Mid Day International News |
- Cruise ship owner criticises captain as death toll hits six
- 'Pay me 10,000 pounds for access to British PM'
- Tamara Ecclestone flaunts toned and tattooed bikini body in Maldives
- 24-year-old man arrested over violent murder of Indian origin couple in UK
- Couple rescued from ship 24 hours later
- Titanic Part II
| Cruise ship owner criticises captain as death toll hits six Posted: The owner of the luxury liner that ran aground off the coast of Italy, killing at least six people, said its captain had made "errors of judgement" as the search continued for the missing. Rescuers desperately working through the night found the body of a man in the wreckage of the Costa Concordia early today, taking the death toll from the disaster to six, the ANSA news agency reported. About 15 people, including Italians, Americans and French nationals, are still missing after the massive ship hit rocks and capsized off the island of Giglio late Friday shortly after it began a seven-day Mediterranean cruise. Click here to view the chilling images "His decisions in the management of the emergency did not follow Costa Crociere's procedures which are in line with international standards." The prosecutor leading the investigation, Francesco Verusio, told reporters that Schettino, who was arrested Saturday with first officer Ciro Ambrosio, had left the stricken liner "well before" the last passengers were evacuated. Coast guard officials also said the captain ignored repeated requests from them to return to his ship as the rescue operation continued. "The route followed by the ship was not the right one," Verusio said yesterday, accusing Schettino of having "approached Giglio island in a very clumsy manner." Prosecutors have also said the crew mishandled the emergency, delaying the start of the evacuation until an hour after the accident, and survivors have spoken of scenes of utter chaos and panic on board the 17-deck liner.
      |
| 'Pay me 10,000 pounds for access to British PM' Posted: In a major cash-for-access scandal, a 50-year-old Indian-origin Conservative Party activist and fund-raiser was thrown out of the party after he was caught boasting in a video that he could provide Prime Minister David Cameron's personal mobile phone number or a dinner with him for 10,000 pounds. Rickie Sehgal -- chairman of the British Asian Conservative Link (BACL) -- said donors could dine with the prime minister and raise any issue they wanted, the Daily Mail reported Sunday. "Those who pay 10,000 pounds a year get Cameron's mobile," Sehgal told an undercover reporter. When confronted about his claims, Sehgal said he was "highly embarrassed" to have been caught boasting, which he said he had exaggerated to impress the undercover reporter. Sehgal was sacked from the party Saturday after senior officials studied the evidence. Sehgal was recently photographed whispering into the prime minister's ear at the Tories' Winter Ball, where tickets cost up to 1,000 pounds. The BACL website features pictures of Sehgal with senior officials, including Home Secretary Theresa May, Attorney General Dominic Grieve and International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell as well as London Mayor Boris Johnson. The daily began the investigation following a tip-off from a legal source who said Asian businessmen were using BACL to gain access to Tory ministers. An undercover reporter posing as a businessman met Sehgal and said he was keen to join the BACL's exclusive 1000 Club, which the website claimed could give members access to ministers and MPs for business and personal benefits. The meeting took place at the headquarters of Sehgal's IT company, Transputec Computers Plc, in northwest London. Sehgal claimed he had access to Cameron to the extent that he can lobby on behalf of parliamentary candidates with an Asian background. "By association with BACL, we take advantage of positive discrimination that exists today to say there aren't enough Bangladeshi MPs. I might go straight to the prime minister, or the central party," Sehgal said. He also boasted of links to other ministers, especially Baroness Sayeeda Warsi and Lord Andrew Feldman, the joint chairs of the party. He said links to the pair gave him access to Cameron. He claimed he knew all Asian Tory politicians, including Priti Patel, MP from Witham, and Alok Sharma, MP from Reading West, both of whom were helped by BACL in their election campaigns. Sehgal is the managing director of Transputec Computers Plc. Transputec has IT contracts with both BACL and the ministry of justice. The company has an annual turnover of 20 million pounds, and reported 375,000 pounds in profits last year. Its parent company, Investact, is registered in the Isle of Man. Sehgal's wife Pramilla, 52, is listed as a secretary of the Transputec company, while his younger brother Sunil, 48, is listed as a director. Sehgal is a graduate in computer science and physics from Chelsea College, London University. He and his wife and their two children, aged 25 and 23, live