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| Malaysia flight MH370: Chinese families vent anger - BBC News Posted: 30 Mar 2014 08:44 AM PDT
30 March 2014
Last updated at 16:09
The BBC's Jennifer Pak: "Family members have come here for answers" Relatives of Chinese passengers from the missing Malaysian plane have vented their anger at government officials, after arriving in Kuala Lumpur. Chanting "Tell us the truth", they said they wanted the Malaysian prime minister to apologise for what they regard as misleading statements. Eight ships and nine planes searched around 252,000 sq km (97,000 sq miles) of ocean for debris on Sunday. The Beijing-bound plane disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board. International investigators have concluded that, based on satellite data, the missing Boeing 777 crashed somewhere in the southern Indian Ocean. The search zone shifted on Friday after further analysis. But while aircraft continue to spot debris in the water, nothing recovered by ships has so far been verified as being from the plane. Some relatives of the 153 Chinese passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 have refused to accept the Malaysian account of events and blame the authorities. On Sunday, several dozen family members travelled from Beijing. After landing in Kuala Lumpur they held a news conference at a hotel holding up banners that read "We want evidence, truth, dignity" in Chinese, and "Hand us the murderer. Give us our relatives," in English. Their designated representative, Jiang Hui, said they wanted the Malaysian government to apologise for the initial handling of the disaster, as well as for Prime Minister Najib Razak's earlier statement that indicated the plane had crashed with no survivors. He said the conclusion had been announced "without direct evidence or a sense of responsibility". He said the group wanted to meet airline and government officials face to face - although he stopped short of saying that these included Mr Najib, as some relatives had earlier suggested.  None of the objects retrieved by Haixun 01 or HMAS Success is thought to be from the missing plane
Before the relatives travelled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the search for survivors would continue. "The hardest part of my job is to see the families," he said. "I've always said we are hoping against hope that we will find survivors." On Sunday, Malaysian officials cancelled their daily update on the search for a second day. The objects recovered by Australian naval ship HMAS Success and China's Haixun 01 on Saturday had been examined and were thought to be fishing equipment and other flotsam, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said in a statement. 
The BBC's Jon Donnison explains how a "towed pinger locator" is used An Australian vessel carrying a US device known as a "towed pinger locator" is due to join the search in the coming days. The device is designed to detect any ultrasonic signals - "pings" - from flight recorders and can operate up to a depth of about 6,000m. But the search area is huge - covering some 319,000 sq km (123,000 sq miles) - and time is running short. The flight recorders' batteries are expected to run out in about a week's time. The current search area is about 1,100km (700 miles) north-east of the previous zone. Officials said the focus changed after radar data showed the plane had been travelling faster than previously thought, thus burning more fuel and reducing the distance the aircraft could have travelled.  Various theories about what went wrong have been suggested - including the captain hijacking his own plane. The speculation was fuelled by reports that files had been deleted on the pilot's home flight simulator. However on Saturday Malaysia's transport minister said investigators had found "nothing sinister" from the simulator. Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 vanished less than an hour after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. The airliner diverted off course and lost contact with air traffic controllers between Malaysian and Vietnamese air-traffic control areas.  |
| Ukraine crisis: US and Russia set for Paris talks - BBC News Posted: 30 Mar 2014 08:46 AM PDT
30 March 2014
Last updated at 16:54
 Mr Kerry abruptly diverted his flight on Saturday to attend the talks in Paris
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has set out demands for a neutral and federal Ukraine, ahead of crisis talks with his US counterpart in Paris. Sunday evening's meeting with Secretary of State John Kerry was hastily arranged after President Vladimir Putin phoned Barack Obama on Friday. Russia has annexed Crimea and there are reports of thousands of Russian troops massed close to Ukraine's borders. Ukraine denounced Mr Lavrov's remarks as a demand for "full capitulation". Mr Lavrov has categorically denied any plans for an invasion. But he has stressed Moscow will protect the rights of ethnic Russians and Russian speakers, after pro-EU protests in Kiev led to the ousting of Ukraine's President Viktor Yanukovych. He had faced months of protests after pulling out of an association deal with Brussels. Hours before the Paris talks were due to take place at the Russian ambassador's residence, Mr Lavrov told Russian state TV that Ukraine should come up with a new constitution "providing for a federal structure" and neutrality. 
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov: "We have absolutely no intention of, or interest in, crossing Ukraine's borders" The Russian foreign minister said Moscow, the US and European Union should act as a support group for Kiev to begin a nationwide dialogue that did not involve the "armed radicals". Moscow claims that fascists have taken power in Ukraine, jeopardising the safety of Russian speakers. In an interview on Saturday, he said Russia had been deceived after being promised "there would be no movement of Nato military infrastructure closer to our borders". The Ukrainian foreign ministry said it deeply regretted Mr Lavrov's "patronising" remarks. "At the point of its automatic rifles, this aggressor demands only one thing - Ukraine's full capitulation, its split and the destruction of Ukrainian statehood," said a statement carried by Interfax-Ukraine news agency. Nato's outgoing Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned on Sunday that Russia's government was "[flouting] the principle that every state is sovereign and free to choose its own fate". Mr Putin is also thought to be demanding that Washington accepts Crimea's independence from Ukraine. Separately, Moscow is keen to tackle the issue of Trans-Dniester, a pro-Russian separatist region of Moldova on the south-western border of Ukraine. It accuses Ukraine and Moldova of "blockading" the area while the EU and the US stay silent.  US officials are divided over whether Mr Putin is seeking to ease tensions or is still planning further military action, BBC Paris correspondent Christian Fraser reports. The Pentagon believes Moscow has massed tens of thousands of troops close to Ukraine's eastern border. Food, medicines and a field hospital are said to be among the supplies moved into position, officials say, which would not be necessary for any spring military exercise.  Russia has said it has no intention or interest in invading predominantly Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine
UK Defence Secretary Philip Hammond told the BBC: "Everybody is concerned. We are concerned that there might be a further incursion in the territory of a sovereign nation." The diplomatic push was initiated by President Putin, who spoke to President Obama for an hour late on Friday. The next day, the US secretary of state abruptly diverted his flight from Saudi Arabia to Paris for Sunday's meeting. "We are getting closer in our positions," Mr Lavrov said on Saturday. The White House, in its statement after Mr Putin's phone-call, said President Obama made clear that a de-escalation of the crisis could only take place "if Russia pulls back its troops and does not take any steps to further violate Ukraine's territorial integrity and sovereignty". 
People in the Crimean capital Simferopol have been celebrating the change of the clocks to synchronise with the time in Moscow As the rest of Europe put clocks forward by one hour on Sunday, Crimea aligned its time with Moscow, jumping two hours ahead. Hundreds of people waving flags greeted the time change in the capital, Simferopol. Voters in the mainly pro-Russian peninsula backed leaving Ukraine for Russia in a referendum a fortnight ago. But the vote has been condemned as illegal by Kiev and the UN General Assembly.  |
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