AI plane rams into Aerobridge at Mumbai Airport

A Mangalore-bound Air India aircraft, with 172 passengers and six crew onboard, hit the aerobridge here while taxiing on Tuesday, delaying the flight by almost one-and-a-half hour.

All passengers are safe, Air India spokesperson said, adding "the passengers were transferred to another aircraft and flight took off at 12.20 pm."

"The incident is being looked into to fix responsibility," the spokesperson added.

The incident occurred at around 11.00 am when the aircraft hit the aerobridge while taxiing and resulted in

damaging its door, airport sources said.

All 172 passengers onboard were deboarded and another aircraft was arranged to facilitate their journey to Mangalore, the sources said.

source: ibnlive.com

15 killed in Lahore police training school Attack

LAHORE(Nasrullah Malik): At least 12 persons were killed and dozens were wounded Monday morning in terrorists attack on Police Training Centre in Manawan area of Lahore.

The armed men assaulted Police Training Centre in Manawan area of Lahore on Monday morning killing at least 12 persons and wounding several others.

The contingents of Elite Police have cordoned off the premises.

According to earlier reports the terrorists attacked the police training centre in Lahore in the morning and taken control of the building after grenade attacks. At least four persons were killed in the terrorist attack.

The stand off between the police and militants continued with exchange of heavy fire. The terrorists were holding positions within the police training centre building while the policemen have cordoned off the premises.

The wounded were being transferred to hospitals while some dead bodies and injured were laid near the police training centre.

Heavy contingents of police have cordoned off the centre with the help of the armored carriers.

CCPO Lahore has said that at least 12 terrorists were holding positions inside Manawan police training school building.

According to some media reports at least 15 persons were killed in the shoot out. A police official talking to OneWorld said around 12 to 13 persons were killed in the attack.

Video: Sri Lankan Team Attacked in Lahore

Eight Sri Lankan players wounded in Lahore attack!

LAHORE (Shahid Hashmi/Nasrullah Malik):Unknown gunmen fired over the Sri Lankan cricket team in Liberty area of Lahore, at least five persons were reported killed and five to eight Lankan players were wounded in the incident.

The attackers wearing bulletproof jackets fired over the team van when it was turning towards Gaddafi Stadium from Liberty Chowk of Lahore.

Sri Lankan team manager Brendon Cruppo has said that six Sri Lankan players have been injured in the firing.

Sri Lankan Minister of Sports has confirmed that two players were injured in the attack.

According to officials five to eight Sri Lankan players were wounded in the attack including wicketkeeper batsman Kumara Sangakkara, Samaraweera and Tharanga Pranahitana.

According to the security sources the attackers were in bullet proof jackets.

CCPO Lahore said that 12 masked men were involved in the terror attack. An unknown person had thrown a bag with weapons and ammunition near a shop in the area, witnesses said.

The attackers had lobbed bombs before opening fire, reports said.

A rocket launcher has also been found from the place of the incident.

Federal Minister of Sports Pir Aftab Jeelani has condemned the incident and regretted with Sri Lankan authorities, which sent their team in difficult time of Pakistan cricket.

Selection committee member Salim Jaffar leaving for Sri Lanka to meet the team high ups.

According to reports the injured Sri Lankan players Samaraweera and Tharanga were given first aid at the hospital and they were out of danger.

Governor of Punjab Salman Taseer visited the place of attack and inspected the place.

Talking to the media, Taseer said it was a planned terrorist attack committed by the trained terrorists.

The Lahore second test between Sri Lanka and hosts Pakistan has been called off after a gun attack on the touring team bus injuring players, a Sri Lankan cricket board official told foreign news agency.

"We are trying to bring the team back as quickly as possible. The test match has been cancelled," the official said on Tuesday.

US unveils $250bn banking rescue

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President Bush on US government plans to buy shares in banks

The US government has announced a $250bn (£143bn) plan to purchase stakes in a wide variety of banks in an effort to restore confidence in the sector.

