Connection with Missing MH370 through mobile by Family of chinese passenger onboard the flight

Desperate family members of passengers onboard the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 have urged MAS to use satellite technology to pick up signals from mobile phones on the aircraft before they run out of batteries, Singapore's The Sunday Times reported yesterday.

A Chinese family claimed they had successfully reached the mobile phone of a passenger on board the flight, which is still missing after it lost contact with air traffic controllers on Saturday.

A video clip of a man dialling the number of his elder brother was shown on a Beijing Television's news bulletin. The call got connected, but no one picked up.

The man, who did not give his name, spoke to reporters at a Malaysia Airlines briefing in Beijing, and claimed that he made a total of three calls, but no one answered.

An extensive air and sea search resumed for the third day this morning for the missing Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, as more questions arose over its last known location and the identity of some of its passengers on board.

Vietnamese authorities had found fragments believed to be the composite inner door and tail section of the 11-year-old passenger jet, 50 miles south-southwest of Tho Chu island.

Malaysian authorities also found oil slicks some 20 nautical miles from MH370's last known position when it disappeared from radar screens without even a distress call or signal.

Officials investigating the disappearance of flight MH370 with 239 people on board are narrowing the focus of their inquiries on the possibility that it disintegrated in mid-flight.

The MAS jet vanished after climbing to a cruising altitude of 35,000 feet between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing in the early hours of Saturday, but search teams have not been able to make any confirmed discovery of wreckage in seas beneath the plane's flight path almost 48 hours after it took off.

Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is flying the first batch of families of passengers on board flight MH370 to Kuala Lumpur today.

The first batch would comprise family members of only two passengers as they have valid passports and visa to Malaysia.

Up to five family members per passenger would be flown to Kuala Lumpur in the subsequent flights offered by MAS, as the airline wants to bring as many families of the passengers to Kuala Lumpur to get the latest updates. – March 10, 2014.

Pakistan agreed to form a new path for Taliban relation

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Thursday met Taliban representatives and agreed to form a new committee having decision-making powers to negotiate directly with dreaded terror alliance.

The decision was taken at a breakfast meeting Sharif hosted at his official residence with Taliban and government negotiators for peace talks in an attempt to end seven-year long insurgency. 

Sources said the new committee, expected to be formed in next few days, will include members from the ruling PML-N, the army, ISI, provincial Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government and other stakeholders. 

"We have asked the prime minister to form a new committee having effective powers," said Irfan Siddiqui, Sharif's advisor on national security. "More sensitive issues will come up for discussion in the next phase of talks. Therefore a mechanism for direct contacts with Taliban is required.'' 

Rahimullah Yusufzai, a veteran journalist and a member of government committee present at the meeting, told media: "We have proposed that those who have authority to make decisions should be part of this committee. There should be representatives from the government and the military in the committee." 

Following the meeting, Maulana Samiul Haq, the head of the Taliban nominated negotiating team, told journalists a unanimous decision had been taken regarding a new strategy for peace talks to continue. 

"Matters have come to point where talks could not move forward without the inclusion of members from authoritative circles," the cleric said, adding that members from both committees will visit North Waziristan tribal region to hold talks with the Taliban council. 

The dialogue process was initiated last month. But it broke down after Taliban-linked insurgents executed 23 abducted soldiers, triggering air strikes against suspected terrorist hideouts in the north-west tribal regions. The dialogue resumed after the Taliban announced a month-long unilateral ceasefire recently. 

67 Kashmiri students suspended for supporting Pakistan's cricket team

SRINAGAR: Mastermind of 26/11 terror attack Hafiz Saeed and Pakistan can rest as the students from Kashmir, who were charged with sedition charges by Uttar Pradesh, have turned down the neighbouring country’s offer to study in its universities.

After the BJP on Friday criticised the Uttar Pradesh government for withdrawing sedition charges against students from Kashmir, the frightened students have also rejected the idea of going back to Meerut.

On Thursday 67 Kashmiri students were suspended and slapped with sedition charges by Uttar Pradesh for supporting Pakistan’s cricket team.

“We are thankful to Pakistan for their statement but we don’t want to go to Pakistan,” said Musadiq Rafeeq, a second year BBA student of Meerut’s Swami Vivekanand Sub- harti University. “Our only demand is that we should be allowed to continue our study in Kashmir.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has done so much for us by forcing the UP Police to withdraw the sedition case. He should do a bit more (and ensure migration to a state university),” he added.

Meanwhile, Moderate Hurriyat Conference chief Mirwaiz Umar Farooq sought the intervention of South Asian countries and the Organisation of Islamic Countries asking them to open up their institutions for Kashmiri students to allow them to study in a “bias-free atmosphere”.

Malayia Airlines plane crashed in the South China Sea with 227 passengers

KUALA LUMPUR: A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew crashed in the South China Sea on Saturday, Vietnamese state media said, quoting a senior naval official.

The Boeing 777-200ER flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing had been missing for hours when Vietnam's Tuoi Tre news quoted Admiral Ngo Van Phat as saying he had asked boats from an island off south Vietnam to rush to the crash site.