in a country house in Iver, Buckinghamshire. When confronted with the evidence of his conversation, Sehgal said he was "highly embarrassed". "We meet politicians because we are a political organisation, to have lunches, dinner, things like that. In that context, you would be able to meet," he said. He said the club of donors was a reference to the fact that BACL was being turned into a new organisation, the Conservative Friends of India (CFI), which is expected to be launched by Cameron in the House of Commons later this year. "It has been indicated to me that he (Cameron) would potentially be launching the CFI. That would be the first point that there would be any contact with him," said Sehgal. Sehgal admitted he had exaggerated his influence to "impress" the reporter, and it was "completely wrong" to say the prime minister's phone number could be bought. "It doesn't happen. I was boasting. There are many other people that we know who would just like to part with money and go and talk to Cameron, whoever it is, and actually that does not exist in reality. I myself don't get to have lunch with Cameron," he said. "I did not want him to think that direct access is provided, because it isn't. David Cameron and I don't really know each other. Please don't think of me as a crook or anything like that," Sehgal said. A Conservative spokesman said: "BACL is an organisation independent of the Conservative Party and Sehgal had no authority to make these patently absurd suggestions. They were made without the knowledge or approval of anyone in the party and, as he has since admitted, they were nothing more than idle boasts."
   |
| Tamara Ecclestone flaunts toned and tattooed bikini body in Maldives Posted: In newly-released pictures from her recent holiday in the Maldives, Tamara Ecclestone looks tanned and toned as she wades in the crystal-clear water in a revealing Missoni bikini. As is already known, F1 mogul Bernie Ecclestone's elder daughter doesn't let a little sand and water get in the way of wearing a 50,000 pounds Rolex watch and 25,000 pounds gold bracelet. Her skimpy swimsuit revealed her numerous tattoos on her back, shoulder and hip, the Daily Mail reported. She had previously revealed that she has nine tattoos in total.
   |
| 24-year-old man arrested over violent murder of Indian origin couple in UK Posted: A 24-year-old man has been arrested by British police investigating the murder of an Indian-origin couple found dead in their home in Birmingham. Post-mortem tests have confirmed that Avtar Kolar, 62, and his wife Carole, 58 died as a result of blunt force trauma to the head and that both had been struck a number of times. A murder investigation was launched after the couple, who had been married for 40 years, were found dead by their son Jason Kolar, a serving officer with West Midlands Police, on Wednesday morning. According to Mirror.co.uk, the arrest comes a day after two of the couple''s four children made a desperate plea for help to catch their parents' killers. Crimestoppers have put up a reward of up to 10,000 pounds for details leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators. Meanwhile, police have repeatedly refused to speculate about a motive for the murders, but said detectives are looking into a number of lines of inquiry, including a rise in burglaries and gold thefts in the area. "This was a horrendous attack. We continue to follow a number of lines of inquiry and we thank those who have called us so far. We encourage anyone with information to speak to us no matter how insignificant they feel the detail is," Detective Superintendent Richard Baker, who is leading the murder investigation, said.
   |
| Couple rescued from ship 24 hours later Posted: A couple on honeymoon were pulled alive from the wreck of a luxury liner 24 hours after it overturned off the coast of Italy. The miracle escape came hours before a third survivor was found alive aboard the Costa Concordia by rescuers today. But 15 passengers and crew are still unaccounted for and the coast guard said divers had recovered the bodies of two passengers from a submerged restaurant, taking the death toll to five. A retired British cop has revealed how panicking men pushed in front of women to reach lifeboats during the chaotic evacuation. Former Chief Inspector Edwin Gurd, watched as male passengers made matters worse. He said, "My wife got on lifeboat No 17 and we got as many women and children on as possible but there was later quite a lot of panic from the men, who were forcing their way onto the boats. Three people have been confirmed dead " a Peruvian crew member and two French tourists. The South Korean newlyweds pulled out this morning were saved from the upper decks after rescuers heard their screams.
   |
| Posted: Costa Concordia, a massive cruise liner that ran aground off the coast of Italy, brings back memories of the 1912 disaster
   |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Mid Day To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
No comments:
Post a Comment