Missing Malaysian Flight May Have Been Flown To Taliban Controlled Areas

The most baffling mystery in aviation history continues as search for the missing Malaysian Airliner moves into the 11th day on Tuesday. This even as independent reports have said that the plane was flown towards Taliban controlled areas deliberately.

These reports come a day after Malaysian Newspaper New Straits Times quoted investigators saying that the plane dropped to a height as low as 5,000 feet to avoid radar detection and also kept to commercial paths to avoid raising suspicion. Investigators believe the plane might have flown over three countries.

The unprecedented hunt for the missing Malaysia Airlines jet expanded northwest to Kazakhstan and south into the desolate reaches of the Indian Ocean after Malaysian authorities concluded the plane was deliberately diverted.

However, according to Reuters reports, aviation officials in Pakistan, India and Central Asia as well as Taliban terrorists said they knew nothing about the whereabouts of a missing Malaysian jetliner after the search for Flight MH370 extended into their territory. Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 vanished on March 8 about an hour into its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard and investigators are now increasingly convinced it was diverted thousands of miles off course.

Malaysia said it had sent diplomatic notes to all countries along an arc of northern and southern search corridors including India and Pakistan, requesting radar and satellite information as well as land, sea and air search operations.

Indian defence officials rejected the possibility of a plane flying for hours above the country undetected. "The idea that the plane flew through Indian airspace for several hours without anyone noticing is bizarre," a defence ministry official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"These are wild reports, without any basis," he said, adding a pilot would have to know the precise location of all Indian radars and surveillance systems to be able to get around them. Explaining why this was unlikely, he said surveillance was so tight on India's border facing its nuclear arch-rival Pakistan that the air force scrambled a pair of Sukhoi fighters last month after an unidentified object showed up on the radar.

It turned out to be a weather balloon drifting towards the Pakistan border. Pakistani officials said they had detected nothing suspicious in the skies after the plane vanished. "We have checked the radar recording for the period but found no clue about the ill-fated flight," the Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.

Central Asian countries Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, at the northern end of the search arc, said no unidentified planes had entered their air space on March 8. "Even if all on-board equipment is switched off, it is impossible to fly through in a silent mode," the Kazakh Civil Aviation Committee said in a statement sent to Reuters. "There are also military bodies monitoring the country's air space."

As the search widened, some observers suggested the plane might have flown to remote mountainous areas abutting Pakistan's border with Afghanistan where Taliban terrorists are holed up. Zabihullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban in Afghanistan, who are seeking to oust foreign troops and set up an Islamic state, said the missing plane had nothing to do with them.

"It happened outside Afghanistan and you can see that even countries with very advanced equipment and facilities cannot figure out where it went," he said. "So we also do not have any information as it is an external issue." A commander with the Pakistani Taliban, a separate entity fighting the Pakistani government, said the fragmented group could only dream about such an operation. "We wish we had an opportunity to hijack such a plane," he told Reuters by telephone from the lawless North Waziristan region.

In Delhi, the defence official said that theoretically the aircraft could have flown a path hugging close to the Himalayas where radar is less effective because of the mountains. But again for that sort of "terrain masking", you'd need intelligence and the skills of a military pilot, he said.

In Port Blair, capital of the remote, forested Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Indian Navy Ship Kesari returned to its base after being recalled following a two-day search scanning the Andaman Sea. A senior defence source there said that if the plane had crashed in the area light debris could have drifted a vast distance. "I would estimate that debris would be travelling at least 15 nautical miles an hour, so you can imagine how far it would be after more than a week," he said.

Suicide theory

Meanwhile, authorities have increased their scrutiny of the two pilots - confirming reports that a pilot spoke to air traffic control after a signalling system was disabled on the jet, without referring to any trouble.

The CEO of Malaysian Airlines said earlier on Monday that the last radio message from the plane was an informal "all right, good night" and it was spoken after the system on board communication system was shutdown. This was a sign-off to air traffic controllers as the plane left Malaysian airspace.

Investigators are now considering suicide by the captain or first officer as one possible explanations for the disappearance.

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Crimean Parliament Declares Independence

The Crimean parliament declared independence from Ukraine Monday after official results showed 96.77 percent of Crimean voters chose to join Russia in Sunday's referendum.

