AROUND THE WORLD  9.9.19

Man steals 1,300 credit cards’ info by memorising it

A clerk in Japan stole credit card information by just looking at and memorising the details of over 1,300 customers. Police said Taniguchi worked the register at a mall in Koto City. Whenever a customer would pay by credit card, the suspect allegedly memorised their 16-digit-number, name, expiry date, and security code, all in the time it took to process their purchase, said a report in japantoday.com on Sunday. The suspect, however, led police straight to him by using stolen credit card information to buy two bags valued at 270,000 yen (approx $2,500) — which he then had mailed to his own address.

Sweden rejects TRUMP licence plate request

Swedish authorities say that a man has been denied a vanity plate with the letters TRUMP because it violated motor vehicle department rules, calling the letter combination “offensive”. The Aftonbladet tabloid reported on Saturday that the man said he “was drunk and thought it was fun to apply” online for a new licence plate with US President Trump’s last name “because the car is American”.

Trump’s cancelled trip cost Danish police $600,000

Danish police spent about 4 million kroner ($600,000) on preparations for US President Trump’s cancelled visit to Copenhagen, daily Jyllands-Posten reported on Monday. Trump had planned to be in Denmark on September 2-3, but put off the trip after disagreeing with Danish PM Mette Frederiksen over the potential purchase of Greenland. The estimates cover annulled leave for officers and compensation for police accommodation and are subject to “significant uncertainties”, Jyllands-Posten reported.

Elephant injures 18 in Lanka religious pageant

An elephant taking part in a Buddhist pageant in Sri Lanka has run berserk, injuring at least 18 people. Video of the pageant showed the elephant suddenly running forward and becoming violent. Hospital officials said 16 people had been discharged.

People pose with the Charging Bull statue in Manhattan which was damaged on Saturday. Witnesses said the man who was arrested for battering the sculpture with a makeshift metal banjo was cursing US President Donald Trump as he swung the instrument. Police said he was also ranting about God

2L flyers hit as BA grounds nearly all flights for 2 days
1,700 London Flights Affected As Pilots Strike Over Pay
London:   9.9.2019

Nearly all British Airways (BA) flights were grounded by its first ever pilots strike on Monday, disrupting the travel plans of about 1,95,000 passengers in a dispute over pay. The action by British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) members forced BA, part of International Airlines Group (IAG) , to cancel 1,700 flights to and from London’s Heathrow and Gatwick airports during two days of action in its latest high-profile setback.

Terminal 5 at Heathrow in London, a British Airways hub, was deserted on Monday, according to British media reports, a sign that the airline had prepared for the possibility of a walkout. British Airlines said it had contacted customers two weeks ago to offer a choice of alternative flights on British Airways planes or with different airlines, or full refunds.

BA faces intense competition on short-haul routes from easyJet, Ryanair and other low-cost airlines and has faced a number of operational hiccups in the last few years. “It’s going to punish customers, it’s going to punish our brand, it’s going to punish the rest of the colleagues,” BA chief executive Alex Cruz told BBC TV as IAG shares dropped by as much as 3% in early trading.

British Airways says it has offered pilots an 11.5% pay raise over three years but the union says its members want a bigger share of the company’s profits. The strike is the latest setback for BA, which in August suffered its third major computer failure in little more than two years. It also faces a record $230 million fine under tough new data-protection rules after the theft of data from 500,000 customers from its site last year. REUTERS

The sprawling departure area at Heathrow Terminal 5 was almost empty, with only a handful of BA flights operational on Monday

Students to suffer most: Travel industry

The near-grounding of the British Airways could have its cascading impact on the student community who fly to UK for admissions around this time, warn the travel services industry. British Airways currently operates 49 weekly flights from five cities in India, with a double daily from Mumbai and New Delhi and a daily service from Chennai, Bengaluru and Hyderabad. “The current average one way fare for a Delhi-London and Delhi-Manchester ticket is Rs 33,207 and Rs 43,900 respectively. But with the strike we expect last minute airfares to rise by15% to 20% going forward,” said Aloke Bajpai of ticketing firm Ixigo. PTI

REGION DIGEST

9.9.19

Cancer survivor poisons kids to death, ends life

A 27-year-old woman with cancer poisoned her two children, aged 2 and 4, to death before committing suicide in a village near Mayiladuthurai town in Nagapattinam district. The incident came to light on Monday after relatives broke open the house and found the bodies of the woman and her two children. Police said Nilofer Parveen had been dejected since her cancer diagnosis. Her husband is working in Dubai. She might have decided to end their lives fearing there would be none to look after her children, police said.

Jipmer issues notice to student over fake nativity certificate: 

Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) in Puducherry has issued showcause notices to a student and her father questioning them why her admission cannot be cancelled for furnishing a fake certificate. The action by the institute came after the revenue department found that K Krithika, daughter of K Kumar, had obtained a Puducherry nativity certificate by furnishing false information. The department has initiated proceedings to cancel the certificate issued to her.

Lankan who reached TN illegally arrested: 

The Qbranch police from Ramanathapuram district arrested a Sri Lankan national who arrived on an illegal ferry at Arichalmunai near Dhanushkodi on Monday for questioning. He was identified as M Arunraj, 24, from Chettikulam in Vavuniya in the Island nation. Arunraj reached Arichalmunai on a fiber boat with the help of agents. Local fishermen who spotted Arunraj moving around suspiciously alerted Q-branch police.

Man attacked with log by son dies: 

A week after he was attacked by his son, a 65-yearold resident of Saravanampatti, Coimbatore, passed away at the Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) on Monday. Police said Krishnan’s son K Kumaravel, 31, had attacked him with a wooden log after he refused to give him money to buy liquor on September 3. Krishnan suffered severe head injuries and was in CMCH’s intensive care unit,” a police officer said. Police arrested Kumaravel and remanded in judicial custody.

‘Fishermen on capsized boat could have been saved’: 

If the fishermen from Rameswaram had carried along basic communication sets when they went to Cuddalore to purchase the new boat that capsized on September 3, many of the ten could have been saved, says the Indian Coast Guard. Four fishermen had died as the boat capsized on returning to Rameswaram in Palk Bay. On receipt of information about the capsize, Indian Coast Guard had immediately initiated search and rescue operation. Six survivors were rescued after 32 hours of extensive sea-air coordinated search while four bodies were recovered. Had they carried communication equipment with them, all of them could have been saved, the ICG said.

Compulsory retirement of accused MKU prof stayed

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:9.9.2019

The Madras high court has granted interim stay on the compulsory retirement order issued to a professor of Madurai Kamaraj University after hewas accusedof sexualharassment by a research scholar.

K Karnamaharajan, professor and head of Centre for Film and Electronic Media Studies at MKU, said a girl joined the department for full-time research programme under his supervision. On November 2, 2018, he found out that she had signed the attendance register on anterior days for the forthcoming days as post-datedwithoutcoming tothe centre. When hesought an explanation, she filed a sexual harassment complaint against him on December 6, 2018, he said.

He said the members of internal complaints committee (ICC), which inquired the complaint, are heading their respective departments, which is against the rules. The registrar had issued a compulsory retirement withimmediateeffecton August 22, after whichthe petitioner movedthecourt. When thecasewas heardon Monday,justiceVMVelumani granted the interim stay.

AU student throws acid on former girlfriend

9.9.2019

A 19-year-old woman sustained injuries to the eyes and tongue when her ex-boyfriend threw acid on her in Cuddalore on Monday. Police said S Suchithra and Muthamizhan, 23, both from Nagappattinam, had known each other for the past few years. They joined a course in Annamalai University a few years ago.

Recently, the woman began avoiding Muthamizhan and turned down his pleas for reconciliation. On Monday, he tried to convince her but was snubbed. Irked, he followed Suchithra when she was going to her hostel, carrying a bottle containing acid used to clean toilets. When she avoided him, he threw acid on her. As Suchithra screamed for help, passersby and other students came to her rescue. They caught and assaulted Muthamizhan.

Suchithra and Muthamizhan were admitted to Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital in Chidambaram. Annamalai Nagar police registered a case and are investigating. TNN

Madras HC: Minority institutions can directly recruit non-teaching staff
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:9.9.2019

The Madras high court on Monday made it clear that minority educational institutions need not follow general procedures like obtaining prior approval of the college committee or advertising notification for recruitment of non-teaching staff as they can directly fill the posts.

Justice V Parthiban passed the order while allowing the plea moved by Coimbatore-based Nirmala College for Women challenging the order of the joint director of collegiate education, Coimbatore region, on August 20, 2018, rejecting approval for appointment of seven non-teaching staff. “As far as the minority institutions are concerned, the college committee is not required to be constituted under Section 11 of the Minority Institutions Act unlike nonminority institutions. In the absence of such regulation, this court is unable to countenance the action of the authorities in refusing to approve appointments of the seven staff in the petitioner institution,” the court said.

The refusal to grant approval cannot stand the test of judicial scrutiny and the same is liable to be interfered with. The insistence on requirement of advertisement for appointment of non-teaching staff in the minority institution is without the authority of law, the judge said.

The petitioner institution comes under the protective cover, being a minority institution, under Article 30 of the Constitution, such protective cover cannot be sought to be uncovered by the insistence on a statutory requirement, which first of all cannot be made applicable for the nonteaching staff and secondly such requirement cannot be enforced in the teeth of the Constitutional protection guaranteed to the minority institutions, the court asserted.

HC junks probe plea into missing Malaysian aircraft
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:9.9.19

The Madras high court on Monday dismissed a PIL seeking to conduct a ‘scientific investigation’ to trace Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 that disappeared on March 8, 2014 while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing Capital International Airport.

The Boeing 777-200ER aircraft had 227 passengers and 12 crew members onboard. Communication between the air traffic control and the aircraft was lost around 38 minutes after takeoff when the flight was over the South China Sea.

Four years later in May 2018, the search for the missing flight was called off by the Malaysian authorities.

While so, claiming that he witnessed a plane crashing into the sea while he was visiting St Antony’s churn in Trivandrum on March 8, 2014, the petitioner Biju Kumar has approached the court seeking direction to the authorities to order carry out a scientific investigation to trace the aircraft.

When the plea came up for hearing, a division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and N Seshasayee wondered how the petitioner could move this high court when the incident happened in the territory within the jurisdiction of the Kerala high court.

To this, the petitioner submitted that since the Malaysian consulate is only in Chennai he had approached the Madras high court.

Refusing to accept his contentions, the bench dismissed the plea. Though the bench warned of imposing cost on the petitioner for wasting judicial time, the court refrained from doing so.

Claiming that he saw a plane crashing into the sea while he was in Trivandrum on March 8, 2014, the petitioner approached the court seeking a scientific investigation to trace the aircraft