Missing jet: Air search expands in remote south Indian Ocean

10:39 AM 3/21/2014

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Search planes flew out of Australia on Friday to scour rough seas in one of the remotest places on Earth for objects that may be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

In what one official called the "best lead" of the nearly 2-week-old aviation mystery, a satellite detected two large objects floating off the southwest coast of Australia about halfway to the desolate islands of the Antarctic.

The area in the southern Indian Ocean is so remote is takes aircraft longer to fly there — four hours — than it allows for the search.

The discovery raised new hope of finding the vanished jet and sent another emotional jolt to the families of the 239 people aboard. A search on Thursday with four planes in cloud and rain found nothing, and Australian authorities said early Friday efforts were resuming with the first of five aircraft — a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion — leaving at dawn for the area about 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) from western Australia.

A civilian Gulfstream jet and a second Orion were to depart later Friday morning and a third Orion was due to fly out in the early afternoon to scour more than 23,000 square kilometres (8,880 square miles) of ocean.

A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft was scheduled to leave the base at about 4 p.m. (0600 GMT), but like the other planes, it will have enough fuel for only two to three hours of search time before returning to Perth.

A New Zealand P-3 Orion plane took part in the unsuccessful search on Thursday, and Mike Yardley, an air commodore with New Zealand's air force, said the plane was forced to duck below thick clouds and fog to a very low altitude of 60 meters (200 feet), hampering the operation.

But Yardley was optimistic that the searchers will find the objects. "We will find it — I'm sure about that piece of it. The only reason we wouldn't find it was that it has sunk," he said of the large unidentified object spotted by the satellite.

"I've been on these missions before when it's taken a few days to come across it," he said.

Warren Truss, Australia's acting prime minister while Tony Abbott is overseas, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that weather conditions in the search area were poor and may get worse. "And so clearly this is a very, very difficult and challenging search. Weather conditions are not particularly good and risk that they may deteriorate," Truss said.

One of the objects on the satellite image was 24 metres (almost 80 feet) long and the other was 5 metres (15 feet). There could be other objects in the area, a four-hour flight from Australia, John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division, said Thursday.

"This is a lead, it's probably the best lead we have right now," Young said. He cautioned that the objects could be seaborne debris along a shipping route where containers can fall off cargo vessels, although the larger object is longer than a standard container.

Truss said officials were checking more satellite images with stronger resolution to find out how far the objects might have shifted since the initial images were captured. "They will have moved because of tides and wind and the like, so the search area is quite broad," Truss said, adding marker buoys were dropped to help get a better understanding of what drift is likely to have occurred.

The Norwegian cargo vessel Hoegh St. Petersburg, with a Filipino crew of 20, arrived in the area and used lights to search overnight before resuming a visual search Friday, said Ingar Skiaker of Hoegh Autoliners, speaking to reporters in Oslo.

The Norwegian ship, which transports cars, was on its way from South Africa to Australia, he said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said another commercial ship and an Australian navy vessel were also en route to the search area.

Three Chinese naval ships were heading to the area. China's search and rescue agency also said it had asked the country's Oceanic Administration to dispatch the icebreaker Xue Long (the Snow Dragon), which was in Perth following a voyage to the Antarctica in January, to take part in the search.

There have been several false leads since the Boeing 777 disappeared March 8 above the Gulf of Thailand en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and one analyst cautioned against rising hopes the objects are from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

"The chances of it being debris from the airplane are probably small, and the chances of it being debris from other shipping are probably large," said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

The development also marked a new phase for the anguished relatives of the passengers, who have been critical of Malaysian officials for what the relatives say has been the slow release of timely information. While they still hope their loved ones will somehow be found, they acknowledged that news of the satellite images could mean the plane fell into the sea.

"If it turns out that it is truly MH370, then we will accept that fate," said Selamat Bin Omar, the father of a Malaysian passenger. The jet carried mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals. But he cautioned that relatives still "do not yet know for sure whether this is indeed MH370 or something else. Therefore, we are still waiting for further notice from the Australian government."

Malaysian officials met with the relatives Thursday night in a hotel near Kuala Lumpur, but journalists were kept away. After the meeting, groups of people left looking distraught. Hamid Amran, who had a child on Flight 370, said questions asked at the meeting made it "apparent that Malaysia's military is incapable of protecting its own airspace."

He believes "that my child and all the other passengers are still alive. I will not give up hope."

