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Friday, June 27, 2014

Ini Malaysia Boleh? MH370 was likely on autopilot; new search area announced



Australia said the search for MH370 has shifted further south and the aircraft is now believed to have been on autopilot before it disappeared.

“It is highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot.

“Otherwise, it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings,” said Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss during a press conference in Canberra yesterday.

However, he said the investigators could not, and had not intended to, pinpoint the moment when the aircraft was put on autopilot.

“We know it was on autopilot during the critical phase of our tracking but it will be a matter for the Malaysia-based investigation team to look at precisely when it may have been put on autopilot,” said Truss, who also declined to comment on speculation about the pilot having flown the course on his simulator, pointing out that it was irrelevant to their task of finding the aircraft.

“I don’t really want to comment on areas which will probably be the responsibility of Malaysia and its investigators,” he said.

Truss said the Australian Transport Safety Bureau had released a report which outlined the basis for their conclusion that the new search area was the most likely place where the aircraft could be found.

He said the new priority search zone was 60,000sqkm, and was greatly expanded compared to the previous underwater search area of only 860sqkm.

“The new phase of the search will have two elements. Firstly there will be mapping of the sea floor in the area, which is already under way, and a comprehensive search once mapping had been completed,” he said.

Mapping is currently being undertaken by Chinese survey ship Zhu Kezhen and the Australian-contracted vessel Fugro Equator.

Truss said mapping of the very deep sea floor was expected to take about three months to complete, while the underwater search was expected to commence by August.

“To put new equipment into the area without a clear knowledge of what the sea floor is like will certainly put at risk the capacity of that equipment to operate safely,” he said.

Truss added that the search effort would include equipment provided by Malaysia, including vessels equipped with towed sonar systems.

Despite acknowledging the enormity of the task, Truss remains optimistic.

“The search is still going to be painstaking. Of course, we could be fortunate and find it in the first hour or the first day, but it could take another 12 months.”

The Star/Asia News Network 

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Missing Malaysian airliner 'likely on autopilot' as new search area announced

Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss points the new search area for MH370 to reporters at a press conference at Australian Parliament House in Canberra, June 26, 2014.
Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss points the new search area for MH370 to reporters at a press conference at Australian Parliament House in Canberra, June 26, 2014. Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said on Thursday that it is "highly likely" the missing Malaysian airliner flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean. (Xinhua/Xu Haijing)

CANBERRA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said on Thursday that it is "highly likely" the missing Malaysian airliner flew on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed into the Indian Ocean.

Truss made the comment on Thursday when announcing the joint search operation involving Australia, Malaysia and China would shift its focus in the southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

The revised search area is based on the findings of an international satellite working group.
The group has reviewed all existing information to define a search zone of up to 60,000 square kilometers along the arc in the southern Indian Ocean.

Truss said the refined search area would still be focused on the seventh arc, where the aircraft last communicated with satellite.

But the search would shift to an area slightly further south along the arc, based on the calculations of the international experts.

"Specialists have analyzed satellite communications information- - information which was never initially intended to have the capability to track an aircraft -- and performed extremely complex calculations," Truss said.

"This site is the best available and most likely place where the aircraft is resting."

"It is highly, highly likely that the aircraft was on autopilot, otherwise it could not have followed the orderly path that has been identified through the satellite sightings," Truss said.

He said the search for MH370 was ongoing. A three-month mapping of the ocean floor in the search area is in progress and would be followed by a comprehensive search of the sea floor that is expected to begin in August and take up to 12 months to complete.

"The bathymetric survey has already commenced, with the Chinese survey ship Zhu Kezhen and the Australian-contracted vessel Fugro Equator conducting operations in the areas provided by the Australian Transport Safety Bureau," Truss said.

"The underwater search will aim to locate the aircraft and any evidence to assist with the Malaysian investigation of the disappearance of MH370."

"This area has never been comprehensively mapped previously and so to put new equipment down into that area without having clear knowledge of what the sea floor is like certainly risks the operation and the capacity of that equipment to operate safely."

He warned that the search will still be painstaking. "Of course we could be fortunate and find it in the first hour, or the first day, or it could take the next 12 months."

Australia, Malaysia and China have reaffirmed their commitment to continue to search for MH370 and to keep families informed of developments.

Truss said search nations owed it to "the passengers and the crew and everyone associated with MH370 to bring this mystery to a conclusion."

