Plane Problems May Have Caused NV Crash

RENO, Nev. (AP) — A vintage World War II-era fighter plane plunged into the grandstands Friday during a popular annual air show, killing at least three people, injuring more than 50 spectators and creating a horrific scene strewn with body parts and smoking debris.

The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, but an official with the event said there were indications that mechanical problems were at play.The plane, flown by a renowned 74-year-old air racer and movie stunt pilot, spiraled suddenly out of control and appeared to disintegrate upon impact. Bloodied bodies were spread across the area as people tended to the victims and ambulances rushed to the scene.

Maureen Higgins of Alabama, who has been coming to the show for 16 years, said the pilot was on his third lap when he lost control.She was sitting about 30 yards away from the crash and watched in horror as the man in front of her started bleeding after a piece of debris hit him in the head.

"I saw body parts and gore like you wouldn't believe it. I'm talking an arm, a leg," Higgins said "The alive people were missing body parts. I am not kidding you. It was gore. Unbelievable gore."

Among the dead was pilot Jimmy Leeward, 74, of Ocala, Fla., a veteran airman and stunt pilot who named his P-51 Mustang fighter plane the "Galloping Ghost," according to Mike Houghton, president and CEO of Reno Air Races. Officials earlier said Leeward was 80.

Renown Regional Medical Center spokeswoman Kathy Carter confirmed that two others died, but did not provide their identities.

Stephanie Kruse, a spokeswoman for the Regional Emergency Medical Service Authority, told The Associated Press that emergency crews took a total of 56 injury victims to three hospitals. She said they also observed a number of people being transported by private vehicle, which they are not including in their count.

Kruse said of the total 56, at the time of transport, 15 were considered in critical condition, 13 were serious condition with potentially life-threatening injuries and 28 were non-serious or non-life threatening.

"This is a very large incident, probably one of the largest this community has seen in decades," Kruse told The Associated Press. "The community is pulling together to try to deal with the scope of it. The hospitals have certainly geared up and staffed up to deal with it."

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A Tribute To Uncle Pai (Anant Pai) on his 82nd Birthday

Reading is more than just an ability – it is a source of immense joy and even a melting pot of nostalgia. No one got this message across better than the lovable Uncle Pai. Google pays tribute to everyone’s dear Uncle by dedicating a Google doodle in his honor. Today is his 82nd birthday; today (17th September) is the birthday of a precious part of our childhood.

Anant Pai (Konkani: अनंत पै) (17 September 1929 – 24 February 2011), popularly known as Uncle Pai, was an Indian educationalist and creator of Indian comics, in particular the Amar Chitra Katha series in 1967, along with the India Book House publishers, and which retold traditional Indian folk tales, mythological stories, and biographies of historical characters. In 1980, he launched Tinkle, a children's anthology, which was started under Rang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, that lasted till 1998, with him as the Managing Director.

Amar Chitra Katha
The idea behind starting a comicbook series devoted to Indian culture and history came to Pai from a quiz contest aired on Doordarshan in February 1967, in which participants could easily answer questions pertaining to Greek mythology, but were unable to reply to the question "In the Ramayana, who was Rama's mother?"

He left his job and started Amar Chitra Katha the same year, with the help of late G. L. Mirchandani of India Book House, when most other publishers from Allied Publishers to Jaico had rejected the concept. Later, he took on the role of writer, editor and publisher. The series went on to become a publishing milestone for the Indian comic book scene, selling over 86 million copies of about 440 titles.

The idea and proposal for Amar Chitra Katha was made by a Bangalore book salesman called G.K. Ananthram which led to the first Amar Chitra Katha comics being produced in 1965—in Kannada, not English. “The English ACK titles begin from number eleven because the first ten were in Kannada,” clarifies Ananthram. To Anathram’s satisfaction, the venture was a great commercial success which lead to the head office in Mumbai pursuing the Amar Chitra Katha idea diligently, and the rest is history. “They brought in Anant Pai” says Ananthram. “And he built a wonderful team and a great brand.” 