President George W Bush said the move would help to return stability to the US banking sector and ultimately help preserve free markets.

US federal authorities will also temporarily insure most new debt issued by US banks.

The moves echo similar steps taken by the UK and other European countries.

"This is an essential short-term measure to ensure the viability of America's banking system," Mr Bush said.

"This is not intended to take over the free market, but to preserve it."

Mr Bush also said that the Federal Reserve would finalise work on a new programme that would make it the buyer of last resort for companies' short-term debt, known as commercial paper.

Furthermore, government deposit insurance is being expanded to cover accounts used by small businesses.

'Objectionable'

The money will come from the $700bn bail-out package approved by US lawmakers earlier this month.

The US plan - effectively part-nationalisation - comes after the bosses of the country's largest banks were summoned to a special meeting at the US Treasury on Monday.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said that the lack of confidence in the financial system was a threat to the US economy.

He said that taking equity stakes in banks "was objectionable to most Americans, including myself".

"We regret taking these actions," Mr Paulson said.

"But we must do this to restore confidence in the financial system."

Mr Paulson said the government would buy stakes in a "wide variety" of banks and thrifts - financial institutions similar to building societies in the UK.

Nine banks, which Mr Paulson described as "healthy institutions", have so far signed up to the deal.

Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that the US strategy would evolve and adapt to new developments:

"We will not stand down until we have achieved our goals of repairing and reforming our financial system," he said.

Share surges

The US announcement - and its anticipation earlier in the day - has had a major impact on global shares:

• Wall Street's main Dow Jones index opens up 376 points or 4%. However it subsequently falls back, closing down 76.62 points, or 0.82%, at 9,310.99 amid profit-taking
• The UK's FTSE 100 closes up 137 points or 3.3% at 4,394
• France's Cac 40 ended up 97 points or 2.75% to 3,629, while Germany's Dax adds 137 points or 2.7% to 5,199
• Japan's main Nikkei index ended up 1,171 points, or 14%, at 9,448, the biggest one-day rise in its history

Restrictions

The US government said it would buy preference shares in the banks.

Preference shares pay a fixed rate of interest instead of a dividend, which has to be paid before other shareholders receive anything, but they do not carry voting rights.

Banks that receive the cash injections will be subject to restrictions on executive pay.

US taxpayers may even end up making a profit from the shares if the rescue packages work and the banks recover, but that is not guaranteed.

European lead

The US move comes a day after the UK said it would inject up to £37bn of taxpayers cash into British banks Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds TSB and HBOS.

And European governments that share the euro are putting aside more than 1 trillion euros to protect banks through guarantees and other emergency measures.

The bulk of the money will be used to guarantee lending between banks.

The cash will also be used to take stakes in ailing banks.

Software can hold drivers' cell-phone calls

When David Teater's 12-year-old son, Joe, was killed in 2004 by a driver who was talking on a cell phone, he tried to cut back on his own habit of driving and talking. It turned out to be very difficult.

New software can detect whether a cell phone is moving at car speeds and hold calls until the drive is over.

"You have to remember to turn the phone off ... which you never remember to do. Or you have to ignore a ringing phone, which is incredibly hard," Teater said. "We've been conditioned our entire lives to answer ringing phones."

Teater became an advocate for curbing what he calls "driving while distracted," and now, he's part of a company with a technology that can help.

Aegis Mobility, a Canadian software company, announced Monday that it has developed software called DriveAssistT that will detect whether a cell phone is moving at car speeds. When that happens, the software will alert the cellular network, telling it to hold calls and text messages until the drive is over.

The software doesn't completely block incoming calls. Callers will hear a message saying the person they're calling appears to be driving. They can hit a button to leave an emergency voice mail, which is put through immediately.

Several states, including New York and California, have introduced laws against talking on a cell phone while driving, but they still allow the use of hands-free devices like Bluetooth headsets. However, studies have shown that hands-free devices may not help. It appears that it is the distraction of dialing or talking that is dangerous, rather than the act of taking a hand off the wheel.

