Malaysian plane crashes off Vietnam coast: Five Indians among 239 on board

March 8, 2014

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Beijing/Kuala Lumpur, Mar 8: A Beijing-bound Malaysian Airlines plane that went missing with 239 people on board, including five Indians, today crashed into waters off Vietnam's southern Phu Quoc Island, Vietnamese media reported.

The Boeing 777-200 Flight MH370 with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board crashed 250 km off coast of Tho Chu island, Vietnamese newspaper Tuoi Tre (Youth) quoted Rear Admiral Ngo Van Phat, political commissar of the Fifth Naval Region of Vietnam, as saying.

A fresh passengers' list issued by the airline said five Indians were among the 239 passengers on board the aircraft, correcting its previous account in which Indians were not mentioned.

"At the moment, there are no Vietnamese navy boats in that area so we have to ask boats from Phu Quoc island to be prepared for rescue," the admiral said.

From the report it was not clear how the admiral knew about the crash or whether the wreckage of the ill-fated plane has been located.

There is no confirmation about the report from the Malaysian authorities.

Chinese media is reporting the plane may have crashed into the South China Sea, state-run Xinhua news agency said.

The plane took off at 12:41 a.m. (local time) and lost contact with Subang Air Traffic Control near Kuala Lumpur almost two hours later at 2:40 a.m, the airlines said.

The fresh list of passengers issued by the airline mentions people of 14 nationalities including Indians.

The plane disappeared in the night somewhere over South China Sea while enroute to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur.

"Focus of the airline is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilize its full support," the Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya earlier said.

He said the pilot of the missing aircraft, identified as Capt. Zaharie Ahmad Shah, had 18365 hours of experience and joined the airlines in 1981.

Those on board include 5 Indians, 152 Chinese, 38 Malaysians, 7 Indonesians, 6 Australians, 3 French, 4 including an infant from the US, 2 New Zealanders, 2 Ukrainians, 2 Canadians, 1 each from Russia, Italy, Taiwan, Netherlands and Austria.

Malaysia Airlines is currently working with the authorities who have activated their Search and Rescue team to locate the aircraft, Jauhari said.

"Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew," he added.

Confusion and chaos prevailed in Beijing where the planed was due to land at 6.30 AM.

Relatives of the 152 Chinese passengers rushed to the airport and later the Malaysian Airline office to find about the fate of their near dear ones.

A passenger manifest originating from China which has been circulating online and also published by Star online mentions the Indians along with their passport numbers.

The names include Chetna Kolekar, Swanand Kolekar, Suresh Kolekar, Chandrika Sharma and Prahlad Shirsatha. One Indian-origin Canadian Muktesh Mukherjee was also on board.

Malaysian authorities continued to state that a massive search and rescue operation was on and no wreckage had been sited so far.

The plane was cruising at 36,000 feet when it is reported to have crashed.

Sources told the New Straits Times that assets from the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency, Royal Malaysian Navy and Royal Malaysian Air Force had been deployed to the area for a search and rescue mission this morning.

"It was presumed that the flight might be somewhere 100 nautical miles east of Kota Baru and 120 nautical miles southern of Vietnam's tip," an unnamed source said.

Meanwhile, two Chinese maritime rescue ships have left to the South China Sea to help in rescue work.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak has instructed all the relevant authorities to take immediate measure in identifying the missing aircraft.

Malaysian Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said he has instructed all relevant agencies including TUDM (Royal Malaysian Air Force) to work together (in) locating the plane.

The aircraft came into service in 2002. Malaysia has 15 Boeing 777-200 series.

Earlier, Vice President operations control Fuad sharuji said the airlines had got in touch with five of its flights in air to see if they had heard from the missing plane but they had got no response.

Several ATC of nearby countries had also been contacted by the airline, Fuad said.

The aircraft had a Code share with China southern airline. The plane had entered Vietnamese airspace when it lost control.

Chinese ships and aircraft are on standby to locate and rescue the missing Malaysian plane carrying more than 150 Chinese passengers to Beijing.

