Missing Plane: 'Search Boat May Have Made Pings'

MH370 Data Leaves Many Unanswered Questions

Updated: 4:55pm UK, Tuesday 27 May 2014

By Lisa Holland, Foreign Affairs Correspondent

It is 47 pages which are supposed to satisfy the families of the missing Malaysia Airlines aircraft about the fate of their loved ones.

But soon after its publication both the families and aviation analysts scouring the details said the information added little that was new.

And what's more it lacked the finer detail enabling other experts to give their own independent assessment of the data.

The lion's share of the information released relates to data from MH370 while it was still on the ground in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. 

It goes on to give information about the electronic pings or 'handshakes' received from the aircraft after its ACARS communication system was switched off shortly after it took off for Beijing.

Aviation analysts say one of the so-called pings - at 11.41pm on the night the aircraft disappeared - is omitted from the data.

We don't know why.

They also say that additional data giving the exact position of satellites and their distance from the aircraft have not been released. 

It is this kind of detail which makes further interpretation by others difficult.

And that's something which has been leapt on by the families who have called for all information known to authorities to be released. 

This data was known within a few weeks of the aircraft's disappearance on March 8, but it has taken until now for it to be released.

A team of international experts used the satellite data along with other information such as radar data and engine performance calculations to reach their conclusion. 

But it's not clear why it's taken until now for the basic data to be released.

Inmarsat, the British satellite company which provided the ping data to the Malaysians, said they were unable to release information without the authority of the Malaysian government. 

The Malaysian government concluded within a couple of weeks of the flight going missing that it had ended in the southern Indian Ocean.

Steve Wang, a relative of one of the missing Chinese passengers, said: "What we want is the full version of the information including all the data and how it is calculated. 

"Data on its own means nothing. The data leads to a conclusion not an ending."

Sarah Bajc, whose partner Philip Wood was on the missing plane, said she was "annoyed" that Inmarsat and the Malaysian authorities hadn't released everything they used to reach their conclusions.

She said: "I see no reason for them to have massaged this before giving it to us."

Communications expert Mischa Dohler says there are still many unanswered questions - and there is still information to be released.

He said: "I don't think this specific data will help in the search for the aircraft. It is important we find the plane but we may never know what happened."

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US Tells Snowden 'Man Up And Come Home'

US Secretary of State John Kerry has challenged Edward Snowden to "man up and come back to the United States", after the whistleblower admitted he wanted to return home.

Mr Kerry's comments follow the former National Security Agency contractor's interview with NBC, his first for US media since he fled the country after leaking a huge volume of classified documents.

Now living in Russia on a temporary grant of asylum, Mr Snowden told the network he took action in the belief that he was serving his country in exposing the surveillance programs of the NSA.

"I don't think there's ever been any question that I'd like to go home," Snowden said in a segment of the interview.

"Now, whether amnesty or clemency ever becomes a possibility is not for me to say. That's a debate for the public and the government to decide. But, if I could go anywhere in the world, that place would be home."

And Mr Kerry, speaking before NBC aired that portion of the interview, said: "If Mr Snowden wants to come back to the United States, we'll have him on a flight today. A patriot would not run away.

Susan Rice has denied Mr Snowden's recent claims

"He should man up and come back to the United States. If he has a complaint about what's the matter with American surveillance, (he should) come back here and stand in our system of justice and make his case.

"If he cares so much about America and he believes in America, he should trust the American system of justice."

Mr Snowden had also said in an earlier part of his interview that he worked undercover and overseas for the CIA and the NSA. He claimed he had a far more important role in US intelligence than the government has acknowledged.

"I was trained as a spy in sort of the traditional sense of the word, in that I lived and worked undercover overseas," he said.

National security adviser Susan Rice insisted in a CNN interview that Mr Snowden never worked undercover.

Mr Snowden said he never intended to end up in Russia but was forced to go there because Washington decided to "revoke my passport."

