Saturday, October 31, 2015

Russian airliner crashes in central Sinai - Egyptian PM



Russian airliner crashes in central Sinai - Egyptian PM



Egypt map

A Russian airliner has crashed in central Sinai with more than 200 people on board, the office of Egypt's prime minister has confirmed.
The Airbus A-321 had just left the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, bound for the Russian city of St Petersburg.
Wreckage of the plane has been found in the Hassana area. It disappeared from radar screens when travelling at 9,500m (31,000ft), Egyptian officials said.
Egyptian officials said all the passengers were Russian.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered an official investigation into the crash.
The plane was operated by the small Russian airline Kogalymavia, based in western Siberia.
Russian authorities say it was carrying 217 passengers, 17 of them children, and seven crew. Most were tourists.
A centre to help relatives of the passengers has been set up at Pulkovo airport, Tass news agency quoted St Petersburg city officials as saying.

Sudden altitude loss

Initially there were conflicting reports about the fate of the plane, some suggesting it had disappeared over Cyprus.
But the office of Egyptian Prime Minister Sharif Ismail confirmed in a statement that a "Russian civilian plane... crashed in the central Sinai".
It added that Mr Ismail had formed a crisis committee to deal with the crash.
Media reports say at least 50 ambulances have been sent to the scene.
The Russian aviation authority Rosaviatsiya said in a statement that flight 7K 9268 left Sharm el-Sheikh at 06:51 Moscow time (03:51 GMT) and had been due into St Petersburg's Pulkovo airport at 12:10.
The authority added that the aircraft failed to make scheduled contact with Cyprus air traffic control 23 minutes after take-off and disappeared from the radar.
Egypt's civilian aviation ministry said the plane had been at an altitude of 9,500m (31,000ft) when it disappeared.
Live flight tracking service Flight Radar 24's Mikail Robertson confirmed the altitude.
He told the BBC that the plane started to drop very fast, losing 1,500m in one minute before coverage was lost.
The BBC's Orla Guerin in Cairo says it is likely there will be speculation about militant involvement in the incident - Sinai has an active militant network, with local Jihadis who have allied themselves to so-called Islamic State.
But the aircraft's altitude suggests that it could not have been struck from the ground, she adds.
An official investigating the crash quoted by al-Ahram newspaper said it was caused by a "technical failure".
The pilot had detected a problem and requested an emergency landing at the nearest airport, Ayman al-Mokadem said.
Local weather observations in the vicinity of the rescue scene suggest relatively benign conditions.

Bucharest nightclub fire leaves Romania stunned

Twenty-seven people - mostly teenagers and young people - have been killed after fire broke out at a nightclub in Bucharest, officials say.
Paramedics carry an injured person at a hospital in Bucharest, Romania
The blaze took hold at the Colectiv club on Friday night, causing a stampede for the exit.
Emergency response chief Raed Arafat said 155 people were being treated in hospitals in the Romanian capital.
The fire is believed to have been caused by fireworks that were let off inside the Jump media player
club.
"The only information we have is that fireworks were used in the club and after that the tragedy happened. Of course, this is under investigation," Mr Arafat told the BBC.
The pyrotechnics were reportedly part of a show by a heavy metal band.
Witnesses said a spark on the stage ignited some of the polystyrene decor. A pillar and the club's ceiling caught fire and there was an explosion and heavy smoke, they added.
"People were fainting, they were fainting from the smoke. It was total chaos, people were trampling on each other," Victor Ionescu, who was at the club, told local TV station Antena 3.




Emergency services work outside a nightclub in Bucharest, RomaniaImage copyrightReuters

Up to 400 people may have been inside the club, which was hosting a free rock concert.
Local journalist Sorin Bogdan told the BBC the club was in a converted former factory with two small exit doors, only one of which was possible to open initially.
A witness quoted by Romania's state news agency said terrified concert-goers had to break the second door down to escape.
Many of those being treated in hospital were suffering from smoke inhalation and severe burns, Mr Arafat said.
At least 25 people were reported to be in serious condition at the Municipal Hospital.










Staff at another hospital said most of the people they treated were teenagers aged between 14 and 16.

http://alljournalnews.blogspot.com/2015/10/bucharest-nightclub-fire-leaves-romania.html

Friday, October 9, 2015

first news

journal 24


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The( US) will no longer vet every individual recruit but just the leaders of the groups they decide to work with, who will face very vigorous vetting.


Of the initial two groups sent into the country under the previous programme, the first was rounded up by Jabhat al-Nusra, an offshoot of al-Qaeda, in July. The second handed much of its equipment over to the same group in September, reportedly in exchange for safe passage.


Quoting an anonymous US Department of Defense source, the JOURNAL24 that the US would no longer recruit Syrian rebels to go through its training programmes in Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the United Arab Emirates etc.


Instead, it would establish a smaller training centre in Turkey, where "enablers" - mostly leaders of opposition groups - would be taught operational manoeuvres like how to call in airstrikes, the newspaper said.


 The US is to end its efforts to train new Syrian rebel forces and says it will shift to providing equipment and weapons to existing forces.


A senior administration official said the programme was being put on "pause"www.journal24bkoggspoy.com

Thursday, October 8, 2015

What is Volkswagen accused of?