The legislature passed an independence declaration during an extraordinary session, proclaiming the Black Sea peninsula an independent sovereign state, the Republic of Crimea, Xinhua reported.

The declaration appeals to the UN and its member states to recognise its existence and promises to "build its relations with other states on the basis of equality, peace, good neighborliness and other universally recognized principles of political, economic and cultural cooperation."

The parliament has also formally sent an application to the Kremlin to join the Russian Federation as a new republic.

A delegation of Crimean authorities is expected to arrive in Moscow later to discuss the procedure of Crimea's integration into Russia's economic and legal system.

Earlier in the month, the Crimean parliament voted to become part of Russia and passed a resolution of declaration of independence, paving the way for Sunday's referendum.

Ukrainian authorities have dismissed the referendum as "illegal", saying it violated the country's constitution.

"Crimea is a territory of the Ukrainian state. Our citizens reside there. We do not recognise and will never recognise the so-called referendum," Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk said.

Western countries including the US, France, Germany and Britain also rejected the referendum, calling the vote "illegal" and "contrary to the Ukrainian constitution".

US President Barack Obama said the US would not recognise the Crimean referendum and vowed to impose fresh sanctions on Russia.

In his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin over the phone, Obama said the vote in the Ukraine's autonomous republic violated the Ukrainian constitution, Xinhua quoted the White House as saying Sunday.

It was also held "under duress of Russian military intervention", Obama said.

He told Putin that "Russia's actions were in violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and that, in coordination with our European partners, we are prepared to impose additional costs on Russia for its actions".

Putin refused to back off.

"Putin said the Crimean population's vote is proceeding in full compliance with international law," the Kremlin web site said, citing the telephone conversation between the leaders.

"Russia will respect the choice of Crimean residents," Putin said, adding that he was concerned about the aggravation of the situation in eastern and southeastern regions of Ukraine.

But Putin and Obama agreed to continue searching for ways to restore stability in Ukraine.

Washington has canceled trade talks and military exchanges with Russia, and Obama has authorised visa bans and freezing of assets of some Russians and Ukrainians blamed for Moscow's military takeover of Crimea.

Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier that Russia would "respect the choice" of the Crimeans.

Merkel, however, underscored the urgency of holding direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, a German government spokesperson said.

The German chancellor said the existing presence of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Ukraine should be quickly expanded.

She stressed that it was urgent and necessary for the governments of Russia and Ukraine to hold direct talks.

Washington and its allies have been pushing for Moscow to withdraw its military personnel posted in bases in Crimea, home to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, allow international monitors into Crimea and to open a dialogue with the Ukrainian government.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius denied the legitimacy of Crimea's referendum, urging Russia to take immediate measures to avoid a "useless" and "dangerous" escalation of Ukrainian crisis.

"Nothing in the way that the referendum has been conducted should convince anyone that it is a legitimate exercise," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

The European Union said the referendum in Crimea was "illegal and illegitimate" and its outcome "will not be recognised".

Moscow Saturday vetoed a UN Security Council draft resolution while China abstained.

The resolution, drawn up by the US and backed by Western countries, called on international organisations to ignore the results of the voting in Crimea.

"China holds an objective and fair position on the Ukraine issue," Liu Jieyi, Chinese permanent representative to the UN, told the Security Council.

"The vote by the Security Council at this juncture will only result in confrontation and further complicate the situation," said Liu.

Crimea, historically part of the Russian Federation, was transferred to Ukraine in May 1954, then a republic of the Soviet Union.

In 1992, the Crimean Supreme Council (parliament) declared independence pending a referendum which was called off by the Ukrainian authorities.

Crimea held two other referendum in 1991 and 1994, testing voters' preference for greater autonomy within Ukraine or uniting with Russia.

The Crimean Supreme Council passed a resolution of declaration of independence March 11 this year to pave the way for Sunday's referendum.

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'Good Night': Haunting Final Contact From Missing Malaysian Airlines Jet

The last words from the cockpit of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 - "all right, good night" - were uttered after someone on board had already begun disabling one of the plane's automatic tracking systems, a senior Malaysian official said.

Both the timing and informal nature of the phrase, spoken to air traffic controllers as the plane with 239 people aboard was leaving Malaysian-run airspace on a March 8 flight to Beijing, could further heighten suspicions of hijacking or sabotage.

