a globally established programme that measures passengers’ satisfaction while traveling through an airport. Airports Council International (ACI), which is an independent agency of airport operators, carries out international benchmarking of aerodromes.

“Four AAI airports — Chandigarh, Mangaluru, Trivandrum and Lucknow — have been adjudged the best in the world in recently announced 2019 ASQ awards. These airports won 10 awards in four categories,” Airports Authority of India (AAI) said in a release here on Tuesday.

The survey measures passengers’ satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators that include eight major categories such as access, check-in, security, airport facilities, food and beverage, retail, airport environment and arrival services.

The four categories in which these airports bagged the best airport awards were size and region, environment and ambiance, customer service and infrastructure and facilitation, as per the AAI.

The survey was carried out at across 356 airports across North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.

The survey results are monitored by airport tariff regulator AERA, NITI Aayog, and civil aviation Ministry, the release added.

Bengaluru, Jun 5: The much awaited Southwest Monsoon entered Karnataka with widespread rain in coastal and central regions of the southern state, an official said on Friday. Rain and thundershowers are likely to occur at most places over coastal areas and at a few places over the interior parts over the next 24-48 hours.

"The southwest monsoon entered the state on Thursday as predicted from Kerala and the Arabian Sea, with moderate to heavy rainfall in the coastal districts and central or Malnad region of the state," Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre Director Srinivas Reddy told media here.

Though the monsoon has set in on time in the state, Reddy said its progress was likely to be slow in the next three days, as cyclone Nisarga induced high-speed winds took away rain-bearing clouds from the southern peninsula.

According to the regional meteorological office, Karwar in Uttar Kannada district received a whopping 15cm rainfall on Thursday, followed by 11cm each at Kundapur in Udupi district and Shivamogga in Malnad region.

Kadra and Gersoppa in Uttara Kannada and Kottigehara in Chikkamagaluru district had 10cm rainfall, followed by 8cm at Virajpet in Kodagu district and 7cm each at Shirali and Gokarana in Uttara Kannda.

Isolated to scattered rainfall also occurred in many places across the north and south interior regions of the state.

"The monsoon will advance in the state to south and north interior areas after June 8 as there is lull in its movement due to lack of rain-bearing clouds and winds to carry them," said Reddy.

Noting that the four-month monsoon from June to September, crucial to the rain-dependent state would be normal this year, Reddy said its progress and spread, however, would depend on various factors like cloud formations and wind movements.

"Conditions are likely to become favourable for monsoon advancement in the state over the next 2-3 days," asserted Reddy.

In a shocking incident, a woman allegedly sold her five-day-old baby boy to two siblings in Karnataka’s Davanagere for Rs 5,000 on Tuesday (May 26) in connivance with a hospital employee, according to police.

Acting on a complaint by Honnali child development project officer Mahantesh Poojar, police booked a case against six persons in connection with the incident and arrested four of them by Tuesday night.

Police said the woman allegedly sold the baby, born on May 20 at Honnali taluk hospital, to Annesh Naik, 36, and his sister Lavanya, 39, in the early hours of Tuesday in front of the Honnali KSRTC bus stand.

The six accused have been identified as Kumar, 44, a staff nurse at Honnali hospital; Mahesh, a group ‘D’ employee at the hospital who facilitated the deal; Basavaraj, 36, a lab technician at Hirekerur hospital; Annesh; Lavanya; and the mother of the infant.