Pakistan has potential to generate 2.3 million MW solar energy annually

KARACHI: Pakistan has a potential to generate over 2.324 million mega watts electricity per annum through solar system and industrialists should come into manufacturing in this sector for domestic  as well as industrial use in order to overcome prevailing energy crisis in Pakistan, this was stated by Vice Chancellor, Hamdard University. Dr Nasim A Khan.

Giving a presentation on solar power in Pakistan organized by Korangi Association of Trade and Industry with the collaboration of Engineering Review on Wednesday, Dr Nasim said that solar and wind powers are the real sources of energy and rest of the sources are alternative. He said that Hamdard University is ready to provide technology of solar power to the industrialists free of charge so that country would be able to benefit from cheapest sources of energy. He said that though solar panels are expensive presently however, commercial manufacturing would make them cheaper and viable for all consumers.   He further emphasized on manufacturing of all components of solar system locally in order to make them viable for the local as well export market. He informed that many countries USA, Germany, Australia, Brazil, UK, Japan, India, China and Thailand are now generating electricity in bulk through solar system. He disclosed that Japan is generating electricity at the cost of only two cents per kilo watt hour (KWH). He said that Pakistan needs to put 2,000 MW electricity into the national grid every year and this could only be possible through solar and wind power. He said that UK which has less than half the population than Pakistan was generating 70,000 MW in 1970 whereas Pakistan is generating merely 22,000 MW at present.   

Chairman KATI, Ehtesham Uddin has announced to extend all out support to the Hamdard University for the promotion of solar powered technology and offered to coordinate with Dr Nasim and industrialists to manufacture solar panels for domestic and industrial use. He said that switching over to the solar system for energy is the need of the hour and more people and scientists like Dr Nasim should come forward for this cause.       

President All Karachi Industrial Alliance, Mian Zahid Hussain said in his address that solar and wind power are the need of the hour and future belongs to them as they are cheapest sources of energy. He said that KATI would constitute a committee comprising its Standing Committee Chairman on Alternative Energy, S M Yahiya, Farhanur Rehman, Tariq Malik, Anjum Ayub and Junaid Naqi to coordinate with Hamdard University for introduction and promotion of solar system in industrial sector. Mian Zahid pointed out that none of the government measures were proved to be fruitful for saving energy and there was no respite in load-shedding. He said that volume of government’s loans has risen to over Rs11,000 billion from Rs4,000 billion. He said that KATI would strive hard to promote solar and wind power in Pakistan and Patron In-Chief KATI, S M Muneer too is very keen in this regard. 

Boeing to deliver first 787 after years of delays

FILE - In this July 13, 2011 file photo, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner taxis on the runway at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi. Boeing will deliver its first 787 jet Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011, to Japan's All Nippon Airways. The new plane, which was supposed to be flying passengers three years ago, has been hampered by embarrassing delays. But now that it's here, it will offer travelers much more comfort, open up new routes and provide airlines with significant fuel savings. (AP Photo, File)

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Joshua Freed, AP Business Writer, On Saturday September 24, 2011, 6:12 pm EDT

Boeing delivers its first 787 jet on Sunday. It's been a long time coming.

The new jet, which was supposed to be flying passengers three years ago, has been delayed by production and design problems. But now it's here, and airlines expect it to offer travelers much more comfort, open up new routes and provide significant fuel savings.

The first one goes to Japan's All Nippon Airways, which has been printing the 787 logo and "We Fly 1st" on its business cards for years.

Airlines love the jet, which Boeing calls the Dreamliner. They've ordered more than 800, well above levels for previous new jets.

"A lot of carriers are betting that this is going to be a winner," says George Hamlin, president of Hamlin Transportation Consulting in Fairfax, Va.

Instead of the usual aluminum skin, most of the 787 is covered in carbon fiber, basically a high-tech plastic that is strong but lightweight. Military planes and portions of other jetliners have used that material for years, but this is the first time so much has been used on an airliner.

The new material brings improvements that passengers should notice.

