A crewmember of an Indonesian Air Force Super Puma helicopter of 6th Air Squadron uses a binocular to scan the horizon during a search operation for the victims of AirAsia Flight QZ 8501 over the Java Sea January 1, 2015. Photo credit: Reuters Heavy seas stopped divers reaching the possible wreck of an AirAsia Indonesia jet off Borneo on Thursday and an aviation official said it could be a week before the black box flight recorders are found. Nine bodies have so far been recovered from the Airbus A320-200, which crashed on Sunday en route to Singapore from the Indonesian city of Surabaya with 162 people on board. The bodies were brought in numbered coffins to Surabaya where relatives have gathered for identification. AirAsia Indonesia's CEO Sunu Widyatmoko was seen weeping when authorities handed over the body of the first victim, Hayati Luthfiah Hamid, to family members at a Surabaya hospital. Hayati Lutfiah, a passenger of AirAsia QZ8501, during her burial at a cemetery in … [Read more...] about Weather stalls search for AirAsia black boxes; first victim buried
Buried shipping container
N.Koreans to visit arms ship sailors held in Panama
PANAMA CITY – A North Korean delegation is expected to visit Panama to see 35 sailors who were detained there after their ship was impounded and Cuban arms were detected aboard. "We issued them visas so they could enter and they will receive" them tomorrow, Wednesday, Panamanian Foreign Minister Fernando Nunez said on Tuesday. The sailors have been held on arms trafficking charges that carry maximum sentences of up to 12 years in prison. The ship, the Chong Chon Gang, was boarded and searched July 10 on suspicion it was smuggling drugs through the Panama Canal. Authorities instead uncovered 25 containers filled with military hardware, including two stripped down Soviet era MiG-21s, air defense systems, missiles and command and control vehicles, buried under tons of sugar. Havana said they were obsolete Cuban arms being shipped to North Korea for refurbishment under a legitimate contract. The sailors are being held at Fort Sherman, a former US military base. Nunez said … [Read more...] about N.Koreans to visit arms ship sailors held in Panama
Obama orders probe of killings in Afghanistan
US President Barack Obama said in an interview to be aired Monday that he has ordered a probe into attempts to quash an investigation into the mass execution of Taliban prisoners in Afghanistan. The New York Times reported Friday that top officials from the previous administration of president George W. Bush discouraged separate probes by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the State Department and the Pentagon. They wanted to hush up the killing of up to 2,000 prisoners in 2001 because it was carried out by the forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostam, an Afghan warlord then on the Central Intelligence Agency's payroll, it said. "The indications that this had not been properly investigated just recently was brought to my attention," Obama told CNN television during his visit to Ghana over the weekend. "So what I've asked my national security team to do is to collect the facts for me that are known, and we'll probably make a decision in terms of how to approach it once we have all of the … [Read more...] about Obama orders probe of killings in Afghanistan
Typhoon Koppu hits S China
Seven people have been killed and four others remain missing as typhoon Koppu slammed its way into south Chinas Guangdong Province, local authorities updated the death toll Thursday morning. Three people in Chuanbu Township in Luoding City and four in Sihe Town of Xinyi City were killed and four others in Xinyi were missing by Wednesday night. All of the four in Sihe town were suffocated to death after being buried by mountain mud. Of them, two were local villagers including a father and a son, and the other two were migrant workers from the neighboring Yunnan Province. The typhoon, the 15th this year, has brought heavy rains to the province. Although it relieved the lingering drought in north and east Guangdong, the rain was also causing disruption. Houses in Yangchun, Xinyi and Luoding cities had been destroyed by typhoon-triggered landslides, the news release said. At Gaolan Harbor in Zhuhai City, Agios Dimitrios 1, a Panama-registered cargo ship went aground in typhoon … [Read more...] about Typhoon Koppu hits S China
Social Highlights for October 30
Dep. PM convenes meeting to discuss Cat Tuong Beauty Salon case Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan convened a meeting in Hanoi on October 28 asking the health sector to spruce up management after a 37-year-old woman was dumped into the river following a botched cosmetic surgery at the Cat Tuong Beauty Salon. Speaking at the meeting, Deputy PM Nhan ordered the Ministry of Health and the People's Committee to verify the responsibility of individuals and agencies in the case concerning the above incident. Nhan said the Ministry needs to check the present regulations and tighten management accordingly in private medical facilities across the country. There should be regulations whereby state-run hospital physicians must report to the public hospital management board about their part time work in private clinics. In addition, a state-run hospital management board should oversee the part time working activities of these doctors. At the meeting, Nguyen Thi Bich Ngoc, Deputy … [Read more...] about Social Highlights for October 30