World 12 Ashburton Guardian
www.guardianonline.co.nz
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
■ MALAYSIA
In brief
Hunt for jet widens By Shannon Teoh Dozens of ships and aircraft from multiple nations are scouring an expanded swathe of Southeast Asia for any sign of a Malaysian jet that vanished with 239 people on board, as frustration mounted over the baffling disappearance. Authorities have announced they are doubling the search radius to 100 nautical miles (185 kilometres) around the point where Malaysia Airlines MH370 disappeared from radar over the South China Sea early on Saturday, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. China, which had 153 of its nationals on board the plane, said it would harness 10 satellites equipped with high-resolution imaging to help, as Boeing said it was joining a US government team to figure out what happened to its 777-200 plane. The vast stretch under consideration reflects authorities’ puzzlement over the disappearance of the aircraft, with 40 ships and more than 30 planes finding no sign of it on the fourth day of searching. Malaysian authorities and airline officials have come under fire from China for their inability to provide any indication of what happened, and for a string of contradictory statements. The search sphere now includes land on the Malaysian peninsula itself, the waters off its west coast, and an area to the north of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. That covers an area far removed from the scheduled route of MAS flight MH370, which officials say may have inexplicably turned back towards Kuala Lumpur. Hapless authorities and air-
Tsunami anniversary Japan has observed a moment of silence to mark the third anniversary of the quake-tsunami disaster which swept away thousands of victims, destroyed many coastal communities, and sparked the nuclear emergency that forced a re-think on atomic power. Survivors bowed deeply at remembrance ceremonies in towns and cities around the disaster zone and in Tokyo, where Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko led tributes to those who died in Japan’s worst peace-time disaster. A national moment of silence followed the cry of tsunami alarm sirens which were set off at 2:46pm, the moment a 9.0 magnitude undersea quake hit. - AFP
Autopsy details heard
A woman takes a photo of a screen displaying the number of hours since the Malaysia Airlines passenger jet has gone missing. ap photo
line officials have held a number of press conferences since the drama erupted, but have had no answer for the most burning questions over whether the plane exploded, ditched in the sea, was hijacked, or any number of other scenarios. The plane had relayed no indications of distress, and weather at the time was said to be good. Vietnam asked fishing boats off its southern coast - where the flight dropped off radar for help in the effort, but said it feared the worst. “In terms of our assessments and predictions - we have little hope of a positive outcome,”
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Pham Quy Tieu, deputy minister of transport, said yesterday. Emotions were running high after China’s state media blamed Kuala Lumpur for a lack of information. Tearful relatives of the missing Chinese passengers voiced frustration, while clinging to fading hopes. “I hope it is a hijacking, then there will be some hope that my young cousin has survived,” a man in his 20s surnamed Su said in Beijing. On Monday, conflicting information deepened the anguish of relatives, with tests on oil slicks in the South China Sea showing they were not from the Boeing
777 and reports of possible debris from the flight also proving to be false alarms. Malaysia has launched a terror probe after at least two of the passengers were found to have travelled on stolen passports. Two European names from Austria and Italy were listed on the passenger list, but neither man boarded the plane. Questions swirled over how the two passengers using their documents managed to board the flight. The United States has sent an FBI team to help investigate, but US officials stressed there was as yet no evidence of terrorism. - AFP
■ UKRAINE
Russia stares down Security Council By Luc PerroT Russia has refused to budge from its seemingly imminent annexation of Crimea, defying Western pressure at the UN Security Council, as Ukraine’s ousted president prepared to make his first public appearance in more than a week. As the Kremlin-backed forces tightened their grip on Crimea, Russia rebuffed the pressure from Western members of the Security Council to change course on a secession referendum in the strategic peninsula. At a Security Council meeting that France’s UN ambassador described as “a call to Russia not to go down this road”,
Western countries’ pleas to cancel the Sunday referendum - called by Crimea’s selfappointed leaders to decide whether the peninsula should join Russia - fell on deaf ears, diplomats said. “The Russians are not showing any sign that they are listening to us,” said the French envoy, Gerard Araud, warning that the crisis in Ukraine was worsening by the day. British UN envoy Mark Lyall Grant said there had been no “softening of Russia’s position” despite widespread consensus the referendum was illegal. “It is clear that a free and fair referendum cannot be organised when Crimea is controlled by Russian troops,” he said. - AFP
Oscar Pistorius’s murder trial was overnight set to hear more details on the autopsy of his slain girlfriend, a day after the star sprinter threw up as he listened to a graphic account of the gunshot injuries he inflicted on his lover. Forensic pathologist Gert Saayman was due to wrap up his testimony in the High Court before defence lawyer Barry Roux will start with cross-examination. 29-year-old model Reeva Steenkamp was hit once in the top right of her head, once in the right elbow and once in the right hip. She was also struck in the webbing of her left hand. Any of the head, arm or hip wounds could have caused her death, Saayman said. - AFP
Astronauts touch down Two Russian cosmonauts and an American astronaut have landed back on Earth in Kazakhstan after a stay of more than half a year aboard the International Space Station, mission control says. Russians Oleg Kotov and Sergei Ryazansky, and NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins touched down in their Soyuz capsule at 1424 AEDT yesterday outside Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan. The undocking and landing had initially been postponed because of bad weather, but were then allowed to go ahead and mission control said that the landing had proceeded on schedule. - AFP
Salt danger highlighted Salt is killing Australians by stealth, say health experts concerned about high volumes of the chemical lurking in foods such as bread and breakfast cereal. “The foods that are the most problematic are not always the ones you think of as being really salty,” said Dr Bruce Neal, a senior director at the George Institute in Sydney. “The main source of salt in the Australian diet is bread.” But obvious sources like cheese and processed meats also contribute a significant amount. It’s so bad that the average Australian eats one and a half teaspoons of salt a day. That’s nine grams, which is way above the government’s upper limit of six and the World Health Organisation’s recommendation of five. - AAP