Mystery surrounds co-pilot's final words

"All right, good night" were the last words from the cockpit of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370.

 

These words have come under intense scrutiny in the recent days over whether they were said by the pilot or someone who was not supposed to be in the cockpit.

 

However, Malaysian authorities said today preliminary investigations show that these last words were from co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid (left).

 

"Initial investigations indicate that it was the co-pilot who basically spoke the last time, it was recorded on tape," MAS chief executive officer Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a press conference at Sama-Sama Hotel, KL International Airport.

 

This final conversation took place just 11 minutes before MH370 disappeared from Malaysian air traffic control radar at 1.30am on March 8.

 

Did something happen to the co-pilot in those 11 minutes or was the co-pilot part of something devious? [View timeline of final communication here]

 

These questions have prompted the international media to cast a spotlight on whether MH370's communication system, the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (Acars), was turned off before or after the final cockpit communication.

When was the Acars switched off?
 

Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said yesterday the Acars was turned off before the last cockpit communication with the control tower - now deduced to be with Fariq.

 

That statement, which was clarified to be inaccurate today, had raised questions as to why Fariq did not indicate anything amiss to the control tower, despite the Acars being turned off even though it should not have been.

 

Jauhari (right) said today it could not be established whether the Acars was turned off before or after Fariq's communication.

 

"The last Acars transmission was 1.07am. We don't know when the Acars was switched off after that but it was supposed to transmit every 30 minutes and the next transmission did not come through," he said.

 

That means the next Acars transmission - that did not take place - should have been at 1.37am.

 

This indicates the Acars could have been turned off at any time before or after 1.19am, but still between 1.07am and 1.37am, which is the time of the final communication with the control tower.

 

This latest information gives Fariq the benefit of the doubt, but does not shed light on what happened in the next crucial 11 minutes when the plane lost communication and deviated from its path.

Pilot was not a stand-in

The plane's transponder, a key communication device tracked by air traffic controllers, could not be picked up at 1.21am by Vietnamese air traffic controllers as scheduled.

 

Jauhari also denied that the pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah (left) was a last minute replacement for the flight.

 

"The roster used was according to schedule," he said.

 

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin who was also present at the press conference confirmed that pilot suicide was among several angles that are being investigated in investigation of the flight's passengers by the police.

 

However, he declined to state whether the investigation thus far found whether the pilot and co-pilot were suffering from any personal problems.

Only RoS can decide on MIC re-election’

Former MIC Youth chief says the MIC central working committee cannot decide not to hold a re-election.

PETALING JAYA: Only the Registrar of Societies (RoS) can decide on the party re-election and not the MIC central committee members, said former MIC Youth chief T Mohan.

Mohan said since more than 50 reports had been lodged with the RoS on irregularities in the CWC and division elections, only the registrar could decide now.

“It is unlawful for CWC members to dismiss appeals made by party members and leaders who now want a re-election.

“The letter from MIC president G Palanivel and CWC are their personal views and the final say is with the RoS,” he said in the statement.

He said only the RoS could decide if a re-election was warranted or not.

Mohan was commenting on an announcement by the party secretary-general last week that the party had dismissed all petitions calling for a re-election following alleged vote manipulation and voting irregularities at the party polls late last year.

Disgruntled leaders and members have been asking the party leadership to hold a re-election, claiming that the MIC polls, held on Nov 30, 2013 in Malacca, was marred with irregularities.

“We do not care about the party’s stand. The RoS is investigating party leaders and election committee personnel. Let them decide on whether a re-election is needed or not,” said Mohan.

He said Palanivel did not want to hold the party elections last year but was forced to do so by the RoS.

“The RoS intervened once and there is no reason why they cannot intervene again. Just hold a re-election and clear the air once and for all,” he added.

Dr Mahathir warns Malaysia to prepare for another financial crisis

(Bernama) - Malaysia needs to be ready to face another world financial crisis which was expected in the face of escalating prices and reduced purchasing power.

Former prime minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed (pic), said the country should formulate strategies based on past experiences and find the causes of the crisis.

“With current and past financial crises, we should dissect them and in turn get ideas on how to prepare ourselves to overcome them,” he told a media briefing after the Perdana Leadership Foundation International Roundtable on Surviving the Next Global Financial Crisis in Kuala Lumpur today.

He said the first stage would involve understanding the mechanics and once it was achieved, the crisis could be dealt with.

“I am a former doctor and the way we should approach it, should be like a doctor,” he said.

Meanwhile, the roundtable discussed ways to overcome a financial crisis and the findings will be forwarded to the government.

The roundtable is organised by the Perdana Leadership Foundation and sponsored by YTL Corp, Malaysia Airlines, Buna Puri, Westports, AmBank, UEM and Bank Rakyat.

The participants include Senator Datuk Seri Abdul Wahid Omar (Minister in Prime Minister’s Department – Economic Planning Unit), Tan Sri Azman Mokhtar (Khazanah Nasional managing director), Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yakcop (Khazanah Nasional deputy chairman), Tan Sri Azman Hashim (AmBank chairman), Tan Sri Francis Yeoh (YTL managing director), Tan Sri Sabbaruddin Chik (Bank Rakyat chairman), Tan Sri Azman Yahya (Symphony Life chairman/group chief executive officer), Tan Sri Jawhar Hassan (ISIS chairman), and, Datuk Mohaiyani Shamsudin (Maybank Asset Management).

Meanwhile, Dr Mahathir said he was saddened by the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 since March 8.

“It is strange that it can’t be detected through satellite with 20 nations assisting in the search and rescue operations,” he said.

China Presses Claim on MH370 Search

Troubling noises in the press about a special right for Beijing to lead the way, not Malaysia

The hunt for MH370 looks like becoming another wedge to be used by China to claim hegemony in Southeast Asia. A signed commentary on March 17 by the editor of the South China Morning Post, Wang Xiangwei makes it abundantly clear that Beijing is not just frustrated by Malaysia’s failure to find the plane but insists on its right to take a lead.

The article is headed: “Is Malaysia fit to lead search for flight 370?” and concludes with the following demand: “It is time for Beijing to step up and lead the operation using its influence to press the relevant nations to work more closely to solve the mystery”.

This is arguably not just the work of a columnist writing nonsense off the top of his head. Wang not only has very good connections in Beijing. He began his career on the state-owned China Daily and was a member of the China People's Political Consultative Committee of Jilin Province.

His commentary coincides with a bristling editorial in the state-owned news agency Xinhua, which said the delay in providing information on what appears to be the true course of the airplane instead of a possible location somewhere in the South China Sea “a huge waste of valuable time and resources.”

It went on to say that “due to the absence — or at least lack — of timely authoritative information, massive efforts have been squandered, and numerous rumors have been spawned, repeatedly wracking the nerves of the awaiting families. Given today’s technology, the delay smacks of either dereliction of duty or reluctance to share information in a full and timely manner. That would be intolerable.”

There are two dangerous implications in Wang’s column and the Xinhua editorial. The first is that because the majority of passengers were Chinese nationals and ethnic Chinese from Malaysia, this gives the Beijing government a special claim to lead the search. This sounds very much like old-fashioned race-based claims to be the protector of Chinese everywhere.

The Chinese did this once before, on the Mekong River in October of 2011, when eight gunmen stormed two Chinese cargo ships in an attempt to hijack about 900,000 amphetamine pills worth more than US$3 million, murdering the Chinese crew of the two vessels. The Chinese reaction was immediate. First they suspended all shipping on the Mekong, then sent more than 200 border police to join patrols looking for the culprits – whom the patrols eventually caught, They were later executed. It was the first such joint deployment into Southeast Asia, and was regarded as a troubling expansion of China's growing role in regional security.

This is also strikingly similar to Russia’s current claims to the right to defend the interests of ethnic Russians not merely in areas where they are a majority – Crimea and eastern Ukraine – but in other countries which were once part of the Soviet Russian empire and still have significant Russian minorities remaining from colonization under both the tsars and the commissars.

