Star Online .....

Published: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 10:09:00 AM
Updated: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 5:37:01 PM

MH370: IGP rubbishes Daily Mirror report, says alleged militants not probed over plane's disappearance

Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar - File pix

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police denied a Daily Mirror report which claimed that the 11 alleged militants arrested in Kedah and Selangor last week were being interrogated on the disappearance of Flight MH370.

"That's rubbish! This has nothing to do with the plane," Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar told The Star on Sunday.

The militant group, which was targeted last week by the Bukit Aman Special Branch Anti-Terrorism Unit, is believed to have networks in Syria and southern Philippines, and was planning to send Malaysian fighters to Damascus.

Khalid said police would investigate the possibility that the group was recruiting foreign students via social media, adding that more arrests would be made soon.

The Daily Mirror had reported on Saturday that the 11 arrested alleged militants had links to the al-Qaeda, and were being questioned over the disappearance of Flight MH370.

It said the suspects were members of a violent new terror group that were planning bomb attacks in Muslim countries.

The report claimed that investigators, including the FBI and MI6, had asked for the alleged militants, who are aged from 22 to 55, to be interrogated.

They include students, odd-job workers, a widow and business professionals.

It was reported that in the interviews conducted so far, some suspects had admitted planning ‘sustained terror campaigns’ in Malaysia, but denied being involved in the disappearance of the airliner.

Flight MH370 went missing on Mar 8, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, while en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

A massive search and rescue operation was conducted, first in the South China Sea, and later in the southern Indian Ocean.

And note FBI and MI 6 were the ones pushing for interrogations ( so we know who put this attempted " squirrel " in the mix of Flight 370 oddities as a diversion ) ......

Published: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 9:12:00 AM
Updated: Sunday May 4, 2014 MYT 1:28:56 PM

MH370: 11 alleged militants quizzed over plane’s disappearance, Daily Mirror reports

LONDON: The 11 alleged arrested militants had links to the al-Qaeda, and were being questioned over the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, the Daily Mirror reported on Saturday.

According to the report, the suspects were members of a new terror group said to be planning bomb attacks in Muslim countries.

The report claimed that investigators, including the FBI and MI6, had asked for the alleged militants, who are aged from 22 to 55, to be interrogated.

They include students, odd-job workers, a widow and business professionals.

Last week, Bukit Aman arrested 11 alleged militants in Selangor and Kedah. They were believed to have networks in Syria and southern Philippines.

Flight MH370 went missing on Mar 8, with 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board, while en-route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

A massive search and rescue operation was conducted, first in the South China Sea, and later in the southern Indian Ocean.

Thought the FBI already cleared the data from the Simulator weeks ago ?

Published: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 1:47:00 PM
Updated: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 3:57:11 PM

MH370: Deleted data from Zaharie’s flight simulator yet to be fully retrieved

BY FARIK ZOLKEPLI

Zaharie's flight simulator

KUALA LUMPUR: The deleted data on MH370 pilot Capt Zaharie Ahmad Shah's flight simulator has yet to be fully recovered, said Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar.

The Inspector-General of Police said retrieving the data was a difficult process even with the assistance of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

“We have only retrieved some of the data from the simulator.

“I cannot reveal further as it is still under investigation,” he told pressmen after a shooting competition between police and the media on Saturday.

Khalid added that police have not ruled out anyone as suspects, including Capt Zaharie.

“We have recorded statements from 311 people, including foreigners,” he said.

While the Transport Ministry has already released a preliminary report on missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370, Khalid said police were not planning to release details of the investigation at the moment.

Bengal Bay ongoing in light of recent developments.....

Published: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 7:37:39 AM

MH370: Bangladesh Navy joins in the Bay of Bengal search

KUALA LUMPUR: Three Bangladesh Navy ships are searching the Bay of Bengal for signs of aircraft debris.

Joint Agency Coordination Centre (JACC) head Angus Houston said the ships had found nothing so far.

