Paul Henry, of Television New Zealand, was forced to resign after he sparked a diplomatic row when he ridiculed the name of Sheila Dikshit, the chief minister of New Delhi.
Dikshit is said to be the driving force behind pulling off the troubled Commonwealth Games in Delhi.
Send us your comments: Should Paul Henry have been forced to quit?
Henry apparently mispronounced Dikshit, despite being told by the lead anchor that it is pronounced “Dixit”.
Dikshit’s surname indicates a member of the Brahmin caste – the highest priestly caste among Indians – and means one who has is on a higher religious level than others. Unfortunately, in the English language it has other connotations.
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said on Monday that Henry had resigned after several hundred complaints to the broadcaster regarding his Dikshit comments and questioning whether the nation’s Governor-General Sir Anand Satyanand, who is of Indian descent, was “even a New Zealander.”
Chile miners: “I want to be last”
The trapped Chilean miners who may even be released as early as this weekend, have made the headlines again after some of the miners are arguing over who will be last to exit their prison hundreds of metres below the ground.
Some of the miners were arguing with their friends that they wanted to be the last to take the 20-minute journey to the surface, as they wanted to see their colleagues exit safely first.
See below the press release from South African company Murray and Roberts detailing their involvement in the rescue operation.
Michelle Obama outpowers Lady Gaga
According to Forbes magazine, American first lady Michelle Obama is the world’s most powerful woman, outmuscling pop diva Lady Gaga who slots in at Number 7 on the Forbes World’s 100 Most Powerful Women list.
Chat show host Oprah is at No. 3, while Hillary Clinton is No 5. Numbers 2 and 4 on the list are non-celebrities.
Wife of 2010 Nobel Peace prize winner under house arrest
The wife of jailed Chinese dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo has been placed under house arrest in Beijing and barred from communicating with media and friends, according to pressure group Human Rights in China. – Source Bloomberg Businessweek
SA company flies the flag in Chile (press release)
Murray & Roberts has been selected to participate in the rescue operation of the 33 miners who have been trapped underground, 688 metres below surface, in the San Jose Mine near the town Copiapo in the north of Chile. The miners have been trapped since 05 August 2010, after the main access tunnel to the mine collapsed.
Murray & Roberts has a controlling shareholding in two mining contracting companies in Chile; Terracem, which is a specialist raise drilling company, and the recently established Cementation Sudamerica, which is focused on major vertical shaft and underground mine infrastructure work. Its partner in Chile is a local company, Terraservice.
On Sunday, 22 August 2010, communication was established with the miners when a Terraservice drill reached their underground refuge chamber. The miners attached a written message to the drill pipe confirming that they were all alive and well.
Murray & Roberts Cementation, managing director, Henry Laas stated, “Rescuing the miners will be a challenging process. The mine is old and there is concern of further collapses. The rescue methodology therefore has to be carefully designed and implemented.”
One of Murray & Roberts’ large diameter raise drilling machines, the Strata 950, will be used by Terracem in the rescue operation. Rotary Vertical Drilling System (RVDS) technology, co-developed by Murray & Roberts, will be applied to accurately drill a pilot hole to reach the trapped miners, where after the hole will be opened up to 660mm or 700mm to rescue the miners.
The Strata 950 has just completed a shaft for Codelco’s Andina Mine and has already been transferred to the San Jose Mine where drilling will commence in the next few days.
“The miners are being cared for by a group of medical specialists and are receiving water, food and medicine through the communications drill hole. Murray & Roberts’ Terracem company will be working for a period of three months to create the access hole for rescue purposes and optimistic that the rescue operation will be completed safely in the next 120 days,” Laas concluded.