"I can assure all the families and those with an interest that Australia remains dedicated to the task of solving this greatest aviation mystery."

Flight MH370 vanished on March 8 with 239 people aboard, while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Related:
New search area announced for missing Malaysian jet
CANBERRA, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Australia announced on Thursday a new search area for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370.  Full story
Malaysian speaker vows continued MH370 search
BEIJING, June 24 (Xinhua) -- The speaker of Malaysia's House of Representatives has said that the country will continue searching for missing flight MH370 until its fate has been discovered.  Full story
Investigator: New search area for MH370 to shift south
BEIJING, June 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Search for the missing Malaysian passenger plane MH370 will focus on the area hundreds of kilometers south of the first suspected crash site in the Indian Ocean. That’s according to chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Bureau, Martin Dolan.  Full story
Malaysia commits continuing search for missing plane
KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian government and the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) on Sunday reiterated their commitment to continuing the search operation for the missing MH370 flight as 100 days had passed since its disappearance on March 8. Full story

Full coverage: Malaysia Airlines Plane Bound for Beijing Goes Missing

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Thursday, June 26, 2014

Ini Malaysia Boleh? Fighting for Syrian jihadist! People reject regime change

Video shows man speaking Bahasa Malaysia about going 'to the battlefield' 


KUALA LUMPUR: A chilling video of a Malaysian riding in a truck with a group of militants fighting in the Syrian jihadist movement has surfaced on the Internet.

He is one of the 20 Malaysians confirmed by Bukit Aman to have taken part in the uprising in Syria.

The one-and-a-half minute video, which appeared to have been shot by the man who spoke mostly in Bahasa Malaysia with a northern accent, described his joy as they drove off “to the battlefield”.

The authenticity of the video, which had been viewed more than 5,000 times since it was uploaded to syriantube.net on June 7, was verified by Bukit Aman.

“Yes, they are among 20 Malaysi­ans who are identified as having joined the uprising in Syria. We will announce the names of all the Malaysians involved soon,” said spokesman ACP Datin Asmawati Ahmad.

Syriantube.net founder Maher Ra claimed that the video was shot in Allepo, Syria, by a Mohd Lotfi Ariffin from Kuala Ketil, Kedah.

Syriantube has been showing video footage depicting the behind the scene shots of terrorists activities and atrocities commited by militants in Syria.

Checks on Mohd Lotfi’s Facebook showed that the video did originate from his page on June 3, which had been liked and shared by many Malaysians, some of whom offered words of encouragement.

In a story first broken by Mstar Online and Star Online, the video opened with a shot of a tank from inside a truck. The tank then rolled away in a bushland with several Middle Eastern looking men, dressed in army fatigue sitting on it. The men were also heavily armed.

“Yes, the tank is moving, making its way to its destination – the battlefield. Allahu Akbar (God is great)! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” said the cameraman in Bahasa Malaysia.

“These are our friends,” he continued, panning over to show several men – all dressed in combat gear, bulletproof vests, helmets and black bandanas, and with riffles slung around their necks.

Some of the men even smiled and showed the “V” victory sign with their fingers as the camera closed up on them.

Without the weapons and war gear, they would have appeared like a group of friends, taking pictures with their smartphones, seemingly happy about going on a drive.

The camera then rested on a bearded Middle Eastern-looking man wearing combat uniform and a blue ski cap, who shouted Allahu Akbar! as the group of about 20 men in the truck chanted along.

“Our friends, working happily!” said the cameraman in Bahasa Malaysia, who then focused his shot on a bespectacled young man wearing a black headband and holding a smartphone, who, ironically, made a peace sign.

“Yes, our friends, we are all ready to go to the fight at the battlefield. We don’t feel scared. We don’t feel nervous!” The voice was heard saying, the camera shaking as the truck engine revved up.

“We are moving! Allahu akbar, Allahu akbar,” the group chanted.

Maher claimed that the Malaysians had been in Syria for over a year.

“There aren’t 15. There are over 200 of them. Some, even as old as 60. They came with their wives and children. They stay in Aleppo and Ar-Raqqah.

“They have killed people. They have beheaded innocent civilians,” he claimed, describing himself as a pro-government Syrian who started syriantube.net to expose the atrocities committed by militant groups in the conflict-ridden country.

The Syrian government recently claimed that 15 Malaysians, purportedly involved in terrorism and jihadist activities with the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Isil) network, had been killed.