Its strength allows windows to be bigger and higher, so passengers don't have to hunch over to see the horizon. Electronic dimming replaces pull-down shades. That should mean you'll no longer be blinded when the guy next to you falls asleep with the shade up.

Finally, the cabin is pressurized to the equivalent of 6,000 feet, instead of the usual 8,000 feet. That means air pressure will be closer to what passengers are used to on the ground. And without corrosion-prone aluminum skin, the humidity can be kept higher. Those two changes should reduce dry noses and throats.

All Nippon plans to begin flying the 787 from Tokyo to Okayama-Hiroshima on Nov. 11. The first international route will be Tokyo to Frankfurt starting in January.

The first U.S. customer is United Continental Holdings Inc., which will get its first 787s next year and plans to fly them between Houston and Auckland, New Zealand, and Houston and Lagos, Nigeria.

Those are good examples of "thin routes" that airlines say the 787 will be good for -- routes for which there is regular demand that won't fill a larger plane. The 787's size, fuel efficiency and long range should allow airlines to turn a profit on those routes.

The jet will be as much as 20 percent more fuel-efficient than planes it replaces. Its efficiency was a nice perk when Boeing first proposed the 787 in its current form in 2003. Now it's essential for airlines dealing with high fuel costs.

Building an all-new plane like the 787 is a massive undertaking. Delays stacked up. Boeing was hit with an eight-week strike in 2008. It had to reinforce the spot where the 787's wings meet the fuselage. In November, the company had to delay the plane further after an electrical fire forced a landing during a test flight.

Boeing expects to deliver a combined 25 to 30 of the 787s and new 747-8 this year. To meet the high demand. Boeing has set an ambitious goal of building 10 per month by the end of 2013. No one has ever made a large plane that fast.

Richard Aboulafia, an aerospace analyst at the Teal Group, thinks Boeing will miss that goal because the company hasn't smoothed out its production process fully.

It's also not clear when the 787 will make money. Boeing already took a $2.5 billion charge in 2009 on the program, and it owes additional money to customers for the late deliveries. Boeing executives have said they will announce when the jet will be profitable after the first one is delivered.

The 787 list price runs between $185 million and $218 million. Discounts on new jets are common, though. Aboulafia says it's not clear how steep the discounts offered by Boeing were to lock in all the orders.

Boeing rival Airbus hopes to soon launch its new A350, also made with a significant amount of carbon composites. A successful 787 will put pressure on Airbus to meet its fuel-efficiency goals, and to deliver the plane on time.

The Difference Engine: Fast track to nowhere

OF ALL the high-speed train services around the world, only one really makes economic sense—the 550km (340-mile) Shinkansen route that connects the 35m people in greater Tokyo to the 20m residents of the Kansai cluster of cities comprising Osaka, Kobe, Kyoto and Nara. At peak times, up to 16 bullet trains an hour travel each way along the densely populated coastal plain that is home to over half of Japan’s 128m people.

Having worked for many years in Tokyo, with family in Osaka, your correspondent has made the two-and-a-half hour journey on the Tokaido bullet-train many times. It is clean, fast and highly civilised, though far from cheap. It beats flying, which is unbearably cramped by comparison, just as pricey, and dumps you an hour from downtown at either end.

The sole reason why Shinkansen plying the Tokaido route make money is the sheer density—and affluence—of the customers they serve. All the other Shinkansen routes in Japan lose cart-loads of cash, as high-speed trains do elsewhere in the world. Only indirect subsidies, creative accounting, political patronage and national chest-thumping keep them rolling.

California wants a share of that bullet-train hubris. Where Florida, Ohio and Wisconsin have turned down billions of federal dollars for high-speed rail, the Golden State has been pressing on with its $43-billion scheme to build a high-speed rail service from Los Angeles to the San Francisco Bay Area, with spurs eventually to San Diego, Sacramento and San Luis Obispo.

The irony is that California has the highest rate of car-ownership in the country, if not the world. It also, despite years of neglect, has one of the best road networks anywhere—certainly leagues ahead of Japan’s. On top of that, it enjoys a highly competitive network of budget airlines serving its main cities. The Los Angeles Times got it about right when it editorialised on May 16th that “California’s much-vaunted high-speed rail project is, to put it bluntly, a train wreck”.