The second is Wang’s words “press the relevant nations to work more closely.” Which, one wonders, are the relevant nations supposed to share their data not with Malaysia but with China? Is this a demand on Vietnam? On India? On Thailand? How much data has China itself provided to Malaysia?

China’s one known contribution to date has been a report that one of its satellites found wreckage in the South China Sea. This turned out to be embarrassing and false and made life even more difficult for an already confused Malaysia. The satellite sighting, of “three suspected floating objects” in the South China Sea required a helicopter search that turned out to be ordinary flotsam.

Beyond that, China’s contribution to the search has been minimal compared with that of the US if only for the reason that it has little naval or air capability to the west and south of Malaysia. As far the possibility that the plane headed northwest, across Thailand, Myanmar and perhaps even China itself toward Kazakhstan, one would assume that China has its own radar data. Is it sharing that with anyone?

China may be able to lean on Thailand and Myanmar, who probably have scant data anyway, but does Beijing really believe that India, for instance, would open up its military surveillance capability by telling China everything it knows?

If any country other than Malaysia should coordinate the search it should be the US simply because it has the most and most sophisticated air, naval and satellite resources. But would India and China be happy with that?

The very fact that Beijing through its mouthpiece Wang Xiangwei feels entitled to demand leadership displays an attitude of mind which should make Southeast Asia shiver. That is an attitude which will not go away whether or not the plane is ever found and the mystery of its disappearance resolved.

Meanwhile, in the western press…

The dangerous assumptions of the Chinese form a useful contrast to the vacuity and irresponsibility of much western media coverage. The once-respected British newspaper The Guardian retailed a story first put out by a British tabloid that the pilot was a “political extremist” follower of Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The story was unsourced, suggesting it was one of innumerable plot theories peddled on Twitter but nonetheless widely picked up, for example by television stations in Hong Kong. Perhaps this one was put out by UMNO loyalists eager to further tarnish opposition leader Anwar. But its dissemination by the Guardian showed the depths to which British journalism has sunk.

The Guardian also carried a report on MH 370 datelined “Songkhla,” omitting to tell its readers that this is a moderate size town in southern Thailand far from sources of MH 370 news – which probably explains why the story read like a brief rehash of wire services.

Numerous foreign media took the Malaysian military to task for not noticing the westward turn of MH 370 till days afterwards. But do small countries like Malaysia with constant heavy commercial traffic really need to spend huge resources constantly monitoring every aircraft in their airspace?

Malaysia is not threatened militarily by anyone – other than by China with its claims over Malaysian islands in the South China Sea – so one would hardly expect it to use radar to constantly closely monitor all air traffic, especially late at night when many flights leave KL for northeast Asia and Europe.

There could quickly be international incidents if Malaysia – or others – scrambled interceptor fighters every time an insufficiently identified plane showed up on the radar. Malaysia certainly badly mishandled the information that it eventually received from its military after data had been reviewed, but the fact is that Southeast Asia has long been at peace and no country is on alert for enemy aircraft.

Flight MH370: lost jet exposes gaps in Malaysia's defences

Allies and neighbours concerned after prime minister discloses flight MH370 crossed its territory without being picked up by military radar

Cabin crews of Vietnam Air Force are seen onboard a flying AN-26 Soviet made aircraft during a search operation for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 plane Photo: AP

 

Malaysia has rejected questions over its air defence systems following the seizure and disappearance of flight MH370 and claimed the lessons learned from the crisis could “change aviation history”.

The disclosure by Prime Minister Najib Razak that the Malaysia Airlines plane was seized shortly after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, turned around over the South China Sea and flew back over Peninsular Malaysia without alerting the country’s defence forces has caused alarm among neighbours and allies.

After the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States, air defences across the world were tightened and new procedures adopted to speed the detection of rogue aircraft and intercept them before they could be used as weapons of terrorism.

But the apparent failure of Malaysia, which has a defence agreement with Britain, to notice that the plane had changed direction, fallen off the radar and then flown towards and through its air space has identified serious loopholes in its air defences.

Most countries with advanced air forces would detect an incoming hostile aircraft 200 miles from shore and scramble fighter jets to challenge it.

There has been strong criticism of the failure in China, India and in private by Western diplomats and defence analysts.

A Western security source said while the current focus is on helping Malaysia locate the missing plane, “there are a lot of questions – how did it get to the point where it came back and went wherever? You would have thought [planes] would have been scrambled and the Malaysians would have acted.”

Sugata Pramanik, an Indian air traffic controllers’ leader, said a plane can “can easily become invisible to civilian radar by switching off the transponder ... But it cannot avoid defence systems.”

One senior Indian Navy commander, Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai, however said his country’s military radars were occasionally “switched off as we operate on an 'as required’ basis”.

The Royal Malaysian Air Force is widely respected and has a fleet of Sukhoi S30 and F16 fighter jets and does regular training exercises with their British, Australian, New Zealand and Singapore counterparts.

Malaysia’s Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein however dismissed the concerns and said the disaster was an “unprecedented case” with lessons for all.

“It’s not right to say there is a breach in the standard procedures ... what we’re going through here is being monitored throughout the world and may change aviation history,” he said.

His comments were supported by Azharuddin Abdul Rahman, Malaysia’s Director General of Civil Aviation, who said “many will have lessons to learn from this. I’ve been in aviation for 35 years and I’ve never seen this kind of incident before”.

Neither elaborated on the loopholes exposed beyond Malaysia by the seizure of MH370 and stressed that Kuala Lumpur would not focus on the issue until it had found the aircraft and its passengers on crew.

Anifah Aman, Malaysia’s foreign minister, told The Telegraph the world was “missing the point” by focusing on security implications and that he still hoped for a 'miracle’ in finding the passengers and crew alive.

“The focus must be on finding the plane. I don’t want to support any of the theories at this juncture. This involves a lot of lives. My worry is where is the plane and what little chance that people are safe so that they can come back ... we believe in miracles and like to think they’re safe and can return to their families,” he said.

The prime minister confirmed on Saturday that the Boeing 777 had been flown from close to Vietnamese air space over the South China Sea, back across the Malaysian peninsula to the Strait of Malacca, close to Penang, and then took two possible navigational corridors.

Search operations, now including 25 countries, are now focused on a northern corridor from the Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan border to northern Thailand and a southern sector from Indonesia to the vast southern Indian Ocean.

The investigation into what happened to the plane is now based on four theories – all of which follow from Mr Najib’s acceptance on Saturday that the plane had been deliberately seized or hijacked.

Police Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar said those who had taken the plane were either hijackers, saboteurs, someone with a personal vendetta or a psychological problem.

His investigation had been launched under a Malaysian law which covers terrorism offences, he said.

Until now the government has been reluctant to refer to the seizure as a hijacking or act of terrorism because they have yet to find any evidence on the motive of whoever seized the plane on Saturday March 8th.

The minister and the police chief’s comments however marked a freer use of the terms following the prime minister’s confirmation that the plane had been deliberately taken and re-routed.

Malaysia has not suffered terrorism on the scale of neighbours Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines, although several Malaysian nationals are known to have received training from al-Qaeda.

India troops seeking jet rest at island base as Malaysia silent

PORT BLAIR (India), March 17 — As the sun set over Port Blair in the Andaman Sea during the past week, runway lights glowed to guide Indian aircraft searching for the missing Malaysian passenger jet back to land.

For the past two days, however, the headquarters of India’s search operations for the plane in the capital of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been quiet as officials await new coordinates from Malaysia. Many of the 2,000 military officers stationed on the islands stayed home to celebrate the holiday of Holi, which marks the start of spring, by smearing coloured powder on each other’s faces.

“Our hands are tied until the Malaysians come back to us with coordinates,” Harmit Singh, spokesman for the Indian military in Port Blair, said today. “Until then, we just sit, wait and try to enjoy Holi.”

Indian officials had deployed ships and long-range aircraft from the island chain to search for Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 across 250,000 square kilometres (96,500 square miles), an area about the size of the UK Shifting the search further into the Indian Ocean may prove much more difficult.

