The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Objects spotted could be jetliner’s debris

Melbourne/Kuala Lumpur, March 20
Malaysia today said two large objects spotted by a satellite in a remote part of the southern Indian Ocean were the first “credible lead” in the massive search for the missing plane, raising hopes of a breakthrough to trace the jet that mysteriously disappeared nearly two weeks ago.

“This morning, the Prime Minister (Najib Razak) received a call from the Prime Minister of Australia (Tony Abbott), informing him that two possible objects related to the search for MH370 had been identified in the southern Indian Ocean,” Defence and Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

“We now have a credible lead,” he said, adding this “requires us overnight to verify and corroborate it”.

Australian authorities also said the search could take time and one of its military planes was unable to locate the debris due to bad weather, but other planes would continue the hunt.

Officials said one should not jump to any early conclusion as the hunt for the Boeing 777-200 missing since March 8 had thrown up several false leads.

Australian military-led search aircraft were dispatched to check whether the two objects were the wreckage of the missing Malaysian jet.

One of the objects spotted by satellite imagery was 24 meters (about 80 ft) in length and the other was 5 meters (15 ft).

Hishammuddin said that the overall search effort involving 26 countries for the plane with 239 people, including five Indians, on board would continue in the meantime along two corridors stretching from the southern Indian Ocean to South and Central Asia.

“Data markers balls will be dropped” by the planes heading towards the objects, he said.

“There is an urgency to find black box to find answers,” he said, but cautioned that these sightings, while credible, are still to be confirmed.

Australian officials said satellite imagery showed the objects were around 2,500 km southwest of Perth, one of the remotest parts of the globe, and appeared to be awash over water several thousand metres deep.

The objects were spotted four days go. The dimension of one of the objects could possibly be a major part of a wing, officials indicated, but hastened to add that it could also be seaborne debris as containers periodically fall off cargo vessels.

“It's probably the best lead we have right now,” said Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) official John Young.

Military jets and ships from Australia, New Zealand and the US were heading to the area to search for the objects, as the multinational search operations entered 13th day today.

Hishammuddin said as a result of this information, four aircraft have been re-orientated to an area 2,500 kilometres southwest of Perth.

“Every effort was being made to locate the objects seen in the satellite imagery,” he said.

“We consider all leads to be the same level of importance ... Satellite imaging and the experience that we went through in respect of the images from the Chinese satellite confirms that our position was correct from the start. “Any leads that we receive must be corroborated and verified, because if found false not only will it jeopardise our search but it will give false hope to the families,” Hishammuddin said.

On the simulator seized from the pilot’s house, he said Malaysian and foreign experts are still examining it and information will be released as soon as they find something. He said a team will leave for Beijing this evening to brief the families of the passengers. — PTI

Norwegian ship reaches Southern Indian Ocean

Oslo: Norwegian car carrier Hoegh St. Petersburg has reached the area in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia where two floating objects, suspected to be debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner, were spotted, the ship owner’s said on Thursday. The car carrier was on its way from Madagascar to Melbourne when it got a request from Australian authorities to assist in investigating the objects spotted. — Reuters

Objects possibly related to MH370: Australian PM

Melbourne: Two objects possibly related to the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines plane carrying 239 people have been spotted in the southern Indian Ocean, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Thursday. Abbott told Parliament that he has called his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak to relay the “new and credible information” about potential aircraft wreckage. — PTI

India deploys two sophisticated surveillance aircraft

Kuala Lumpur: India has deployed two sophisticated surveillance aircraft along the southern corridor in the Indian Ocean to help trace the Malaysian plane. Sources in New Delhi said India has pressed P-8I Poseidon and C-130J Super Hercules into service to help locate the Beijing-bound plane that went missing on March 8 an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. — PTI

Obama expands sanctions, threatens Russian economy

Washington, March 20
US President Barack Obama imposed sanctions on more Russian officials and a bank on Thursday and threatened to target the broader Russian economy if Moscow escalates its actions against Ukraine.

"Russia must know that further escalation will only isolate it further from the international community," Obama said at the White House. The new measures targeted a new list of 20 lawmakers and senior government officials in addition to 11 people already sanctioned by Washington.

