Jet mystery may never be solved: Police
Perth/Kuala Lumpur, April 2
The real cause behind the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 may never be known, Malaysian police warned today as the frustrating search for the crashed airliner continued in the Indian Ocean without any headway.

Santiago, April 2
A powerful 8.2-magnitude earthquake hit northern Chile's Pacific coast, killing at least six persons as tsunami waves of more than two metres lashed the shore.

The quake sent panicked residents pouring into the streets, with more than 900,000 people along Chile's coast heeding government orders to evacuate their homes and seek higher ground.

Similar warnings were issued in a ripple effect up the Pacific coast of South America and into Central America. But about 10 hours after the two-minute quake yesterday, the Chilean government lifted what remained of a nationwide tsunami alert.

People began trickling home after spending hours outside in the middle of the night although the Interior Ministry asked them to remain on alert, as sea levels will remain as much as a metre higher than usual.

Some fires broke out, roads were damaged and power was knocked out in the northern city of Arica, although there was no widespread destruction from the latest mighty quake in one of the world's most seismically active countries, said the disaster relief agency ONEMI.

"The street lights were busted, people ran terrified. After the earthquake there were several aftershocks," Veronica Castillo told AFP from Arica, 1,000 miles north of the capital Santiago.

The government said that so far there have been 17 aftershocks and there will be more in coming days as some energy from the quake zone has yet to be released, according to Sergio Barrientos of the seismological service at the University of Chile.

President Michelle Bachelet declared parts of northern Chile to be disaster zones and said soldiers will be dispatched to the areas to prevent looting and disorder from breaking out as they did after a deadly 8.8-magnitude quake in 2010. More than 500 people died and $30 billion in damage was wrought in that quake. — AFP

The Pakistan government on Wednesday rejected the application of former dictator Pervez Musharraf, indicted for treason, seeking to lift travel ban on him so that he could go abroad for treatment and meet his ailing mother.

The interior ministry's letter addressed to "General Musharraf " said after due consideration of his petition against the backdrop of several criminal cases against him and "in the national interest" his plea cannot be granted.

Sources said Musharraf will now approach the judiciary seeking removal of his name from the Interior Ministry's Exit Control List (ECL).

The decision came a day after the ruling-PML-N went into a huddle chaired by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to decide on Musharraf's application.

The PM also met Army chief Gen Raheel Sharif and ISI Director General Lt Gen Zaheerul Islam.

Media reports here said Gen Raheel had advised the government to allow Musharraf to go abroad for treatment and to meet his 95-year-old ailing mother in the UAE. Anybody whose name is on the ECL cannot leave the country without permission.

Musharraf was indicted on Monday by a special court hearing the high treason case against him, becoming the first-ever military ruler to face criminal prosecution.

The court had put the ball in the government's court in relation to the request put forward by the former president to be allowed to travel abroad.

The court had also granted Musharraf exemption from appearing in the hearings of the case, saying the accused could be ordered to appear in court whenever required.

The ruling said as long as the accused was not in custody, he could seek medical treatment at any place of his choice, adding that an accused could not be restrained from travelling nor could his/her rights as a human being be curtailed for any reason.

(With inputs from PTI)

Moscow, April 2
Russia accused NATO on Wednesday of reverting to the "verbal jousting" of the Cold War by suspending cooperation with Moscow over its annexation of Crimea.

NATO foreign ministers agreed on Tuesday to suspend all practical cooperation with Russia, draft measures to strengthen defences and reassure nervous eastern European countries in the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War ended in 1991. Moscow did not announce any measures to retaliate, but Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov expressed concern over the moves in a phone call with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russia's Foreign Ministry said.

"The language of the statements rather resembles the verbal jousting of the 'Cold War' era," Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said in a statement. He noted that the last time NATO took such a decision, over Russia's five-day war with Georgia in 2008, the defence alliance later resumed cooperation of its own accord.

"It is not hard to imagine who will gain from the suspension of cooperation between Russia and NATO on countering modern threats and challenges to international and European security, in particular in areas such as the fight against terrorism, piracy and natural and man-made disasters," Lukashevich said.

"In any case, it will certainly not be Russia or NATO member states." Russian forces took control of Crimea, a Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula, which then voted to unite with Russia in a March 16 referendum seen as a sham in the West. Moscow formally annexed Crimea on March 21.