If the report is confirmed, it would mark the U.S.-built airliner's deadliest crash since entering service 19 years ago.

Malaysia Airlines had yet to confirm that the aircraft had crashed. It said earlier in the day that no distress signal had been given and cited early speculation that the plane may have landed in Nanming in southern China.

Flight MH370, operating a Boeing 777-200ER aircraft, last had contact with air traffic controllers 120 nautical miles off the east coast of the Malaysian town of Kota Bharu, Malaysia Airlines chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement read to a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

Malaysia and Vietnam were conducting a joint search and rescue, he said but gave no details. China has also sent two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in any rescue,

Focus on social and political emansipation of women. India

New Delhi: There is a need to change the "medieval mindset" and give women leadership positions in politics, business and social spheres to ensure rightful place for them in the society, Rahul Gandhi said today.Congratulating women for bringing the fight for women's empowerment on global agenda, Rahul in a statement on International Women's Day, said, "There has been a story of courage, determination and perseverance of women everywhere. But much more needs to be done to ensure that women have their rightful place in the society.Highlighting the need to empower women in the country, he said, "India can never aspire to be a superpower without empowering its women. This empowerment must be reflected at all levels. Women must find their place in positions of leadership in politics, business and social spheres."He emphasised the need to change the "medieval mindset" in the country and urged the government, civil society and the political class to help in ensuring that women have the rights and opportunities for their equal involvement in the administration of india. 

Malaysia Airlines plane disappeared on its way

The Boeing 777 flown by Malaysia Airlines that disappeared Saturday morning over the South China Sea.
The long-range jumbo jet has helped connect cities at the far ends of the globe, with flights as long as 16 hours . 
Three of the 307 people aboard died.Airlines like the plane because it is capable of flying extremely long distances thanks to two giant engines. Each engine is so massive that a row of at least five coach seats could fit inside it. By having just two engines, the plane burns through less fuel than four-engine jets, like the Boeing 747, which it has essentially replaced.

3 died trying to save Central African Republic

Mar 07, 2014  BANGUI, Central African Republic (AP) — Mahamat Nour and his two friends knew they had to flee the capital of Central African Republic, where mobs decapitate Muslims in the streets and mutilate their corpses.

They heard of a flight Friday afternoon to neighboring Chad and left their neighborhood for the first time in weeks in a desperate attempt to escape. But when they got to the airport, the flight was full and they were turned away.

Armed security from the airport agreed to take them back home until the next flight. Minutes later, though, Christian militants fired on their vehicle.

"Two of the men made a run for it into the neighborhood while the third man died inside the vehicle," said Abdel Nasser, another Muslim who witnessed the horror from his own car. "They say we Muslims are foreigners. But my great-grandfather was born here. How can you say I am not a Central African?"

Crime rate in Pune has finished, because of passionate efforts to 'solve' Dr. Dabholkar's murder case

March 2, 2014,Pune (Maharashtra) : There has been a marked increase in incidents of murder, chain snatching, brek ins and other such serious crimes. Enquiries in to Dr. Narendra Dabholkar's murder are on in full swing, but we have not got any closer to apprehending the perpetrators. Due to the 28 functions organized in the jurisdiction and the manpower required to probe Dr. Dabholkar's murder, it was not possible to devote time and attention to the other crimes. As a result, there has been amarked increase in crime in the city, claimed Gulabrao Pol, the police commissioner, in a press meet here on the 25th of February. He then gave the crime statistics to the press...

1. 10,789 crimes were registered in the jurisdiction. Out of which 5,864 were solved. This translates to a 54% crime solving rate, just 1 % higher compared to 2012.
2. 129 cases of murder were registered. Compared to december 2012, it is an increase of 20.
3. 566 cases of chain snatching, involving close to 3 crores worth of gold, have been registered. 203 cases have been solved an 79 lakh worth gold recovered.   

‘China agreed to raise ties to new stage with Pakistan’

March 3, 2014 Islamabad : (IANS) China has said it appreciates Pakistan's valuable support on issues concerning its core interests and stands ready to work with Islamabad to lift bilateral ties to a new level.

Chinese Defence Minister Chang Wanquan said it here Friday while visiting the country, Xinhua reported. During a meeting with Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, he hailed the all-weather friendship and all-around cooperation between the two countries as a good example for international relationships.

Building the China-Pakistan economic corridor, the Chinese minister said, is an important consensus reached by leaders of the two nations, which will play a leading and exemplary role for the construction of the Silk Road economic belt as well as the maritime Silk Road.

Pakistan firmly adheres to the "one-China" policy and stands ready to strengthen security cooperation with China in the fight against terrorism and separatism, Sharif said, adding with joint efforts, friendly cooperation between the two countries and armies will be further promoted.

He said the all-weather friendship between Pakistan and China has stood the test of time and is witnessing more progress in all cooperation fields. The China-Pakistan economic corridor will not only benefit the two peoples, but also promote the economic and social development of countries in South Asia and Central Asia, Sharif added. Chang arrived here early Thursday for an official visit. This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.