Possible MH370 ditched into the ocean intact, say aviation experts

As the search for the Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 entered its fourth week, two aviation experts told CNN there is a possibility the plane ditched into the ocean intact leaving little debris.

In an interview with the network's chief national security correspondent Jim Sciutto, aviation analyst Miles O'Brien said there was a possibility that the plane could have gone into the water almost intact, but it would depend on several factors.

MH370 mystery is solvable and we will solve it: Australia PM

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott today said here that the search operation for the crashed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 will be running for quite some time with "no time limit" as the hunt for the plane enters its 23rd day.

Balingan by-polls: Turnabout Chinese votes indication of rejection of Malayan-based parties

Chief Minister Adenan Satem believes that wins in Chinese majority areas in Balingian was an indication of the community’s acceptance.

MUKAH: Chief Minister Adenan Satem is smug on two scores – the thumping Balingian by-election victory last night and the ‘return’ of the Sarawak Chinese community to BN.

Emergency signal in Southern Indian Ocean picked up by AMSA

Earlier today the Australian Rescue Coordination Centre detected a signal from an emergency distress beacon registered to a fishing vessel in the far southern Indian Ocean near Antarctica.

MH370: Australia hopeful as more items pulled from sea

PERTH, Australia (AP) -- Australia's prime minister said Sunday he was hopeful a clue will emerge soon to narrow the hunt for Flight 370, as more objects were pulled from the southern Indian Ocean and checked to see if they were part of the plane that went missing more than three weeks ago.

Adenan's 'Allah' reminder for Putrajaya

Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem's assurance that he would not allow 'others' to interfere in the use of the word 'Allah' by Christians in Sarawak as the state has no such law is actually aimed at federal leaders.

Interpol rejects Malaysian claim that verifying passports is too time consuming

KUALA LUMPUR - Interpol has rejected comments from a Malaysian minister that it takes too much time and is too difficult to check the international police agency's database to confirm if a passport has been stolen.

Missing MH370: AMSA found objects in new area search

PERTH, Australia (AP) — Australian officials moved the search area for the lost Malaysian jetliner 1,100 kilometers (680 miles) to the northeast Friday following a new analysis of radar data, and planes quickly found multiple objects in the new zone.

We shouldn’t rely on black boxes to investigate air crashes

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8 without a trace, and although now it appears likely that the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean, it is still not clear what actually happened on the flight, leaving government officials, airline employees and the families of the 239 people on board asking questions.

Without finding the plane’s black box, we will never know what went wrong.

Missing MH370: Search for plane shifts after new lead

An international air and sea taskforce hunting for the wreckage of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 was re-directed on Friday to an area 1,100 km (685 miles) north of where they have been searching for more than a week, after Australian authorities received new radar information from Malaysia.

Missing MH370: Thai satellite detects 300 floating objects near search area

BANGKOK - A Thai satellite has detected 300 floating objects in the Indian Ocean, about 200 kilometres from the international search area for the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370.

S’wak CM to Anwar: Sue me if you want

KUCHING - Sarawak Chief Minister Adenan Satem challenged Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim to take legal action including suing him and the state government if he (Anwar) is unhappy with the decision of the state to bar  certain individuals from Peninsular Malaysia to enter Sarawak.

Adenan criticised Anwar for questioning the state government’s decision even though he himself is still permitted entry to Sarawak.

STAR: Sabah Sarawak Should Review Oil Agreement and Revoke PDA

KOTA KINABALU - The governments of Sabah and Sarawak should pass a motion in their respective Legislative Assemblies to review the Petroleum ‘Surrender’ Agreement (PSA) and thereafter cooperate with Pakatan MPs to revoke or outlaw the Petroleum Development Act (PDA) 1974 said Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, President of the Borneo Heritage Foundation who is also STAR Sabah Chairman.

Missing MH370: Math wizards stand ready to join search

Math wizards who pinpointed the final resting place of a doomed Air France jet deep beneath the Atlantic stand ready to do so again for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

No one has yet asked Metron, a scientific consulting firm, to join the search for the missing Boeing 777, but that hasn't stopped it from getting a head start, using the few nuggets of data currently in the public domain.