“The Indian Ocean is daunting,” V.S.R. Murthy, the coast guard’s commander for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, said in an interview on March 15. “There is a massive amount of sea that will need to be searched, which will require many more planes, ships.”

British prison

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands were used by British rulers to hold and hang criminals in the 19th and early 20th centuries, and later to imprison Indian freedom fighters. The islands officially became an Indian union territory in 1947 when the country won independence from the British.

India maintains a military presence in the island chain, seeking to counter Chinese maritime power as well as prevent attacks by pirates in key shipping routes. The archipelago of about 527 islands not far from Thailand, Myanmar and Indonesia also attracts tourists seeking pristine beaches.

India is among 25 countries that Malaysia is asking to help find the 777-200 wide-body Boeing Co aircraft carrying 239 people that disappeared on March 8. Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said it’s possible the plane might’ve travelled in a corridor reaching into the southern Indian Ocean as it continued flying for almost seven hours after its last contact with air-traffic controllers.

Southern assets

The Indian search fleet includes P8I long-range maritime patrol, C-130J Hercules and Dornier planes, according to the nation’s government. Naval warships INS Saryu and INS Kesari were also assigned to the task, it said in a March 15 statement.

India has no naval assets permanently stationed near or below the equator, the area where the new search may take place, according to Pradeep Kaushiva, a former Indian vice admiral who spent 40 years in the navy and specialises in electronic warfare.

“We are entering a new more daunting, more difficult search for something that we don’t even know is there,” he said. “It’s very much a search for a needle in the haystack.” — Bloomberg

Lawyers pass resolution to prohibit retired judges from litigating in court

The Malaysian Insider (Used by permission)
BY JENNIFER GOMEZ

The Malaysian Bar passed a resolution at its annual general meeting today that retired higher court judges be prohibited from representing clients in court.

It also called on the government not to bring into force the amendments to the Prevention of Crime Act 1959 and instead to repeal them, citing objectionable features such as detention without trial and a suspected person not having the right to apply for a judicial review unless on grounds of procedure.

During the passing of the bill in Parliament last year, opposition MPs objected to the amendments, arguing that the changes proposed were similar to the repealed ISA.

In its resolution passed today, the Bar called on the government to engage all relevant stakeholders, including the Bar, in meaningful dialogue on measures to combat serious and organised crime.

A total of four resolutions were passed while two were rejected by the 1,219 members who attended the AGM today.

Members of the Bar also expressed concern over the sentencing of Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for sodomy and veteran lawyer Karpal Singh for sedition.

Bar president Christopher Leong, in a press conference after the AGM, said that of concern was the lack of time given to Anwar to mitigate before sentencing, while in Karpal's case, the deputy public prosecutor's (DPP) submissions before sentencing were of grave concern.

"In her submissions, the DPP had said that if the court did not impose a heavy sentence on Karpal, it would be deemed as an insult to the institution of Rulers.

"Karpal’s obvious medical condition and disability were not relevant to the DPP, when we all know that he is paralysed and unable to fend for himself," he said, referring to Deputy Public Prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin.

Leong said that despite this, the DPP had strenuously pressed for a custodial sentence, when the reality was that for Karpal – who is 74 years old and wheelchair-bound – going to jail would have been a “death sentence” for him.

"Who is going to look after him in prison?" Leong said.

He said that there were international guidelines which provide for standards of professional conduct for all public prosecutors.

"We believe that these may not have been completely observed and so members at the AGM had requested overwhelmingly that the Bar Council make representations to the AG to  investigate the DPP immediately.

"And if thought fit, to take disciplinary action against her according  to the rules governing her appointment in service and according to law," he added.

A resolution was also passed on environment and climate change, which urged the government to ensure the effective enforcement of environmental laws.

Leong told reporters that on his recent drive from Kuala Lumpur to Putrajaya, he saw a number of open burning sites emitting thick smoke, adding that despite their visibility, enforcement agencies had obviously not acted against the polluters.

Leong was returned as president while Steven Thiru was returned as deputy president of the Bar at the AGM.

Asked whether a Royal Commission of Inquiry was needed on the missing MH370, Leong said that it was premature at this point, adding that what was important now was the search and rescue mission.

He said that they observed a minute of silence at the start of the AGM for the passengers and crew onboard and their families. – March 15, 2014.

M'sia Will Not Withhold Any Information On MH370 - Hishammuddin

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 (Bernama) -- Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Haishammuddin Tun Hussein today denied an allegation that Malaysia has held back information about the missing Flight MH370's movements.

"For the families, I understand that every day prolongs the anguish. I understand because Malaysia, too, is missing its sons and daughters. There were 50 Malaysians on board the plane.

"Our priority has always been to find the aircraft. We would not withhold any information that could help. But we also have a responsibility not to release information until it has been verified by the international investigations team," he told a press conference, near here today.

He said the responsibility was not only to the families and to the investigation, but also the search and rescue operation and it would be irresponsible to deploy substantial assets merely on the basis of unverified and uncorroborated information.

"As soon as the possibility emerged that the plane had carried out an air turn back to the Straits of Malacca, we expanded our search to that area.

"I would like to reiterate the United States investigating team's statement about that decision, based on the information and data given by the Malaysian authorities, that there are reasonable grounds to deploy resources to conduct search on the western side of peninsular Malaysia," he said.

Hishammuddin said the search efforts to the northern and southern corridors were mobilised as soon the new satellite information as to the possible last known whereabouts of the aircraft were verified.

Over the past 48 hours, he said, Malaysia had been working on the diplomatic, technical and logistical requirements of the search for MH370 and continued to lead the overall co-ordination of the search effort.

He said the number of countries involved in the search and rescue (SAR)operation has increased to 26.

"During the last 24 hours, the Prime Minister (Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak) has spoken to the Prime Minister of Australia (Tony Abbott) and the Premier of China (Li Keqiang).

"The Foreign Affairs Ministry has sent diplomatic notes to all countries involved in the SAR operation, including two groups - countries in the search corridors and countries from which we are seeking assistance and expertise," Hishammuddin said.

For countries in the search corridors, he said, Malaysia requested radar and satellite information as well as specific assets for the SAR operation.

"We are asking them to share their land, sea and aerial search and rescue action plans with the Rescue Co-ordination Centre here in Malaysia so that we can co-ordinate the search effort.

"We have asked for regular updates, including daily reports on both search activities and details of any information required from Malaysia," he said.

As the co-ordinating authority, he said, Malaysia was gathering all information as part of the on-going operation and was not at liberty to reveal information from specific countries.

Hishammuddin said SAR operations in the northern and southern corridors had already begun and countries, including Malaysia, Australia, China, Indonesia and Kazakhstan.

"The Royal Malaysian Air Force and the Royal Malaysian Navy have deployed assets to the southern corridor. Two Malaysian ships have been deployed - the offshore patrol vessels KD Kelantan and KD Selangor," he said, adding that the deployment also included a Super Lynx helicopter.

Australia had already moved a P-3 Orion aircraft to region of the Cocos and Christmas Islands, with the Australian prime minister confirming that it would send an additional two P-3 Orions and a C-130 Hercules while a US P-8 Poseidon aircraft would be travelling to Perth today to help with the search, he said.

He said yesterday, experts from the Civil Aviation Administration of China joined the investigations team and officials from the French Office of Investigations and Analysis for the Safety of Civil Aviation joined the team today.

Flight MH370, carrying with 227 passengers and 12 crew, disappeared about an hour after leaving the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.

MH370: Tiada pihak tuntut wang tebusan, kata Hisham

Muslim insurgents shoot then set on fire Buddhist teacher in Thailand

A 42-year-old Buddhist teacher on her way to school in southern Thailand on Friday was targeted and shot twice in the head, then doused in gasoline and set on fire by suspected Muslim insurgents.

The woman taught English and was riding her motorcycle to work when the gunman — who was riding his own motorbike — fired off the shots to her head, said police Maj. Gen. Pete Susysuwan, in The Associated Press. Other suspected insurgents then helped to set her body on fire, police said.

