5 Tibetans held outside Chinese Embassy for protest

STAFF WRITER 10:23 HRS IST

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Five Tibetans were today detained during a protest against 60 years of Chinese rule in Tibet in front of that country's embassy here.

Police picked up the five persons as soon as they assembled in front of the Chinese Embassy in the high-security Chanakyapuri area to lodge their protest, Additional Commissioner of Police Shankar Dass said.

Tibetan Youth Congress had organised the protest.

Earth quake kills at least 200 in West Indonesia

STAFF WRITER 8:48 HRS IST

Jakarta, Oct 1 (AP) A disaster management official says at least 200 people have been killed by the powerful earthquake that struck western Indonesia.

Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, says the deaths were counted in the coastal Sumatran city of Padang, following yesterday's 7.6 magnitude quake.

A higher death toll is expected once officials tally casualties in other areas of West Sumatra province where communications and roads have been severed.

Kardono said today that about 500 buildings collapsed in Padang, a sprawling regional capital of 900,000 people.

A huge aid operation was under way.

9 from Delhi killed in Kerala boat capsize; one missing

Thu, Oct 1 09:23 AM

New Delhi, Oct 1 (PTI) Nine Delhiites including seven women were among 35 people killed in a boat capsize in Kerala, officials said today. Shruti whose parents --Pradeep Kumar Jain and Sandhya Jain-- died in the incident, is missing.

Shruti''s husband Bala Dut survived the mishap, they said. Officials had yesterday said that Shruti and Bala Dut had died in the incident.

The other deceased from the national capital include Partha Sharma, Harinder Singh Rawat, Arun Kaur and her daughter, Saliha, Sangeeta Sharma and Alka. Saliha''s husband Amit, who was also onboard the ill-fated boat, did not figure either in the list of dead or that of the survivours.

Out of the 32 deceased identified, nine each are from Tamil Nadu and Delhi, six from Bengal, four from Andhra Pradesh, three from Karnataka and one from Punjab. Thirty five bodies have so far been recovered after the boat capsized in Thekkady Lake in Kerala''s Idukki district officials said, adding, 40 others were rescued.

The boat, with about 80 passengers on board, mostly tourists from outside Kerala, sank after cruising five km from the boarding point from where it had set out around 4 pm yesterday. Helpline numbers set for further enquiry are -- 09446052361 and 04869222620 -- and Kerala House (Delhi) 011 23342320/30411500.

Bookings of AI domestic flights suspended till further notice

NEW DELHI:
NEW DELHI: Air India has suspended booking of tickets till further notice and decided to cancel a majority of its morning flights to cut down inconvenience caused to passengers by last minute cancellations in view of the ongoing agitation by the executive pilots.

"We have suspended the booking of tickets till further notice in order to save the passengers from inconvenience caused by the cancellations of flights due to the agitation," Air India Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav told reporters here on Tuesday.

The airline has also decided to cancel a majority of its morning flights, he said.

The national carrier is trying to normalise its operations after a section pilots started reporting "sick" in protest against the 50 per cent cut in their productivity-linked incentives and payment of flying allowance.

On the number of pilots who have reported sick in the last three days, Jadhav said "a total of 180 executive pilots -- 109 of erstwhile Indian Airlines and 71 of erstwhile international carrier Air India -- have reported sick."

The cash-strapped national carrier is incurring losses of around Rs 12 crore daily due to cancellation of flights and fall in the number of bookings.

"The number of bookings have gone down from 32,000 to 14,000 per day and we are incurring losses of 30 per cent of out total revenue of Rs 40 crore everyday," Jadhav said.

Talks between the management and the striking executive pilots on Monday failed to break the deadlock over the issue of cut in perks.

The agitation by the pilots, who are protesting against the cut in the Productivity Linked Incentives (PIL), is likely to intensify as the executive pilots working with the airline before its merger also joined them.

The senior pilots of the cash-strapped national carrier have been reporting "sick " for their duties, since Saturday, in protest against the management's decision to cut their perks and also full payment of the due allowances.

Private airlines have been asked not to increase fare and tariff in view of the agitation by Air India executive pilots, said Civil Aviation Secretary Madhavan Nambiar

TOI