In response, Mr Kerry said: "Well, for a supposedly smart guy, that's a pretty dumb answer, after all.

"I think he's confused. I think it's very sad. But this is a man who has done great damage to his country."

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Japan Oil Tanker Explosion Leaves Four Hurt

One person is missing and four people have been seriously hurt after an oil tanker exploded off the coast of Japan.

The blast and subsequent fire aboard the 998-tonne vessel Shoko-Maru sent towers of billowing acrid smoke into the sky near Himeji port, around 280 miles west of Tokyo.

The vessel's owner says the tanker was "virtually empty" when it blew up

Coastguard ships battled the blaze on the Hiroshima-based tanker, which has extensive damage to its central section and was listing heavily.

Of the eight people aboard the 260ft vessel, seven have been rescued, four of whom suffered severe burns.

The missing crew member is believed to be the captain.

The cause of the explosion is unclear, a spokesman for the coastguard said.

The tanker had unloaded its cargo of crude oil and was "virtually empty" when the blast happened, according to an official from Syoho Shipping, the company that owns the vessel.

Akihiro Komura said: "I heard a crew member was using a grinder to remove paint and that seems to have triggered the blast, which we believe could have occurred when the remnants of the oil caught fire.

"All the crew members are Japanese nationals. We have confirmed seven out of the eight are alive and one, believed to be the captain, is still missing."

News of the accident caused Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to interrupt a debate in parliament.

"In waters off Hyogo (prefecture), a tanker has exploded and is currently in flames," he said.

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What Next For EU's 'Self-Hating Parliament'?

A paralysing financial crisis which saw rich European countries bailing out the poor meant that these elections were always going to be ugly for the mainstream parties.

And so it transpired in Greece (Syriza 27%), Denmark (Danish Peoples Party 23%), UK (UKIP - more than 30%) and most spectacularly in France (Front National 25%).

In these countries, EU-critical voices from the populist right and anti-austerity left have taken the lion's share of seats in their respective national delegations.

There are plenty of other results to worry the centre-right (EPP) and centre-left (S&D) groups which have traditionally passed laws in the parliament, with a little help from the ALDE Liberal group.

Take the success of Italy's anti-politician, anti-journalist, (anti pretty-much-everything) Five Star group. The election of a pirate and a neo-nazi MEP from Germany will also cause shudders.

But, take a deep breath. The centre ground still rules the roost, with two thirds of the MEPs in the parliament, albeit a drop of 10%.

Also many of these EU-critical parties have little in common: Mr Farage gave us a terse 'not interested' when the Netherland's anti-Muslim PVV sounded him out again to join an anti-EU alliance.

Marine Le Pen of France's National Front has led a European earthquake

Greece's Golden Dawn may support the anti-immigration stance of Denmark's People's Party, but they differ wildly on abortion and gay rights.

To wield any real influence the 'antis' will need to form a political group before the constitutive session of the eighth parliament. Each faction needs at least 25 MEPs drawn from seven countries.

That will involve horse trading and compromise, which may play badly with party supporters back home.

However things will certainly be stickier for the ruling mainstream groups: the 'anti' MEPs may join forces to reject the entire batch of commissioners, and hold up laws and trade deals.

But this parliament is more likely to be a speed bump than a roadblock to this EU institution.

Its most significant impact may be back in the member states, if these parties manage to pull mainstream parties - and therefore governments - in a more Eurosceptic direction.

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'Chocolate King' Claims Ukraine Election Win

Is 'Chocolate King' What Ukrainians Fought For?

Updated: 9:01am UK, Monday 26 May 2014

By Katie Stallard, Sky Correspondent, in Donetsk

According to the national exit poll and the man himself, Ukraine has a new president.

Self-made billionaire Petro Poroshenko - the man they call the "chocolate king" - has declared himself the winner.

Yulia Tymoshenko conceded gracefully, if emotionally, in defeat.

Mr Poroshenko says his first priority is end war and bring peace.

To that end, his first official visit as president will be to the Donbas region in the east.

