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Malaysia included in Qantas' Asian strategy Posted: 03 Feb 2013 06:08 PM PST MELBOURNE: Qantas, which recently sealed an alliance with Emirates, plans to expand its network within Asia, working with Malaysia Airlines and other partners. Qantas on Monday outlined its new four-phase strategy for the Asian market with new destinations being considered including Beijing, Seoul, Mumbai, Delhi and Tokyo-Haneda. Qantas also plans to provide more frequent flights to Singapore and Hong Kong, as well as, reschedule the departure time of those flights and increase capacity on those routes. The airline said it hoped to expand its network within Asia by working with local partners such as Malaysia Airlines, Japan Airlines, China Eastern, Jet Airways and Cathay Pacific. Qantas said the improvements to its Asian services would begin on March 31 and be rolled out in four phases. Qantas International Chief Executive Simon Hickey said the changes meant Qantas' services to Asia were no longer tied to onward links to Europe. "The number of dedicated seats on Qantas services to Hong Kong and Singapore is increasing significantly because capacity previously set aside for customers going to Europe via these hubs can be freed up. "The joint Qantas-Emirates network into Asia gives our customers a fresh set of options, including double daily services to Singapore from Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane," Hickey said in a statement. From March 31, Qantas will increase capacity on flights to Hong Kong and Singapore by between 10 per cent and 40 per cent, respectively. More flights would also be available on the Qantas-Emirates network. Qantas will also schedule earlier arrival times into Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore, with flights brought forward by up to three hours to increase the number of onward connections. Customers will also be able to fly to Kuala Lumpur on the combined Qantas-Emirates network. However, Qantas will reduce services between Perth and Singapore to one a day. It will also cancel its Adelaide-Singapore and Perth-Hong Kong services. However, flights between Brisbane and Hong Kong will rise to seven a week from four, and daily services between Sydney and Singapore will start in June. Qantas has also brought forward the end date for its loss-making Frankfurt services by six months to April 15.-- Bernama

MISC rises on Petronas buyout offer Posted: 03 Feb 2013 06:30 PM PST Shares of Malaysia's MISC Bhd rose as much as 17 per cent after the shipping firm's major shareholder Petroliam Nasional Bhd made an RM8.8 billion (US$2.8 billion) buyout offer, equal to RM5.30 per share. As of 0102 GMT, MISC was 17.3 per cent higher at RM5.22 per share, outperforming the country's benchmark stock index's 0.54 per cent rise. Trading in MISC has been suspended since the offer was made last Thursday. Petronas, Malaysia's state oil company, owns 62.7 per cent of the shipping firm. The deal is the latest in a slew of privatisation offers in Malaysia. Tycoon tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al Bukhary in December offered to buy out commodities firm Tradewinds Bhd in a deal worth RM1.5 billion or RM9.30 per share. Hong Leong Financial Group Bhd, a Malaysian lender controlled by the country's sixth-richest man Quek Leng Chan, in January offered to take its 79 percent-owned investment banking arm Hong Leong Capital Bhd private. -- Reuters

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'American Sniper' Author Shot and Killed in Texas - New York Times Posted: 03 Feb 2013 09:01 AM PST By MICHAEL SCHWIRTZ Published: February 3, 2013 Since retiring from the Navy SEALS, Chris Kyle, who was known as America's deadliest sniper, would occasionally take fellow veterans shooting as a kind of therapy to salve battlefield scars. Mr. Kyle, author of the best selling book "American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History," was with a struggling former soldier on just such an outing on Saturday, hoping a day at a shooting range would bring some relief, said a friend, Travis Cox. But Texas authorities said Sunday that for unknown reasons, the man turned on Mr. Kyle and a second man, Chad Littlefield, shooting and killing both before fleeing.   "Chad and Chris had taken a veteran out to shoot to try to help him," Mr. Cox said. "And they were killed." On Sunday, the police identified the shooter as Eddie Ray Routh, a 25-year-old veteran with a history of mental illness who had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The police offered no information about a possible motive. Mr. Routh shot the men at about 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, at the Rough Creek Lodge, an exclusive shooting range near Glen Rose, about 50 miles southwest of Fort Worth, Sgt. Lonny Haschel, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety's Highway Patrol Division, said in a statement. Mr. Routh then fled in a pickup truck and was arrested on Saturday night at his home in Lancaster, a southern Dallas suburb. He has been charged with two counts of capital murder, Mr. Haschel said. Mr. Cox, the director of a foundation that Mr. Kyle created, said he was not acquainted with Mr. Routh, but said that Mr. Kyle had devoted his life since his military retirement to helping fellow soldiers overcome post-traumatic stress. In 2011, Mr. Kyle created the FITCO Cares Foundation, to provide veterans with exercise equipment and counseling. He believed that exercise coupled with the camaraderie of fellow veterans could help former soldiers ease back into civilian life.   "He served this country with extreme honor, but came home and was a servant leader in helping his brothers and sisters dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder," Mr. Cox, also a former military sniper, said by telephone. Mr. Kyle, who lived outside of Dallas, had his own difficulties adjusting after retiring from the SEALS in 2009. He was deployed in Iraq during the worst years of the insurgency, perched in or on top of bombed out apartment buildings with his .300 Winchester Magnum. He became proficient at his job, racking up more than 150 kills and becoming the scourge of Iraqi insurgents, who put a price on his head and reportedly nicknamed him the "Devil of Ramadi." He preferred to think of his job not as killing bad guys, but saving the good. "I feel pretty good because I am not just killing someone, I am also saving people," he said in a Jan. 2012 interview with The Dallas Morning News. "What keeps me up at night is not the people that I have killed. It is the people I wasn't able to save." Mr. Kyle was sued by the former governor of Minnesota, Jesse Ventura, over a portion of the book that claims Mr. Kyle punched Mr. Ventura in a 2006 bar fight over unpatriotic remarks. Mr. Ventura says the punch never happened and that the claim by Kyle defamed him. Mr. Kyle had asked that Ventura's claims of invasion of privacy and "unjust enrichment" be dismissed, saying there was no legal basis for them. But a federal judge said the lawsuit should proceed. Both sides were told to be ready for trial by Aug. 1. Manny Fernandez contributed reporting.