The sign-off came after one of the plane's data communication systems, which would have enabled it to be tracked beyond radar coverage, had been deliberately switched off, Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said on Sunday.

"The answer to your question is yes, it was disabled before," he told reporters when asked if the ACARS system - a maintenance computer that sends back data on the plane's status - had been deactivated before the voice sign-off.

The pilot's informal hand-off went against standard radio procedures, which would have called for him to read back instructions for contacting the next control centre and include the aircraft's call sign, said Hugh Dibley, a former British Airways pilot and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

Investigators are likely to examine the recording for any signs of psychological stress and to determine his identity to confirm whether the flight deck had been taken over by hijackers or the pilot himself was involved, he said.

Malaysian investigators are trawling through the backgrounds of the pilots, crew and ground staff who worked on the missing Boeing 777-200ER for clues as to why someone on board flew it perhaps thousands of miles off course.

Background checks of passengers have drawn a blank but not every country whose nationals were on board has responded to requests for information, police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said.

No trace of the plane has been found more than a week after it vanished but investigators believe it was diverted by someone with deep knowledge of the plane and commercial navigation.

Malaysia briefed envoys from nearly two dozen nations and appealed for international help in the search for the plane along two arcs stretching from the shores of the Caspian Sea to the far south of the Indian Ocean.

"The search area has been significantly expanded," Hishammuddin said. "From focusing mainly on shallow seas, we are now looking at large tracts of land, crossing 11 countries, as well as deep and remote oceans."

The plane's disappearance has baffled investigators and aviation experts. It disappeared from civilian air traffic control screens off Malaysia's east coast less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing.

Malaysian authorities believe that, as the plane crossed the country's northeast coast and flew across the Gulf of Thailand, someone on board shut off its communications systems and turned sharply to the west.

Electronic signals it continued to exchange periodically with satellites suggest it could have continued flying for nearly seven hours after flying out of range of Malaysianmilitary radar off the northwest coast, heading towards India.

The plane had enough fuel to fly for about seven-and-a-half to eight hours, Malaysia Airlines' Chief Executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said.

Malaysian officials briefed ambassadors from 22 countries on the progress of the investigation and appealed for international cooperation, diplomats said on Sunday.

PILOTS' HOMES SEARCHED

On Saturday, police special branch officers searched the homes of the captain, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah, and first officer, 27-year-old Fariq Abdul Hamid, in middle-class suburbs of Kuala Lumpur close to the international airport.

An experienced pilot, Zaharie has been described by current and former co-workers as a flying enthusiast who spent his days off operating a life-sized flight simulator he had set up at home.

Police chief Khalid said investigators had taken the flight simulator for examination by experts.

Earlier, a senior police official said the flight simulator programmes were closely examined, adding they appeared to be normal ones that allow players to practice flying and landing in different conditions.

Police sources said they were looking at the personal, political and religious backgrounds of both pilots and the other crew members. Khalid said ground support staff who might have worked on the plane were also being investigated.

A second senior police official told media investigators had found no links between Zaharie, a father of three grown-up children and a grandfather, and any militant group.

Postings on his Facebook page suggest the pilot was a politically active opponent of the coalition that has ruled Malaysia for the 57 years since independence.

A day before the plane vanished, Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was convicted of sodomy and sentenced to five years in prison, in a ruling his supporters and international human rights groups say was politically influenced.

Asked if Zaharie's background as an opposition supporter was  being examined, the first senior police officer would say only: "We need to cover all our bases."

"Malaysia Airlines has said it did not believe Zaharie would have sabotaged the plane and colleagues were incredulous." Please, let them find the aircraft first. Zaharie is not  suicidal, not a political fanatic as some foreign media are saying," a Malaysia Airlines pilot who is close to Zaharie told Reuters.

"Is it wrong for anyone to have an opinion about politics?" Co-pilot Fariq was religious and serious about his career, family and friends said. The two pilots had not made any request to fly together.

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India Joins The Search For Missing Malaysian Jet

Malaysia's military has traced what could have been the jetliner missing for almost five days to an area south of the Thai holiday island of Phuket, hundreds of miles from its last known position, the country's air force chief said on Wednesday.

After a series of at times conflicting statements, the latest revelation underlined that authorities remain uncertain even where to look for the plane, and no closer to explaining what happened to Malaysia Airlines light MH370 or the 239 people on board.