Malaysian Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the relatives in Kuala Lumpur were being given updates by high-level officials "two or three times a day."

"We do take care of the next of kin," he said, adding that if the debris is located "close to Australia, we will obviously make arrangements to fly the next of kin there." DigitalGlobe, a Longmont, Colo.-based company, said it provided the images to Australian officials. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority released two images of the whitish objects. They were taken March 16, but Australian Air Commodore John McGarry said it took time to analyze them.

"The task of analyzing imagery is quite difficult, it requires drawing down frames and going through frame by frame," he said.

The hunt has encountered other false leads. Oil slicks that were seen did not contain jet fuel. A yellow object thought to be from the plane turned out to be sea trash. Chinese satellite images showed possible debris, but nothing was found.

Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation for what happened to the jet, but have said the evidence so far suggests it was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.

Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board.

First trailer: Roland Emmerich’s Anonymous Simon Brew

Roland Emmerich, he who blew up the world in 2012 and Independence Day has, er, made a film about Shakespeare. You probably need to watch the trailer…


Published on Apr 8, 2011


There's a really interesting film to be made about whether William Shakespeare actually wrote his work, or if he ended up taking the credit for that of others. You can see Oscars all around.
Somehow, though, Roland Emmerich, the man behind Independence Day, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow, has gone and made that film.






This means two things. Firstly, the chat of any Oscars is diluted quite heavily. And secondly, as this first trailer for Anonymous shows, he's directed the film in a very Emmerich-y way.
High Speed Internet from $19.95 - Unlimited downloads and uploads, no contract, no activation fees, no usage-based billing




That said, count me intrigued. I quite like this trailer, and wonder if, removed from massive disaster movies, Emmerich can really tell the story here. Time will tell.

The film is out at the end of September. And here's that trailer...

Published on Apr 8, 2011

There's a really interesting film to be made about whether William Shakespeare actually wrote his work, or if he ended up taking the credit for that of others. You can see Oscars all around.

Somehow, though, Roland Emmerich, the man behind Independence Day, 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow, has gone and made that film.

This means two things. Firstly, the chat of any Oscars is diluted quite heavily. And secondly, as this first trailer for Anonymous shows, he's directed the film in a very Emmerich-y way.

That said, count me intrigued. I quite like this trailer, and wonder if, removed from massive disaster movies, Emmerich can really tell the story here. Time will tell.

Higlights of the kyrie irving era at duke

by Dave Wilson
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Kyrie Irving, college basketball hardly knew you. The heralded freshman point guard declared for the NBA draft on Wednesday and plans to hire an agent, after playing in only 11 games for the Blue Devils, missing much of the season with an injured big toe on his right foot. Page 2 looks fondly back on the highlights of the Kyrie Irving era:



• Talked trash to former Duke star Jason Williams during a game of H-O-R-S-E.

• Professed love of the Waffle House, and in particular, the double-chocolate chip waffle.

• Had 31 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks in No. 1 Duke's 84-79 victory over No. 6 Michigan State on Dec. 1.

• Subject of "Save Kyrie's Toe" campaign and the accompanying video, which advised that support for the toe's recovery could "mean the difference between 40-0 and a national championship and 39-1 and a national championship."






• Scored in double figures in each of his three NCAA tournament games, including 28 points in a Sweet 16 loss to Arizona.

• Was on the receiving end of an open letter in the Duke student paper sarcastically advising Irving to go pro, that said, among other things: "Plus, sticking around and winning a fifth national title for the Blue Devils is just selfish, even if you haven't ever won one yourself. Think about it: Cameron is already full of national championship banners, and adding one of your own would ruin the symmetry in the rafters."

• Tweeted "Being at NBA games always is enjoyable for me."

• Coach Mike Krzyzewski said of Irving's departure: "Our whole program is overjoyed with having Kyrie here for one year and that he has the chance now to pursue a dream of being a high draft pick and a great player in the NBA."

Another suspension for South Carolina QB Stephen Garcia

By Erick Smith, USA TODAY

The future of South Carolina quarterback Stephen Garcia is in doubt after the rising senior was suspended from the team indefinitely.



It's the fifth time in Garcia's career he has been suspended and the second time this spring. The school did not specify the reason for the decision. The Gamecocks play their annual spring game on Saturday.

"We have expectations for our student-athletes and we make them aware that there are consequences for their actions," athletic director Eric Hyman said in a statement released by the school. "Stephen has exhibited behavior that is unacceptable for one of our student-athletes."