“One of the ships has an echo sounder to ensure a thorough search of the area,” he told reporters at a hotel here yesterday.

The JACC is leading the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean off Perth.

Acting Transport Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said the possibility of vessels belonging to SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd joining in the search was also being looked into.

“They have the appropriate vessels to search the area. I must stress, however, that by doing this we are distracting ourselves from the search and if it comes back negative, who will be held responsible?” he asked.

On the Bluefin-21 modular autonomous underwater vehicle search operation, Houston said it was deployed due to deep sea signals.

“We sent it down and thus far it has found nothing and we have searched about 500sq km so far,” he said, adding that the probability of finding the aircraft now was lower than when the search began.

The circus is over from Malaysia's point of view......

Published: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 7:44:21 AM

Families move out of Beijing's Lido Hotel

The family members preparing to leave one of the hotels where they have been staying in Beijing. — EPA

BEIJING: Families of the Chinese nationals onboard Flight MH370 have left Lido Hotel here following Malaysia Airlines’ decision to close all its family assistance centres.

A notice was put up to inform the families that MAS would stop providing food and accommodation effective 6pm yesterday at the Lido, Rosedale and Chunhuiyuan hotels where lodging had been provided to the relatives since March 8.

The families were seen bidding each other farewell at the Lido Hotel lobby before departing in batches.

The doors of the ballroom where daily briefings were held for the families were locked up when the deadline expired.

There was another notice put up to inform the families that MAS would make an advance compensation payment of US$50,000 (RM164,500) upon their return home to help them cope financially.

“Details will be announced via our official communication platform within two weeks,” the notice read.

A MAS official said the airline would be in close touch with the families.

“They will be able to contact us via our family support centre and three 24-hour hotlines,” he said.

The centre at Shunyi district here will start operating from tomorrow and will take charge of communicating with the MAS headquarters and the Malaysian and Chinese governments, besides coordinating the dissemination of the latest updates to the families.

“We are also going to keep them updated via SMS which will be in Mandarin,” the official disclosed.

Meanwhile, the families’ committee said on its official Weibo account that the families were “helpless over this sudden and irresponsible announcement” on the closure of the centres.

“Many of us are suddenly left with nowhere to go. Where should the old people and the next of kin from outstation go? Where is the plane? Where are our family members?” the posting, which was deleted several hours later, stated.

It was reported that the relatives wailed and yelled when the announcement was made during a briefing on Thursday.

The report said a video of MAS CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya making a seven-minute announcement was played for the next of kin.

New Straits Times....

04 May 2014| last updated at 01:12PM

MH370 Tragedy: Aircrafts return to China following search mission

SUBANG:Two Chinese military aircraft that had helped to search for a missing Malaysian airliner in the southern Indian Ocean flew back to China today from the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF) base here.

The IL-76s aircraft of the People's Liberation Army, with 38 crew and military personnel, had conducted the search off the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) Base Pearce in Perth.

The planes departed Subang at 8 am and 8.30 am after having flown in to the RMAF base from Australia at 2.45 pm yesterday for refuelling and an overnight rest for the crew and military personnel.

The Chinese search team, led by Senior Colonel Liu Dian Jun, returned after it was announced last Monday that the multinational deepwater search for the Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight, MH370, had entered a new phase.

Flight MH370, with 239 people aboard, left the KL International Airport at 12.41 am on March 8 and disappeared from radar screens about an hour later while over the South China Sea.

It was to have arrived in Beijing at 6.30 am on the same day.

A multinational search was mounted for the Boeing 777-200 aircraft, first in the South China Sea and then, after it was learnt that the plane had veered off course, in the southern Indian Ocean.

Latest mysteries ......

Cargo contents .......