And an expensive one at that. Between them, the federal government, municipals along the proposed route and an assortment of private investors are being asked to chip in some $30 billion. A further $10 billion is to be raised by a bond issue that Californian voters approved in 2008. Anything left unfunded will have to be met by taxpayers. They could be dunned for a lot. A study carried out in 2008 by the Reason Foundation, the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and Citizens Against Government Waste put the final cost of the complete 800-mile network at $81 billion.

That is probably not far off the mark. Last week, the state's Legislative Analyst’s Office came out with a damning indictment of the project’s unrealistic cost estimates and poor management. The bill this legislative watchdog put on the first phase of the high-speed rail project alone is $67 billion—and higher still if the project runs into trouble gaining route approval in urban areas.

The report warns lawmakers in Sacramento not to appropriate any money for the project until big changes are made in the way it is managed. The biggest such change is to transfer day-to-day operations from the High-Speed Rail Authority (HSRA), set up to oversee the project, to the California Department of Transportation. Caltrans, which designs and manages the state’s major roadworks, is widely respected around the world for its engineering prowess and professionalism.

That has not stopped the HSRA from racing to get construction started by 2012. To be fair to the authority, $3.6 billion of the funding from the federal government is stimulus money earmarked for use before the presidential election in 2012. While it would make more sense to use this cash to make a start on the link between San Francisco and San Jose, the only part of the proposed route not plagued with political infighting is the sparsely populated Central Valley. Besides, the White House has insisted that the stimulus money be used to create jobs within the Central Valley, where unemployment in many farming communities exceeds 20%.

As a result, the first section of California’s high-speed railway, estimated to cost $5.5 billion, will run 65 miles between the tiny towns of Bordon and Corcoran in the midst of the Central Valley’s farmland. When it was announced last December, critics promptly labelled it “the line to nowhere”.

In defending its decision to lay track in the middle of nowhere, the HSRA argues that there is plenty of space there, little resistance from local residents, and that the line from Los Angeles to the Bay Area will eventually have to go through that part of California anyway. The small section of high-speed track will be connected at both ends to existing lines used by Amtrak, the government-owned passenger railway. Conventional trains will run over the new section until the rest of the high-speed route is completed.

Some are beginning to wonder when, if ever, that might be. The eleventh-hour compromise on the federal budget last month stripped out $400m for high-speed rail in the present fiscal year (2010), and eliminated all federal funding for high-speed rail for the forthcoming fiscal year (2011). That puts the $19 billion in grants that the HSRA was counting on receiving by 2016 in doubt. The congressional action could even put the kibosh on the Central Valley track. And because the bond vote in 2008 required the issue to be matched, dollar for dollar, by money from the federal government, the future of California’s bullet train has begun to look decidedly hazy.

The problem in making the case for high-speed rail in California is that, though it is the most populous state in the union, there are simply not enough people packed into the 50-mile wide coastal strip that wends its way 350 miles from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Put it this way: the Shinkansen plying the Tokaido route have access to some 180,000 potential passengers per mile of high-speed track. Even by 2025, when California’s population is likely to have grown from today’s 38m to 46m or so, the number of people within the coastal strip is unlikely to exceed 85,000 per mile of track.

To put it yet another way, coastal Californians would have to live cheek-by-jowl—as  Japanese people in the megalopolis that stretches from Tokyo to Osaka do—to have any chance of a high-speed rail service that offered at least half a dozen trains an hour and did not require huge tax-payer subsidies. Few would be prepared to make such a sacrifice. With petrol costing half the price paid in Japan and Europe, they will doubtless continue to use their cars for two-to-three-hour journeys and fly for anything longer.

source:http://www.economist.com/blogs/babbage/2011/05/high-speed_trains_0?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/bl/thedifferenceenginefasttracktnowhere

WAFAH DUFOUR OSAMA BIN LADEN'S NIECE

Wafah Dufour, Osama bin Laden’s nieces, daughter of Osama's half-brother was born in California to Arab parents settled in US. She lived a reasonably satisfying life, till the high priest of Islamic terrorism decided to bomb the twin towers. Till 9/11, Wafah Dufour was Wafah bin Laden. 