Chinese Minister of Transport Yang Chuantang announced the launch of the highest-degree emergency response mechanism.

The ministry is closely observing the situation and actively coordinating with domestic as well as maritime rescue authorities and civil aviation administrations in Malaysia and Vietnam, Xinhua quoted him as saying.

Eight ships belonging to the Nanhai Rescue Bureau and the Hainan Maritime Safety Administration are waiting for orders. An aircraft fleet is also ready to take off, he said.

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News Network
June 6,2020

Washington, Jun 6: Washington mayor Muriel Bowser on Friday renamed an area near the White House that has become the epicenter of anti-racism protests over the past week "Black Lives Matter Plaza" -- unveiling a giant street mural.

But in so doing, the African-American mayor piqued the ire of the very movement she was supporting, as well as of President Donald Trump.

The protests are focused on the May 25 death in Minneapolis of 46-year-old black man George Floyd while in police custody. A white officer kneeled on his neck until he lost consciousness.

That officer and three others are now in custody and facing charges -- second-degree murder for the kneeling officer, and aiding and abetting that crime for his colleagues.

Just north of the White House, the words BLACK LIVES MATTER were painted in huge yellow letters along the street leading to the presidential mansion, along with the symbol from the DC flag.

"The section of 16th street in front of the White House is now officially 'Black Lives Matter Plaza'," Bowser tweeted.

A city worker put up a new street sign with the name.

"Determination to make America the land it ought to be," she said on Twitter.

The corner of 16th and H is significant -- in a controversial incident on Monday, peaceful protesters gathered there were dispersed with tear gas.

Shortly afterwards, Trump walked from the White House to a nearby church for a photo op, during which he held the Bible in his hand.

"There was a dispute this week about whose street this is. Mayor Bowser wanted to make it abundantly clear that this is DC's street and to honor demonstrators" who protested on Monday, her chief of staff John Falcicchio tweeted.

Rose Jaffe, one of the artists in the collective that painted the BLACK LIVES MATTER sign, told AFP it was "about reclaiming the streets of DC."

But she added that Bowser "has to do more than just a photo-op -- she must carry on when this is washed away" on issues like police accountability.

Stars Like LeBron James praised her move on Twitter, but the local chapter of the Black Lives Movement balked, calling the mural a "performative distraction from real policy changes."

"This is to appease white liberals while ignoring our demands," it said on Twitter, saying Bowser had "consistently been on the wrong side" of the movement.

'We are well equipped'

The US government deployed a significant contingent of federal officers and National Guard troops from other states -- many of them not wearing any identifying garb or badges -- to handle protests in Washington.

Bowser had called up the local Guardsmen but the Justice Department moved to take partial control of peacekeeping, with Guard troops from as far away as Utah brought in.

In a letter to Trump dated Thursday and tweeted early Friday, Bowser called for "all extraordinary federal law enforcement and military presence" to be removed.

She said their deployment was "inflaming demonstrators and adding to the grievances of those who, by and large, are peacefully protesting for change and for reforms to the racist and broken systems that are killing black Americans."

"These additional, unidentified units are operating outside of established chains of command," she added.

"We are well equipped to handle large demonstrations and First Amendment activities," including the right to assemble, Bowser said.

Trump reiterated on Friday that authorities need to "dominate the streets," and has been unapologetic about the deployment of forces.

And on Twitter, he lashed out at Bowser, calling her "incompetent" and saying the National Guard had saved her from "great embarrassment."

Senator Mike Lee of Utah accused Bowser of evicting Utah National Guard members from area hotels.

She replied: "DC residents cannot pay their hotel bills. The Army can clear that up with the hotel today, and we are willing to help."

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News Network
March 28,2020

Washington, Mar 28: The world is in the face of a devastating impact due to the coronavirus pandemic and has clearly entered a recession, the International Monetary Fund said on Friday, but projected a recovery next year.

"We have reassessed the prospects for growth for 2020 and 2021. It is now clear that we have entered a recession as bad or worse than in 2009. We do project recovery in 2021," IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva told reporters at a news conference.