But he also said he has ruled out negotiations with separatists until they lay down weapons.

None of those we have spoken to here have any intention of doing so.

They burned ballot papers with Molotov cocktails in front of our camera on Sunday to make their point - as far as they are concerned this new president is illegitimate.

They do not recognise his authority, nor do they adhere to his demands.

And there are plenty of other people here not occupying buildings or burning ballots, but who feel the authorities in Kiev mean nothing and do nothing for them.

Uniting Ukraine might make for good campaigning rhetoric, but it's easier promised in a stump speech than delivered in real life.

There will also be questions about whether Mr Poroshenko is what those on the Maidan (the local name for the uprising on Kiev's Independence Square) fought for.

They didn't just want new politicians - they wanted a whole new politics, and the end of the influence of the oligarchy on those in power.

What they have got is one of the richest men in Ukraine, and a man who has been involved in national politics, on and off, and on both sides, for much of the last two decades.

Add to that the parlous state of the national finances, the austerity measures the International Monetary Fund is likely to insist are imposed very shortly, and the massive hike in the Russian gas price, and there are troubled economic times ahead.

Mr Poroshenko's election slogan was: "Live in a new way" -  people here are expecting life to get better, not worse.

But this election does formalise what happened on the Maidan this winter; no longer can it be said that an unelected, self-appointed government has seized power by force.

Whatever the separatists in the east and Russian television channels might say, millions and millions of Ukrainians have voted for a new president, and a man who has promised them a new European future.

It is an overwhelming endorsement of the demands of those who rallied on the Maidan demanding a move away from this country's Soviet past, towards Europe and the west.

There are many long difficult days ahead, but this presidential election is a start and a significant moment in the modern history of Ukraine.

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Far-Right National Front Win In France

By Robert Nisbet, Europe Correspondent

Voters have dramatically altered the make-up of the European Parliament by doubling the number of MEPs from the populist, eurosceptic Right and the anti-austerity Left.

Marine Le Pen's far-Right National Front scored its first victory in European Parliament elections in France.

Without waiting for the final result, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls went on television to call the result "an earthquake" for France and Europe.

The National Front (FN) won around 25% of the vote in France, according to exit polls, easily beating the centre-Right UMP on 20%.

Exit polls say far-right and hard-left parties have gained ground in many countries, including in Greece where the extreme-right Golden Dawn are thought to have won nearly 10% of the vote.

By the half way stage, the centre-right parties were expected to be the biggest group, with 212 out of 751 seats.

The Socialists were expected to gain 185 seats, the Liberals third with 71, the Greens fourth with 55 and the far-left next with 45.

Eurosceptic parties were expected to win about 143 seats.

Marine Le Pen celebrates winning France's Euro election

The winners in Greece, the anti-austerity movement Syriza, are thought to have topped the polls with more than 27% of the vote.

In Germany, the EU's biggest member state with the largest number of seats, the pro-European centre ground held firm, according to the polls.

Ms Le Pen, whose party beat President Francois Hollande's ruling Socialists into third place, told supporters: "The people have spoken loud and clear ... they no longer want to be led by those outside our borders, by EU commissioners and technocrats who are unelected.

"They want to be protected from globalisation and take back the reins of their destiny."

Eurosceptic Conservative MPs in the UK were quick to point out they had predicted the rise of the Right.

Harwich and Essex MP Bernard Jenkin wrote on Twitter: "Some of us who opposed Maastricht 20 years ago predicted it would lead to the rise of the Right in the EU: and here we are."

Douglas Carswell, the Clacton MP, said: "So maybe those of us who sometimes banged on about Europe were on to something?"

Foreign Secretary William Hague said: "I think we should be concerned about some of these developments across the rest of Europe and that is why it is so important that the next European Commission, the European Council, the next European Parliament do get the message that there is rising discontent and tensions of many kinds in Europe."

In Denmark the Right wing Danish People's Party topped the polls, although its leaders have ruled out an alliance with the National Front.

