Fifa row has "harmed" England 2018 World Cup bid

Fifa

England's 2018 World Cup bid has been "significantly harmed" by a newspaper investigation into the bidding process, says a key member of the campaign team.

A member of the Fifa executive committee previously claimed there would be no backlash against England.

But it now seems the Sunday Times probe into two members of the committee has left England with a mountain to climb ahead of the vote on 2 December.

"It has significantly harmed England's bid," a senior member told BBC Sport.

With four weeks to go to the decision, England's bid team has not given up all hope of turning the situation around.
But senior sources say that the prospect of any future media investigations into the conduct of Fifa officials - including a potential Panorama programme on the BBC - could be fatal for their chances.

One member of the bid team told the BBC: "The question is: can we recover from this? Fifa members feel they are being persecuted by the British media.
"It isn't dead and the next two or three weeks will be delicate but England's bid has been damaged and it's going to take a lot of hard work to repair that damage."

One move being considered by England's bid is to ask all the editors of the national newspapers and broadcasters to write to Fifa declaring their support for the 2018 bid.

Whether that would address the damage done in recent weeks is unlikely but it was a tactic used by the team leading London's bid for the 2012 Olympics when organisers feared that a Panorama investigation could derail the campaign.
The difference then was London 2012 had more than a year to reassure IOC members that awarding the Games to London would not mark the start of a seven-year campaign against the people who run the Olympics.

Fifa's ethics committee is due to meet from 15-17 November to discuss whether to take further action against the two executive committee members - Amos Adamu from Nigeria and Reynald Temarii from Tahiti - who were accused in the Sunday Times expose.

Reporters from the newspaper posed as lobbyists for a consortium of private American companies who wanted to secure the World Cup for the United States. Adamu has been accused of asking to be paid £500,000 - half of that up front - to build four artificial football pitches in his home country.

Temarii, a Fifa vice-president who represents the Oceania confederation, was alleged to have requested £1.5m for a sports academy to be built in the region.

Both deny any wrongdoing and will fight the allegations when they appear before Fifa's ethics committee later this month.

The committee will also consider claims made by the former Fifa general secretary Michel Zen Ruffinen that Spain and Portugal's bid team for 2018 has formed a voting alliance with Qatar for 2022 - a move which is against Fifa's bidding rules.

Bid leaders from Spain/Portugal and Qatar are refusing to comment officially on the allegations although the head of the Portuguese FA, Gilberto Modail has categorically denied the claims which Zen Ruffinen now says were an exaggeration to impress the reporters posing as American lobbyists.

The Fifa president Sepp Blatter signalled the start of a backlash against the British media last Friday when he said: "One can ask whether such an action is appropriate, trying to set traps for people. It is a deeply rooted problem [with the English media].

"Who is benefitting from this situation and who is being harmed, we are asking ourselves why did it happen and why did it happen specifically by English journalists? We are looking at that."

And the head of the Asian Football Confederation, Mohamed Bin Hammam, has used his blog to attack the British media. He wrote: "Is it ethical to use unethical methods to protect the ethic? How will we clean dirty laundry by using dirty water?"

Sci(ntillating)-fi(ction)

superstar Rajnikanth

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A man makes a machine and the machine turns against his own master to wreak untold havoc on mankind. The onus is now on its creator to set things right. This plot which has been worn threadbare in Hollywood is for the Tamil audience, as novel an idea as any. It becomes palatable too when packed with Rajnikanth’s appeal and Shankar’s sense of grandeur. Enthiran is thus a Hollywood idea which Kollywood has now made its own.

For all its labels of being the first sci-fi film in Tamil cinema, Enthiran is surprisingly easy to follow. Shankar has over the years fine-tuned his film making strategy of putting across simple messages as grandly as possible.

Enthiran’s grandeur compliments the story-telling rather than seeming incompatible with it. If the common man is able to understand what robotics and robots are about, it is largely because Shankar has painstakingly simplified it for them .

Of course, a team of seasoned technicians ( cinematographer Rathnavelu, music composer A R Rahman, art director Sabu Cyril and editor Anthony), have lent him able support.
 And having superstar Rajnikanth on board , makes his task that much easier. So like the vintage Windies team that dominated the cricket world in 1980s, the film scores, almost in every department.

Dr Vaseegaran (Rajnikanth), is a professor in robotics, who successfully creates an android humanoid robot to resemble him.
The machine, which the professor plans to dedicate to the Indian army as a replacement for soldiers in the battlefield, is programmed to excel in all the subjects under the sun.
Vaseegaran is assisted in this task by Siva (Santhanam) and Ravi (Karunaas). Christened as Chitty, the robot wins the approval of Sana (Aishwarya Rai), Vaseegaran’s  ladylove .

Everything is hunky dory until Chitty gets programmed to experience human emotions. It instantly falls for Sana’s beauty, which lands both its creator and itself in deep trouble.  A feud erupts between them.