Georgieva was addressing the press after a meeting of governing body of the IMF, the International Monetary and Financial Committee. Representing 189 members, the body met virtually to discuss the unprecedented challenge posed to the world by COVID-19.

The key to recovery in 2021, she said, is only if the international community succeeds in containing the virus everywhere and prevent liquidity problems from becoming a solvency issue.

"The US is in recession, as is the rest of the advanced economies of the world. And in a big chunk of developed and emerging markets in developing economies. How severe? We are working now on our projections for 2020, Georgieva said in response to a question.

The new projections are expected in the next few weeks.

Stressing that while containment is the main reason for the economy to stand still and get into a recession, she said containment is very necessary to come out of this period and step in to recovery. "Until the virus is not contained, it would be very difficult to go to the lives we love."

"A key concern about a long-lasting impact of the sudden stop of the world economy is the risk of a wave of bankruptcies and layoffs that not only can undermine the recovery. But can erode the fabric of our societies," the IMF chief said.

To avoid this from happening, many countries have taken far-reaching measures to address the health crisis and to cushion its impact on the economy, both on the monetary and on the fiscal side, she said.

The IMF chief said 81 emergency financing requests, including 50 from lower-income countries, have been received. She said current estimate for the overall financial needs of emerging markets is 2.5 trillion dollars.

"We believe this is on the lower end. We do know that their own reserves and domestic resources will not be sufficient," she added.

The G-20, a day earlier, reported fiscal measures totalling some 5 trillion dollars or over 6 per cent of the global GDP.

Responding to another question, Georgieva said the IMF is projecting recession for 2020.

"We do expect it to be quite deep and we are very much urging countries to step up containment measures aggressively so we can shorten the duration of this period of time when the economy is in standstill," she said.

"And also to apply well-targeted measures, primarily focusing on the health system to absorb that enormous stress that comes from coronavirus. And on people, businesses and the financial system, I am very pleased to say that when we went through countries' responses, that sense of targeted fiscal measures is there and are also very impressive to see the size of these measures," she added.

"Countries are doing all they can on the fiscal and on the monetary front. We have heard from our members' very impressive decisions taken over the last days," the IMF chief said.

"We also want to caution that as we are responding now, we want to make the recession as possibly short and not too deep. We also want to think about what is going to follow the recovery and make sure that we are putting forward measures that can be supportive in this regard," she said.

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News Network
July 3,2020

Islamabad, Jul 3: The US embassy here in a statement on Friday said the Trump administration through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) “donated a shipment of 100 brand-new, state-of-the-art ventilators” to Pakistan.

The ventilators arrived in Karachi on July 2 and will be sent to hospitals across Pakistan.

“This donation delivers on President Donald Trump’s generous offer of these critically-needed supplies and supports Pakistan’s urgent response to the pandemic,” the embassy said.

Made in America, the ventilators are valued at about $3 million and reflect the latest in cutting-edge medical design and technology, it said.

They are compact, easily deployable, and will enable Pakistan to more effectively treat patients suffering from Covid-19.

The US-Pakistan health partnership to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus is helping to improve and expand laboratory testing, disease monitoring, case tracking, infection prevention and control and patient care, the embassy said.

The US has contributed nearly $27 million in new funding so far to this vital partnership that is growing every day. "We are also thankful for Pakistan's contribution of medical supplies to help fight coronavirus in the US," the embassy said in the statement.

Ambassador Paul Jones said, “The US stands with Pakistan in its fight against the coronavirus. These American-made ventilators will help Pakistani patients in the most acute need of medical care."

The announcement comes days after Pakistan said it had started producing locally designed ventilators.

Pakistan reported 78 more deaths from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours, raising virus-related fatalities to 4,551 while the total number of confirmed cases has increased to 221,896.

On Friday, the health authorities said 1,13,623 persons have recovered from the coronavirus, surpassing the number of active Covid-19 infections in the country for the first time.

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