MALAYSIA
Flight 370 families sue
Families of 12 passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have sued the carrier and the government ahead of a filing deadline next week on the second anniversary of the plane’s disappearance. The Boeing 777 carrying 239 flew far off course for unknown reasons after leaving Kuala Lumpur for Beijing on March 8, 2014. A global aviation agreement sets a two-year deadline for lawsuits by next-of-kin over air accidents. Lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo, who is representing 10 families, said her clients, who were engaged in settlement negotiations with the airline earlier, decided to sue because “nothing reasonable was forthcoming” from the carrier.
FRANCE
Plane, drone in near miss
An Air France Airbus A320 jet narrowly avoided colliding with a drone while descending for an approach to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport last month, the aviation investigation agency BEA said. The aircraft had been operating a service from Barcelona on Feb. 19 and was flying at 1,676m when the co-pilot saw the drone. He disengaged the autopilot and carried out an avoidance maneuver while informing the captain of the drone’s presence, BEA said on its Web site. The drone passed just 5m below the aircraft’s left wing, the agency said, classifying the incident as “serious.”
UNITED NATIONS
Sex allegations reported
A UN report says 69 allegations of sexual exploitation and abuse were reported in 10 peacekeeping missions last year and calls for court-martials of alleged perpetrators and DNA testing to identify them. The allegations were to be posted online and updated with the progress and outcome of investigations. Nearly one-third of the 2015 allegations — 22 — are from the UN mission in the Central African Republic, which has made headlines over reports of some peacekeepers trading sex for money and sexually abusing minors.
UNITED STATES
Gladys Knight pulled over
Police in Utah say an officer who pulled over soul singer Gladys Knight was treated to an impromptu rendition of Happy Birthday. Pleasant Grove Police Captain Mike Roberts said Knight was a passenger in the car stopped for speeding about 64km south of Salt Lake City on Wednesday night. Officer Paul Rogerson was checking the driver’s license when the woman said she was with Gladys Knight on the way to a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints choir performance. Knight is a Mormon, and Rogerson said she was speaking at the event. Rogerson told the woman it was his birthday and Knight got out of the car and sang to him. Police say Rogerson let the driver go with a warning.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese