No need for seniors on the England tour: Afridi

KARACHI: Pakistan One Day International and Twenty20 captain, Shahid Afridi has asked the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to continue to rely on the current team’s youngsters for the remaining England tour saying that they have shown satisfactory performance on the sojourn so far.

The former Test captain, who retired after Pakistan lost the first Test against Australia, feels that the inclusion of the senior players would not do any wonders but instead disturb the winning combination.

“Youngsters should be given preference as they have managed to impress us all with their performance. There is no need for the seniors in the remaining England tour,” said Afridi after his return to Karachi on Tuesday night.

He believed the youngsters, especially Azhar Ali have proved that they have a bright future and that dropping them will dismantle their confidence.

Retirement decision taken  for the team

I have always found women superior: Anil Kapoor

Actor and filmmaker Anil Kapoor is happy to see that women are finally getting their due in male-dominated Bollywood. And one girl in particular is making him proud – his younger daughter Rhea who has just wrapped up her first production, Aisha.

“I have always believed that women and men have different qualities and I have found women to be superior to men. If you see, my children have grown up so well, that’s because of their mother and not because of me,” said Kapoor.

Kapoor tied the knot in 1984.  He has a son called Harsh and two daughters – Sonam and Rhea.  “The way girls are coming up; taking charge, holding situations, calling the shots … at the age of 23, Rhea has made the whole film. I am very happy, not only for Sonam and Rhea, but for all girls,” he said.

Sonam Kapoor made her debut with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Saawariya in 2007 and also worked with the filmmaker on Black. She was next seen in Delhi-6 with Abhishek Bachchan and stars in the recently released I Hate Luv Storys.

Rhea, who worked as an assistant on the 2009 Ranbir Kapoor film Wake Up Sid, decided to remain behind the camera as a producer.

A supermodel prepares for Bollywood

Just what does it take a supermodel who is only part Indian, has lived in Australia and the US to get her act right in Bollywood? For Lisa Haydon, who stars in Aisha, the answer is “learning to speak Hindi minus an accent!”

“Well I had to work a lot on my diction. I had to speak dialogues in Hindi, something I wasn’t comfortable with. So when I grabbed the role in Aisha, I started taking Hindi classes,” Haydon says.

“I am still continuing with my Hindi classes because I am still learning to speak it fluently minus an accent,” she said.

Apart from these classes, the model-turned-actor is also watching Bollywood movies to increase her knowledge of Indian cinema and, of course, to improve her fluency in the language.

“I grew up watching films like Taal, but these days I have been watching Hindi movies religiously to brush up my cinema knowledge and learn it as well,” she said.

Jane Austen’s influence lives on

The author of novels such as Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility and Emma, Austen’s influence lives on till this day, given the number of adaptations that keep popping up.

The adaptations have become a part of popular culture, most notably, the Colin Firth ‘wet shirt’ scene from the BBC’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice that has made millions swoon since it was first aired in 1995. The Guardian called the scene ‘one of the most unforgettable moments in British TV history’. Colin Firth’s wet shirt and the BBC adaptation, even features in Helen Fielding’s books Bridget Jones’ Diary and Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, as Bridget Jones and her friends are obsessed with the plotline and Firth’s role as Darcy.

Other prominent adaptations include Ang Lee’s Sense and Sensibility, which had Emma Thompson, Rupert Everett, Kate Winslet and Hugh Grant in the cast.

Bollywood hasn’t been immune from Austen’s influence either. A heavily critiqued desi adaptation of her work was Gurinder Chadha’s Bride and Prejudice which starred Aishwarya Rai. The other major adaptation releases this August, called Aisha, which stars Sonam Kapoor and Abhay Deol. The film is an adaptation of Emma and is based on the lives of the upper crust in Delhi.

Was it a pilot error?

A doctor buries his mistake. A pilot is buried with his. Even thought I sit 7,200 miles away from the scene of the crash, the shock was palpable. I have lived in Islamabad for 25 years. I love commercial aviation and have read countless books on the subject with a focus on flight safety. Despite many air accidents that we read about, flying is the safest form of travel. It is calculated that if you were born on an airplane and flew in it and never got off, you would not be involved in a fatal accident until you are 78 years old. Those are pretty good odds.

Yet when a crash does happen we feel a sense of fear and trepidation. What caused a sophisticated fly-by-wire Airbus A321 – with the most advanced avionics and systems that man has created to date – to fly into a hill? The commander, Captain Pervaiz Chaudhry, was an ex-PIA pilot with thousands of hours of flying time. He must have made hundreds of landings and take-offs from Islamabad airport. How can a highly experienced pilot trained on the most sophisticated six-axis motion simulators (which can be more challenging to fly than a real aircraft) pilot a high-tech aircraft into a wall and kill everyone?

Two aircraft ahead of the A321 broke off their approaches and diverted to Lahore. However, the weather can change rapidly and for the better. It is my sense, based on discussions on internet aviation forums, that the captain was making a circle-to-land approach. This is a tricky manoeuvre, used when the wind in Islamabad is out of the east. The procedure calls for a normal Instrument Landing System (ILS) approach to Runway 30. At a specified height and presuming that the pilot can see the runway he breaks off the approach, curves to the right and then turns left and flies parallel to the Margalla Hills, turns left again and approaches the opposite Runway 12 coming in over Murree Road. He can either keep visual separation from the Margalla Hills to his right or if the hills are shrouded in low clouds as they were that fateful day, he stays within an arc (which is drawn from a point at the airport). This arc is clearly displayed on the navigation display (ND) as a curved line. I do not recall the distance of the arc from the airport but obviously the arc is calculated to keep the plane clear of the surrounding high terrain.

Plane crash passengers list released

The passengers list is available in the attached video. They were travelling in the Airblue’s Airbus A-321 that took off from Karachi bound for Islamabad with 146 passengers and six crew members on board.

The plane crashed in the Margalla Hills early on Wednesday morning.

List below:

PYAR ALI

IMTIAZ ALI KURD

SYEED SHAAN-E-HUSSAIN NAQVI

PREM CHAND

HASSAN JAVED KHAN

SYED ARSALAN AHMED

MOHD. TUFAIL

ABDUL REHMAN

MOHD. FAISAL RASHEED

MOHD. OVAIS

HUSSAIN ALAM

GHULAM ABBAS

NAVEED ILYAS

MOHD. ALI MUGHAL

MOHD AFTAB

SHIREEN LODHI

MOHD. NAWAB HASSAN

ASIM ARAIN

ALI SHERAZI

MOHD. BASHIR

ZAHID HABIBI

DR.MIRKO CVJFTICANIN

ASIA BEGUM

MOHD. UMAIR KHAN

HAJI REHMAT GUL

MOHD. SAQIB RAFIQ SHAIKH

MISHA DAWOOD

ALI ASGHAR RAJAB ALI

RASHIDA TYEB KHAN

MURTAZA TYED KHAN

MALIK MOHD. YOUSUF

NABEEL LUTFI

Pilot-to-tower recording disclosed

Sources in the Civil Aviation Authorities have revealed the last conversation between the pilot and the control tower.

Sources have said that the control tower issued an initial warning when the plane was getting out of the limits of the runway. The plane was travelling at nine point five nautical miles while it had to turn at five nautical miles.

Meanwhile the following conversation has bee disclosed as yet:

Control tower’s first warning: You are getting away from the runway.

Pilot’s response: We can see the runway.

Control tower’s second warning: Turn to your left immediately, you are heading towards Margalla Hills.

Pilot’s response: We can see that.

This was the last reply form the pilot and then the flight lost its contact with the control tower and soon after it crashed.

No survivors in Airblue plane crash

An Airblue flight flying from Karachi to Islamabad crashed into the Margalla Hills on Wednesday morning killing all of 152 passengers on board.

The plane lost contact with the control tower shortly before the crash which occurred amid thick fog and heavy rainfall in Islamabad. The plane caught fire after the crash which severely hindered relief efforts.

It is reported that the pilot was instructed to perform a go around due to traffic on the runway, however due to severe weather in the city, very low visibility caused the crash.

Other sources put a fuel tank explosion as the reason for the crash.

The exact reason for the crash has not yet been determined.

An investigation into the air crash is underway, while Prime Minister Gilani has ordered the Defence Ministry to conduct an inquiry into the matter.

Meanwhile, the CAA has recovered the blackbox from the blast site, which it is hoped will help determine the cause of the crash.

Sialkot sinks in rain water

Heavy rainfall has led to crisis in the Sialkot district, as dozens of trees were recently uprooted and fell on the main roads including under construction passages. The Daska-Gujranwala Road, Sialkot-Pasrur Road, Sialkot-Sambrial-Wazirabad Road, Pasrur-Narowal Road and adjoining areas remained blocked for several hours on Wednesday.

The rain has severely compromised electricity and communication systems in the district as power supply remained suspended for several hours in urban and rural areas throughout the district. “It feels like the city is flooded, there is no where to walk and several houses have been completely destroyed,” Pasrur resident Karimullah said.

The downpour started early on Wednesday morning and continued throughout the day. After the prevailing heat-wave in the district, locals have expressed relief at cooler temperatures following the rain. “We can never really enjoy the rain, because it always means floods and damage but it is a relief from the heat,” Sambrial resident Shabana said. “The day has been dark and cloudy and the rain has caused a halt in regular activity but I am still grateful for the rains,” she said. The rainfall has affected all low-lying urban and rural areas in the Sialkot region, paralyzing normal life. “Despite all the problems, people still always come out in the flooded streets to enjoy the rain,” resident Shahnawaz said.

113 people dead in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The death toll of those killed in floods in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa rose to 113 on Thursday.

The areas worst affected by the flash floods in Khyber Pakhthunkhwa include Shangla, Dera Ismail Khan, Swat, Tank and the North Waziristan tribal agency.

Senior Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa minister Basheer Bilour said that  over 50 bridges have been swept away.

Fifiteen bridges, 300 shops, more than 80 houses and a hotel were washed away in floods in Swat and Bahrain.

Twenty-six people have died due to rains and floods in Shangla. Lightening struck and killed nine people in Dhairy, while eight drowned in floods in the Kohistan area.

Six people were swept away in floods in Lower Dir, while two children died in Marzoi area of Shabqadar when the roof of a house caved in.