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Two Air India pilots have been grounded by the airline after getting into an apparent physical altercation in the cockpit.

The Times of India, which first reported the story on Sunday's incident, quoted an unnamed source saying:

"The commander told his co-pilot to take down critical take off figures for the flight. This involves writing critical facts like number of passengers on board, takeoff weight and fuel uptake on a small paper card [trim sheet] that is displayed in front of the pilots for the entire duration of the flight. The co-pilot took offence at this and reportedly beat up the captain."

An Air India spokesman told the newspaper that the two men had "an argument ... nothing more." But the paper quoted several airline sources saying the "co-pilot abused and beat up the commander."

The newspaper reported that the airline's director of operations will conduct an investigation into the incident, which occurred just before Flight 611 took off from Jaipur en route to New Delhi. A parallel investigation will be carried out by the national Directorate General of Civil Aviation, the newspaper reported.

The flight proceeded to New Delhi in order not to inconvenience passengers, the newspaper reported. There, the pilot logged the incident and returned to Mumbai, where he lives. The Times of India also reported the co-pilot has been involved in similar incidents in the past.

Air India, India's national career, has had a difficult run. Agence France-Presse noted it hasn't reported an annual profit since 2007 and has been "hit by a string of technical glitches and other embarrassing incidents, including staff turning up late for flights." But The Wall Street Journal adds that the airline is trying to improve its image.

"Air India in June joined the Star Alliance, the world's largest grouping of carriers, as part of its effort to cut costs and raise revenue," the Journal reported. "Last week, Air India added a 20th Boeing Dreamliner jet to its fleet. The 787 planes are considered more fuel-efficient than similarly-sized jets."

air india

India

Dear March,

We got your news that employers added just 126,000 jobs on your watch. Hate to say it, but you have disappointed everyone. No doubt you'll say you were under the weather — literally. Sure, it was cold, but still ... Let's hope April does better.

Sincerely,

America

On Friday, the Labor Department's report on weak jobs growth left economists scrambling to explain what went wrong in March.

Most had forecast about 245,000 new jobs for the month, but they were way off base. The Labor Department said employers added only 126,000 workers. The unemployment rate, which is determined by a separate survey of households, held steady at 5.5 percent.

The disappointing March report confirms a wintertime slowdown. The average monthly gain in the first three months of this year was just 197,000 new jobs, down sharply from an average of 324,000 in the final three months of last year.

The Two-Way

Economy Adds A Disappointing 126,000 Jobs In March

So while the positive hiring trend did continue into the new year, it clearly has lost momentum. A lot of people looked at the construction industry — which cut 1,000 jobs last month — and blamed the exceptionally cold temperatures for freezing up so much economic activity.

"One cannot be stunned if wave after wave of severe snow storms and [arctic] temperatures curbed hiring, slashed construction activity, and kept consumers from stores," economist Bernard Baumohl, with The Economic Outlook Group, wrote in his assessment.

This winter brought other problems, such as a drop in the oil-rig count and the West Coast port disruptions, which caused supply-chain reactions. Wells Fargo economists noted that currency changes also hurt, making U.S. exports more expensive this winter: "Manufacturing payrolls edged down by 1,000, with the workweek ticking down, suggesting some modest impact from the stronger dollar."

So fingers can be pointed at some extraordinary factors that weighed down job creation.

But maybe the slowdown's explanation is simpler than that. Maybe it just reflects a cooling of the economy after nearly six years of expansion. The unemployment rate has plunged in recent years, and in the prior 12 months, job growth was averaging a robust 269,000 a month.

So at some point, the labor market was bound to take a breather.

"In retrospect, a correction such as this was very likely," wrote Doug Handler, chief U.S. economist at IHS Global Insight.

Labor Secretary Tom Perez, who spoke with NPR, also noted that March's numbers have to be put into a longer perspective. Consider, he said, that private businesses have added 12.1 million jobs over 61 straight months of job growth, the longest streak on record.

In March 2014, the unemployment rate was 6.6 percent. Perez said that if someone had told him then that the rate would plunge to 5.5 percent in one year, "I would have thought it was an April Fools' joke."