Spain's two main political parties, the ruling conservative Popular Party in power since 2011 and the Socialist Party, lost major ground to smaller parties, mainly on the Left. The Catalan independence party also performed well.

Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi's centre-left Democratic Party (PD) came in ahead of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement (M5S) in his country's exit polls.

In Belgium, the controversial Flemish separatists secured four of  21 EU parliamentary seats available in the country, more than any other party. 

Turnout in Eastern Europe was predicted to be low, with estimates of around 20% expected. 

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Three Killed In Brussels Jewish Museum Shooting

Three people have been killed and another is in a critical condition after a shooting at the Jewish Museum in Brussels.

Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet tweeted to say she believes it was an "anti-Semitic attack".

Two women and a man were killed in the shooting, which came a day before Belgium's general election and European parliament election.

They were all struck by bullets in the face or throat, according to a spokeswoman from the prosecutor's office.

A fourth person injured in the attack is still being treated in hospital.

Sources said two of the dead were Israeli tourists - a man and a woman - from Tel Aviv.

Sky's Robert Nisbet said a local website quoted witnesses as saying an Audi drove up to the museum and two men got out and began firing indiscriminately at passers-by.

Forensic experts at the scene of the killings

They then got back into the car and drove off, La Libre newspaper said on its website.

The attack happened just before 4pm in the Sablon area.

One man was arrested while trying to drive away from the scene. He remains in custody.

Police say they are looking for a second suspect who escaped on foot.

Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders heard shots and arrived at the scene moments later to find bodies on the ground.

"I am shocked by the murders committed at the Jewish museum, I am thinking of the victims I saw there and their families," he wrote on Twitter.

A Jewish community leader, Joel Rubinfeld, said it clearly "is a terrorist act" and the result of "a climate of hate".

Protection around Jewish sites in the country has been increased and Belgian prime minister Elio Di Rupo said "all Belgians are united" in the wake of the attack.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the murder "the result of constant incitement against Jews and their state".

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Elliot Rodgers Shooting Spree: CCTV Emerges

CCTV footage has been released showing shoppers scattering as mass killer Elliot Rodgers fired bullets into a deli.

The Hollywood director's "repeatedly stabbed" three men to death in his apartment before killing three more during a shooting spree, police say.

British-born Elliot Rodger, son of an assistant director on The Hunger Games film, had three semi-automatic handguns and 400 rounds of ammunition with him when he died.

Rodger said he was angry at women for rejecting him

The 22-year-old also left seven others in hospital as he sped around Isla Vista, a student enclave next to the University of California, Santa Barbara.

County Sheriff Bill Brown told reporters Rodger had tried to get into a college sorority house during the Friday night attack, and that women inside had heard "loud, aggressive knocking" for several minutes.

Police showed images of the handguns used by the 22-year-old

Unable to gain access, police said he then shot three young women outside the building, killing a 19-year-old and a 22-year-old student.

The sixth victim, 20-year-old student Christopher Michael-Martinez, was shot dead outside a delicatessen.

In an emotional statement, his father called on the "insanity" to stop and blamed "irresponsible politicians" for not doing more on gun control.

Police believe Rodger shot himself in the head after he crashed his BMW

Rodger's family said the 22-year-old had been receiving psychiatric care.

He had also been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome and had "multiple therapists", said Alan Shifman, the family's lawyer.

A day before the attack, the killer posted a video on YouTube, promising to slaughter "spoilt, stuck-up, blonde" women who he said had rebuffed him.

Rodger made a chilling tirade against women and the rest of humanity, threatening a "day of retribution".

Police are investigating 10 locations and multiple crime scenes

"For the last eight years of my life, ever since I hit puberty, I've been forced to endure an existence of loneliness, rejection and unfulfilled desires all because girls have never been attracted to me," he said.

"You throw yourselves at all these obnoxious men," he continued, "instead of me - the supreme gentleman - I will punish all of you for it." He chuckles sinisterly.