Details emerge about man at center of Ala standoff - Seattle Post Intelligencer Posted: 03 Feb 2013 08:50 AM PST MIDLAND CITY, Ala. (AP) — As an Alabama standoff and hostage drama entered a sixth day Sunday, more details emerged about the suspect at the center, with neighbors and officials painting a picture of an isolated man with few friends and no close family. Authorities say Jim Lee Dykes, 65 — a decorated veteran of the Vietnam War known as Jimmy to neighbors — gunned down a school bus driver and then abducted a 5-year-old boy from the bus, taking him to an underground bunker on his rural property. The driver, 66-year-old Charles Albert Poland Jr., was to be buried Sunday. Dykes, described as a loner who railed against the government, lives up a dirt road outside this tiny hamlet north of Dothan in the southeast corner of the state. His home is just off the main road north to the state capital of Montgomery, about 80 miles away. The FBI said in a statement Sunday that authorities continue to have an open line of communication with Dykes and that they planned to deliver to the bunker additional comfort items such as food, toys and medicine. They also said Dykes was making the child as comfortable as possible. Government records and interviews with neighbors indicate that Dykes grew up in the Dothan area and joined the Navy in Midland City, serving on active duty from 1964 to 1969. His record shows several awards, including the Vietnam Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. During his service, Dykes was trained in aviation maintenance. Later, Dykes lived in Florida, where he worked as a surveyor and a long-haul truck driver although it's unclear how long. He had some scrapes with the law there, including a 1995 arrest for improper exhibition of a weapon. The misdemeanor was dismissed. He also was arrested for marijuana possession in 2000. He returned to Alabama about two years ago, moving onto the rural tract about 100 yards from his nearest neighbors, Michael Creel and his father, Greg. Neighbors described Dykes as a man who once beat a dog to death with a lead pipe, threatened to shoot children for setting foot on his property, and patrolled his yard at night with a flashlight and a firearm. Michael Creel said Dykes had an adult daughter, but the two lost touch years ago. The Dykes property has a white trailer which, according to Creel, Dykes said he bought from FEMA after it was used to house evacuees from Hurricane Katrina. The property also has a steel shipping container — like those on container ships — in which Dykes stores tools and supplies. Next to the container is the underground bunker where authorities say Dykes is holed up with the 5-year-old. Neighbors say that the bunker has a pipe so Dykes could hear people coming near his driveway. Authorities have been using the ventilation pipe to communicate with him. The younger Creel, who said he helped Dykes with supplies to build the bunker and has been in it twice, said Dykes wanted protection from hurricanes. "He said he lived in Florida and had hurricanes hit. He wanted someplace he could go down in and be safe," Creel said. Authorities say the bunker is about 6 feet by 8 feet, and the only entrance is a trap door at the top. Such bunkers are not uncommon in rural Alabama because of the threat of tornadoes. Greg Creel was a friend of Dykes, but he said he would not comment for The Associated Press. "I will only talk to the police and the FBI," he said. Michael Creel said Dykes kept to himself and listened a lot to conservative talk radio. "He was very into what's going on with the nation and the politics and all the laws being made. The things he didn't agree with, he would ventilate," he said. James Arrington, police chief of the neighboring town of Pinckard, put it differently. "He's against the government, starting with Obama on down," he said. Morris Dees of Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, a group that tracks hate crimes, said Dykes was not on the group's radar. Although the fatal shootings in December at a school in Newtown, Conn., are still on everyone's mind, Dees said he doesn't think Dykes was trying to be a copycat. "Probably not. He had a whole bus load full of kids, and he could have walked up there and shot the whole crowd of them," he said. "I think he's just a really angry and bitter guy with some anger management issues," Dees said. "He is just against everything - the government and his neighbors." ______ Bruce Smith contributed to this report from Midland City, Ala.

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