Contributed by Nicholas Cheng The Star/Asia News Network

The people reject regime change

Syrians defeated an attempt at regime change which has a plan to ensure Western hegemony

IF one is sincere about resolving the bloody three-year-old conflict in Syria, one would regard the outcome of the presidential election held on June 3 as an opportunity for working out a viable solution.

The election was a genuine endorsement of the leadership of Bashar al-Assad.

A total 73% of eligible voters cast their ballots in the first ever multi-candidate direct presidential election in Syria.

Assad secured 88.7% of the votes. There were no allegations of electoral fraud or manipulation.

It is significant that Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan – hosts to the majority of refugees from the on-going war in Syria – voted overwhelmingly for Assad.

It is of course true that those parts of the country which are still in rebel hands could not vote. This would be mainly some parts of rural Syria and one medium-sized city. But all the other cities – and they account for the majority of the population – went to the ballot box.

US officials and the Western media have dismissed the election result contemptuously because a portion of the electorate could not vote, ignoring the fact that the vast majority participated enthusiastically in the polls.

They have conveniently forgotten that in the presidential election in Ukraine on May 25, millions of Russian speaking voters in the eastern part of the country refused to participate and yet the verdict was endorsed by the centres of power in the West.

This is another example of blatant double standards. Instead of rubbishing the election result, Western leaders and commentators should try to find out why the Syrian people showed so much enthusiasm for the election and why they gave so much support to Assad.

One, for the vast majority of Syrians, the election was their repudiation of the war and the killings that have claimed tens of thousands of lives since March 2011.

It was their way of affirming their commitment to peace and stability.

Two, the Syrians know that the only leader who can bring peace and stability to their land is Bashar al-Assad since he has always commanded the support of the majority of his people.

Three, there is also a great deal of appreciation among the people for the way in which the Assad government has managed to ensure that essential goods and services are available to a broad cross-section of the people in spite of the terrible devastation and destruction caused by the war.

Four, the election result is also a show of appreciation of the role played by the armed forces which has lost at least 61,000 men in the war and which, in the eyes of the people, has succeeded in protecting the innocent and preventing some brazen massacres.

It in no way justifies, it should be emphasised, some of the excesses committed by the armed forces which a number of us have condemned from the outset.

Five, if Assad won so convincingly, it is also partly because the opposition is hopelessly divided. The different armed groups are pitted against each other. There is no common platform. They were not even able to put forward a common candidate in the election.

Six, more than the opposition’s utter disarray it is the barbaric brutality of some of the armed groups revealed in so many episodes in the war that turned a lot of Syrians against them and indirectly increased support for Assad.

What has caused even greater revulsion among the people is the claim of these groups that they are the true representatives of Islam.

Seven, since some of these groups are foreign and the foreign hands behind the war are so obvious to most Syrians, rallying around Assad in the election was the people’s response to what they perceive as a massive foreign conspiracy to break Syria’s principled resistance to US helmed hegemony that serves the interests of Israel.

Ousting Assad is central to the goal of breaking resistance.

This is why the people sought through the ballot box to foil a determined push to achieve regime change in Damascus.

This, in the ultimate analysis, is the real significance of Assad’s electoral triumph.

The Syrian people have defeated a violent, aggressive attempt at achieving regime change as part of that perpetual plan to ensure US and Western hegemony, especially in a region which is pivotal to their quest for global domination.

Apart from Israel which launched a number of air-strikes against Syria in the course of the war, some of the West’s other regional allies like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey have also played a major role in pursuit of this diabolical agenda.

Given that the United States and some of its allies are democracies, will they now concede that since the Syrian people have spoken, they will respect their wishes and cease their pursuit of regime change?

It is most unlikely that they would. After all, hegemony has always taken precedence over democracy.

Hegemony trumps everything else. Does it matter to the hegemon and its allies that if they continue along this path, thousands more are going to die or become refugees in some other land?

Perhaps one should reach out to ordinary American citizens in the hope that they would persuade their government to put an end to the war and create the conditions for peace in Syria.

It may be worthwhile trying this approach.

A Pew Research Centre poll conducted in 2013 showed that “70% of Americans oppose arming the Syrian rebels”.

Can they now be convinced that arming rebels against a democratically-elected president nullifies everything that a democracy stands for?

Can we expect American citizens to share the dream of their Syrian counterparts for an end to war in their land?

Will they act to make that dream come true?

