Jet Families Demand Answers, Accuse Malaysia of 'Deception'
BY ERIC BACULINAO
BEIJING -- Hundreds of family members of passengers aboard missing Flight 370 marched on the Malaysian Embassy in Beijing on Tuesday, demanding “the truth” about what happened.
The protest came hours after Malaysia's prime minister announced that new satellite analysis suggested the flight "ended" in the southern Indian Ocean.
Linking arms, many of the tear-stained protesters chanted: “Malaysia, return our relatives, Malaysian government cheated us.”
Some held banners accusing Malaysia of “delays and deception” while others said they were still waiting for their relatives to return home.
"MH370, Don't let us wait too long,” one read, while others wore matching T-shirts saying: "Best of luck to MH370, return home safely."
Many said they were angry at the lack of evidence provided by the Malaysian government to back up claims that the plane had crashed.
New Muslim Brotherhood mass trial opens in Egypt with 683 defendants
Case comes a day after nearly 530 supporters of ex-president Mohamed Morsi were sentenced to death in the same court
Egypt has opened another mass trial of Islamist suspects with 683 defendants facing charges of murder and sabotage. The defendants include the Muslim Brotherhood's top leader.
The charges stem from rioting last August, sparked when security forces stormed two Brotherhood sit-ins in Cairo, killing more than 600 people.
Tuesday's proceedings are held in the southern city of Minya, where the same court on Monday sentenced nearly 530 supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi to death over a fatal attack on a police station.
That verdict followed a rushed, two-day trial that drew wide public and international criticism.
West alert to Russian moves in Moldova and eastern Ukraine
Crimea’s annexation leads EU to strengthen ties with Moldova and Georgia
Daniel McLaughlin
A decade ago, the work of the European Union’s commissioner for enlargement would take him to some of the continent’s fabled cities, places such as Prague and Budapest, as central Europe prepared to join the bloc. The current commissioner, Stefan Füle, now finds himself in more unfamiliar territory as the EU extends influence ever deeper into the former Soviet Union, as part of a long diplomatic struggle with Russia that has acquired an alarming military aspect in Ukraine.
In January, Mr Füle visited the provincial Moldovan town of Comrat to talk about the benefits of the country signing an association agreement with the EU – rather than, by inference, moving back towards Moscow, Moldova’s Soviet-era master.
Comrat is the capital of Gagauzia, a region of Moldova that takes its name from the ethnic group that comprises most of its 155,000 population. The Gagauz are Turkic Orthodox Christians who speak Russian, and declared independence during the collapse of the Soviet Union, fearing Moldova would unite with close neighbour Romania.
WHO: air pollution linked to seven million deaths in 2012
Roughly seven million people have died from air pollution, a report by the World Health Organization says. The analysis linked dirty air not only to lung disease, but also to heart disease and cancer of the bladder.
The United Nation's health agency raised its previous estimates of deaths caused by air pollution in a report released on Tuesday. According to the World Health Organization (WHO) one in eight deaths was caused by toxic air in 2012.
"The risks from air pollution are now far greater than previously thought or understood, particularly for heart disease and strokes," Maria Neira, the head of WHO's environmental and social public health department, said.
Heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, strokes, acute respiratory infections, lung cancer and bladder cancer were the most common air pollution-related deaths, according to the WHO report.
The authors defined air pollution as both indoor and outdoor. Women and children in developing countries had the greatest exposure to indoor pollution which was caused by stoves reliant on wood, coal or biomass for fuel.
US aircraft to aid hunt for LRA chief Kony |
White House says CV-22 Osprey, refuelling aircraft and "support personnel" will help hunt for remaining rebel leaders. |
The US is sending military aircraft as well as an increased number of troops to Uganda to assist in the hunt for Joseph Kony, the fugitive Ugandan leader of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA).
The White House confirmed on Monday that the US was sending "a limited number" of CV-22 Osprey, refuelling aircraft and "associated support personnel" to assist local forces in their long-running battle against the LRA.
Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court along with his senior commanders for war crimes.
The rebel leader fled Uganda following a sustained military campaign against his group by the Ugandan military.
Chileans worry over string of 300 quakes in north
By LUIS ANDRES HENAO
More than 300 earthquakes have shaken Chile's far-northern coast the past week, keeping people on edge as scientists say there is no way to tell if the unusual string of tremors is a harbinger of an impending disaster.
The unnerving activity began with a strong magnitude-6.7 quake on March 16 that caused more than 100,000 people to briefly evacuate low-lying areas, although no tsunami materialized and there was little physical damage from the shaking.
But the land has not settled down. More than a dozen perceptible quakes were felt in the city of Iquique just on Monday.
"The situation is out of the ordinary. There's a mix of a string of tremors and their aftershocks that make things more complex to evaluate," Mario Pardo, deputy head of the Universidad de Chile seismology center, told the local newspaper La Tercera. "We can't rule out a larger quake."
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