“She is apparently a victim of the insurgency, not personal issues, because the suspects scattered fliers with anti-Buddhist messages before they fled,” he said, in the AP report.

The authorities are still seeking the suspects.

More than 5,000 have been killed in Islamic insurgency attacks that have gone forth in Thailand since 2004, AP reported.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/14/muslim-insurgents-shoot-then-set-fire-buddhist-tea/#ixzz2wAkkRYUs
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter

Crowd sets fire to Hindu center in Pakistan

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) — An angry crowd set fire to a Hindu community center in southern Pakistan after allegations circulated that a Hindu had desecrated Islam's holy book, police said Sunday.

The incident took place overnight in the city of Larkana in Sindh province after some people said they saw burned pages of the Quran in a garbage bin near the home of a Hindu man, said Anwar Laghari, the area police officer.

Violence triggered by allegations of Quran desecration and other allegedly blasphemous acts is common in conservative Pakistan. A controversial Pakistani law imposes the death penalty, but sometimes crowds take the law into their own hands and attacked the accused, often members of a religious minority in the majority Sunni Muslim state.

Laghari said that a crowd of about 200 angry people gathered and attacked the community center, which was next to a Hindu temple. He said the building was partly gutted, while the alleged desecrater and his family members were taken into protective custody.

The officer said initial investigation revealed that the Hindu rented the house from a Muslim family and cleaned it before he moved in. He may have burned the holy book inadvertently, the policeman said.

Crowds also attacked Hindu property in the nearby towns of Usta Mohammad, Dera Allah Yar and Sohbat Pur, but they were dispersed by police, senior officer Syed Ashfaq Anwar said. They are in a part of adjoining Baluchistan province where significant numbers of Hindus live.

Anwar said dozens attempted to set fire to a temple and some shops owned by Hindus. Police fired tear gas shot and shot into the air. He said someone from the crowd fired at the police, and two civilians and an officer were wounded.

AP writer Abdul Sattar in Quetta, Pakistan, contributed to this report.

Police classify missing flight MH370 as ‘act of terrorism’

Police have classified the case of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as an act of terrorism, which also included hijacking and sabotage, said the Inspector-General of Police.

Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters today all procedures under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2012 applied here.

This, he said, would also provide investigation under the Aviation Offences Act.

Khalid also said that police are still focusing on four areas of investigations which include hijacking, sabotage, personal and psychological problems.

"That doesn't change," he said.

Malaysian authorities said yesterday that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, carrying 239 passengers and crew, was deliberately diverted and had its onboard transmission devices switched off to avoid detection.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said that investigations showed that the passenger jet's movements and shutdown of communication links were deliberate acts, but had stopped short of calling the entire scenario a hijack.

The focus of the investigations is now on the 53-year-old pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot, 27-year-old Fariq Abdul Hamid.

Police yesterday conducted a search Zaharie's home, where they seized a flight simulator. A similar search was also carried out in Fariq's home.

"In light of the new development, we went to his house and took possession of the flight simulator.

"We dismantled it from the home and we have assembled it at our office. We are getting experts to go through it," Khalid said.

When asked why the search was not done earlier, Khalid said that authorities had not seen a necessity earlier.

He also said that Malaysia had yet to receive reports on background checks on all passengers on board the missing flight MH370 from their respective countries.

"There are still a few countries yet to respond to our request for a background check. China and India have done it," he said.

However, he added that a few intelligence agencies have cleared all passengers but declined to reveal further.

"We are investigating all passengers and crew. Only a few agencies have cleared them, not all," he said. – March 16, 2014.

Pilot and co-pilot did not ask to fly together

MH370 The pilot and the co-pilot of the missing flight MH370 did not request to fly together based on information from MAS, says acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein.

 

He added that he would not comment on speculation on what might have caused the aircraft to deviate from its original flight path to avoid prejudicing ongoing investigations.

 

"I understand the hunger for new details. But we do not want to jump to conclusions.

 

"Out of respect to the families, and the process itself, we must wait for the investigation to run its course,” he said at the daily press conference on the MH370 crisis today.

 

Police are currently investigating all 239 crew and passengers on board, as well has ground crew who had handled the aircraft.

 

There had been intense speculation that Boeing 777-200ER’s pilot Zaharie Ahmad Shah and co-pilot Fariq Ab Hamid were responsible for the flight deviation, following confirmation that the aircraft had been deliberately taken far off course.

 

Meanwhile, Inspector-general of police Khalid Abu Bakar denied media reports that Malaysian authorities have repeatedly rejected Interpol’s offers to help with investigations.

 

"That is not true, we work with every agency including Interpol," he told the same press conference.

 

Terrorism law invoked

 

He added that the case is now being investigated under Section 130C of the Penal Code, which deals with acts of terrorism.

 

"This provides for investigation into offences of hijacking, sabotage, acts of terrorism, and all offences under the Aviation Offence Act, so that covers everything.

 

"That means we are intensifying our investigation, but our focus (on the four areas) remain the same," he said, referring to possibility of hijacking, sabotage, personal problems of passengers and crew, and psychological problems of passengers and crew.

 

The provision also allows the police to invoke special powers under the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), he said.

 

Thus far, he said some foreign intelligence agencies have cleared all passengers onboard flight MH370, but it is still waiting for a response on Malaysia’s request for background checks from other countries.

 

However, he stressed that all passengers and crew are still under investigation, in addition to the ground crew.

 

When asked about the police search at the pilot and co-pilot's residence, Khalid said police have disassembled Zaharie’s flight simulator and reassembled it at a police office to be examined by experts.

MH370 destined for an Indian terror attack?

The speculation was made former US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott.

PETALING JAYA: Was Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 hijacked to enable a Sept 11 type of terrorist attack on an Indian city?

This was a theory postulated by former US deputy secretary of state Strobe Talbott in his Twitter on Saturday.

“Malaysian plane mystery: Direction, fuel load & range now lead some to suspect hijackers planned a 9/11-type attack on an Indian city,” he tweeted.

He then tweeted a second theory to say that the hijackers were headed towards India but crashed just like the third plane involved in the Sept 11 attacks on the US.

“Malaysian#370 as hijack: 1 of many theories. Speculation: hijackers headed toward India but crashed like UA#93 on 9/11,” he tweeted.

Talbott, a foreign policy analyst is currently chairman of Brooklyn Institution.

Yesterday Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in his first press conference on the missing MH370 said the jetliner’s main communications and transponder had been deliberately shut off.

He said that the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was disabled just before the aircraft reached the east coast of peninsular Malaysia.

He added that the Beijing bound flight made a U-turn and headed towards the Andaman Sea.

In a related development, India suspended its search for Malaysia Airlines flight 370 around the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in the Bay of Bengal and is awaiting a new request from Malaysia.

“The entire operation is on hold for now. We are awaiting fresh instructions from Malaysia,” said Colonel Harmit Singh, spokesman for India’s army, navy and airforce command in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

“None of the planes from our air fleet took off today. Even the navy vessels involved in search operations have moved to another island,” Singh told AFP.

Yesterday, national news agency Bernama reported that the Indian navy was expanding its search until the coast of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu.

The ill-fated flight carrying 239 passengers and crew lost contact with main air traffic control at 1.30am on March 8.

Pilot comes under scrutiny as friends defend him

Foreign reports are increasingly identifying those in the cockpit as being responsible for the mysterious vanishing of MH370

(FMT) – Friends of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 pilot Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah have come out to defend him as investigators started focusing on those in the cockpit for probably being responsible for the disappearance of the jetliner.

“Things are pointing towards [him] probably [being] the cause of the thing, terrorism and all that. I think that’s not fair because nobody knows what’s happening. That’s why I decided to come forward and speak,” Hong Kong-based  South China Morning Post quoted Peter Chong, 51, as saying today.

“I don’t blame people for exploring every angle. But until there is proof that he is a terrorist, I will not accept it,” said Chong, according to the report.