Published: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 12:00:00 AM
Updated: Saturday May 3, 2014 MYT 10:11:36 AM

What were the 2.3 tonnes? Lithium ion batteries weigh less than 200kg, says firm

BY CHRISTOPHER TAN, AUSTIN CAMOENS, THO XIN YI, AND LOSHANA K. SHAGAR

BALIK PULAU: The lithium ion batteries are back in the centre of the MH370 controversy.

According to NNR Global Logistics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd in Batu Maung, the batteries formed only a small part of a “consolidated” shipment weighing 2.453 tonnes.

The batteries weighed less than 200kg, a company spokesman said. He would not say what the remaining 2.253 tonnes of cargo was.

“I cannot reveal more because of the ongoing investigations. We have been told by our legal advisers not to talk about it,” he said.

He said he could not name the company which manufactured the batteries, stating that the matter was confidential.

Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya had also announced on March 24 that 200kg of lithium batteries were on board the plane. He said they were packed safely.

In a statement issued last night, MAS said the rest of the consignment was radio accessories and chargers. But this has not been disclosed before and is not stated in the cargo manifest.

The MAS statement said: “About two tonnes, equivalent to 2,453kg, of cargo was declared as consolidated under one master airway bill. This master AWB actually comprised five house AWB. Of these five AWB, two contained lithium ion batteries amounting to a total tonnage volume of 221kg. The balance three house AWB, amounting to 2,232kg, were declared as radio accessories and chargers.”

The manifest released in the preliminary report on the missing MH370 on Thursday, however, shows that NNR Global shipped 133 pieces of one item weighing 1.99 tonnes and 67 pieces of another item weighing 463kg for a total weight of 2.453 tonnes. Neither the number of batteries nor its weight were specified.

The manifest came with an instruction that it should be handled with care and that flammability hazards exist. Its flammability had been the source of many earlier theories over how the plane was lost. However, most of the theories have been debunked.

The air waybill for the consignment was RM32,082.48.

NNR Global is located at the Dis3plex Free Commercial Zone at the Airfreight Forwarders Warehousing Cargo Complex, less than 100m from the Penang International Airport. The complex is guarded by the police and only those with passes are allowed entry.

A consolidated shipment combines several individual consignments to make up a full container load.

At the port of destination, the consolidated shipment is separated (deconsolidated or degrouped) back into the original individual consignments for delivery to their respective consignees.

It was reported yesterday that the missing plane was carrying lithium ion batteries and 4.566 tonnes of mangosteens.

The plane’s full cargo manifest was released by the authorities on Thursday as part of the preliminary report on the jetliner that went missing on its flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in the early hours of March 8.

The manifest revealed that the batteries were from NNR Global.

The package was meant for NNR Global Logistics (Beijing) Co Ltd but a company named JHJ International Transportation Co Ltd, Beijing Branch, was to collect the cargo on its behalf.

And of course the editing .......

Malaysian Chronicle ....

Sunday, 04 May 2014 06:21

GLOBAL CRIMINAL! M'sian govt suspected of editing MH370 recordings in COVER-UP BID

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Audio recordings of the final conversations between pilots of the missing Malaysian jet and teams of air traffic controllers on the ground were "edited" before they were made public, voice experts say.

The tapes also appear to be recorded by at least two different audio sources, one of which may have been a digital recorder held up to a speaker, they said.

The analysts cautioned that their observations don't necessarily imply anything about the investigation into the missing flight.

The quality and brevity of the interactions between the cockpit and controllers made it impossible to glean any information about the pilots' state of mind before the plane disappeared, or even to determine whether both the pilot and co-pilot were speaking or if just one can be heard.

The audio recordings were published Thursday for the first time as part of a preliminary report by Malaysian authorities. In the report, Malaysia's Air Accident Investigation Bureau said a lack of real-time tracking devices caused "significant difficulty" in the hunt for MH 370, which disappeared March 8.

Listen to Air Traffic Control Interaction With Flight MH370

Analysts who listened to the recordings for NBC News did not know why they were edited, but discovered at least four clear breaks in the audio that indicated edits.

