Lufthansa is boosting its presence in BC by adding a new route to Germany.

The airline is now offering a daily flight between Munich and Vancouver, bringing 15,000 visitors to our province.

“We’re very excited that we have the aircraft available to fly this route,” says Hans De Haan with the airline.

He said this new route is the only international one they’re adding this year.

“There’s always been an under-serving of Vancouver. We’ve flied Vancouver-Frankfurt already for 30 years. There’s a lot more demand, and now we can also connect Vancouver with Munich, which is another one of our hubs, to connect to, basically, the world.”

He says the new route marks 30 years of Lufthansa service here, and complements its Frankfurt-Vancouver flights which began in 1983.

“It’s also very close to other parts of Europe that you can connect to very quickly. Of course, we have the famous Oktoberfest, which actually happens in September… that alone is worth a visit to Munich.”

De Haan adds Europeans love to visit BC. “You can’t beat the nature. A lot of these tourists are coming in, renting motorhomes, and they are exploring everything that is beautiful about BC.”

Lufthansa is flying an Airbus A330-300 here which offers 165 seats in Economy, 48 in Business and eight in First Class.

NEW DELHI-Pakistani links, role of D-Company and the involvement of the Mumbai underworld have surfaced in the investigations into spot-fixing in Indian Premier League (IPL) matches in which Indian fast bowler S Sreesanth and two of his Rajasthan Royals teammates have been arrested, police said on Thursday, adding more arrests are expected.

Sreesanth, Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila and 11 other bookies arrested for alleged spot fixing were sent to five-day police custody by a chief metropolitan magistrate Lokesh Kumar Sharma.

“We had information that Mumbai underworld is indulging in match-fixing or spot-fixing and have contacted a number of bookies and some players,” Delhi Police commissioner Neeraj Kumar said, giving details of the arrests of three players and 11 bookies in Mumbai late Wednesday night.

“There are overseas connections and there is evidence to prove that the underworld is involved. But, there is no concrete evidence of any (gang) members of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim (being involved) so far. But, it can’t be ruled out,” he said at a crowded press conference.

Asked who the individual is, he said: “We know the name but that could be the assumed name. That’s why we are not sharing with the press. The number he was using was of Dubai but you can use Dubai’s number sitting somewhere else.”

But, according to Mumbai police sources, the arrests were made on the basis of tracking phone calls, at least two dozen of which originated from Pakistan.

A couple of bookies of the total seven arrested from Mumbai are allegedly linked to Dawood, who is said to be in Pakistan, sources said.

Dawood is believed to be a veteran in cricket betting and match fixing.

The Delhi Police commissioner said the suspects were kept under watch since April and it was found that match fixers and bookies from Delhi, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and that some players participating in the IPL were conspiring in spot-fixing.

He said these bookies used to spot the “vulnerable” players who could be easily contacted. But only three players came into their net.

While Sreesanth and his Rajasthan Royals colleagues Ankeet Chavan and Ajit Chandila, as also the 11 bookies have been charged with cheating and criminal conspiracy, Neeraj Kumar said there is a “distinct possibility” the cricketers will also be booked under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organized Crime Act (MCOCA), which deals with combating organized crime and terrorism.

Detailing the modus operandi, he said, “Bookies also told them that they would have to give indications before start of an over about giving away runs. The indications included rotate your watch, put a towel in your trousers, take some time on looking around the field, take out a locket or chain from your shirt and lift vest/shirt.”

The first incident of spot-fixing, he said, was discovered in the May 5 match between Pune Warriors and Rajasthan Royals. This was followed by the May 9 match between Kings XI Punjab and Rajasthan Royals and the May 15 match between Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals.

Armed with the video clippings of the given-away runs, the police chief also read out transcripts of the conversations between the players and the bookies.

Noting they have 100 hours of audio clippings as evidence, he said that there was evidence that spot-fixing was happening in other teams as well.

The 14 arrested were sent to police custody till May 21.

Police had sought seven days police remand, contending they have collected total 55 mobile phones and laptops, and the data from laptops, all which is in code words, needs to be recovered.

They also sought custody for unearthing the entire conspiracy and to know the who are the other people or players involved in the fixing.

The fourteen accused, including Sreesanth, who came with his face covered, were produced at judge’s home around 6.30pm at Saket court complex.

They all were charged under Section 420 (cheating) and 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy) of IPC.—IANS

Another sex scandal has hit the Indian Navy with the wife of an officer alleging her husband tortured her mentally and physically and forced her to sleep with his colleagues.

The Navy has been hit by yet another alleged sex scandal as the wife of a senior officer has charged her husband with forcing her to get “sexually involved” with his colleagues, prompting Defence Minister A K Antony to order a probe.