By Chandra Muzaffar

Dr Chandra Muzaffar is President of JUST, the International Movement for a Just World.


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Wednesday, June 25, 2014

China, the largest in Asia and the world's top recipient of FDI set to be net investor

Asia the world's top recipient of FDI 

KUALA LUMPUR: Amid scratchy global economic growth, Asia accounts for nearly 30% of global foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, making it the world’s top recipient of FDI.

Generally, developing countries were attracting more FDI than developed economies, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) World Investment Report 2014, which said total inflows to developing Asia (excluding West Asia) amounted to US$382bil last year, 4% higher than the previous year.

In the last two years, top 10 recipients of FDI flows in developing Asia were China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, South Korea, Vietnam and Taiwan.

China took the lead with an estimated FDI outflow of US$101bil last year, spurred by mega-deals such as the US$15bil takeover of Canadian oil and gas company Nexen by China state-owned entity CNOOC Ltd as well as the US$5bil Shuanghui-Smithfield acquisition in the food industry.

South-East Asia registered slower growth, however, with inflows to the region rising just 7% to US$125bil in 2013, compared to the rapid growth in the regional grouping – from US$47bil in 2009 to US$118bil in 2012.

The report said Singapore was the largest FDI recipient in the region, with new mega-deals driving the figure to a record high of US$64bil.

Indonesia showed stable performance, while Thailand’s inflows grew to US$13bil although many projects were shelved due to political instability.

“At today’s level of investment in SDG-related sectors in developing countries – both public and private – we still face, according to Unctad’s estimates, an average annual funding shortfall of some US$2.5 trillion over the next 15 years following the end of the Millennium Development Goals,” UNDP resident representative for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Michelle Gyles-McDonnough said at the launch of the report at the Malaysian Investment Develop-ment Authority headquarters.

She highlighted the important linkages between trade and investment, amplifying the need for sustainable development.

-Contributed by Cheryl Pod,The Star/Asia News Network

China's outward investment to soon exceed FDI, set to be net investor


Outward flows likely to exceed FDI in nation this year, UN report says

China's outward investment is very likely to exceed foreign direct investment inflows this year, making the country a net investor, according to officials at a United Nations body.

This "inevitable trend" will have "great significance in reshaping the economic structure and long-term development" of the world's second-largest economy, they said.

In 2013, China's foreign direct investment rose by 2.3 percent year-on-year to $123.9 billion, ranking second in the world after the United States, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development's World Investment Report on Tuesday.

"China remained the recipient of the second-largest flows in the world. Meanwhile, the quality of FDI inflows improved, with more into high-end manufacturing and services with high added value," said Zhan Xiaoning, director of the Investment and Enterprise Division at UNCTAD.

"What's more, China's outward investment is more striking," Zhan said.

In 2013, investment outflows from China increased by 15 percent year-on-year to $101 billion, the third highest in the world after the United States and Japan, the report said.

As China continues to deregulate outbound investment, outflows to developed and developing countries are expected to grow further, it said.

Zhan said, "China's economic landscape, driven by exports and foreign investment in the past three decades, will change significantly. Outward investment will serve as an important driver for industrial upgrading and economic growth."

Liang Guoyong, an economic affairs officer at UNCTAD, said, "It is very hard to predict when China will become a net investor, but the trend is inevitable."

The process will accelerate along with the nation's fast economic growth, the increase in Chinese companies' competitiveness and the amount of resources and market share they gain, Liang said.

The change will lead to a more effective allocation of financial resources for the Chinese economy, as the country holds the world's largest foreign exchange reserves, Liang added.

Huo Jianguo, president of the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, a Ministry of Commerce think tank, said China's new role as a net investor will help ease trade frictions.

"The rapid increase in overseas investment by Chinese enterprises is very likely to transform the trade landscape, because profits from the overseas market will lessen the country's reliance on exports, reducing trade frictions and pressure from swelling foreign exchange reserves," Huo said.

Contributed by By Li Jiabao and Mu Chen (China Daily)

Outflows from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) rose five percent, with Singapore leading the pack at $27 billion, more than double in 2012. The Philippines' FDI outflows last year fell to $3.6 billion from $4.2 in 2012.

chart2

However, the Philippines is nowhere in the top 10 recipients of foreign inflows in Asia amid the slowdown in FDI in Asean compared with the rapid growth in the past 3 years -- from $47 billion in 2009 to $118 billion in 2012.

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