Chong described Zaharie as a “caring man and a professional and dedicated pilot” who always puts the safety of his passengers first.

Chong, who is also PKR’s Subang MP R Sivarasa’s secretary, said that Zaharie was a close friend and fellow member of PKR.

Saying that he had met Zaharie two years ago, Chong said they were close and spoke regularly. The last time they spoke was a week before the ill-fated flight took off to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

“There was nothing unusual about him that time, and nothing unusual in the recent few months also,” Chong was quoted as saying in the daily.

“The Malaysian government may play with his political membership with the opposition party, but I think it’s got nothing to do with this. I hope to let the families of the passengers know their lives were in the hands of somebody good,” he said.

Another friend and former classmate Mohd Nasir Othman was quoted in The Star as describing Zaharie as a gentle grandfather who would “never compromise his passengers’ safety”.

“He would never do anything that would endanger people’s lives,” the daily quoted Mohd Nasir as saying. The paper also quoted several other old friends of the pilot who defended his professionalism.

The focus shifted to the pilots following Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s disclosure yesterday that the missing Malaysia Airlines was deliberately steered off course after its communication system was switched off.

He said it headed west over the Malaysian seaboard and could have flown for another seven hours on its fuel reserves.

Investigators also said that the plane was flown off course by a “skilled and competent” flyer.

Obsessed with politics

UK’s Mail on Sunday meanwhile reported that the police were investigating the possibility that the pilot hijacked his own aircraft in a bizarre political protest.

The daily said  it had learned that Zaharie was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim.

It also claimed that police sources confirmed that Zaharie was a vocal political activist – and fear that the recent Court of Appeal decision to sentence Anwar to five years jail for sodomy had left him profoundly upset.

“It was against this background that, seven hours later, he took control of a Boeing 777-200 bound for Beijing and carrying 238 passengers and crew,” said the newspaper.

The police had inspected Zaharie’s house yesterday. They had also inspected co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid’s house, and are believed to be looking into the political and religious backgrounds of both the pilots.

The UK daily also said that Zaharie’s co-workers have told investigators the veteran pilot was a social activist who was vocal and fervent in his support of Anwar.

“Colleagues made it clear to us that he was someone who held strong political beliefs and was strident in his support for Anwar Ibrahim,” the Mail quoted another investigation source as saying.

“We were told by one colleague he was obsessed with politics,” added the report in quoting the source.

Out of fuel

Meanwhile CNN said the police raids into the houses of the two pilots yesterday were done only after the authorities believed they had sufficient reason to go through the residences.

Quoting US intelligence officials, CNN said the government had been looking for a reason to search the home of the pilot and the co-pilot for several days.

“But it was only in the last 24 to 36 hours, when radar and satellite data came to light, that authorities believed they had sufficient reason to go through the residences,” added the global broadcaster.

“The Malaysians don’t do this lightly,” the official said.

CNN however added that it was not clear whether the Malaysian government believed one or both the pilots could have been responsible for whatever happened to the plane.

It added that no final conclusions have been drawn and all the internal intelligence discussions are based on preliminary assessments of what is known to date, stating that other scenarios could still emerge.

CNN also reported that the investigators will scour through the flight manifest and look further to see whether anyone on board had flight training or connections to terror groups.

“A senior US law enforcement official told CNN that investigators are carefully reviewing the information so far collected on the pilots to determine whether there is something to indicate a motivation or indication of what may have happened.

“That would seem supported by preliminary US intelligence reports, which the US official said show the jetliner was in some form of controlled flight at a relatively stable altitude and path when it changed course and flew toward the Indian Ocean. It is presumed by US officials to have crashed, perhaps after running out of fuel,” added the CNN report.

Tian Chua: Don’t blame us

Meanwhile PKR vice-president Tian Chua said allegations that the pilots had a role in the disappearance of MH370 plane was totally speculative.

“It is irresponsible to make insinuation without verified information,” he said in a statement, adding that his party or Pakatan Rakyat abhorred any form of terrorism or violence.

“We urge the federal government not to use this as a pretext or opportunity to implicate or to frame Pakatan Rakyat component parties or their leaders.

“PKR and our alliance in Pakatan Rakyat are committed to a peaceful and constitutional means of political struggle.

“We have consistently denounced violence and any form of terrorism,” said the MP for Batu.

He added that the federal government should be collaborating with international agencies and continue to step up its efforts in conducting a thorough and professional investigation into the incident.

Criminal probe under way in plane drama

(AFP) - The multi-nation search for a missing Malaysian airliner focused on two vast, and vastly contrasting, areas Sunday after Malaysia said it believed the aircraft was deliberately diverted, triggering a full-blown criminal investigation.

Saturday’s startling revelations that the Boeing 777′s communications systems had been manually switched off before the jet veered westward and flew on for hours raised more perplexing and deeply troubling questions about the fate of the plane and its 239 passengers and crew.

“Who? Why? Where?” ran the front page headline of the Malaysian government-controlled New Straits Times.

Briefing the press on Saturday, Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak declined to use the word hijack, but said the new data suggesting a “deliberate action” by someone on board meant investigators had “refocused their investigation into crew and passengers”.

For anguished relatives, the news was a double-edged sword — holding out the slim hope that hijackers had landed the plane somewhere, while ushering in another agonising open-ended waiting period.

Relatives of Bob and Cathy Lawton, a missing Australian couple, said they were horrified by the notion of a drawn-out hijack ordeal.

What did they put up with?

“That’s one of the worst things I could have hoped for,” Bob’s brother David Lawton told News Limited newspapers.

“Even if they are alive, what did they have to put up with?”

He said the family was struggling to come to terms with the idea that the couple might never come home and trying not to lose hope.

“We have hopes and dreams that something might come, but at the moment we just don’t know. It’s all up in the air.”

The scope for speculation is as broad as the new search area that stretches from Kazakhstan to the southern Indian Ocean.

Expert opinion that disabling the communications system required specialist knowledge of the Boeing 777 has intensified scrutiny of Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah and his First Officer, Fariq Abdul Hamid.

Scott Hamilton, managing director of US-based aerospace consultancy Leeham Co, said Najib’s refusal to confirm a hijacking was telling.

“It sounded to me that the pilots haven’t been ruled out. He was saying don’t focus only on hijackers,” Hamilton said.

Malaysian media reported that investigators had gone to the homes of both pilots on Saturday, although police refused to confirm.

Friends and colleagues of both men have testified to their good character, but questions have been raised over a flight simulator Zaharie had built at home, even though aviation commentators have said this is not uncommon.

Fariq’s record was queried after a woman said he had allowed her and a friend to ride in the cockpit of a separate flight.

The alternative scenario that the cockpit was taken over or the pilots coerced, opens a Pandora’s Box of possibilities as to who might be involved and with what motive.

Two passengers who boarded the plane with stolen EU passports have been identified as Iranians by Interpol, who said they were most likely illegal immigrants who did not fit terrorist profiles.

The fact that most of the passengers on board the Beijing-bound flight were Chinese has raised the possibility of involvement by militants from China’s Muslim ethnic Uighur minority.

Still early days

Security experts warned against jumping to conclusions on the basis of partial, flimsy evidence.

“We have to keep in mind that it’s still early in the investigation, even though we’re a week out from the plane taking off,” said Anthony Brickhouse, a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.

“We still really don’t have a lot of evidence to go on. We don’t have any wreckage, we don’t have the plane itself, we don’t have a lot of electronic data from the aircraft.”

The search is now focused on two flight corridors — a northern one stretching from northern Thailand to Kazakhstan and a southern zone from Indonesia towards the southern Indian Ocean.

The last satellite communication from the plane on March 8 came after it had been in the air almost eight hours — around the time the airline has said it would have run out of fuel.

Several analysts favoured a route along the southern corridor over the ocean, saying the northern one would have required the plane to travel undetected through numerous national airspaces in a strategically sensitive region.

“I just can’t think of a scenario where this aircraft is sitting on a runway somewhere,” said Brickhouse.