Her parents left for Switzerland when Wafah Dufour was very young. She grew up in an all-girls school. Wafah knew that OSama bin Laden was in the crosshairs of American intelligence, but never met him in person. Wafah Dufour recollects that she has heard people speaking ill about him, but she herself does not have any soft feelings for him. 

Wafah Dufour's father Yeslam is the half-brother of Osama bin Laden. Yeslam and Osama are among the 54 children of Mohammed bin Laden, who was a leading construction magnate in Saudi Arabia. Wafah Dufour is 32 years old and works as musician and model.

11

Militants attack Karachi naval air base

Pakistan: Militants Attack Karachi Naval Air Base

Pakistan: Militants Attack Karachi Naval Air Base

The BBC's Shahzeb Jillani says this attack will be deeply embarrassing for Pakistan

Continue reading the main story

Gunmen have attacked a military base in the Pakistani city of Karachi, killing at least 11 soldiers, officials say.

The attackers are now holding hostages, including Chinese military personnel, at the Mehran naval aviation base.

Eight hours after the incident began, blasts and gunfire were heard as security forces brought in more troops and tackled the militants.

The Pakistani Taliban says it is responsible for carrying out the attack.

"It was the revenge of martyrdom of Osama Bin Laden. It was the proof that we are still united and powerful," Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters news agency.

 

The Taliban have vowed to avenge the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US Special Forces on 2 May.

They have carried out several attacks since then.

On Sunday evening at 2230 (1730 GMT) militants stormed three hangars housing aircraft at the Mehran base, according to officials.

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said: "We have been able to confine them to one building and an operation is underway either to kill or capture them."

Their first targets were aircraft parked on the tarmac and equipment in nearby hangers, says the BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan at the scene.

Eyewitnesses say the militants used rocket propelled grenades to damage and destroy several warplanes. These included the Pakistan navy's premier anti-submarine attack jet - the US made P-3C Orion.

At least two of these multi-million dollar aircraft were set ablaze.

The gunmen then opened indiscriminate fire, killing several naval personnel as they carried their deadly raid into the heart of the base.

Subsequently, navy commandos and marines launched a counter assault. Dozens of heavily armed army reinforcements also arrived to provide cover.

Some of the militants have now been killed, officials say.

The remaining gunmen have taken several officials, including Chinese military personnel, hostage inside a building. Security officials say commandos are now being sent in to clear this area.

At dawn on Monday, three loud blasts were heard, followed by gunfire.

"The operation still continues. It is not over yet," one security official told Reuters news agency.

On Friday the Taliban bombed a US consulate convoy in Peshawar, killing one Pakistani.

Other attacks by Pakistani militants this month include a raid on a security post that killed two police in the north-west and a twin suicide bombing at a paramilitary police training centre

"The operation still continues. It is not over yet," one security official told Reuters news agency.

On Friday the Taliban bombed a US consulate convoy in Peshawar, killing one Pakistani.

Other attacks by Pakistani militants this month include a raid on a security post that killed two police in the north-west and a twin suicide bombing at a paramilitary police training centre

  Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-13495127

More Arnold Schwarzenegger Love Children? Jane Seymour Suspects Yes!

Were you shocked when you heard the news about Arnold Schwarzenegger's out-of-wedlock baby?

Because Jane Seymour sure wasn't!

"I was not even remotely surprised," the British actress told CNN Tuesday night at the red-carpet premiere of Love, Marriage, Wedding. "The moment I heard it, that there was an announcement of their separation...He was obviously jumping the gun before everyone else told the world of the news."

But then Dr. Quinn delivered the real bomb.

"From what I gather, I think there will be lots of information coming people's way," Seymour said. "I heard about two more [children] somebody else knows about. I even met someone who knows him well."

Er, we're not sure where she's getting her information, but she certainly didn't have any qualms about sharing whatever it is she heard!