The overall job market's performance in the past year has been strong, he said. "I look at trend data," and the trend has been the worker's friend.

So the big question hanging over the economy is: Did job growth just take a rest during the harsh winter, or is it shifting to a much slower pace?

Handler remains fundamentally optimistic. "This result is more of an aberration than a trend," he said. "The April report will be more in line with stronger reports issued earlier in the year, allowing the March data to be discounted."

And PNC economist Gus Faucher saw some hopeful signs in the wage data, which pointed upward. Workers' wages rose by 2.1 percent over the past year — which beats the consumer inflation rate. "The tighter labor market is leading businesses to raise pay to attract and retain workers," he said.

Still, the report showed enough weakness to suggest the Federal Reserve will be in no rush this summer to raise interest rates.

"Today's sluggish job numbers, job revisions and mild wage growth are signs the Federal Reserve should keep interest rates low for the foreseeable future," AFL-CIO economist Bill Spriggs said. "Today is confirmation the economic recovery is incomplete and we have a long way left to go."

job growth

unemployment rate

Federal Reserve

Labor Department

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.S. to seek a better agreement with Iran over its nuclear weapons program, insisting that he's not trying to kill any deal, just "a bad deal."

Netanyahu, speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, argued that the current plan "leaves the preeminent terrorist state of our time with a vast nuclear infrastructure."

He lamented that "not one centrifuge is destroyed" under the agreement.

Netanyahu also warned that lifting sanctions on Tehran could "spark an arms race among the Sunni states, a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."

His appearances on Sunday news shows come after last week's framework agreement between Tehran and six world powers, including the U.S., that would limit Iran's ability to enrich uranium, convert an enrichment facility into a research center and allow inspections to ensure compliance.

On CNN's State of the Union, the Israeli leader said he's spoken to nearly two-thirds of House and Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the issue.

"This is not a partisan issue. This is not solely an Israeli issue," Netanyahu said on CNN. "This is a world issue because everyone is going to be threatened by the pre-eminent terrorist state of our time, keeping the infrastructure to produce not one nuclear bomb but many, many nuclear bombs down the line."

He did not, however, reiterate remarks made last week that any final agreement must include a "clear and unambiguous Iranian commitment of Israel's right to exist."

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on CBS' Face The Nation, said: "Is there a better deal to be had? I think so."

However, California Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein, on CNN, said she wished that Netanyahu "would contain himself."

"I don't think it's helpful for Israel to come out and oppose this one opportunity to change a major dynamic, which is downhill, a downhill dynamic in this part of the world," she said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Iran nuclear

Israel

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu urged the U.S. to seek a better agreement with Iran over its nuclear weapons program, insisting that he's not trying to kill any deal, just "a bad deal."

Netanyahu, speaking on NBC's Meet the Press, argued that the current plan "leaves the preeminent terrorist state of our time with a vast nuclear infrastructure."

He lamented that "not one centrifuge is destroyed" under the agreement.

Netanyahu also warned that lifting sanctions on Tehran could "spark an arms race among the Sunni states, a nuclear arms race in the Middle East."

His appearances on Sunday news shows come after last week's framework agreement between Tehran and six world powers, including the U.S., that would limit Iran's ability to enrich uranium, convert an enrichment facility into a research center and allow inspections to ensure compliance.

On CNN's State of the Union, the Israeli leader said he's spoken to nearly two-thirds of House and Senate lawmakers on both sides of the aisle about the issue.

"This is not a partisan issue. This is not solely an Israeli issue," Netanyahu said on CNN. "This is a world issue because everyone is going to be threatened by the pre-eminent terrorist state of our time, keeping the infrastructure to produce not one nuclear bomb but many, many nuclear bombs down the line."

He did not, however, reiterate remarks made last week that any final agreement must include a "clear and unambiguous Iranian commitment of Israel's right to exist."

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham on CBS' Face The Nation, said: "Is there a better deal to be had? I think so."

However, California Democrat Sen. Diane Feinstein, on CNN, said she wished that Netanyahu "would contain himself."

"I don't think it's helpful for Israel to come out and oppose this one opportunity to change a major dynamic, which is downhill, a downhill dynamic in this part of the world," she said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

Iran nuclear

Israel