He also published a rambling 141-page manifesto on the internet, called My Twisted World, where he detailed his childhood.

Police said Rodger's attacks had taken place at 10 locations as he fled from officers and fired at pedestrians from his black BMW.

Rodger went to the 2012 Hunger Games premiere with his father Peter

He also crashed into two cyclists - one of whom caved in the windshield.

Police exchanged fire with Rodger and believe they hit him in the hip as they opened fire on his car. The rampage ended when he crashed his vehicle after ploughing into the second cyclist.

Sheriff Brown said they found him with a gun wound to the head, which they believe was self-inflicted.

Rodger's guns were all legally purchased and registered to him.

Filmmaker Peter Rodger was educated in Maidstone, Kent

Seven people remain in hospital at Santa Barbara's Cottage Hospital with gun wounds and injuries caused by the suspect's car, said Dr Stephen Kaminski. Two of them are in a serious condition.

Rodger's family called police last month worried about his welfare but officers said they found him "polite and courteous" and no action was deemed necessary.

In a blog post, he wrote he was born in the UK and moved to the US when he was five. His father, Peter, was educated in Maidstone, Kent.

Rodger was pictured two years ago on the red carpet with his father at a premiere for The Hunger Games, a dystopian futuristic drama in which teenagers fight each other to the death.

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Italian Journalist Killed In Eastern Ukraine

The Italian foreign ministry says an Italian journalist has been killed, as voting for a new president of Ukraine begins.

The man was killed on Saturday during a mortar shell attack close to Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine.

"Unfortunately, all of the information points to the fact that he has died," a foreign ministry spokeswoman said.

News of the death comes as pro-Russia insurgents in the region were reported as trying to block voting by snatching ballot boxes and patrolling polling stations.

There are early signs of a high turnout for the vote, billed as the most important since the former Soviet republic won independence from Moscow 23 years ago.

The main candidates, including front-runner Petro Poroshenko, a confectionery magnate, are promising closer ties with the West in defiance of Russia's President Vladimir Putin.

But the absence of over 15% of the electorate Crimea, now annexed by Russia, and two eastern regions where fighting with pro-Moscow rebels continued on Saturday, may mar any result.

It could leave the Kremlin questioning the victor's legitimacy, despite Mr Putin's new pledge to respect the will of the people.

Voting began in most of Ukraine at 8am local time and will end 12 hours later. Exit polls will indicate the result ahead of the official outcome on Monday.

Only about 20% of the polling stations in the heavily industrialised, Russian-speaking Donetsk region, which has 3.3 million registered voters, were working by 9.30am local time, authorities said.

None were open in the city of Donetsk.

European election monitors have largely pulled out of the Donetsk region for their own safety, claiming a campaign of "terror" by pro-Russian separatists against Ukrainian electoral officials.

Others also complained of being prevented from voting, in some cases because ballot papers had not been delivered because of security concerns after at least 20 people were killed in the region during fighting over recent days.

Polls make Mr Poroshenko, known as the "chocolate king" because of his confectionery empire, overwhelming favourite to win the election.

The biggest question is whether he can take over 50% to win outright. If not, a run-off vote will be held on June 15.

His closest rival is former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko who remains a divisive figure to many, more closely linked than Poroshenko with the economic failures that have blighted post-Soviet Ukraine.

"It is time to hold a referendum on joining Nato to restore peace in Ukraine," said Ms Tymoshenko after voting in her native city of Dnipropetrovsk in central Ukraine.

As Mr Yanukovich's fiercest rival, Ms Tymoshenko may benefit from the fact that few of the five million voters in his eastern power base regions of Donetsk and Luhansk may be able to cast ballots for any of the 21 candidates.

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Huge Explosions In Somali Capital Mogadishu

Two huge explosions have been heard in the Somali capital Mogadishu, according to reports.

The cause of the blasts is unknown.

Other reports said at least one blast was heard along with gunfire near the parliament building.

More follows...

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