The flight disappeared from civilian radar screens shortly before 1:30 a.m. on Saturday, less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, as it flew northeast across the mouth of the Gulf of Thailand bound for Beijing. What happened next is one of the most baffling mysteries in modern aviation history.

Malaysian air force chief Rodzali Daud told a news conference that an aircraft was plotted on military radar at 2:15 a.m., 200 miles (320 km) northwest of Penang Island off Malaysia's west coast.

It was not confirmed that the unidentified plane was Flight MH370, but Malaysia was sharing the data with international civilian and military authorities, Rodzali said.

"We are corroborating this," he added. "We are still working with the experts, it's an unidentified plot."

According to the data from Rodzali, if it was the missing plane it would have flown for 45 minutes and lost only about 5,000 feet (1,500 metres) in altitude.

There was no word on which direction it was headed and still no clue what happened aboard, prolonging the agonising wait for news for hundreds of relatives of those on board. (Read here)

A position 200 miles northwest of Penang, in the northern part of the Strait of Malacca, would put the plane roughly south of Phuket and east of the tip of Indonesia's Aceh province and India's Nicobar island chain.

Indonesia and Thailand have said their militaries detected no sign of any unusual aircraft in their airspace.

The position is hundreds of miles west of the point where the Boeing 777-200ER dropped off air traffic control screens. Malaysia has asked India for help in tracing the aircraft and New Delhi's coastguard planes have joined the search. (Indian Air Force on standby for Malaysian plane search operations)

Authorities however are continuing to search around both locations - at the last known position of the plane over the Gulf of Thailand and around the radar plotting site where the Malacca Strait meets the Andaman Sea.

In total, the search is over 27,000 square nautical miles (93,000 sq km), an area the size of Hungary or Indiana.

Until now, there has been no confirmed sighting of the plane or any debris.

A dozen countries are helping Malaysia in the search, with 42 ships and 39 aircraft involved, Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said.

"My heart reaches out to the families of the passengers and crew," he said. "And I give you my assurance we will not reduce the tempo and that we will not spare any effort to find the missing plane."

 Malaysia has been criticised for giving conflicting and confusing information on the last known location of aircraft.

Earlier on Wednesday, air force chief Rodzali had denied saying military radar had tracked MH370 flying over the Strait of Malacca.

Vietnam briefly scaled down search operations in waters off its southern coast, saying it was receiving scanty and confusing information from Malaysia over where the aircraft may have headed after it lost contact with air traffic control.

Hanoi later said the search - now in its fifth day - was back on in full force and was even extending on to land. China also said its air force would sweep areas in the sea, clarifying however that no searches over land were planned.

"As long as the plane is not found, we would continue doing our mission," Vo Van Tuan, spokesman for Vietnam Search and Rescue Committee, told reporters in Hanoi.

"We should always keep up hope, there can be miracles, humans can survive for a long time in difficult conditions. We must not give up hope that the missing people are still alive."

 In the absence of any concrete evidence to explain the plane's disappearance, authorities have not ruled out anything. Police have said they were investigating whether any passengers or crew on the plane had personal or psychological problems that might shed light on the mystery, along with the possibility of a hijacking, sabotage or mechanical failure.

The airline said it was taking seriously a report by a South African woman who said the co-pilot of the missing plane had invited her and a female companion to sit in the cockpit during a flight two years ago, in an apparent breach of security.

"Malaysia Airlines has become aware of the allegations being made against First Officer Fariq Ab Hamid which we take very seriously. We are shocked by these allegations. We have not been able to confirm the validity of the pictures and videos of the alleged incident," the airline said in a statement.

The woman, Jonti Roos, told Reuters that she and her friend were invited to fly in the cockpit by Fariq and the pilot between Phuket and Kuala Lumpur in December 2011.

"I thought that they were highly skilled and highly competent and since they were doing it that it was allowed," Roos said. "I want to make it clear, at no point did I feel we were in danger or that they were acting irresponsibly."

Hugh Dunleavy, the commercial director of Malaysia Airlines, told Reuters there was no reason to blame the crew.

"We have no reason to believe that there was anything, any actions, internally by the crew that caused the disappearance of this aircraft," he said.

The Boeing 777 has one of the best safety records of any commercial aircraft in service. Its only previous fatal crash came on July 6 last year when Asiana Airlines Flight 214 struck a seawall on landing in San Francisco, killing three people.

