Vol. 65 No. 221 | SATURDAY | JANUARY 15, 2022 | 16 Pages | I AM STILL NOT READY FOR THE PAPARAZZI CULTURE: SHARVARI EDIT VODAFONE’S BAILOUT NOT WITHOUT REFORM Sudden weather change led to pilot's spatial disorientation: Court of Inquiry BETWEEN THE LINES NEAR COLLISION BETWEEN JETS A n Emirates Boeing 777, on a flight to Hyderabad on January 9, last Sunday, had begun its take-off at Dubai International Airport when air traffic control intervened and asked it to abort the run. This is because another Emirates Boeing 777, scheduled to leave for Bengaluru, crossed the runway just as the flight to Hyderabad had begun its takeoff run, reports NDTV. The channel’s report says there were hundreds of passengers onboard the two jetliners when the incident took place. What made it a particularly close shave are reports that the Boeing 777 taking off had reached a speed of over 130 knots, or 240 kilometres per hour, when it was asked to abort its take-off run. Fortunately, the jet was able to stop safely about 790 metres down the length of the runway. According to the Emirates flight schedule, there was a five-minute gap between the departure times of both flights. FPJ NEWS SERVICE New Delhi The IAF chopper crash on December 8 that killed Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) Gen Bipin Rawat and 13 others was due to an unexpected change in weather that led to the aircraft’s entry into clouds, resulting in spatial disorientation of the pilot and the aircraft inadvertently hitting the terrain. This is the preliminary finding of the tri-services court of inquiry; at the same time, the probe has ruled out mechanical failure, sabotage or negligence as a cause of the accident. CDS chopper crash The tri-services inquiry had submitted its findings to the Defence Minister last week. "The inquiry team analysed the Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Re- Rape-accused bishop let off K RAVEENDRAN Thiruvananthapuram 3-KG BOMB FOUND IN DISCARDED BAG An additional sessions court of Kottayam -- an important hub of various church denominations -- has acquitted catholic bishop Franco Mulakkal, accused of repeatedly raping a nun under his charge, citing failure by the prosecution to establish the crime. The bishop, who was present in the court, entering it through a back door, cried as he heard judge G Gopakumar pronounce the verdict. ‘Praise the Lord’ is all that the stupefied priest could say . Franco is the first Catholic bishop in the country to have faced trial on a rape charge. A 3-kg bomb, planted in a bag with the intention of inflicting maximum damage, was found in a busy flower market in east Delhi on Friday morning. The explosive contained a lethal mixture of RDX and Ammonium Nitrate, National Security Guards Director General MA Ganapathy said. The bag was found unattended, triggering panic among the locals. Later, the NSG bomb disposal squad dug an approximately 8 feet pit where a controlled explosion was carried out. It is suspected the bomb was planted to create a scare in the runup to the Republic Day. The Jallandhar-based father dodged arrest for months on various pretexts before he was summoned to Kochi in August 2018. Earlier, a team of the Kerala police, which went to Jallandhar to apprehend the bishop, faced resistance from church workers and had to return empty handed. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE A s Boris Johnson's "partygate" troubles mount and members of his own Conservative Party demand he step down as the British Prime Minister, one name is doing the rounds as a frontrunner to take charge - his Indian-origin Chancellor and Downing Street neighbour Rishi Sunak. The UK-born son of a pharmacist mother and a National Health Service (NHS) general practitioner (GP) father is an Oxford University and Stanford graduate. SANJAY JOG / Mumbai A day after Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray skipped the virtual meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to review the pandemic situation, he was seemingly back in action, attending the function for the launch of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation’s (BMC) WhatsApp chatbot for more than 80 services on Friday In . Thackeray’s absence, the state was represented by Home Minister Dilip WalsePatil and Public Health Minister Rajesh Tope, who was not allowed to speak at 2.64 Lakh COVID METER Thursday’s meeting. Thackeray did not attend the PM’s meeting in keeping with the doctor’s advice not to sit at a stretch for two to three hours, as he continues to recover from his recent spine surgery However, . since January 1, CM Thackeray who is also the Shiv , No shortage of vaccines, says Centre SANJAY JOG / Mumbai The Centre has issued a clarification stating there was no vaccine shortage in Maharashtra as the state had over 24 lakh unutilised Covaxin doses; an additional 6.35 lakh doses were received on Friday . The Centre has said certain media reports alleging vaccine shortage in Maharashtra are ill-informed. As per reports available on Friday, Maharashtra had over 24 lakh unutilised doses of Covaxin available, with an additional 6.35 lakh doses being received on Friday. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Sena president, has virtually attended three functions related to the poll-bound BMC. For him, retaining Shiv Sena’s power in India’s richest civic body is quite important, especially when the estranged ally BJP has launched Mission 2022 with an aim to win the posts of mayor and deputy mayor. On January 1, Thackeray announced a waiver in property tax for nearly 16 lakh residential units up to 500 sq ft. The cabinet chaired by him on Wednesday approved its implementation from January 1, 2022. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE You don't know what Every employee has right goes on on-field:Kohli to job security: High Court HC wants 40 ad hoc civic workers in Raigad to be regularised PTI / Cape Town Captain Virat Kohli on Friday defended his team's verbal attack on the broadcasters after Dean Elgar's contentious DRS reprieve, saying that people on the outside don't understand the trigger for such an outburst. Kohli and his teammates lost their cool during the final 45 minutes on the third day of the third Test, which they lost by seven wickets to concede the series 2-1. They spoke into the stump mic to express their frustration after rival skipper Dean Elgar got a massive reprieve due to a contentious DRS decision. "I have no comment to make NARSI BENWAL / Mumbai on either. We understood what happened on the field and people on the outside don't know exact details of what goes on on the field," he said in the post-match press conference here on Friday . "...for me to try and justify what we did on the field and say we got carried away is all...," he didn't finish the sentence. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Observing that every employee has the right to job security the Bombay High , Court last week ordered the Raigad Zilla Parishad to once again prepare a seniority list of around 40 workers who had been working on temporary basis for the last 30 years in the water supply department. The HC said that the state had failed in its duty as a welfare state, to treat its employees properly . A single-judge bench of Justice Ravindra Ghuge was hearing a plea filed by the Raigad Zilla Parishad challenging the orders of an industrial court which declared that the authorities acted in an ‘unfair manner’ towards 40 of its employees, who had been responsible for supply of water to citizens. As per the zilla parishad, it had no powers to regularise these workers and, at the most, it could only make a recommendation to the state government to make these employees permanent. However, twice, the government refused to accept these recommendations. The latest refusal was in 2020. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Bihar caste spin to Emperor Ashoka THE ‘GREATNESS' IS IN QUESTION A LAW KUMAR MISHRA / Patna self-proclaimed Indian Council of Cultural Relations vice-president, who had pretensions about being the BJP national cultural cell convenor, Dayashankar Sinha, is in the crosshairs of the Janata DalUnited in Bihar for comparing the Mauryan king Ashok with Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Sinha, an 87-year-old IAS officer, seems oblivious to the description in history primer of the Mauryan dynast who ruled from Patliputra, as 'Ashoka the Great', hailed for his is renunciation of war, development of the concept of dhamma (pious social conduct), and promotion of Buddhism. Instead, Sunrise: 07:15 am Sunset : 06:21 pm SUNSET FOR COVID Sinha has run him down as ruthless, amorous and lustful like Aurangzeb. Sinha, of course, has his own good reasons for denigrating Ashoka whose writ rain from 'modern-day Iran through almost the entirety of the Indian subcontinent'. He pointed out in interview that Ashok had murdered his brothers to ascend the throne and later hid his devious nature by 'transforming' into a benign king, the Battle of Kalinga being the dramatic turning point in his life. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE 600+pregnant women in city Covid infected SWAPNIL MISHRA / Mumbai There are more than 600 pregnant women currently infected with coronavirus in the city with 250 of them in B , Y L Nair hospital. However, according to doctors, this time there are fewer complications and they are recovering very fast. City gynaecologists say this time, the severity of the infection in pregnant women is less as compared to the first and second waves but they must still take utmost care, as there is an increased chance of contracting the infection during pregnancy Doctors are con. tinuing to urge pregnant women to take the Covid vaccine as it will act as a barrier DJOKOVIC IS SHOWN THE DOOR AGAIN ASSOCIATED PRESS / Melbourne corder besides questioning all available witnesses to determine the most probable cause of the accident,’’ said the statement.The inquiry was headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command. The exact phraseology used to describe the mishap is ‘controlled flight into terrain’ (CFIT). According to US aviation regulator FAA, CFIT is defined as an unintentional collision with terrain -- the ground, a mountain, a body of water, or an obstacle -- while an aircraft is under positive control. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE After skipping PM's meet, virtual CM back in action RISHI SUNAK MAY BE PM-IN-WAITING 270c. 220c. PIC: SALMAN ANSARI THE CLOUDS DID IT AMAZON AGGREGATOR THRASIO TO PUT RS 3,750 CR IN INDIAN BRANDS between them and the virus. According to the data, apart from the 250 mothers-to-be admitted in Nair Hospital, there are 161 at the Cama and Albless Hospital, 40 in King Edward Memorial and five at Lokmanya Tilak General Municipal Hospital, Sion, infected with Covid in the last 20 days. Moreover, there are around 100 pregnant Covidpositive women been admitted to the four dedicated maternity hospitals of the BMC. Doctors have observed that Covid-19 could lead to health complications in pregnant women. “During pregnancy , the immunity level goes down among women, which makes them more susceptible to the infection. So, women with comorbid health issues develop complications,” said Dr Ramesh Bharmal, Dean, Nair hospital. Dr Neeraj Mahajan, Associate Professor, Department of Gynaecology and Obstetrics, said in the early days of the pandemic, pregnant women were complaining of several health problems, but in the third wave, they are presenting with mild symptoms and recovering in three days. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE Novak Djokovic faces deportation yet again after the Australian government revoked his visa for a second time, the latest twist in the ongoing saga over whether the No 1-ranked tennis player will be allowed to compete in the Australian Open despite being unvaccinated for COVID-19. Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said on Friday he used his ministerial discretion to cancel the 34-year-old Serb's visa on public interest grounds - just three days before play begins at the Australian Open, where Djokovic has won a record nine of his 20 Grand Slam titles. Djokovic's lawyers were expected to appeal at the Federal Circuit and Family Court, which they already successfully did last week on procedural grounds after his visa was first cancelled when he landed at a Melbourne airport. A hearing was scheduled for Friday night. Deportation from Australia can lead to a threeyear ban on returning to the country although that may , be waived, depending on the circumstances. The whole episode has touched a nerve in Australia, and particularly in Victoria state, where locals went through hundreds of days of lockdowns during the worst of the pandemic and there is a vaccination rate among adults of more than 90%. CONTD. ON NATION PAGE