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Syrian swimmer Sarah Mardini who saved refugees arrested in Greece

Agencies
August 31, 2018

Athens, Aug 31: Sarah Mardini, one of two Syrian sisters who saved over a dozen refugees in 2015 by pulling their sinking dinghy to Greece, has been arrested on charge of “people smuggling”, her lawyer said on Friday.

Greek police said on Tuesday they had arrested two members of an aid organization on the island of Lesbos and were investigating a total of 30 on suspicion they smuggled migrants into Greece, spied and laundered money.

Mardini, 23, who is being held in a maximum security prison in Athens, has denied all charges, her lawyer Haris Petsikos said. “She was strictly doing volunteer work. There is not a piece of evidence against her,” he said.

The other person arrested is German national Sean Binder, 24, a volunteer who has lived most of his life in Ireland. He is also represented by Petsikos and also denies the charges.

Authorities said the suspected crime gang allegedly “provided direct assistance to organized migrant trafficking rings.”

They are accused of establishing and joining a criminal organization, money laundering, espionage, violating state secrets, counterfeiting and offenses against the immigration code and electronic communication legislation.

Mardini, who settled in Germany and split her time between there and Greece, was not in Greece when some of the alleged crimes were committed, Petsikos said.

A date for a trial has not yet been set. Under Greek law, Mardini could be held for up to 18 months.

Sarah Mardini and her younger sister Yusra, a UNHCR goodwill ambassador and swimmer who competed in the 2016 Rio Olympics with the first ever refugee team, fled Damascus in 2015 for Turkey.

They boarded an overcrowded dinghy to Greece and, when it began taking on water, jumped into the sea and dragged it for hours to Lesbos, saving the lives of 19 others.

Nearly a million Syrians, Afghans and Iraqis crossed to Lesbos from Turkey in 2015, at the height of Europe’s refugee crisis, before traveling onwards to northern Europe. Dozens of aid groups operated on Lesbos at the time.

Hundreds of refugees and migrants have drowned trying to cross the narrow but dangerous stretch of water between Turkey and Greece.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Hyderabad, Jan 6: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday expressed solidarity with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, following violence in the campus and said the "cruel attack" was meant to "punish"the students as they "dared to stand up".

"In solidarity with the brave students of JNU. This cruel attack is meant to 'punish' JNU students because they dared to stand up. It's so bad that even Union Ministers are tweeting helplessly. Modi Sarkar must answer why cops aresiding with goons," the Hyderabad MP tweeted.

The AIMIM has also tweeted expressing solidarity with the "students of JNU". "AIMIM stands in solidarity with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Who feels threatened by the voice of students?," the party said in a tweet.

Violence broke out at the JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police which conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.

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coastaldigest.com news network
August 8,2020

Kozhikode, Aug 8: A tailwind or crosswind could be the reason for the Air India Express flight mishap at Kozhikode international airport in Kerala, according to some aviation experts. 

Team of DGCA and AIE already reached the spot. With the death of the captain and co-pilot in the mishap, the investigation would be focusing mainly on the voice recorders and other technical aspects.

It is learnt that the ill-fated aircraft, IX 1344 with 190 onboard including crew, was initially planning to land on runway-28 of the airport. But later the pilot opted runway-10 which is toward the other direction. Pilots would be taking the decisions on the basis of inputs from ATC.

The questions now doing the rounds are what made the pilot opt runway-10 and whether the tabletop runway lacked adequate safety parameters.

An aviation expert, who didn't want to be quoted, said that Capt Deepak Sathe, who was commandeering the aircraft, was a well-experienced pilot and was also familiar with the terrains. Hence the chances of any error from his part was very unlikely. Hence a fair in-depth probe was required to find the exact cause.

Though the Kozhikode airport has an Instrument Landing System, it was of category-I for which pilot's visibility is very crucial toward a touchdown. Since it is a tabletop airport and rough weather prevailing in the region, the chances of tailwind was also high, said sources.

There had been safety concerns about the airport over quite some time. In 2011 aviation safety consultant captain Mohan Ranganathan reportedly gave a report citing the safety issues, especially the buffer zones at the end of the runway.

However, an AAI officer said that rectification steps were already done by last year by widening the Runway End Safety Area (RESA) from 90 metre to 240 metre. However, the length of the runway had to be reduced to 2,700 metre from 2,850. The AAI was also constantly pressing for increasing the runway length to 3,150 metres. But that was getting delayed due to land acquisition issues pending with the state government.

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News Network
March 12,2020

Miami, Mar 12: The NBA has suspended its season "until further notice" after a Utah Jazz player tested positive Wednesday for the coronavirus, a move that came only hours after the majority of the league's owners were leaning toward playing games without fans in arenas.

Now there will be no games at all, at least for the time being. A person with knowledge of the situation said the Jazz player who tested positive was center Rudy Gobert. The person spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because neither the league nor the team confirmed the test.

"The NBA is suspending game play following the conclusion of tonight's schedule of games until further notice,'' the league said in a statement sent shortly after 9:30 p.m. EDT. "The NBA will use this hiatus to determine next steps for moving forward in regard to the coronavirus pandemic.''

The test result, the NBA said, was reported shortly before the scheduled tip-off time for the Utah at Oklahoma City game on Wednesday night was called off. Players were on the floor for warmups and tip-off was moments away when they were told to return to their locker rooms. About 30 minutes later, fans were told the game was postponed ``due to unforeseen circumstances."

Shutdown for two weeks?

Those circumstances were the league's worst-case scenario for now -- a player testing positive. A second person who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity said the league expects the shutdown to last a minimum of two weeks, but cautioned that time-frame is very fluid.

"It's a very serious time right now," Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said. "I think the league moved appropriately and prudently and we'll all just have to monitor the situation and see where it goes from here."

The Jazz released a statement saying a player -- they did not identify Gobert -- tested negative earlier Wednesday for flu, strep throat and an upper respiratory infection. That player's symptoms diminished as the day went along, but the decision was made to test for COVID-19 anyway. That test came back with a preliminary positive result.

"The individual is currently in the care of health officials in Oklahoma City," the Jazz said, adding that updates would come as appropriate.

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