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Malaysian Military Tracked Missing Jet To Strait Of Malacca

Malaysia's military believes it tracked the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner by radar over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control off the country's east coast, a military source said.

The Strait of Malacca, one of the world's busiest shipping channels, runs along Malaysia's west coast. The airline said on Saturday that the flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew last had contact off the east coast Malaysian town of Kota Bharu.

"It changed course after Kota Bharu and took a lower altitude. It made it into the Malacca Strait," the military official, who has been briefed on investigations, told media.

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Malaysia Air Probe Finds Scant Evidence Of Terror Attack

Investigators in Malaysia are voicing skepticism that the airliner that disappeared early Saturday with 239 people on board was the target of an attack, U.S. and European government sources close to the probe said.

The fate of the Malaysian airliner that vanished about an hour into a flight to Beijing remained a mystery, as a massive air and sea search, now in its third day, failed to turn up any trace of the Boeing 777 plane.

Neither Malaysia's Special Branch, the agency leading the investigation locally, nor spy agencies in the United States and Europe have ruled out the possibility that militants may have been involved in downing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

But Malaysian authorities have indicated that the evidence so far does not strongly back an attack as a cause for the aircraft's disappearance, and that mechanical or pilot problems could have led to the apparent crash, the U.S. sources said.

"There is no evidence to suggest an act of terror," said a European security source, who added that there was also "no explanation what's happened to it or where it is."

Meanwhile, dozens of ships and aircraft from 10 countries were still scouring the seas around Malaysia and south of Vietnam as questions mounted over possible security lapses that could have led to a downing of the Boeing 777-200ER after it climbed to an altitude of 35,000 feet (10,670 meters).

Interpol confirmed on Sunday at least two passengers used stolen passports and said it was checking whether others aboard had used false identity documents.

Even so, one U.S. source said Malaysian authorities were leaning away from the theory that the plane was attacked. Their view was mostly based on electronic evidence that indicates the flight may have turned back toward the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur before disappearing.

Even that information has not been clearly confirmed, and investigators and intelligence sources say the fate of the Flight MH370 is still shrouded in mystery.

One reason was that the aircraft had failed to make automatic contact with a flight data-monitoring system after vanishing from radar screens, two people familiar with the matter said on Monday. Such contact could have helped investigators determine what happened.

The aircraft was equipped with a maintenance computer capable of talking to the ground automatically through short messages known as ACARS. "There were no signals from ACARS from the time the aircraft disappeared," a source involved in the investigations said.

Also raising doubts about the possibility of an attack, the United States extensively reviewed imagery taken by spy satellites for evidence of a mid-air explosion, but saw none, a U.S. government source said. The source described U.S. satellite coverage of the region as thorough.

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Obama To Meet New Ukrainian PM On Wednesday

U.S President Barack Obama will meet Ukraine's new Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk here on Wednesday.

The visit will highlight the "strong" support of the United States for the people of Ukraine, who have "demonstrated inspiring courage and resilience through recent times of crisis", said sources at the White House.

Obama and Yatsenyuk are likely to discuss how to find a peaceful resolution to Russia's ongoing military intervention in Crimea that would respect Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity

They would also discuss international support to help Ukraine confront its economic challenges, and the importance of uniting Ukraine and working to fulfill the aspirations of the Ukrainian people as they prepare for May presidential elections.

"(Obama) has invited the Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk to come to the White House on Wednesday to further demonstrate support and consult him," Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor Blinken told the media.

Crimea, host to Russia's Black Sea Fleet, has been at the epicenter of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine since Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted by parliament Feb 22.

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Pak Actress Sana Khan Dies In Road Accident

Pakistani actress Sana Khan has died in an accident near Looni Kot, around 30 km off Hyderabad, a media report said.

Sana and her husband actor Babar Khan were on their way from Karachi to Hyderabad in a car when the vehicle, driven by Babar, went out of control Friday, reports dawn.com.

The car overturned, leaving the duo seriously injured.

The motorway police and ambulance reached the spot soon after receiving the information, and shifted them to Liaquat University Hospital Jamshoro.

Sana breathed her last before she could get any first aid while Babar was later shifted to Liaquat University Hospital City Branch.

Babar, who had married Sana in December 2013, is said to be in critical condition.

