Section: AsiaOne (Singapore)
A year of high-profile plane crashes
PARIS – A TransAsia Airways plane crashed into a river outside the Taiwanese capital Taipei Wednesday, leaving at least 22 dead, the latest high-profile accident this year, especially in Asia.Despite several headline-grabbing crashes, 2014 continued a long-term trend of improving air safety, online accident database Aviation Safety Network...
Merkel to meet Obama, Harper on North America trip
BERLIN – German Chancellor Angela Merkel will hold talks with the US and Canadian leaders next week to prepare a G7 summit she will host in June, a government spokeswoman said Monday.Merkel will embark on the trip Sunday and meet US President Barack Obama in Washington and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Ottawa.”Beyond G7...
Dutch team at MH17 crash site to collect more remains
THE HAGUE – A Dutch team is at the MH17 crash site in war-torn Ukraine to collect more remains of the 298 people killed when the Malaysia Airlines jetliner crashed in July, officials said on Monday.”At the moment there’s a small team at the crash site,” Dutch defence ministry spokeswoman Marloes Visser told...
Russian conscripts fear Ukraine deployment: Activists
MOSCOW – Russian conscripts are coming under growing pressure to sign up as professional soldiers and fear they might dispatched to fight alongside separatists in Ukraine, rights activists said Monday.Activists sounded the alarm after a new spike in complaints from recruits doing compulsory military service and their families, that come...
New Greek PM in ally Cyprus on first foreign visit
LARNACA, Cyprus – Greece’s radical new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras arrived in Cyprus Monday, making his first foreign visit to a close ally that has also been ravaged by the eurozone debt crisis.Tsipras was met at the airport by Foreign Minister Ioannis Kasoulides before heading to the capital Nicosia for talks with President Nicos...
Fierce fighting rages for key Ukraine town
DEBALTSEVE, Ukraine – Battles raged Sunday between government forces and pro-Russian rebels for control of a strategic transport hub as the death toll mounted in east Ukraine following the collapse of ceasefire talks.Intense artillery fire thundered around the Kiev-controlled town of Debaltseve, a key position between the rebel bastions of...
Australia, Britain slam IS hostage killing at defence talks
SYDNEY – The Australian and British foreign ministers Sunday slammed the killing of a Japanese journalist by the Islamic State (IS) group as they vowed to tackle the jihadist threat at defence talks in Sydney.British Foreign Minister Philip Hammond is in Australia for the annual meeting with his counterpart Julie Bishop, with efforts to...
New Greek defence minister prompts Turkey to scramble jets
ATHENS – Greece’s new nationalist defence minister prompted Greece’s perennial rival Turkey to scramble jets on Friday, just days after he took office, by flying over uninhabited islets off the Turkish coast that nearly triggered a war in 1996.Turkish fighter jets entered Greek airspace and were intercepted by Greek jets as...
Ukraine peace talks aborted as civilians die in east
DONETSK, Ukraine/MINSK – Civilians were killed on both sides in heavy fighting in eastern Ukraine on Friday, while an attempt to reopen peace talks in neighbouring Belarus was aborted before it began.Rebel delegates flew to the Belarus capital Minsk, only to announce that no talks would take place on Friday and they were flying straight...
Aviation leaders seek new safety mandate after deadly 2014
MONTREAL – Aviation leaders will try to secure a mandate to implement new safety standards when they meet next week after a string of high-profile accidents around the world made 2014 the deadliest year for commercial airlines in almost a decade.Efforts to adopt new standards for global plane tracking and co-operation on the risks of flying...