Not surprisingly, Schwarzenegger's rep didn't return our request for comment.

source: http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/b242764_more_arnold_schwarzenegger_love.html

Lawyer enters no contest plea for Lindsay Lohan in theft

LOS ANGELES – Lindsay Lohan's attorney has entered a no contest plea on behalf of the actress in a case involving a stolen necklace.

By ANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer 

Lohan did not appear in court for Wednesday's hearing in Los Angeles.

Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner accepted the plea to misdemeanor grand theft that was entered by attorney Shawn Holley.

Sautner says the actress will remain on probation until November and should undergo psychological counseling.

The plea means the 24-year-old actress is not acknowledging guilt but the case stands as a conviction.

Lohan was charged in February with taking a $2,500 necklace from a Venice jewelry store without paying for it. The incident happened roughly three weeks after she was released from court-ordered rehab on a 2007 drunken driving case.

Lohan faces a 120 day jail sentence for violating her probation, but she will serve a fraction of the sentence due to jail overcrowding and may be placed on house arrest.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

For the first time in months, Lindsay Lohan has a court date and she isn't required to appear.

The starlet, who has been a constant fixture at Los Angeles courthouses for nearly a year, is not expected to attend a hearing Wednesday in which her attorney may enter a plea that ends a necklace theft case before trial.

Despite being sentenced to serve 120 days in jail at her last appearance, a judge's decision to downgrade Lohan's felony grand theft case to a misdemeanor means the actress won't have to walk the divided sea of cameras that have given her court appearances a movie premiere feel.

It is Lohan's desire to get back to being filmed as an actress, not a suspect, that has fueled Lohan's desire to end the case with a no contest plea, a person close to Lohan and familiar with her thinking told The Associated Press last month. The person was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The "Mean Girls" star has been cast to play the wife of John Gotti Jr. in a biopic of the infamous mob family titled "Gotti: Three Generations." The film is scheduled to film later this year in New York, and several factors may keep the case from interfering with her shooting the film.

Misdemeanor defendants in criminal matters can generally have their attorneys handle all aspects of their case without appearing in court.

Lohan's lack of a serious criminal record, and the misdemeanor status of her cases, have resulted in three jails stints that ranged from 84 minutes to a few hours. Her longest stay was 14 days after another judge sentenced her to three months in jail — the reduced times are due to jail overcrowding and state-mandated credits for time-served.

The cycle continued April 22 when Lohan was released after a few hours because her attorney indicated she would appeal the four-month jail sentence for her probation violation.

Neither Lohan nor Holley have done anything to pursue the appeal since then.

Los Angeles sheriff's spokesman Steve Whitmore said Tuesday there are many variables that can impact how long Lohan will spend in jail, and he noted that she may be able to serve her sentence at home through electronic monitoring.

"We don't know what the judge is going to order," Whitmore said, noting that in some cases electronic monitoring is specifically ruled out. If Lohan is ordered to spend time behind bars, it will be in a solitary unit at a women's jail where she has been sent four times before.

Lohan's case has been retained by Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephanie Sautner, who last month ruled that Lohan could stand trial for walking out of an upscale jewelry store still wearing a $2,500 necklace she hadn't paid for. Despite living nearby, Lohan never tried to return the item until after it was reported stolen and police obtained a search warrant. Her assistant delivered the necklace to detectives before the warrant could be served.

"I see a level of brazenness with, `Let me see what I can get away with here,'" Sautner said of Lohan's actions.

Her taking of the necklace came roughly three weeks after the 24-year-old was released after spending three months in court-ordered rehab, and while she was still on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case. Her career has been essentially stalled since then, and judges last year sent her to jail twice and rehab twice and have repeatedly proclaimed her chances for leniency were over.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110511/ap_en_ot/us_people_lindsay_lohan;_ylt=AlhWwEJ61gnNYKf4XOf2yuhxFb8C;_ylu=X3oDMTJvMHFvNGxzBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMTEwNTExL3VzX3Blb3BsZV9saW5kc2F5X2xvaGFuBGNwb3MDMQRwb3MDMgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNsYXd5ZXJlbnRlcnM-