Sana was known for her appearance in a serial "Parchaiyan" and Babar is known for the serial "Ek Tamana Lahasil Se".

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Five Indians Among 239 On Board Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane

A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew crashed in the South China Sea a propos the order of Saturday, Vietnamese own occurring media said, quoting a senior naval qualified.
The Boeing 777-200ER flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had been missing for hours gone Vietnam's Tuoi Tre news quoted Admiral Ngo Van Phat as saying he had asked boats from an island off south Vietnam to rush to the calamity site.
If the report is avowed, it would mark the U.S.-built zeppelin's deadliest wreck in front entering encouragement 19 years ago.
Malaysia Airlines had yet to assert that the blimp had crashed. It said earlier in the hours of day that no shape signal had been hermetic and cited to the fore speculation that the zeppelin may have landed in Nanming in southern China.
Flight MH370, effective a Boeing 777-200ER plane, last had right of door taking into account character traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines chief doling out Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a assertion entre to a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysia and Vietnam were conducting a joint search and rescue, he said but gave no details. China has as well as sent two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to assistance in any rescue, divulge television said upon one of its microblogs.
"We are totally terrified," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters in Beijing in the yet to be the Vietnamese parable that the plane had crashed. "The news is utterly moving. We desire everyone upon the plane is safe."
The flight left Kuala Lumpur at 12.21 a.m. (11.21 a.m. ET Friday) but no relish had been found of the blimp hours after it was due to home in the Chinese capital at 6.30 a.m. (5.30 p.m. ET Friday) the thesame hours of daylight.
"We intensely regret that we have free all connections subsequent to flight MH370," Jauhari said.
Malaysia Airlines said people from 14 nationalities were along along furthermore the 227 passengers, including at least 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 12 Indonesians, six Australians and three Americans. It in addition to said a Chinese infant and an American infant were upon board.
If it is stated that the airliner has crashed, the loss would mark the second fatal mistake involving a Boeing 777 in less than a year and by far afield the worst back the airliner entered encourage in 1995.
An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER crash-landed in San Francisco in July 2013, killing three passengers and injuring on zenith of 180.
Boeing said it was occurring to date of reports that the Malaysia Airlines blimp was missing and was monitoring the business but had no added comment. The flight was lithe as a China Southern Airlines codeshare.
An attributed at the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV) said the zeppelin had fruitless to check in as scheduled at 1721 GMT while it was on high on pinnacle of the sea moreover Malaysia and Ho Chi Minh city.

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Attack On China Train Station Leaves 33 Dead

At least 33 people were killed and 130 injured Saturday in a railway station attack in China's Kunming city, authorities said Sunday.

It was an organised, premeditated terrorist attack, Xinhua reported citing the authorities.

The incident occurred in the capital city of Yunnan province when a group of terrorists attacked people with knives at the Kunming railway station at around 9 p.m., causing death and injuries, police said.

The Kunming station, located in the downtown area of the city, is one of the largest railway stations in China.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged the law enforcement to solve the case with all efforts and punish the terrorists in accordance with the law.

Yang Haifei, a resident of Yunnan province who was attacked and sustained injuries on his chest and back said, he was buying a ticket when a group of people rushed into the station, most of them in black dress, and started attacking people.

"I saw a person come straight at me with a long knife and I ran away with everyone," he said, adding that people who were slower were severely injured.

Train departures, however, have not been affected, the Kunming railway bureau said.

The security management bureau under the ministry of public security called the incident a "severe violent crime".

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Obama Warns Against Military Intervention In Ukraine

US President Barack Obama said Friday that Washington is "terribly concerned" about reported Russian military leisure keep busy in Ukraine and warned that " there will be costs" for any military charity in the country.
Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be "very destabilsing," Xinhua quoted Obama as axiom in a suddenly settled speech at the White House, tallying that it would violate Russia's loyalty to esteem Ukraine's borders and would invite global condemnation.
"The United States will stand also the international community in affirming that there will be costs for any military outfit in Ukraine," the US president optional extra.

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Army Chief General VK Singh Files Legal Notice Against Shinde

As former Army Chief VK Singh gears up to join the BJP on Saturday, he has filed a legal notice against Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde.

CNN IBN has accessed a copy of the notice against Shinde which accuses the Home Minister of deliberately not acting against individuals who accused VK Singh of leading a mutiny in 2012. This is in reference to the movement of armed troops towards Delhi in January 2012, which was dismissed by Singh as a routine exercise.

