Rescuers were on their way to the crash site near the 12,700-foot high Salang Pass, a major route through the Hindu Kush mountains that connects the capital to the north. The plane, on a flight from the northern city of Kunduz, went down about 60 miles from Kabul.
Read the full report from the Associated Press:
via yahoo
By Sushanta Talukdar
The DII is based on seven broad indicators — transport facilities in terms of road density and road quality, energy, water supply, education, health facilities, communication infrastructure and banking facilities.
The Ministry has used the composite NER DII to give ranking from 1 to 80 to all the 80 districts (In all there are 86 districts in eight Northeast States. However, six new districts, four in Assam and two in Arunachal Pradesh have been clubbed with the old districts from which those were carved out, for the purpose of DII).
It has also prepared State-wise composite infrastructure index and district ranking on 14 indicators covering the seven broad indicators. Imphal West district in Manipur ranks first while Kiphire in Nagaland ranks the lowest rank 80 under the Indes.
Going by the district ranking South Sikkim district has the first rank with 7.07 banks per 100 sq. km, while Kolasib district in Mizoram has 80th rank with only 0.02 banks per 100 sq.km..
The ranking on density and quality of roads has West Tripura district having the first rank with 206.62 km of road per 100 sq. km, while Kurung Kumey district in Arunachal is ranked 80 with only 2.53 km road per 100 sq. km.
Similarly Serchhip district in Mizoram ranks first on village electrification with 100 per cent villages electrified while Dhemaji in Assam ranks the lowest at 80 with only 26.01 per cent villages electrified.
The Ministry will use the DII for final approval of the schemes and projects submitted by the States to be funded under the Non-Lapsable Central Pool of Resources.
As the German TV presenter Collien Fernandes got the the title of “Sexiest Woman in the World 2010,” men’s magazine FHM Germany bring her on the cover page of its June 2010. This talented girl is try her luck almost in every field of fame as she is singer, VJ, TV presenter, actress and model at the same time. 
Ultimo lingerie knows how to get things right, and by right we mean they really know how to get customers excited about their lingerie line.
If excitement is what Ultimo lingerie is aiming for then excitement is what they got, because putting the incredibly sexy Kelly Brook in lingerie and taking photos of Kelly Brook doing seductive poses in lingerie gets me damn excited um about Ultimo lingerie.
Kelly Brook looks incredible, amazing, steaming hot. 
TMZ has learned Rachel Uchitel has signed a deal to get naked for Playboy Magazine -- but there's a full-frontal catch.
Rachel hedged when we asked her about a Playboy offer on TMZ Live on Friday -- but we found out that Tiger Woods' #1 mistress has already struck an agreement.
A source close to the mag tells us Rachel has the right to pull out any time before the shoot goes down -- which is in three weeks. We're also told Rachel won't be baring it all -- just the backside ... and the topside.
[ via tmz ]
A group of dissatisfied Facebook users have teamed up in an effort to organize a mass, coordinated exodus from Facebook--and they're using social networks to do it.
Their site, QuitFacebookDay.com, asks users to "commit to quit" Facebook on May 31 by signing their name or Twitter handle to the list of pledges.
The cause has attracted several hundred pledges--about 780 at the time of writing.
There's also a Facebook Page devoted to the planned exit.
"If you agree that Facebook doesn't respect you, your personal data or the future of the Web, you may want to join us," QuitFacebookDay.com explains.
For those who oppose Facebook's new privacy policy, but find "Quit Facebook Day" too extreme, there is an alternative that doesn't require immediately letting go of Facebook-based online social connections, photos or videos.
Facebook Protest seeks to challenge Facebook's recent push for more openness by proposing a boycott of Facebook services on June 6.
"Facebook's real customer is the advertisers that they work with: NOT YOU," Facebook Protest's official statement reads. The soon-to-be protesters also ask participants to:
commit to not logging in or interacting with Facebook in any way. Be sure to log out of Facebook in all of your browsers no later than the evening of June 5th. On the 6th, be sure to not use Facebook connect or click any "Like" buttons: basically refrain from ALL Facebook related activity.
The movement already has a following on Twitter (@FacebookProtest), and even has its own Facebook Event page.
On the other hand, if you want to delete your Facebook account without waiting until May 31 (or June) here's how.
AAI’s Agartala airport officiating controller R.C. Das said the decision to upgrade the Agartala airport was taken as part of the India’s Look East policy.
“As part of the plan, the terminal building, air traffic control tower, runway and other necessary infrastructure would be expanded and further strengthened,” Das told IANS.
A state government official said the AAI has sought 200 acres of land “to build additional infrastructure”.
The official said the chief ministers of Tripura and Meghalaya had been demanding introduction of direct flights between Agartala, Shillong and Dhaka to boost trade and economic activities between Bangladesh and northeast India.
“If the Agartala airport is made an international airport, the airway communication between India and southeast Asian countries would be easier and it would help in boosting trade and economy of the region,” said the official.
Among the northeastern airports, only in Agartala and Guwahati airports have night landing facilities.
At present, on an average ten aircraft operate every day through the Agartala airport, connecting Delhi, Kolkata, Guwahati, Imphal and Silchar in southern Assam.
With Guwahati airport being the main and only international airport in northeast India, there are 11 operational airports in the land-locked region, namely Tezpur, Dibrugarh, Jorhat, Lilabari (all in Assam), Dimapur, Silchar, Agartala, Shillong, Lengpui (Aizawl) and Imphal - apart from Bagdogra in the Himalayan foothills in West Bengal.
There are nine more non-operational airports in the northeast.
The North Eastern Council (NEC), the regional planning committee for the eight northeastern states, will soon float fresh tenders for operating an airline for the region.
“The NEC had floated tenders twice to select the airline, but the two private airlines and the state-run Alliance Air, which have submitted bids, could not fulfill the criteria of the NEC and the DoNER (development of northeastern region) ministry,” the official said.
He said the NEC had cancelled the bid and would float tenders, relaxing the criteria.
The pre-monsoon rains accompanied by strong winds and hailstorm Sunday night damaged more than 1,000 houses and killed many cattle in western and southern Tripura.
“Three people, including a woman, were killed in separate incidents of wall collapse and lightning at Teliamura in western Tripura,” a relief department official told reporters.
Ten people who were hurt in these incidents have been shifted to government hospitals, the official said.
Hundreds of trees, telephone and electric poles were uprooted in the squall, badly affecting the movement of vehicles Monday.
“Civil defence workers and district officials are busy providing relief. Telecommunication and power corporation personnel are working to restore communication lines and power supply,” the official said.
Similar cyclonic rainstorms accompanied by heavy lightning since March have also killed 15 more people in Tripura, damaged 15,000 houses and caused large scale destruction.
Meteorological department director Dilip Saha told IANS: “The seasonal Nor’wester (cyclonic rainstorm) would continue till the onset of monsoon next month. The recurring Nor’wester is now active in entire eastern and northeast India and few other places in the country.”
“The northeastern region, due to its topography, is a lightning-prone area. Lightning claims on an average 100 lives every year specially during March to May,” said Swapan Bhowmik, a physicist of the National Institute of Technology (NIT), Agartala.