The case has come up on a day when the Defence Minister asked the top brass of the Navy in its Commanders’ conference to take sternest possible action against officers involved in such deeds.

“The Defence Minister was very helpful and has told us that he has ordered a departmental inquiry into the charges made by me and my parents against my husband,” the woman complainant said here after meeting Antony.

She alleged that her husband, who is a Lieutenant Commander (equivalent to a Major in Army) posted at the Naval Ship Repair Yard (NSRY) in Karwar, “forced me to get sexually involved with his colleagues and consume alcohol.”

The woman, who says she has shifted to her maternal home after this episode, has accused her husband of physical and mental torture.

An MBA, she got married in February last year to the officer. The woman alleged that her husband had threatened that if she disclosed about his deeds to anyone, “he would put up my nude pictures on internet to spoil my image socially”.

She said her husband is working on an important assignment related to Navy’s Admiral Gorshkov aircraft carrier under construction at a shipyard in Russia and is about to be posted there s oon.

Two girls escaped a rape bid by jumping out of a speeding autorickshaw in Andhra Pradesh, injuring themselves.

Two girls jumped out from a speeding autorickshaw to escape a rape attempt and one of them was severely injured at Paderu in Vizag agency area in the wee hours of Monday, police said.

The girls, both residents of G Madugula area in the district had gone to Paderu on Sunday evening to witness the local Sri Modakondamma festival which began on Sunday, they said.

The girls boarded a shared autorickshaw at Paderu in the wee hours of Monday to go back to their hometown.

After the vehicle went some distance, two boys, who were also travelling in the vehicle started misbehaving with the girls and allegedly sought sexual favours from them, they said, adding that the driver of the autorickshaw then took a U-turn, speeding in another direction, towards Chintalaveedhi.

Observing the vehicle speeding in the wrong direction and sensing something amiss, the girls jumped out of the vehicle and started screaming for help, they said.

England`s Home Office announced the launch of a same-day, “super priority” visa service for Indian travellers, an official announcement said.

The first of its kind service launched anywhere in the world, it will be available to Indians from Wednesday.

The service is the fulfilment of a commitment by British Prime Minister David Cameron during his recent visit to India, a spokesperson for the British Deputy High Commision said.

The Super Priority Visa Service (SPVS), which complements the existing Fast Track Service and the recent Online Payment Option, will be available to Indians, excluding students, intending to apply for a six-month or two-year multiple entry visit visa and having previously travelled to Britain, the US, Australia, New Zealand, Canada or a Schengen country within the last five years.

It is also available to visa applicants sponsored by companies who are members of the UK Business Express Programme. The service will initially be made available from Mumbai and New Delhi, and in the near future from Chennai.

“This underlines our strong commitment to make an already excellent visa service even better. We expect this new service to be particularly useful for business. Opportunities arise at short notice. We want Indian entrepreneurs and businessmen to be able to seize these. The UK and India are already on course to double bilateral trade by 2015. The new Super Priority Visa will help make sure that we hit this target”, said British High Commissioner to India, Sir James Bevan.

The SPVS, an optional service, comes with an additional fee of Rs 51,000 besides the standard fee for the type of visa being applied for.

Applicants must complete an online form and submit their applications, by appointment, before 9.30 am. If an application is successful, the visa will be ready for collection by 5.30 pm, the same day in New Delhi or by 6.30 pm, the same day in Mumbai.

Of the 6,000 aspirants who applied, 40 made the cut for a training programme as trainee metro pilots: Priyanka Balid and Srikala Nair are among them

It took the Railways nearly 125 years to rope in their first woman driver, but Mumbai Metro’s very first batch of 40 pilots includes two women, who are now in the midst of a gruelling 80-day training programme in the city, having finished a stint abroad. The training, imparted on a machine that costs a hefty Rs 40 crore, teaches the trainee pilots not only how to drive the new trains, but also to tackle crises like terror strikes or medical emergency.

Once they complete training, the two women — Priyanka Balid and Srikala Nair — and their 38 male counterparts, will be maneuvering trains on the 11.07-km-long Versova Andheri Ghatkopar (VAG) corridor, the city’s first Metro line.

Priyanka, who is a mechanical engineer, and her co-trainee Srikala were selected from 6,000 applicants who responded to the advertisement.

Mumbai Metro One Private Limited (MMOPL) officials revealed that the training programmes were trained in a manner that would equip the pilots to handle crisis effectively. Twenty-four-year-old Priyanka, who is enjoying her stint thoroughly, said, “Training to be a pilot is definitely interesting and involves a lot of hard work.

The monthly salary to be paid to the pilots once they begin manning the controls is between Rs 50,000-70,000.