Obama made his announced just hours after Russian lawmakers rubber-stamped a treaty signed by President Vladimir Putin to absorb the Ukrainian region of Crimea into Russia.

The US move freezes assets within American jurisdiction and bars US firms from conducting business with those concerned. The US treasury department identified the financial institution involved as Aktsionerny Bank of the Russian Federation, also known as Bank Rossiya.

Senior officials said the bank held significant assets of the Russian ruling elite and key figures around Russian President Vladimir Putin. "Bank Rossiya's shareholders include members of Putin's inner circle associated with the Ozero Dacha Cooperative, a housing community in which they live," the US treasury said. Obama said: "Now we're taking these steps as part of a response to what Russia has already done in Crimea." But he also raised the prospect of tougher future action if Russian behavior does not change, adding he had signed a new executive order that would allow him to target specific sectors of the Russian economy. — AP

EU will impose curbs: Merkel

Berlin: European leaders will show they are ready to ramp up punitive measures against Russia, including politically sensitive economic sanctions, at a summit starting on Thursday, Chancellor Angela Merkel told the German Parliament. The German leader, who has in the last few weeks toughened her stance against Russia, also indicated that the Group of Eight economic powers may expel Russia from the exclusive club.

No military action in Ukraine: Obama

Washington, March 20
US President Barack Obama has ruled out any military action in Ukraine and insisted that diplomacy was still the preferred option for America and its allies to resolve the Ukrainian crisis.

“We are not going to be getting into a military excursion in Ukraine,” Obama told local KNSD, an NBC affiliate in San Diego, in an interview on Wednesday. “What we are going to do is mobilise all of our diplomatic resources to make sure that we’ve got a strong international coalition that sends a clear message, which is that Ukraine should decide their destiny,” he said.

“There is a better path, but I think even the Ukrainians would acknowledge, for us to engage Russia militarily would not be appropriate and would not be good for Ukraine, either,” Obama said.

In another interview with a local KSDK news channel, Obama said there was currently no military option on the table in Ukraine. — PTI

Taliban kill 10 policemen in Afghanistan

Gunmen attack hotel in Kabul
Gunmen fired shots inside a luxury hotel on Thursday in the centre of the Afghan capital Kabul, the police said, but the scale of the attack and the number of casualties was unclear.

Kabul, March 20
Taliban insurgents carried out a brazen early morning assault today on a police station in the country’s east, killing 10 police officers and a civilian, officials said.

The spectacular attack in Jalalabad, the capital of the eastern Nangarhar province, was the latest in the countdown to next month’s presidential elections. The assault involved a suicide bomber, two remotely detonated bombs and seven insurgents and set off a four-hour gunbattle with the police.

By the time it was over, all seven insurgents involved in the attack were killed. PTI

Improving ties with India my historic mission: Chinese Prez

Beijing, March 20
Calling himself a “strong proponent’ of friendship with India, Chinese President Xi Jinping today said furthering Sino-Indian strategic ties is his “historic mission’.

“Furthering strategic partnership with India is my historic mission and I am a proponent of it,” he told India’s new Ambassador to China Ashok K Kantha while accepting his credentials at a special ceremony at the Great Hall of People here.

Indian officials said Xi’s categorical remarks to the new envoy displays earnestness on the part of the new Chinese leadership to develop closer ties with India as it came from the top most leader of the present dispensation.

Xi, who evinced interest in visiting India once the new government takes over power after the General Elections, had a 15-minute long meeting with Kantha during which he told the envoy that besides improving close bilateral relations, the new Chinese leadership looks forward to work with New Delhi on regional and global issues, officials here said.

Though Xi received credentials from 15 new envoys from different countries, he had personal meetings with Kantha and very few of them.

Those who presented his credentials included the new US Ambassador to China Max Baucus.

Xi is regarded as the most powerful Chinese ruler in recent years as he held three powerful posts - head of the ruling Communist Party of China, (CPC), Presidency and chief of military since he took over power last year for a decade- long stint. — PTI