In 1969, Anant Pai founded Rang Rekha Features, India's first comic and cartoon syndicate, and started the children's magazine Tinkle in 1980. His involvement with the above, and the rapport he shared with his readers earned him the title "Uncle Pai".

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RESERVE BANK OF INDIA (RBI) INCREASE THE REPO RATE BY 25 BPS

Bangalore: The Reserve Bank of India hiked repo rates by 25 bps as expected by market experts. In its policy it indicated that the global economic situation has worsened and it has raised serious concerns. RBI added that the rise in petrol prices will have a direct effect on the WPI numbers.

Mr. Dipen Shah, Head-Fundamental Research, Kotak Securities said:

"The monetary policy is exactly in line with our expectations. The commentary is suggesting that, while the RBI has moderated its stance from the previous policy, it has not notified  that rate hikes will stop. The markets were volatile around this important, as always, but remained range bound and also maintained the gains of the previous couple of sessions.

Over the past few weeks, market remained largely Range limited   . Global  concerns and a lower — than — expected IIP number weighed on the markets. Our markets have outperformed the global peers in the past few trading sessions on hopes of peeking out of interest rate cycle and initiation of reforms. Efforts to stabilize the European economy also had a positive impact on sentiments.

Over the next few days, markets will continuously watch the developments in Europe and also in US, where the Federal Reserve meeting will be very important. Crude prices have remained buoyant, which is a point of concern. Any developments on the reforms front will be a positive for the markets. We continue to recommend a stock specific approach with a medium — to — long term perspective."

Though the RBI has raised interest rates 11 times since March 2010 to check the rate of price rise, inflation has remained much above the central bank's comfort level of 5-6 per cent and threatens to cross 10 per cent.RBI added in its policy statement that it would be  very difficult to stop this cycle at this point given the high inflationary pressures.

Experts were divided if another rate hike will have any bearing on inflation because of the upward revision in petrol prices - the third this year - effected on Thursday. Many have started questioning the efficacy of the series of the rate hikes. That's because despite 11 hikes in the last 18 months, inflation continues to be above the comfort levels of 5-6 per cent. Also another rate hike might slow down the economy which already saw a steep fall in its IIP numbers.Industrial growth, measured by the IIP, plunged to 21-month low of 3.3 per cent in July.

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee said on Thursday that inflation may now have peaked and "we should see a gradual moderation in monthly headline inflation". But it doesn't look that considering fuel prices have been increased.

Experts hope that inflation and high commodity prices could ease in coming months as global growth concerns intensify and domestic demand moderates. The government expects the economy to grow by around 8.5% while the central bank has forecast near eight% growth for the fiscal year to March 2012.

The RBI expects inflation to moderate to 7.0% by March.

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AIRLINES MAY INCREASE THE DOMESTIC AIRFARES

New Delhi, Sep 16 (IANS) Indian domestic airlines are ready to increase airfares as a result of the latest hike of 2.5 percent in aviation fuel prices by the state-run oil marketing companies (OMC), sources said Friday.'This (rise) may happen as the fuel prices are up again. But we have to see what the other industry players are doing and only then we will go ahead with any such hikes,' a senior Air India official told IANS on the condition of anonymity.

The OMCs had Thursday increased aviation fuel prices by 2.5 percent at Rs.57, 689 per kiloliter in the national capital in their fortnightly review of international oil prices. The increase has come after two consecutive cuts on Aug 16 and Sep 1. 'This increase has also put the prices almost where they were earlier. So there is pressure which has started building up,' the airline official said adding that the concern is justified because the fuel contributes to 40 percent of total cost in the industry.

Although aviation experts feel that the industry needs to reduce the increasing cost pressures in a balancing manner to make the sector more sustainable for everyone .'The industry has been depressed for the last two quarters due to inflationary pressures and low load factors, so this may be the right time to go for a moderate price hike to off-set the cost increase and to make the industry sustainable,' Director-Aviation at global consultancy firm KPMG Amber Dubey told IANS

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