The suspension of NATO cooperation with Moscow means Russia cannot participate in joint exercises, although the alliance says joint work in Afghanistan, on training counter-narcotics personnel, maintaining Afghan air force helicopters and providing a transit route out of the country, could continue.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said on Tuesday NATO's future relationship with Russia would depend, among other things, on whether Russia started withdrawing troops massed near Ukraine's eastern border. "The statements about Moscow's allegedly aggressive intentions posing a threat to NATO member states are absolutely groundless," said Alexander Grushko, Russia's permanent representative at NATO, according to Interfax news agency. — Reuters

Perth/Kuala Lumpur, April 2
The real cause behind the mysterious disappearance of Flight MH370 may never be known, Malaysian police warned today as the frustrating search for the crashed airliner continued in the Indian Ocean without any headway.

“Criminal investigations may go on and on and on. We have to clear every little thing,” Inspector-General of Police Khalid Abu Bakar said.

“At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause. We may not even know the reason for this incident,” he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur.

After intense investigations, some clues into the missing MH370 have been derived after interrogating 170 people, including family members of passengers, pilot and co-pilot, Khalid said, adding that more people will be quizzed.

It was not known how strong the leads were as the official did not elaborate.

“I do not wish to comment on the background checking of the pilot or cabin crew as they are the subjects of investigations. All passengers have been cleared of the four focus areas of probe - personal and psychological problems, sabotage and hijacking,” he said.

The Boeing 777-200’s cargo of mangosteens has also come under scrutiny besides the food served on board the Beijing-bound airliner that disappeared from radar screens on March 8, one hour after taking off.

Khalid said the police had to scrutinise carefully to rule out sabotage. “We must be very thorough and we need all the time ...you cannot hurry us,” he said. The police is treating the case as a criminal probe.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will be in Perth on a two-day tour to oversee the search for the plane.

Malaysia has came under criticism from aviation experts and families of the 239 victims of the plane crash over handling the probe. On the 25th day of the multinational search operations, a British nuclear submarine joined the hunt for the plane in the Indian Ocean.

According to media reports here, Britain’s Royal Navy submarine HMS Tireless arrived in the search area about 1,500 kilometres northwest of Perth this morning. The personal jet of Peter Jackson - Oscar-winning New Zealand movie director - is also being used in the hunt.

Up to 10 planes and nine ships participated in today’s search for the Boeing 777-200, the Joint Agency Co-ordination Centre (JACC) in Perth managing the operations said in a statement.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority has determined a search area of about 221,000 square kilometres, 1,504 kilometres northwest of Perth.

Retired Australian Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, heading the JACC, yesterday said it was the most challenging search and rescue operation he had ever seen and said efforts to trace the wreckage could take time.

He said the task was “very complex”, “very demanding” because the teams had no hard information to work from. Houston said no time frame had been set for the search to end, but that a new approach would be needed if nothing showed up. — PTI

Bangkok, April 2
At least seven persons were killed and 19 others injured today in a freak accident at a scrap metal shop here in the Thai capital when some workers accidentally detonated a massive World War II bomb.

Workers at the shop tried to cut the 227-kg bomb open believing that it has been defused when the blast ripped them off.

"The workers at the warehouse thought the bomb was no longer active so they used a metal cutter to cut into it causing the explosion," police official Virasak Foythong said. Five of the workers died on the spot while several others were admitted to hospital.

The blast brought down the building housing the scrap shop and damaged dozen of homes within a 500-metre radius. Body parts were found as far as 200 metres from the scene.

The police said the explosion created a crater four metres wide and three metres deep.

The bomb may have come in with the soil used to fill the site before construction began. The allies conducted bombing raids on the Thai capital in retaliation for the kingdom joining the Japanese war effort in Southeast Asia. — PTI

Arlington, April 2
The official death toll from Washington state's mudslide has increased to 28, and the Snohomish County medical examiner's office says 22 of those victims have been identified. That's up from 27 dead with 19 identified yesterday morning.

The latest names added to the victims list are 65-year-old Thom E Satterlee, 60-year-old Lon E Slauson and 23-year-old Adam Farnes. Like the rest, they died of blunt force injuries suffered in the March 22 slide northeast of Seattle.

Officials say receding floodwaters near the rural community of Oso are helping in the search for human remains by exposing more sites that can be examined. — AP 

Survivors envision shrine at disaster site

Survivors of a mudslide that virtually erased a community in Washington state and left dozens dead or missing have begun to contemplate the future of the disaster site, with many saying it should be left as a shrine once the bulldozers and excavators leave. As stagnant pools of muddy water receded further during a second straight sunny day on Tuesday, recovery teams pressed on with their search for victims of the March 22 slide. — Reuters