General Singh says in the notice that Shinde's action pointed towards a nexus between the accused and him.

In the letter, Singh has accused Shinde of blatantly disregarding national interest and abetting the commission of treason, sedition and the violation of the Official Secrets Act.

General Singh who was a vociferous member of veteran social activist Anna Hazare's anti-corruption movement will be joining the BJP on Saturday.

He will march from Amar Jawan Jyoti at India Gate to BJP headquarters in Delhi where his formal induction will take place.

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Violence In Iraq, 47 Killed

At least 47 people were killed and over 70 wounded Thursday in separate attacks witnessed in different parts of Iraq, including three deadly bombings in capital city of Baghdad, police said.

In the worst incident in Baghdad's Sadr City, a booby-trapped motorcycle exploded at a popular market, leaving at least 32 people dead and 56 injured. In another incident, an improvised explosive device struck a minibus, killing five civilians and wounding two, Xinhua reported.

In a separate incident, a roadside bomb struck a bus in the neighbourhood of Shaab in northeast Baghdad, killing a passenger and wounding three.

In Tarmiya area, some 30 km from Baghdad, two Iraqi soldiers were killed and three wounded when a car bomb targetted an army patrol. Another similar attack injured three soldiers earlier in the day.

In a Sunni-dominated province of Salahudin, gunmen attacked a checkpoint manned by members of a government-backed Sahwa paramilitary group in Shirqat city, leaving two group members killed.

In Diyala province, police found a body, riddled with bullets and dumped near a river, of an ex-officer of former president Saddam Hussain's army. He was kidnapped earlier from near his house.

Also in the province, unidentified gunmen shot dead a civilian in Maqdadiyah and fled the scene.

In Anbar province, gunmen attacked an army checkpoint in the provincial capital of Ramadi, some 110 km from Baghdad, killing two soldiers and injuring five, local police said.

In the south of the militant-seized city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of Baghdad, snipers shot dead a civilian while driving his car.

The UN Assistance Mission for Iraq said a total of 8,868 Iraqis, including 7,818 civilians and civilian police personnel, were killed in 2013, the highest annual death toll in recent years.

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Pak Air Strikes Against Suspected Militants In Tribal Areas

Pakistan's military have launched air strikes against suspected militant hideouts in the north-west, killing at least 15 people, officials say.

Fighter jets bombed targets in the North Waziristan tribal area on Tuesday, officials said.Fighting was also reported in South Waziristan.

Talks between Pakistani government and Taliban militant negotiators broke down last week, after a Taliban-linked group said they killed 23 soldiers.

"The militants had captured a stretch between South Waziristan and North Waziristan and had established training centres where they were also preparing suicide bombers," a military official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The latest attacks primarily took place in the Shawal valley and Dattakhel areas of North Waziristan, Reuters news agency added.

Last week, government negotiators suspended a planned meeting with Taliban negotiators after militants based in the Mohmand tribal area said they had killed 23 soldiers who had been abducted and held since 2010.

Those killings, and other violence in the past weeks, also triggered air strikes on suspected militant hideouts last Thursday.

Pakistani jets also carried out strikes on suspected militant hideouts in North Waziristan last month, following a wave of attacks against security forces.

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Bappi Lahiri Appointed As UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador In Nepal

Popular music director Bappi Lahiri has been appointed the goodwill ambassador of UNESCO Nepal's 'Education For All' in a unique honour.The Chief Patron of National Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Association of Nepal, Vinod Khetawat, said he appreciated the hit song maker's gesture."We feel Bappi Lahiri's words will be accorded the highest importance as Nepal has always held the singer in high esteem. We are glad he accepted our proposal," Khetawat said.

Lahiri told media he felt honoured by the appointment and was glad to know that his compositions were liked by the people of Nepal.

"Every child should be given the right to education. Literacy is the foundation stone on which developing nations will grow and emerge. I am positive that my words will make a difference in the lives of millions of children."

Lahiri, also known as 'disco king' for the hit music he had composed for a Hindi film 'Disco Dancer' and other movies in the late 80s, has given tunes to over 5,000 songs in over 500 films in Hindi, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam,Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Punjabi, Bhojpuri, Assamese and Odiya.The music director recently joined politics. Last month he was inducted into the BJP by party chief Rajnath Singh.