Hamilton said a crash in the ocean was the likeliest scenario and one that presented a daunting search and recovery challenge.

“Any floating debris will be widely dispersed and the main debris on the sea floor,” he said.

More than a dozen countries have deployed over 100 vessels and aircraft to support the operation.

Meanwhile India on Sunday suspended its search for MH370 around the remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands and in the Bay of Bengal and are awaiting fresh instructions from Malaysia, a defence official said.

“The entire operation is on hold for now. We are awaiting fresh instructions from Malaysia. Nothing came out of the search in designated areas on Saturday,” said Colonel Harmit Singh, spokesman for India’s army, navy and airforce command in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Pakistan says MH370 did not land there

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — A Pakistani official today dismissed reports suggesting that missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have landed in the South Asian country.

Pakistan’s Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Aviation Shujaat Azeem told news portal Dawn.com that the country’s military did not observe the Boeing 777-200ER approach or enter its airspace.

“It’s wrong, (the) plane never came towards Pakistan,” he was quoted as saying in the report.

India today similarly discounted the possibility of the plane entering its airspace.

Yesterday, Malaysia revealed that satellite data has allowed investigators to arrive at two “corridors” where the plane could possibly be located: a northern arc from northern Thailand to the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan in central Asia, or a southern one from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

The northern corridor would have brought the plane towards South Asia.

The northern option crosses heavily-militarised zones that made it unlikely that an unidentified aircraft the size of the Boeing 777 could have slipped past unnoticed. A defence industry executive said interceptors would have been deployed immediately once its presence was detected.

Malaysia Leaves No Stone Unturned On MH370 Probe

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (Bernama) -- The Malaysian authorities leave no stone unturned in their investigation of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370, which now enters its ninth day, since the aircraft disappeared on March 8.

The background checks of all the 239 MH370 passengers and crew, including the engineers, who may have had contact with the aircraft before take-off, could help the police to establish a motive behind its disappearance.

It could probably shed some lights to the authority on where the plane might have gone after the plane diverted twice from its original route to Beijing, China.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said police had spoken to family members of the MH370 pilot, Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah, 53, and experts were examining the pilot's flight simulator.

He said the police also searched the home of the co-pilot, Fariq Abdul Hamid, 27.

The Beijing-bound Boeing 777-200ER aircraft with 227 passengers and 12 crew onboard vanished from the radar about an hour after leaving the KLIA at 12.41am on March 8. It was scheduled to arrive in Beijing, China at 6.30 am the same day.

The fate of the passengers is still unknown as the search and rescue (SAR) operations have yet to locate the missing aircraft.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak said Flight MH370 had deviated from its original path and flew in a westerly direction back over peninsular Malaysia before turning northwest.

The aircraft's last communication with the satellite was in one of two possible corridors - northern or southern.

Based on the flight projection, Malaysian authority believed the plane could have gone into one of the flight corridors which was a northern corridor stretching approximately from the border of Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan to northern Thailand, or a southern corridor stretching approximately from Indonesia to the southern Indian Ocean.

On the SAR, Hishammuddin said Malaysian officials were liaising with 15 countries along the northern and southern corridors for assistance in relation to the missing aircraft.

"Malaysian officials are currently discussing with all partners how best to deploy assets along the two corridors," he said.

Malaysia kekal ketuai SAR MH370 ikut protokol ICAO

Couple jailed over Rigby video

A British Muslim couple were jailed today for glorifying the murder of Fusilier Lee Rigby in videos posted on YouTube that were "offensive in the extreme".

Royal Barnes, 23, and his wife Rebekah Dawson, 22, recorded and uploaded three videos shortly after the murder in Woolwich, south east London, last May.

Barnes was jailed for five years and four months at the Old Bailey after pleading guilty last month to three counts of disseminating a terrorist publication and one of inciting murder.

His wife, who insisted on wearing her veil in court, admitted charges of disseminating a terrorist publication and was sentenced to 20 months in prison.

Judge Brian Barker QC told them the videos they made were "offensive in the extreme".

He said the couple showed "a total and continuing disregard" for how their actions might affect the family of trooper Rigby, those people who witnessed the murder and the British public.

Barnes, 23, and Dawson 22, of Hackney, north east London, embraced in the dock and insisted they would not be separated by a security guard at the start of the hearing.

Before sentencing, the judge asked Dawson's lawyer to confirm the defendant was the woman in the dock in the full veil.

The court heard the first of the three videos was made on the day Fusilier Rigby was murdered, with Barnes hailing it as a "brilliant" day.

It was edited with graphic images of a man holding a decapitated head, a scene of the Woolwich murder and the Twin Towers, and sent on YouTube the following day.

The second video contained the same edited images and saw Dawson ranting about how British troops would be killed on the streets of London.

Then in a follow-up, Barnes mocked the outpouring of public grief, laughing uncontrollably as he drove past floral tributes with Dawson.

Prosecutor Kate Wilkinson said Dawson sent links of the videos to contacts and friends and received some negative comments back.

One friend said to her: "Can you please stop sending me these links. I'm not interested in it."

Another told Dawson: "Be careful with the YouTube stuff."

Dawson replied: "My husband took this one down. If they got that they would have arrested. Have you watched it - it was really inciting and almost glorifying. LOL."

Dawson called her husband "Babes" in messages between them discussing the videos. In one, she told Barnes: "Babes, someone has reported the laughing video. It has been removed."

Barnes, who knew one of the murderers, Michael Adebowale, also posted on Facebook the offer of a reward for avenging the rape of an Iraqi woman. None of his 500 friends replied.

The post on June 12 2013 stated: ''Any1 who kills an invading soldier in Muslim land I will give them a Vauxhall Astra 3door and money (French British American any kaffir soldier take ur pick).''

Michael Adebolajo, 29, was given a whole-life term and Adebowale, 22, was sentenced to life with a minimum term of 45 years at a hearing last month after being found guilty of Fusilier Rigby's murder.

The British Muslim converts ran the soldier down in a car before hacking him to death with a meat cleaver and knives in a frenzied attack. They dumped his body in the middle of the road near Woolwich Barracks.

Dawson has no previous convictions, apart from a charge of witness intimidation that she has admitted and is awaiting sentence for, the court was told.

But Barnes has a string of convictions for using threatening words or behaviour, and one for assault on a security guard at a mosque. He also has a five-year anti-social behaviour order (Asbo) for taking part in vigilante patrols of east London promoting Sharia law, the court was told.

Mitigating for Barnes, Naeem Mian told the court: "There are no ifs, no buts, no maybes, Mr Barnes makes it absolutely clear that these are idiotic acts borne out of breathtaking stupidity."

He said his client was vulnerable to coming under bad influences, having been taken into care at the age of eight and prevented from attending his mother's funeral after she died in custody.

Dawson's lawyer Susan Meek said her client, who had been studying at university, also came under the influence of others and her dreams of becoming a teacher were now in tatters.

She said: "Over the last nine months, her faith and dress has been put under national and international limelight and it has caused her to reflect deeply about her belief and the way she lives her life and her religion.

"There is an understanding from her all she wants now is to live a life quietly, legally, as a wife to her husband and have a family."

The judge, who is Recorder of London, sentenced Barnes to 26 months in jail for each of the three counts relating to the YouTube videos.

Mr Barker said the charge of inciting murder was more serious because it "encouraged others to carry on the war against the West" and kill soldiers.

For this, he handed Barnes five years and four months' imprisonment, all to run concurrently.

Dawson was sentenced to 20 months' imprisonment for each of the first three charges, to run concurrently.

Mr Barker told the couple: "Freedom of speech has long been jealously regarded by the law but with that freedom comes respect and responsibility."

Mari Reid, of the Crown Prosecution Service's Counter Terrorism Division, said afterwards: "While the whole country was unified in grief and horror in the wake of Fusilier Lee Rigby's death last year, Royal Barnes and his wife sought to take advantage of the situation to promote their extremist views.

