NEWS TODAY OURS

19-04-2014:

Current search for Malaysian plane should be completed in 5-7 days: Australia

Australian officials supervising the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 told Reuters on Saturday that an underwater search for the black box recorder based on "pings" possibly from the device could be completed in five to seven days.
A U.S. Navy deep-sea autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is scouring a remote stretch of the Indian Ocean floor for signs of the flight, which disappeared from radars on March 8 with 239 people on board and is believed to have crashed in the area.
The current underwater search has been narrowed to a circular area with a radius of 10 km (6.2 miles) around the location in which one of four pings believed to have come from the black box recorders was detected on April 8, officials said.
The massive international search and rescue effort for any physical evidence of the plane's wreckage, now in its seventh week, has so far proved fruitless.
"Provided the weather is favourable for launch and recovery of the AUV and we have a good run with the serviceability of the AUV, we should complete the search of the focused underwater area in five to seven days," the Joint Agency Coordination Centre told Reuters in an email.

42 candidates in fray from Chennai South Lok Sabha seats

Forty-two candidates are in the fray from Chennai South Lok Sabha constituency, which has always witnessed maximum number of contestants for general elections.
While 43 contestants locked horns for the same seat in the 2009 polls, 35 crossed swords in the 2004 elections, the highest number both times for any Lok Sabha constituency in the country, according to Election Commission of India statistics.
"Chennai South generally receives lot of nominations. As of now, I can say it has 42 candidates, the maximum in the state. But the national scene will be known only after the last phase, since electoral process is still going on in other states," Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said.
Election Commission is planning to have one main control unit and three EVMs for each of the polling stations in Chennai South constituency, he said.
While two of the EVMs would have 16 candidates, one EVM would have names of 10 candidates and the None of the Above Option (NOTA),he said.
Chennai South has sent political icons like former Union Finance Minister T T Krishnamachari, DMK founder and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C N Annadurai and former President R Venkataraman to the Lok Sabha.
While former Union Minister and DMK leader T R Baalu has won this seat for four consecutive terms between 1996 and 2004, his party colleague Murasoli Maran won the seat twice in 1967 and 1971.
Former President Venkataraman won the seat twice in 1977 and 1980 once each from Congress and Congress (Indira) respectively while actress and danseuse Vyjayanthimala Bali won twice in 1984 and 1989.
Of the 15 times since 1952, the Chennai South constituency went for polls, DMK won the seat eight times, Congress four, AIADMK two and Congress (Indira) one.
According to the statistics of the ECI, the maximum number of candidates in any constituency for any election in the country was at Modakurichi Assembly Constituency of Tamil Nadu in 1996, in which 1,033 candidates contested and the Election Commission was forced to give the ballot papers in the form of a booklet.