A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2006 found that dialing or talking on the phone was the cause in 7 percent of crashes and near-crashes. For the study, drivers had onboard "black boxes" that recorded their actions.

Last year, 41,059 people died in traffic accidents.

Aegis' software will work on phones with Windows Mobile software, popular for "smart" phones, or Symbian software, used in phones from Nokia and Sony Ericsson. It uses the phone's Global Positioning System chip to detect motion, aided by the cell-tower signal. If the phone has a Wi-Fi antenna, that can be used as well, said Dave Hattey, Aegis' CEO.

To work, the software has to be supported by the cellular carrier. Aegis has no deals in place yet, but is in discussions with the big U.S. networks, said Teater, who is a vice president at Aegis. The company hopes to be able to announce early next year that the software is available through a carrier, probably for $10 to $20 per month for a family.

The software can be managed remotely through a Web site. For instance, parents will get alerts if their kids override the motion-sensing feature to indicate that they're riding in car rather than driving. A corporation that buys the software for their employees can do the same.

Unusually for the world of cell phone software, Aegis is bringing out DriveAssistT in partnership with an insurance company. Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. said it plans to offer a discount of 3 percent to 10 percent on family policies for people who use DriveAssistT

Parkinson's linked to vitamin D

Scientists are testing whether vitamin D supplements can ease symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

A US team found 55% of Parkinson's patients had insufficient levels of vitamin D, compared to 36% of healthy elderly people.

However, the Emory University researchers do not yet know if the vitamin deficiency is a cause or the result of having Parkinson's.

The study appears in the journal Archives of Neurology.

Parkinson's disease affects nerve cells in several parts of the brain, particularly those that use the chemical messenger dopamine to control movement.

The most common symptoms are tremor, stiffness and slowness of movement. These can be treated with oral replacement of dopamine.

Previous studies have shown that the part of the brain affected most by Parkinson's, the substantia nigra, has high levels of the vitamin D receptor, which suggests vitamin D may be important for normal functions of these cells.

Sunlight

Vitamin D is found in the diet, but is primarily formed in the skin by exposure to sunlight.

However, the body's ability to produce the vitamin decreases with age, making older people more prone to deficiency.

One theory is that people with Parkinson's may be particularly vulnerable because their condition limits the amount of time they spend out of doors.

However, scientists say it may also be possible that low vitamin D levels are in some way related to the genesis and origin of the disease.

The researchers examined vitamin D levels in 100 people with Parkinson's, 100 with Alzheimer's disease and 100 who were healthy. The groups were matched for age, and economic circumstance.

Among the Parkinson's group 23% of patients had vitamin D levels so low that they could be described as deficient. In the Alzheimer's group the figure was 16%, and in the healthy group 10%.

The researchers said the findings were striking because the study group came from the South West of the US, where sunny weather is the norm.

'Intriguing finding'

Researcher Dr Marian Evatt said: "We found that vitamin D insufficiency may have a unique association with Parkinson's, which is intriguing and warrants further investigation."

Dr Kieran Breen, director of research, Parkinson’s Disease Society said: "Further research is required to determine at what stage the deficiency in vitamin levels occur in the brains of people with Parkinson's and whether the provision of a dietary supplement, or increased exposure to sunlight may help alleviate symptoms or have an affect on the rate of the condition's progression.

"This would help us answer the question as to whether the decrease in vitamin D levels in Parkinson’s is a cause or effect of the condition."

Doctors have known for decades that vitamin D plays a role in bone formation.

More recently, scientists have been uncovering its effects elsewhere, including producing peptides that fight microbes in the skin, regulating blood pressure and insulin levels, and maintaining the nervous system.

Low vitamin D levels also appear to increase the risk of several cancers and auto-immune diseases such as multiple sclerosis and diabetes.