"Royal Barnes went further, using the savage attack on Fusilier Rigby to encourage others, via Facebook, to murder British, French and American soldiers.

"These were not throwaway comments from a thoughtless individual, but the hardened beliefs of an extremist.

"We pride ourselves in Britain on allowing the right to free speech to flourish. But the vile views posted online by Royal Barnes and Rebekah Dawson justified and glorified terrorist attacks, and tried to foster hatred in our communities."

Temporary Commander Duncan Ball, head of the Counter Terrorism Command (SO15), said: "Disseminating violent extremist material and encouraging others to carry out acts of terrorism are serious offences and I hope today's sentences send out a clear message that we will arrest and prosecute those responsible."

Day 7: It's still 'all possibilities' for MH370

As the search and rescue mission for MH370 entered its seventh day, investigators are still looking into "all possibilities" amid mounting frustration and threats of lawsuits from the relatives of the passengers on board the China-bound flight.

However, Day 7 saw two fresh possibilities emerge.
                  
The first from China, where experts suggested that the plane may have triggered a seismic event when it impacted the sea some 150km off the southern tip of Vietnam.

As for the second possibility, it lent further credence to the speculation of sabotage or hijacking.

Sources close to the investigation had told Reuters that military radar-tracking evidence suggested that the Boeing 777-200ER carrying 239 people was deliberately flown across the Malaysian peninsula towards the Andaman Islands.

US team checking satellite data

When asked on the second possibility however, acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he has no information on the seismic event and could not confirm it.

 

On the first possibility, Hishammuddin maintained that radar information is still being analysed and will not be released until an unidentified aircraft tracked on military radar is confirmed to be MH370.

 

At the press conference, questions were also raised regarding reports that the aircraft had sent "pings" to communications satellites for hours after it was last seen, possibly indicating that its on-board troubleshooting systems are functional and ready to communicate.

 

"What the US team are doing is that they are trying their best to get whatever sources from their satellite system to come up with possibilities of where the aircraft should be," Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) director-general Azharuddin Abdul Rahman replied.

 

The US team is comprised of experts from the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) and National Transport Safety Board (NTSB).

 

This could suggest that the US team were the sources of the Reuters report on the satellite "ping".

 

Natural progression

Azharuddin added that a team of experts from the UK Aircraft Accident Investigation Board and aircraft engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce have also arrived this evening to study the possibility of MH370 having made satellite communication.

 

"We are now sharing information that we don’t normally share due to national security (interests) with agencies that could assist us.

 

"The information we have in our hands is being shared with to these experts and are now being digested. I hope within a couple of days that they can come to some conclusive position on what you asked earlier," Hishammuddin explained.

 

However, he also described the expansion of the search area into the Andaman Sea as a "natural progression" since searching the existing search areas did not yield any results, and the South China Sea search area have been expanded too.

 

Previously, authorities and Rolls-Royce have dismissed similar claims published in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) that the missing jet had been flying for hours after it had gone missing based on continued transmissions from Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (Acars).

 

The report claimed that the last Acars transmission was when the aircraft had contact with air traffic controllers, but WSJ has since amended their article to state that the transmission came from its "satellite-communication link designed to automatically transmit the status of on-board systems".

M'sia: We're still in charge

Meanwhile, Azharuddin also dismissed suggestions that other countries should lead the search operations.

He added that it is based on the protocols set by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

"We still categorise the incident as missing aircraft. It says in Annex 13 (of the protocol) that if the location of the missing aircraft cannot be determined, the state of registration will have to carry out the investigation to find the whereabouts of the aircraft.

"In this case, the state of registration (of the missing aircraft) is Malaysia, and we are following strictly to the protocols of ICAO," he added when asked if other nations should be allowed to take the lead.

The search now involves 57 ships and 48 aircraft from 13 countries, covering a vast expanse of ocean in the Andaman Sea northwest of Peninsular Malaysia, and South China Sea to the northeast of the peninsula.

MH370: Rolls Royce denies engine data report

While the search area is being extended, Malaysian authorities confirm that Rolls Royce has denied that there was data transmitted from the engine after it went off-radar
VIDEO INSIDE

SEPANG: Rolls Royce, the engine manufacturer of the ill-fated MH370, has denied reports that the jetliner was sending engine data for some five hours after it lost contact with the main control tower last Saturday morning.

In making this public, Defence-cum-Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said Malaysian authorities have checked with Rolls Royce, and the engine maker of the Boeing 777-200ER jet has categorically denied the reports which had quoted unnamed sources.

Over the last two days, unnamed US officials have repeatedly said that engine data from MH370 was beamed back to Rolls Royce after 1.30am on Saturday when the plane carrying 239 passengers and crew went missing on its flight from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing, China.

While the plane was last spotted over the South China Sea, Malaysian military radar picked up a civilian aircraft and hour after its disappearance some 200km north of Penang, heading towards the Andaman Sea.

Some 57 ships and 48 aircraft from 13 nations are now looking for the jetliner not only at the South China Sea but also the Straits of Malacca, the Andaman Sea and the Indian Ocean.

The scope of the search was widened as Malaysian authorities did not want to leave any stones unturned in its search for MH370.

“Yesterday, we rejected a media report in which unnamed officials said that engine data showed the plane had kept flying for hours after last contact. We checked with Boeing and Rolls Royce, who said the reports were not true.

“Today Rolls Royce released a statement saying, and I quote: Rolls Royce continues to provide its full support to the authorities and Malaysia Airlines. Rolls Royce concurs with the statement made on Thursday, March 13, by Malaysia’s Transport Minister regarding engine health monitoring data received from the aircraft’.

“There has been a lot of media speculation today after comments from unnamed US officials suggested the plane may have travelled for some time after losing contact.

“As is standard procedure, the investigation team will not publicly release information until it has been properly verified and corroborated with the relevant authorities. Nor do we want to be drawn into specific remarks that unnamed officials have reportedly made to the media,” Hishammuddin said in his daily press conference at the Sama-Sama hotel here today.



He said the international search and rescue teams are currently working on verifying that detailed information, “but we have nothing to confirm at the moment”.

Search expanded

He said while the aircraft is still missing, the authorities are expanding the search area.

“Two days ago, the search area was widened to include the Andaman Sea. Together with our international partners, we are now pushing further east into the South China Sea, and further into the Indian Ocean.

“We want nothing more than to find the plane as quickly as possible. But the circumstances have forced us to widen our search. A normal investigation becomes narrower with time, as new information focuses the search. But this is not a normal investigation. In this case, the information we have forces us to look further and further afield,” said the minister.

He said the investigation team was following all leads that could help locate the missing aircraft and when new information is received, it must be verified.

“We have daily technical meetings with all the key players. We have followed the protocols set out by the International Civil Aviation Authority. We have been in regular contact with our neighbouring countries. And we have welcomed all international offers of assistance. We are committed to one aim: finding MH370,” he stressed.

On the plane’s turn back, he said though the military radar spotted a civilian aircraft an hour after it lost communication with the air traffic control, it has yet to be confirmed that the spotted aircraft was indeed MH370.

“This is why we expanded the search. We are also getting satellite material from others. We are still investigating. A team from Boeing and Rolls Royce are also studying the satellite information. So far we can’t reveal anything until we confirm,” he added.

Asked on who should spearhead the whole operation, Hishammuddin said Malaysia as the state of register of the aircraft is required to undertake the task.

Under the International Civil Aviation Organisation protocol, the state of register of the aircraft must undertake the task of locating the missing plane.

The minister also did not rule out hijacking as “all possibilities are being looked at.”

“The focus now is finding the aircraft. We also did not receive any satellite data from the plane and we are trying to get whatever satellite data provided by the US.

“We normally do not share satellite information but in this case we have made it an exception and hope we can come to a conclusion on the location of the aircraft,” he added.

The minister also reiterated that investigators are unsure if the plane’s transponders were turned off intentionally, turned off under duress or failed as result of an explosion.

