Section: Free Malaysia Today (Malaysia)
‘Is it a curse?’: Prayers for missing AirAsia plane
KUALA LUMPUR: The disappearance of an AirAsia flight marks a tragic climax to a heartbreaking 2014 for Malaysians still grieving from the loss of two planes operated by their national carrier, and has some wondering whether their country is cursed. Nine months after Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared, followed by the shooting down of...
Indonesia hunts for missing jet believed ‘at bottom of sea’
JAKARTA:Multinational search teams hunted Monday for any sign of an AirAsia plane missing off Indonesia with 162 people on board, but one top official warned it was likely at the bottom of the sea. Australia, Singapore and Malaysia deployed planes and ships to assist in the search as anguished relatives anxiously waited for news of their loved...
Aviation’s deadly 2014, yet safety record improving
LONDON: The loss of Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 would cap one of the deadliest years in civil aviation for almost a decade – yet experts say the industry’s underlying safety record is improving. The statistics underscore a year of tragic contrasts dominated by two Malaysian catastrophes and a handful of weather-related incidents, yet a...
Indonesia set to resume search for missing plane
JAKARTA: Indonesia was set to resume at first light the search for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people from the Indonesian city of Surabaya to Singapore, which went missing on Sunday just after the pilot requested a change in course to avoid bad weather. Singapore said it had sent two naval vessels to help the Indonesian military look for the...
Flamboyant AirAsia boss confronts first major crisis
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian mogul Tony Fernandes, who transformed a floundering carrier into Asia’s biggest budget airline, faces his first major crisis after an AirAsia plane went missing Sunday with 162 people on board. AirAsia is credited with starting a revolution in the skies of Southeast Asia and has seen spectacular growth under...
AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing en route to Singapore
JAKARTA: Rescuers scoured the Java Sea on Sunday for an AirAsia plane carrying 162 people which went missing in bad weather en route from Indonesia to Singapore, in the third crisis for a Malaysian carrier this year. Around 11 hours after it disappeared, Indonesian air force jets had yet to find any signs of the Airbus A320-200, with dusk fast...
Topless Femen activist grabs Baby Jesus in St Peter’s Square
VATICAN CITY: An activist from the feminist group Femen bared her breasts in St Peter’s Square on Christmas Day and rushed the Nativity scene, grabbing the Baby Jesus figurine. A Vatican police officer wearing a black cape was quick to arrest the blonde activist and wrest the figurine away from her. The words “God Is Woman” were daubed in...
Russia says Ukrainian pilot behind MH17 crash
MOSCOW: Russian investigators Wednesday said they had new proof from a witness that a Ukrainian pilot fired a missile on the day of the Malaysia Airlines crash which killed 298 people. The witness, who was not named, worked at an airfield in the Ukrainian city of Dnipropetrovsk where he claimed to have seen a warplane take off on July 17 with...
66 journalists killed in past year as attacks grow more barbaric
PARIS: Attacks on journalists have grown more barbaric and kidnappings have soared, Reporters Without Borders said Tuesday, after a year when violence against the media took centre stage and 66 reporters were killed. The beheading of James Foley and Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group highlighted the extreme danger journalists face in...
Sweden says Russian military jet in near-crash with passenger plane
STOCKHOLM: A Russian military jet nearly collided with a commercial passenger airplane in international airspace near southern Sweden on Friday, the Swedish authorities said, but Russia insisted on Sunday that its jet had kept at a safe distance. Relations between Russia and the West have soured over Moscow’s role in the conflict in Ukraine...