The loss of Garcia, who threw for 3,059 yards and 20 touchdowns in 14 starts, would be a blow to South Carolina, which won the SEC East for the first time in 2010. He was expected to lead an offense that also features running back Marcus Lattimore and wide receiver Alshon Jeffrey.

That responsibility would likely fall to rising sophomore Connor Shaw, who was Garcia's backup last fall.

"If he's back, he's back. If he's not back, it's really the same thing as a guy getting hurt, a guy going pro or whatever," Gamecocks coach Steve Spurrier told reporters. "Players come and go as we all know. This instance should have never happened, but it did. So this is where we are."

Former pupil kills 11 in shooting at Rio school By Rob Hastings

Brazilians were struggling to comprehend a shooting at a primary school in Rio de Janerio yesterday that left 11 children dead and many others injured.




In an incident the like of which the country has never experienced before, 10 girls and one boy – aged mostly between 11 and 13 – died after a 23-year-old gunman fired at least 30 rounds at his victims before killing himself. Some of them were told to face the wall before being shot at point-blank range in the head, while others ran away screaming and barricaded themselves in classrooms.

Wellington Oliveira, a former pupil of the Tasso da Silveira school, located in a working-class neighbourhood of western Rio, arrived at 8:30am local time saying he was there to deliver a lecture. However, he was carrying two handguns and a pre-written suicide note, and had already shot two children on a street nearby even before entering the site.

One student told a local TV station how the gunman had repeatedly shouted "I'm going to kill you all!"

"He kept telling the kids to face the wall and was shooting at their heads," Jade Ramos told the Globo network. "The children kept begging, 'No, please!' There was a lot of blood, children agonizing on the stairs."

Four of at least 18 injured children were said to be in a grave condition.

Oliveira's killing spree would have continued had he not been hit in the legs by police bullets. This caused him to fall down some stairs, after which he shot himself in the head.

"This day would have been so much worse if it were not for the hero policemen," said mayor Eduardo Paes, who described the events as a "hellish nightmare".

Though his motive is not yet clear, the murderer's suicide note contained bizarre instructions that his dead body should be bathed and wrapped in a white sheet that he had brought with him. He also directed that it should not be handled by anyone who was "impure", unless they wore gloves, and reportedly said that he was suffering from the AIDS virus.

At an event in the capital, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff asked tearfully and with a strained voice "for one minute of silence for these children who were taken so early from their life". She added: "It's not in the nature of our nation to have these types of crimes."

Obama Demands Budget Deal to Avert Government Shutdown By Brian Faler and Julianna Goldman - Apr 8, 2011 11:00 AM GMT+0700

President Barack Obama said he hopes lawmakers can reach a last-minute deal today to avert a government shutdown after a third round of talks with congressional leaders last night failed to end an impasse over the federal budget.





After meeting with House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Obama said issues remained unresolved and he hoped for a breakthrough that would prevent a shutdown, set to begin at midnight tonight.






“I’m not yet prepared to express wild optimism but I think we are further along,” he told reporters. “My hope is, is that I’ll be able to announce to the American people sometime relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted.”

The president canceled a scheduled trip to Indianapolis, where he was to promote his energy policies. He had met with Reid and Boehner earlier yesterday and late on April 6 in an effort to reach an accord.

Without an agreement, the government would begin shutting down for the first time in 15 years. Roughly 800,000 “non- essential” federal employees would be furloughed, affecting a host of government services. National parks would close, those filing paper tax returns wouldn’t receive refunds, government permits would be unavailable, and most passport applications would go unprocessed.

‘Extremely Narrow’

Neither Obama nor Reid identified the outstanding issues. Reid said they were “extremely, extremely narrow,” yet “the sad part about it, we keep never quite getting to the finish line.” He said he is “not really confident” that a deal will be reached, though “I’m very, very hopeful.”

Boehner said in a statement with Reid that they had “narrowed the issues” and would “continue to work through the night to attempt to resolve our remaining differences.”

Concern that an impasse over the federal budget may lead to a shutdown helped push down stocks yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 17.26 points, or 0.1 percent, to 12,409.49 at 4 p.m. in New York and the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index dropped 0.2 percent.

Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the chamber’s second- ranking Democrat, said yesterday that lawmakers are divided by provisions, known as policy riders, woven into a bill funding the government for the rest of this year. They would change administration policies on environmental regulations as well as funding for Planned Parenthood, which provides abortions among other health services.

‘Policy Questions’

“It appears that the debate is no longer over deficit reduction,” Durbin said. “It has really devolved into a debate over policy questions that have nothing to do directly, maybe even indirectly, with the budget deficit that we face or the money we’re going to spend.”

Lawmakers had also been debating about $40 billion in cuts from the government’s $3.7 trillion annual budget.

Yesterday, the administration threatened to veto a House- approved measure that would keep the government open for business until April 15, cut $12 billion in spending and fund the Pentagon through Sept. 30, the end of the 2011 fiscal year. The administration called the measure a “distraction from the real work” of forging a compromise.

“Non-essential” federal workers face the prospect of going without pay during the impasse. Representative Jim Moran, a Virginia Democrat, is advising federal workers living in his district just outside Washington to conserve cash, warning a shutdown could stretch into next week. With so much concern over the budget deficit, he said, lawmakers may not agree to provide federal workers with back pay as they have in the past.

‘Conserve Their Money’

“They’re going to have to conserve their money to make their mortgage and car payments -- they’re going to have to determine what are the essentials,” Moran said. He estimated that 100,000 workers in the Washington area may be furloughed.

Many government programs would continue during a shutdown, said Jeff Zients, deputy director of the White House budget office.

Social Security checks will continue to flow, the postal service will continue to deliver the mail, military operations in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya will continue and the air traffic control system will continue to operate, Zients said.

“Generally speaking, services that are critical to safety of life and protection of property are excepted from a shutdown,” he told reporters. So too, he said, are programs that don’t rely on the budget bill being debated for their funding.

Getting Their Paychecks

Elected officials, including Obama, Boehner and Reid, would be paid as usual during a shutdown unless Congress changes the law. Democratic Senators Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Joe Manchin of West Virginia all announced they would forgo their paychecks during a shutdown.

Soldiers, law enforcement officials and others whose jobs are deemed essential would continue to work, yet wouldn’t get paychecks until the budget impasse is resolved.

Obama said the dispute “could severely hamper the recovery and job growth.”

“We’ve been working very hard over the last two years to get this economy back on its feet,” he said. “For us to go backwards because Washington couldn’t get its act together is unacceptable.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Brian Faler in Washington at bfaler@bloomberg.net; Julianna Goldman in Washington at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net

Still No Deal as Thursday Becomes Shutdown D-Day; Planned Parenthood Rider the Big Sticking Point, Sources Say April 07, 2011 10:27 PM

ABC News' Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller report:
His meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., having concluded, President Obama came to the White House briefing room this evening to report “additional progress” had been made and “differences have been narrowed.”


Political coverage and musings on pop culture from ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Jake Tapper and the ABC News White House team.



But outstanding issues remain, he cautioned, ones so important – to both sides - the president said he wouldn’t express “wild optimism” that there will be a deal.







Democratic sources tell ABC News that things “feel better now” in terms of a deal being cut, but the major sticking point remains the GOP rider prohibiting any federal funding to Planned Parenthood or any of its affiliates.

The final figure for budget cuts is a work in progress – somewhere between $33 and $36 billion in new spending cuts - but negotiators are “very close,” one Democratic told ABC News. Democratic officials likely will accept more spending cuts if they are not in areas they are trying to protect, such as education.

“We are further along than we were yesterday,” the president said.

Staffs will work tonight around the clock to see if the deal can be closed.

The president said that because the “machinery of a shutdown is already moving I expect an answer in the morning. My hope is that I will be able to announce to the American people some time relatively early in the day that a shutdown has been averted, that a deal has been completed.”

Mr. Obama warned the shutdown would have negative impacts on the 800,000 furloughed federal workers, those Americans who won’t be able to get important government services, and on the economy in general.

The language in the rider stripping some powers from the Environmental Protection Agency is being “worked through,” the Democrat said. “The stickiest issue will end up being Planned Parenthood.”




The House voted earlier this year to de-fund Planned Parenthood but 41 Democrats in the Senate already have said they would not support legislation ending funding to Planned Parenthood, making the matter one that could be filibustered. The White House has said the president would not agree to any ban on funding to Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood is already prohibited from using any federal funds for abortion-related services. Officials of the organization say more than 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood clinics do has nothing to do with abortion, but rather focuses on women’s health services such as pap smears and mammograms.

Abortion opponents say federal funding for other services means money freed up for the purposes of conducting abortions, which they regard as ending human life.

-Jake Tapper and Sunlen Miller