It's been dubbed the "diesel dupe". The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that many VW cars being sold in America had devices in diesel engines that could detect when they were being tested, changing the performance accordingly to improve results. The German car giant has since admitted cheating emissions tests in the US.
VW has had a major push to sell diesel cars in the US, backed by a huge marketing campaign trumpeting its cars' low emissions. The EPA's findings cover 482,000 cars in the US only, including the VW-manufactured Audi A3, and the VW brands Jetta, Beetle, Golf and Passat. But VW has admitted that about 11 million cars worldwide, including eight million in Europe, are fitted with the so-called "defeat device".

The device sounds like a sophisticated piece of kit.

Full details of how it worked are sketchy, although the EPA has said that the engines had computer software that could sense test scenarios by monitoring speed, engine operation, air pressure and even the position of the steering wheel.
When the cars were operating under controlled laboratory conditions - which typically involve putting them on a stationary test rig - the device appears to have put the vehicle into a sort of safety mode in which the engine ran below normal power and performance. Once on the road, the engines switched out of this test mode.
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The result? The engines emitted nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times above what is allowed in the US.



Image copyright Reuters

What has been VW's response?

"We've totally screwed up," said VW America boss Michael Horn, while the group's chief executive at the time, Martin Winterkorn, said his company had "broken the trust of our customers and the public". Mr Winterkorn has now left the company as a direct result of the scandal and has been replaced by Matthias Mueller, the former boss of Porsche.
"My most urgent task is to win back trust for the Volkswagen Group - by leaving no stone unturned," Mr Mueller said on taking up his new post.
VW has also launched an internal inquiry.
With VW recalling almost 500,000 cars in the US alone, it has set aside €6.5bn (£4.7bn) to cover costs. The carmaker has said it will begin recalling cars in January.
But that's unlikely to be the end of the financial impact. The EPA has the power to fine a company up to $37,500 for each vehicle that breaches standards - a maximum fine of about $18bn.
Legal action from consumers and shareholders may follow, and there is speculation that the US Justice Department will launch a criminal probe. Then, or course, there is the cost of fixing all the cars.



Image copyright AFP
Image caption Volkswagen denied reports that chief executive Martin Winterkorn was leaving, but his position became untenable after he lost the support of key shareholders

How widespread are VW's problems?

What started in the US has spread to a growing number of countries. The UK, Italy, France, South Korea, Canada and, of course, Germany, are opening investigations. Throughout the world, politicians, regulators and environmental groups are questioning the legitimacy of VW's emissions testing. France's finance minister Michel Sapin said a "Europe-wide" probe was needed in order to "reassure" the public.
At this time, only cars in the US named by the EPA are being recalled, so owners elsewhere need take no action. However, with about 11 million VW diesel cars potentially affected - 2.8 million cars in Germany itself - further costly recalls and refits are likely. Half of the company's sales in Europe - VW's biggest market - are for diesel cars. No wonder the carmaker's shares are down 30% since the scandal broke - with other carmakers also seeing big falls in their stock prices.

Will more heads roll?

It's still unclear who knew what and when, although VW must have had a chain of management command that approved fitting cheating devices to its engines, so further departures are likely.
Christian Klingler, a management board member and head of sales and marketing is leaving the company, although VW said this was part of long-term planned structural changes and was not related to recent events.
In 2014, in the US, regulators raised concerns about VW emissions levels, but these were dismissed by the company as "technical issues" and "unexpected" real-world conditions. If executives and managers wilfully misled officials (or their own VW superiors) it's difficult to see them surviving.

Are other carmakers implicated?

That's for the various regulatory and government inquiries to determine. California's Air Resources Board is now looking into other manufacturers' testing results. Ford, BMW and Renault-Nissan have said they did not use "defeat devices", while other firms have either not commented or simply stated that they comply with the law.
The UK trade body for the car industry, the SMMT, said: "The EU operates a fundamentally different system to the US - with all European tests performed in strict conditions as required by EU law and witnessed by a government-appointed independent approval agency."
But it added: "The industry acknowledges that the current test method is outdated and is seeking agreement from the European Commission for a new emissions test that embraces new testing technologies and is more representative of on-road conditions."



Image copyright AP
Image caption Buyers may start to wonder if they can believe carmakers' claims for emissions levels

That sounds like EU testing rules need tightening, too.

Environmental campaigners have long argued that emissions rules are being flouted. "Diesel cars in Europe operate with worse technology on average than the US," said Jos Dings, from the pressure group Transport & Environment. "Our latest report demonstrated that almost 90% of diesel vehicles didn't meet emission limits when they drive on the road. We are talking millions of vehicles."
Car analysts at the financial research firm Bernstein agree that European standards are not as strict as those in the US. However, the analysts said in a report that there was, therefore, "less need to cheat". So, if other European carmakers' results are suspect, Bernstein says the "consequences are likely to be a change in the test cycle rather than legal action and fines".

It's all another blow for the diesel market.

Certainly is. Over the past decade and more, carmakers have poured a fortune into the production of diesel vehicles - with the support of many governments - believing that they are better for the environment. Latest scientific evidence suggests that's not the case, and there are even moves to limit diesel cars in some cities.
Diesel sales were already slowing, so the VW scandal came at a bad time. "The revelations are likely to lead to a sharp fall in demand for diesel engine cars," said Richard Gane, automotive expert at consultants Vendigital.
"In the US, the diesel car market currently represents around 1% of all new car sales and this is unlikely to increase in the short to medium term.
"However, in Europe the impact could be much more significant, leading to a large tranche of the market switching to petrol engine cars virtually overnight."