JEDDAH: Khaled Al-Mulhim, director general of Saudi Arabian Airlines, described the seizure of the airline’s Boeing 777-200 jet in Paris as an arbitrary measure and said such unilateral actions would affect continuation of its operations to France.“We’ll work with French authorities to stop such arbitrary measures,” Al-Mulhim said while commenting on the plane’s seizure at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris on Friday.Eagle Aviation, an aircraft-leasing firm based in Saint Nazaire, alleged that Saudia owed $2 million (2.6 million euros) to the company for providing the aircraft.“We’ll ask Eagle Aviation, which has been recently declared bankrupt ... to pay amounts higher than what it demands from us,” the Saudia chief said, referring to their legal battle. He said the leasing company had refused to reach a settlement.
Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...
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