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Justin Bieber Given Police Protection To Prevent Fans Trespassing

Justin Bieber has been getting extra attention from the police while renting out an Atlanta mansion resembling a spaceship.

Bieber moved in to the mansion of R&B star Dallas Austin last week after signing a three-month rental agreement, and he is rumoured to be keen to find a property of his own in the hip-hop Mecca, reports contactmusic.com.The area that the property is in, falls under the jurisdiction of the Sandy Spring Police Department. The force has now put officers on special patrol to guard the troubled pop star's privacy.

The law official of the area is said to be aware of the problems Bieber had with some of his neighbours in Calabasas, California; and insists his police department will not tolerate any troublemaking from the 'Baby' hitmaker.

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67 Confirmed Dead In Ukraine Violence

More than 67 people have been killed in three days of violence in Ukranian capital city, the Kiev City. So far, more than 500 people have suffered injuries of which 332 have been hospitalised since Tuesday.

It has been reported that over 22 bodies of other demonstrators in a camp where medics treat wounded activists.

Moreover, the country's Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko said that at least 13 police officers have been killed and 67 captured by radical demonstrators since Tuesday.

Zakharchenko also said that police had been issued with combat weapons and would use them "in accordance with the law" to defend themselves.

Protests in Kiev began in November after President Viktor Yanukovych backtracked on a trade deal with the European Union and rather preferred a $15bn bailout from Russia. They turned violent in mid-January and have been remarkably escalating this week.

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Obama To Meet Dalai Lama Today

President Barack Obama will meet exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama at the White House. This meeting comes as the United States raises concerns about tensions and human rights in Tibetan areas of China."We are concerned about continuing tensions and the  deteriorating human rights situation in Tibetan areas of China,"  said Caitlin Hayden, a spokeswoman for the White House National  Security Council.

"We will continue to urge the Chinese government to resume dialogue with the Dalai Lama or his representatives, without preconditions, as a means to reduce tensions," Hayden said in a statement announcing meeting scheduled to take place at 10 a.m.

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AAP Against Crony Capitalism, Not Capitalism: Kejriwal

Aam Aadmi Party founder  Arvind Kejriwal today said his party is adjoining crony capitalism not capitalism.
He with said it is not the job of the government to appeal off problem, rather it should focus in relation to governance.
"We are not adjoining capitalism, but we are amid to crony capitalism. We are depressed taking into account spectrum worth Rs 1.5 lakh crore is purchased and sold for Rs 6,000 crore within one week. This is not called event, it is called dacoity," he said though sharing AAP's economic plot at a CII issue.
Kejriwal during his 49-hours of daylight tenure as the Delhi Chief Minister ordered CAG audit of performance discoms and initiated take effect adjoining Mukesh Ambani, Reliance Industries and Oil Minister Veerappa Moily alleging complicity in fixing gas prices.
"There is a no scrutinize little section of industrialists in our country who are not industrialists or businessmen, but they are looting the country. We are closely them but not adjacent door to you every one of. If businesses are closed later who will generate employment," he said.
The AAP chief said a ruining-pardon admin can sustain businesses intensify and his party is animate to making India pardon of corruption.
Kejriwal alleged that supervision has knowingly kept the judicial system inefficient and said that there is a compulsion to condense litigation, especially from dispensation side.
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All on board crashed Nepal plane feared Dead

All 18 people, including a foreigner and an infant, on board a small plane were feared killed on Sunday when it crashed in bad weather while on its way from a popular tourist resort to a town in western Nepal.

The 19-seater Twin Otter of Nepal Airlines took off from Pokhara airport at 12:40 pm and disappeared 15 minutes later.

"The aircraft with 15 passengers and three crew members, which flew from 12.40 pm from Pokhara airport lost contact with the airport tower minutes after take off," according to Nepal Airlines officials.

It later found crashed in a jungle at Khidim of Arghakhanchi district.

Though, the condition of the passengers is not yet known, all 18 people on board, are feared dead, authorities said.

The aircraft was carrying 14 Nepalese passengers, including an infant and a Danish citizen.

As per the preliminary reports bad weather was the cause behind the accident.

The accident site was spotted, where fire flames were seen and army and civilian helicopters have been mobilised to carry out rescue operations.

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