"It's very strange," said audio-video forensic expert and registered investigator Ed Primeau of Primeau Forensics, who has analyzed hundreds of audio recordings. He said the beginning and end of the recording are high-quality with a low noise floor, meaning ambient background noise is almost silent, unlike the middle.

"At approximately 1:14 (a minute, 14 seconds into the audio, which can be heard here), the tone of the recording change to where to me, it sounds like someone is holding a digital recorder up to a speaker, so it's a microphone-to-speaker transfer of that information. That's a pretty big deal because it raises the first red flag about there possibly being some editing," he said.

The next part that raises questions is two minutes, six seconds in, through two minutes, nine seconds in, he said.

"I can hear noise in the room, along with the increase in the noise floor. I can hear a file door being closed, I can hear some papers being shuffled. so I'm further convinced that, beginning at 1:14 continuing through 2:06 to 2:15, it's a digital recorder being held up to a speaker."

Long gaps in the communication throughout the recording also imply some editing, he said.

"But yet, at 6:17, there's a huge edit because the conversation is cut off. It's interrupted. And the tone changes again," he said. "The noise floor, when you're authenticating a recording from a forensic perspective, is a very important part of the process. All of a sudden, we go back to the same quality and extremely low noise floor that we had at the beginning of the recording."

Kent Gibson, a forensic audio examiner with Forensic Audio in Los Angeles, added that there appear to be additional edits at 2:11 and 5:08, and agreed it sounded as though the middle section was recorded with a microphone near a speaker.

"You can hear, at 4:07, pages turning or a person breathing, which is unusual," he said.

While it's not uncommon for the background of a recording to change when a cockpit communication turns over from ground control to air controllers — which happened about four minutes into this recording — that doesn't explain the noises that are heard.

"It's not unusual that there would be clicks when they push the button on the microphone, but it's very unusual to have a disturbance. Normally you wouldn't have any background," Gibson said.

A cut-off word also isn't out of the realm of possibility, he said.

"It wouldn't be unthinkable to have a truncated word because if somebody let go of the trigger on the microphone, it might cut off their word," he said. "But it would be very unusual to find a background differential at the same time, suggesting that Malaysian authorities or whoever presented this made edits for whatever reason."

Gibson said it’s possible the tapes could have been edited by Malaysian authorities "if the pilot dropped a hint that they didn't want to get out, if he said something that doesn't fit with the Malaysian government's party line."

But, he said, "It's more likely to be an inadvertent thing. But it's not the way to handle evidence."

The recording also could have come from different sources, he added.

"You can assume that the recording while they're still on the ground came from the tower and then you could assume that the communication with air controllers was while they're in the air," he said. "They may have just mishandled the cobbling of it together."

This doesn't necessarily prove anything about the investigation, he added.

"Unfortunately, there are no smoking guns, except there are edits. And there are clear edits," he said.

Tom Owen, a consultant for Owen Forensic Services audio analysis and chairman emeritus of the American Board of Recorded Evidence, said edits were to be expected.

"There's things that have to do with timelines and radar that they have available, but they don't make them available," he said. "They wouldn't give you anything that would be enlightening for the public to any secretive information. I don't see that as a problematic issue."

Primeau disagreed.

"This is not a good maneuver or a good faith move by the Malaysian government because of all these questions with regard to the different anomalies and edits that are in this recording," he said.

Audio experts felt the quality of the transmissions was too low to offer analysis of the pilots' voices.

Forensic audio expert Paul Ginsberg said even after enhancing and slowing down the conversations, there wasn't good enough, or long enough, sound samples to make a determination on the pilots' stress level.

"It's analogous to blowing up a photograph. It's the same amount of information," he said. "I don't know that any such determination would be admissible." - NBCNews

Below is the full transcript of that conversation, which was released by authorities earlier this month.

Transcript of Audio:

"ATC Delivery" (Pre-Departure)

Mayalsia Airlines Flight 370 cockpit (12:25:53): Delivery MAS 370 good morning.