Enters Dr Bohra (Danny Dengzongpa), Vaseegaran’s mentor, with an evil motive. Dr Bhora sees an opportunity here to further his malicious ambitions.
He gets hold of the machine after Vasseegaran dismantles it and throws it away in a fit of rage . This time the battle between Vaseegaran and Chitty assumes lethal proportions.

Chitty manages to snatch Sana away and develops its own army of robots with the sole motive of killing Vaseegaran. The battery of robots go on a killing spree. It is up to Vaseegaran to end the menace.

Rajnikanth comes firing on all cylinders. He sizzles and scintillates with his onscreen charisma. One minute he is Vaseegaran, the sober intelligent scientist, possessing traits that he is normally not associated with and in the other, he is Chitty, the role which allows him to be his usual hyperactive self.
 As the machine flexing its muscles, as the one-man army unleashing havoc and romancing Aishwarya Rai, he brings enormous energy and credibility to his performance.

Aishwarya Rai, is truly the beauty who can launch wars among her admirers. Unlike contemporary heroines, who appear in blink and miss roles, she is there all through playing a relevant character. Danny Denzongpa is a refreshing change from the regular baddies that we  normally get to see in Tamil cinema.

The rest of the cast includes Kalabhavan Mani, Cochin Haneefa, Sabu Cyril in a cameo, Santhanam and Karunaas.
Technically the movie raises the bar for Tamil movies.

The exotic locales abroad- the venue for romantic songs , the awesome stunts, seen through Rathnavelu’s camera, heighten the cinematic experience. To top it up there is Rahman’s hi-tech music, (unusual in a Rajnikanth film but in keeping with its theme) and realistic sets designed by Sabu Cyril. So what you get to experience is nothing short of movie magic.

Shankar influenced and inspired by late writer Sujatha that he is, has ensured that the masses are initiated into the complex subject of robotics as smoothly as is possible.

The shrewd filmmaker in him has combined mass elements (a must in Rajni flicks) in the right mix. Deriving from sources ranging from Blade Runner to Frankenstein, Shankar uses Chitti to make a comment on the human condition.

The second part is rather exhaustive, but there is no denying that Enthiran is an adrenalin pumping roller-coaster ride. Miss it and you may be missing entertainment at its best.

Blast in Pak kills six

 A powerful bomb went off outside a Sufi shrine packed with devotees in a city in Pakistan's central Punjab province today, killing at least six persons, including two women, and injuring 15 others. Two unidentified youths parked a motorcycle outside the gates of the shrine of Hazrat Baba Farid Gang-e-Shakkar, where some 300 people were present, in Pakpattan city and the blast occurred shortly thereafter at 6:20 am, witnesses said.
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  They said the duo fled the scene after leaving the motorcycle there. Two women were among the six dead, police and civil administration officials said. Among the 15 injured also were eight women.

Several of the injured, who were in serious condition, were sent to hospitals in Lahore.

The blast, which severely damaged the walls and parts of the shrine's structure, occurred near a spot where the sitting arrangement had been made for women visiting the shrine.  Police said about 10kg of explosive was used in the blast.

 Police evacuated the shrine, which was closed to visitors after the blast, and sealed off the area.

 No group claimed responsibility for the blast, which was condemned by political leaders and top clerics. The

Taliban have been blamed for a series of bombings and suicide attacks targeting Sufi shrines in cities across
Pakistan, including Lahore and Karachi.

Alagiri sends legal notice to Jaya TV

M K Alagiri

Union Minister and DMK leader M K Alagiri has sent a legal notice to Jaya TV, demanding an unconditional apology and compensation of Rs one crore for allegedly carrying a defamatory news item.
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The minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers also sent notices to a prominent English daily, its editor in chief and publisher for carrying the news whiche he alleged affected his reputation and "good" image among the people.

The minister, who sent the notice through his advocate Premraj Ambrose, said the news claiming item that he abused his cabinet colleague A Raja at Delhi airport in public glare was not true.

He said many people had called him up and enquired about the report. 'It has affected my respect, reputation and brought me disrepute.'

Jaya TV and the newspaper should tender an unconditional apology and also pay a compensation rpt compensation of Rs one crore, failing which a case would be filed, he said.

Qantas jumbo makes emergency landing in Singapore

AP – Firefighters surround a Qantas passenger plane which made an emergency landing with 459 people aboard …

SINGAPORE – Qantas grounded its Airbus A380 fleet after one of the superjumbo jets blew out an engine Thursday, shooting flames and raining large metal chunks before making a safe emergency landing in Singapore with 459 people aboard.

It was most serious midair incident involving the double-decker A380, the world's largest and latest airliner, since it debuted in October 2007 with Singapore Airlines flying it to Sydney — the same route that Qantas flight QF34 was flying when it was stricken.

Qantas said there had been no explosion, but witnesses aboard the plane and on the ground reported blasts. Officials in Indonesia said the engine trouble could not have been related to recent volcanic eruptions of Mount Merapi, some 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) to the east.

After the plane touched down in Singapore, the engine closest to the fuselage on the left wing had visible burn marks and was missing a plate section that would have been painted with the red kangaroo logo of the airline. The upper part of the left wing also appeared damaged.