Hisham keeps mum on Andaman possibility

The Acting Transport Minister however says investigators will look into all aspects, including the possibility of a hijacking
VIDEO INSIDE

SEPANG: Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein today refused to confirm or deny new reports that the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have been deliberately flown across to the Andaman Islands after losing contact.

Speaking in his daily media briefing in Sepang, Hishammuddin said the investigation team will not publicly release information until it has been properly verified and corroborated with the relevant authorities.

“Nor do we want to be drawn into specific remarks that unnamed officials have reportedly made to the media,” said Hishammuddin, who is also the Defence Minister.

He also said that the local authorities were working closely with all international partners, including the US team, whose officials have been here on the ground in Kuala Lumpur.

“Since Wednesday, the Malaysian investigation team have shared more detailed information, as it became available, for verification.

“The international team are currently working on verifying that detailed information, but we have nothing to confirm at the moment,” he said.

Earlier today Reuters quoted sources familiar with the investigation as saying that military radar-tracking evidence had suggested the jetliner was deliberately flown across the Malay peninsula towards the Andaman Islands.

Two sources said an unidentified aircraft that investigators believe was Flight MH370 was following a route between navigational waypoints, indicating it was being flown by someone with aviation training, when it was last plotted on military radar off the country’s northwest coast.

Search expanded

The last plot on the military radar’s tracking suggested the plane was flying toward India’s Andaman Islands, a chain of isles between the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal, they said.

Waypoints are geographic locations worked out by calculating longitude and latitude that help pilots navigate along established air corridors.



A third source said inquiries were focusing increasingly on the theory that someone who knew how to fly a plane deliberately diverted the flight hundreds of miles off its intended course from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

“What we can say is we are looking at sabotage, with hijack still on the cards,” said that source, a senior Malaysian police official.

All three sources declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media and due to the sensitivity of the investigation.

When pressed to comment on these media reports, Hishammuddin also said he was not ruling out the possibility of the jetliner being hijacked.

The flight with 239 passengers and crew went missing an hour after taking off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to Beijing. Its last contact with Malaysian air traffic control was at 1.07am when it was flying over the South China Sea.

Today is the seventh day of the search for MH370 involving 57 ships and 48 aircraft from 13 countries.

The government has now expanded the search area to cover further east into the South China Sea, and further into the Indian Ocean.

Anwar: Who gave ‘bomoh 1Malaysia’ approval?

Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim today demanded that the government disclose who gave permission for a bomoh to conduct rituals inside KLIA to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines jet.

“This is KLIA. Who gave permission? Is it MAS, is it Department of Civil Aviation?” Anwar asked in the Dewan Rakyat today while debating the royal address.
He said the presence of the bomoh had made Malaysia a laughing stock of the international community.
“Even Barack Obama (US president) must have been amazed with our stupidity,” he said.

Anwar went on to call the bomoh “Bomoh 1Malaysia”, referring to the 1Malaysia pin the bomoh was wearing.

“He even had a 1Malaysia tag on him. This is bomoh 1Malaysia,” he said, to the laughter of the House.

In a press conference at the Parliament lobby later on, Anwar said that the use of the bomoh was an affront to Islam, and urged Islamic authorities to investigate the matter swiftly.
“Where are those NGOs who made noise about the ‘Allah’ issue? Why are they silent now?” Anwar asked.

Anwar did not mince his words in claiming that Malaysia has never embarrassed itself to this extent in the international stage in its history.

“Our biggest problem is in handling a crisis. There should be a central command,” he said.
However, Anwar was clear that current Acting Transport Minister Hishamuddin Hussein should not be the central spokesperson on the matter.

“He issued a statement, and hours later, DCA gave a different version,” he said.
The bomoh is called Ibrahim Mat Zin, and also calls his own organisation as 1Malaysia Corporate Bomoh.

Meanwhile, a group of Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) officers arrived at the airport at 10.30am to monitor the area, according to The Star Online today.

“This is to avoid people from becoming syirik (deviant)…

“(Anyone doing) anything that is against syariah principles and fatwa will be asked to disperse and if they refuse, we will arrest them under Section 7 of the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment (Selangor) 1995 for false doctrine,” Jais Sepang district enforcement chief Zaifullah Jaafar Shidek is quoted as saying.

Aviation experts question shift in search for MH370

KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The dramatic expansion of the search for a missing Malaysian airliner suggests the plane flew thousands of miles off course, crossing — apparently undetected — a sensitive region bristling with military radar.

Aviation experts today queried the plausibility of such a scenario, but confirmation from US and Malaysian officials that the search was being widened into the vast Indian Ocean suggested it had credible underpinnings.

If there was a debate over what might have happened to Flight MH370, there was a general consensus as to the extraordinary nature of its disappearance without trace a week ago over the South China Sea.

“I would probably go ahead and say this is unprecedented,” said Anthony Brickhouse, a member of the International Society of Air Safety Investigators.

“In most investigations each day you move forward, you uncover more things, more clues,” Brickhouse told AFP.

“But in this one it seems that each day that goes by something that you thought was a lead turns out not to be a lead and you’re back to square one again.”

The expansion of the search area came as multiple US media reports, citing American officials, said the plane’s communication system continued to “ping” a satellite for up to four hours after it disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

The reports amplified on Malaysia’s belief, based on a radar sighting, that the plane may have mysteriously turned back towards Kuala Lumpur just over an hour into its flight when no technical problem was apparent, on a calm night in fine weather.

Somebody would have acted?

But Neil Hansford, chairman of leading Australian airline consultancy Strategic Aviation Solutions, balked at the idea of the plane flying on for undetected more than four hours through various national airspaces.

“An aircraft, without any transponders on, going over the top of anybody’s airspace would have become a military incident and somebody would have done something,” Hansford said.

Southeast Asia, and particularly the South China Sea, is a hotbed of bitter territorial disputes that are the subject of round-the-clock surveillance by the competing parties.

Flying from the point where radar contact was lost to the Indian Ocean would have taken the plane through airspace monitored by Malaysian, Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian and Indian military radar.

“How did it get past all of that?” said Gerry Soejatman, an independent aviation analyst based in Jakarta.

One possibility is that the radar systems did pick something up, but it was unclear, and there was a reluctance to flag up data that would also reveal details about military radar capabilities.

“Defence is not only about having the capability but also not disclosing what capabilities you don’t have,” said David Kaminski-Morrow, the London-based air transport editor for Flight International.

“I am sure there is a lot of discussion in the back rooms on what information you want to put out there to help search for the aircraft, and what you don’t want out in the public domain,” he said.

Neither the US Navy nor White House has detailed the source of the intelligence that led to the redeployment of the destroyer USS Kidd towards the Indian Ocean.

But Malaysian Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters that his government was “sharing information we don’t normally share for security reasons.”

Competing scenarios

The confounding mystery has fuelled a host of contending scenarios, including a mid-air explosion, terrorist act, catastrophic technical failure, pilot suicide or rogue missile strike.

The idea that it flew for hours, and thousands of miles, over the Indian Ocean would appear to lend credence to the notion of some sort of cockpit takeover.

The theory has gathered further weight from other unconfirmed reports that the plane’s two main automated communication systems shut down 14 minutes apart — suggesting this was done manually rather than caused by an explosion or other sudden catastrophic event.

But Soejatman said the time lag could have been the result of a fire.

“We have seen cases where there have been cockpit fires, and then the systems go down one by one,” he said. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be deliberate.”

Several analysts noted that speculation was being fuelled by the public’s widespread disbelief that a modern passenger plane carrying 239 people could just vanish — in an age of instant communication where smartphones have brought advanced technology into everyone’s pockets.

Although it has been almost a week, Paul Yap, an aviation lecturer at Temasek Polytechnic in Singapore, argued that the search was “still in its very early days” and that expectations had to be re-calibrated.

“The unusual problem and maybe the most important one in this case is that there is nothing that can tell them exactly how to deploy their resources,” he said.

“I know that is frustrating to hear ... especially for the families, but right now that is the reality.” — AFP