Air traffic control (12:26:02): MAS 370 standby and Malaysia Six is cleared to Frankfurt via AGOSA alpha departure 6,000 feet squawk two one zero six.

ATC (12:26:19): ... MAS 370 request level.

MH370 at (12:26:21): MAS 370 we are ready requesting flight level three five zero to Beijing.

ATC(12:26:39): MAS 370 is cleared to Beijing via PIBOS a departure 6,000 feet squawk two one five seven.

Cockpit (12:26:45): Beijing PIBOS a 6,000 squawk two one five seven MAS 370 thank you.

ATC (12:26:53): MAS 370 welcome over to ground.

Cockpit (12:26:55): Good day.

"Lumpur Ground" (Kuala Lumpur airport ground movements)

Cockpit (12:27:27): Ground MAS370 good morning Charlie One requesting push and start.

ATC (12:27:34): MAS370 Lumpur Ground morning push back and start approved Runway 32 right exit via Sierra 4.

Cockpit (12:27:40): Push back and start approved 32 Right Exit via Sierra 4 POB 239 Mike Romeo Oscar.

ATC (12:27:45): Copied.

Cockpit (12:32:13): MAS377 request taxi.

ATC (12:32:26): MAS37..... (garbled) ... standard route. Hold short Bravo.

ATC (12:32:30): Ground, MAS370. You are unreadable. Say again.

ATC (12:32:38): MAS370 taxi to holding point Alfa 11 Runway 32 right via standard route. Hold short of Bravo.

Cockpit (12:32:42): Alfa 11 Standard route Hold short Bravo MAS370.

ATC (12:35:53): MAS 370 Tower.

ATC (12:36:19): (garbled) ... Tower ... (garbled).

Cockpit (no time given): 1188 MAS370 Thank you.

Lumpur Tower (Kuala Lumpur airport runway)

Cockpit (12:36:30): Tower MAS370 morning.

ATC (12:36:38): MAS370 good morning. Lumpur Tower. Holding point.. (garbled)..10 32 Right.

Cockpit (12:36:50): Alfa 10 MAS370.

ATC (12:38:43): 370 line up 32 Right Alfa 10.

Cockpit (no time given): Line up 32 Right Alfa 10 MAS370.

ATC (12:40:38): 370 32 Right cleared for take-off. Good night.

Cockpit (no time given): 32 Right cleared for take-off MAS370. Thank you bye.

Lumpur Approach (Kuala Lumpur area controllers)

Cockpit (12:42:05): Departure Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

ATC (12:42:10): Malaysian Three Seven Zero selamat pagi identified. Climb flight level one eight zero cancel SID turn right direct to IGARI.

Cockpit (12:42:48): Okay level one eight zero direct IGARI Malaysian one err Three Seven Zero.

ATC (12:42:52): Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Lumpur Radar One Three Two Six good night.

Cockpit (no time given): Night one three two six Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

Lumpur Radar (Malaysia regional controllers)

Cockpit (12:46:51): Lumpur Control Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

ATC (12:46:51): Malaysian Three Seven Zero Lumpur radar good morning climb flight level two five zero.

Cockpit (12:46:54): Morning level two five zero Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

ATC (12:50:06): Malaysian Three Seven Zero climb flight level three five zero.

Cockpit (12:50:09): Flight level three five zero Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

Cockpit (01:01:14): Malaysian Three Seven Zero maintaining level three five zero.

ATC (01:01:19): Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

Cockpit (01:07:55): Malaysian...Three Seven Zero maintaining level three five zero.

ATC (01:08:00): Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

ATC (01:19:24): Malaysian Three Seven Zero contact Ho Chi Minh 120 decimal 9 Good night.

Cockpit (01:19:29): Good Night Malaysian Three Seven Zero.

First published May 1st 2014, 11:06 pm NBCNews

And what does our NSA know about Flight 370 ????

Catharsis Ours

Sunday, May 4, 2014