One passenger, Rosemary Hegardy, 60, of Sydney, told The Associated Press that she heard two bangs and saw yellow flames from her window.

"There was flames — yellow flames came out, and debris came off. ... You could see black things shooting through the smoke, like bits of debris," she said.

Although it was nearly 90 minutes from the time of the explosion to the plane landing, there was no panic inside the aircraft, she said.

The captain addressed the passengers immediately by saying "'I'm sure you realize there's a problem. We have to find out what the problem is,'" she said. Shortly after that, the captain explained that an engine had failed and needed to dump fuel before landing.

Qantas grounds its Airbus A380s

"The crew were fantastic, really — I am so amazed that everyone stayed calm," she said. "We were all sort of really shaken up, but what could you do?"

In another seat, Tyler Wooster watched as part of the skin of the wing peeled off, exposing foam and broken wires.

"My whole body just went to jelly and I didn't know what was going to happen as we were going down, if we were going to be OK," Wooster told Australia's Nine Network news.

Residents on the western Indonesian island of Batam, near Singapore, helped authorities pick up more than 100 pieces of debris scattered in 15 locations in Batam. The pieces, mostly small, torn metal but some the size of doors, were brought to police headquarters for the investigation.

The trouble with one of the plane's four engines happened 15 minutes after takeoff from Singapore at 9:56 a.m. The plane landed after one hour and 50 minutes.

"The shutdown of the Qantas engine had no connection with Mount Merapi," said Bambang Ervan, a spokesman for Indonesia's Transportation Ministry. "It was too far from the volcano — the sky over Singapore and Sumatra island is free of dust."

The flight is a regular service that flies between Sydney, Singapore and London. Qantas' A380s can carry up to 525 people, but flight QF34 was carrying 433 passengers and 26 crew, all of whom were evacuated by a stepladder in an operation that lasted two hours.

Qantas spokeswoman Emma Kearns in Sydney said there were no injuries or an explosion on board. The airline described the problem as an "engine issue" without elaborating.

"We will suspend those A380 services until we are completely confident that Qantas safety requirements have been met," Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told a news conference.

Joyce appeared to blame the engine, made by Rolls-Royce.

"This issue, an engine failure, has been one that we haven't seen before. So we are obviously taking it very seriously, because it is a significant engine failure," he said.

Singapore Airlines later said in a statement it would be "delaying all flights operating our A380 aircraft" after Rolls-Royce and Airbus advised it to conduct precautionary technical checks.

Experts said the problem appeared to be an "uncontained engine failure," which occurs when turbine debris punctures the engine casing and the light cowling that covers the unit.

Aviation expert Tom Ballantyne told the AP that Thursday's troubles were "certainly the most serious incident that the A380 has experienced since it entered operations."

But "it's not like the aircraft is going to drop out of the sky," Ballantyne, Sydney-based chief correspondent at Orient Aviation Magazine, said by telephone from Brunei.

He said the engine shutdown couldn't have caused a crash. The planes are designed to fly on just two engines, and the pilots are trained to handle engine failures, he said.

Rolls-Royce said it was aware of the situation, noting that the investigation was still at an early stage. Its shares were 4.5 percent lower at 625 pence ($10.16) in midday trade on the London Stock Exchange.

Airbus said in a statement that it was providing all necessary technical assistance to the investigation and a team of specialists from Airbus was being dispatched to Singapore.

Martin Fendt, a spokesman for the consortium, declined to comment on Qantas' grounding of all its A380s, but he said no airworthiness directives have been issued mandating a halt to flights by the superjumbo.

Still, the incident is likely to raise safety questions about one of the most modern aircraft, which has suffered a series of minor incidents.

In September 2009, a Singapore Airlines A380 was forced to turn around in mid-flight and head back to Paris after an engine malfunction. On March 31, a Qantas A380 with 244 people on board burst two tires on landing in Sydney after a flight from Singapore.

Last August, a Lufthansa crew shut down one of the engines as a precaution before landing at Frankfurt on a flight from Japan, after receiving confusing information on a cockpit indicator.

The other issues with the A380s have all been relatively minor, such as electrical problems, Ballantyne said.

Qantas' safety record is enviable among major airlines, with no fatal crashes since it introduced jet-powered planes in the late 1950s.

But there have been a run of scares in recent years across a range of plane types. The most serious — when a faulty oxygen tank caused an explosion that blew a 5-foot hole in the fuselage of a Boeing 747-400 over the Philippines — prompted aviation officials to order Qantas to upgrade maintenance procedures.

Airbus has delivered a total of 37 A380s so far. Thirteen are in service with Emirates, 11 with Singapore Airlines, six with Qantas, four with Air France and three with Lufthansa.

Emirates airlines, which has 13 A380s in operation, said all of them are flying as scheduled. It noted that its planes are powered by Engine Alliance GP7200 engines.

Thursday's incident appeared unrelated to mail bombs sent recently on cargo planes, allegedly from Yemeni militants.