Missing MH370: 122 Objects Spotted by Satellite in Search for Flight 370

New satellite images show a debris field of 122 objects floating in the Indian Ocean – potentially connected to doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, officials said at a press conference today.

AirAsia X suspends pilot over MH370 remarks

AirAsia X, the long-haul arm of budget carrier AirAsia, has suspended a pilot for comments he made online on the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, pending a domestic inquiry.

"AirAsia X senior first officer has been suspended pending investigation as company policies were broken in Facebook posting," group chief executive officer Tony Fernandes said in a tweet last night.

Missing MH370: 20 passengers worked for ELECTRONIC WARFARE and MILITARY RADAR firm

A US technology company which had 20 senior staff on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 had just launched a new electronic warfare gadget for military radar systems in the days before the Boeing 777 went missing.

Freescale Semiconductor, which makes powerful microchips for industries including defence, released the powerful new products to the American market on March 3.

Missing MH370: Conspiracy theories don’t help finding cause

It is important to find the so-called black boxes from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 to learn how to avoid, if possible, a tragic repeat of whatever caused the jetliner to disappear.

But it is equally important to find out what happened — to bring peace of mind to the families of the 239 people aboard, and to put an end to the ludicrous conspiracy mongering already taking wing.

Sarawak practises autonomy: 3 PKR leaders barred from entering

KUCHING -Three Parti Keadilan Rakyat leaders were barred from entering the state in Sibu and deported back to Kuala Lumpur today.

Experts, relatives ask: Where's the proof that MH370 fell into ocean?

(CNN) -- One thing's missing from the official version of what happened to Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, say some experts and family members: hard evidence.

China demands satellite data from M'sia, anguished Chinese families call MAS 'the real murderers'

China demanded that Malaysia turn over the satellite data used to conclude that a Malaysia Airlines jetliner had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean killing everyone on board, as gale-force winds and heavy rain on Tuesday halted the search for any remains of the plane.

The weather is expected to improve so that the multinational search being conducted out of Perth, Australia, could possibly resume Wednesday. But even then, the searchers face a daunting task of combing a vast expanse of choppy seas for suspected remnants of the aircraft sighted earlier.

Malaysia Airlines to Families: 'None of Those On Board Survived'

The families of passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines jet have been sent text messages telling them that the plane been "lost."

"We have to assume beyond reasonable doubt that MH370 has been lost and that none of those on board have survived," the message said. "We must now accept all evidence suggests the plane went down in the southern Indian Ocean."

Sarawak should also bar Perkasa Ibrahim Ali

KUCHING - Speculations that Perkasa’s Ibrahim Ali was seen in Sarawak has thrown doubt on Chief Minister Adenan Satem’s stand to bar race and religious extremist from entering into the state.

Chinese plane spots object in Indian Ocean

PERTH, Australia (AP) -- A Chinese plane crew spotted a white, square-shaped object in an area identified by satellite imagery as containing possible debris from the missing Malaysian airliner, China's media said Monday, while the United States prepared to move a specialized device that can locate black boxes into the region.

Missing MH370: Debris sighting boosts search

This satellite image provided by China shows floating object on sea

PERTH — The first visual sighting of objects that might be linked to Malaysia Airlines
Flight MH370 boosted search operations Sunday for the missing airliner that mysteriously disappeared more than two weeks ago.

Australian officials said a wooden cargo pallet, along with belts or straps, was spotted
Saturday in a remote stretch of the southern Indian Ocean that has become the focus of an intense international search in recent days.

New sightings of objects in the Southern Corridor by Chinese Satellites

Chinese authorities have found a large piece of debris during the search for missing flight MH370, Malaysia's transport minister said today.

Hishammuddin Hussein said Chinese satellites had located an unknown object measuring 22.5m long by 13m wide in the remote southern Indian Ocean area where searches have been concentrated.

Missing MH370: M'sia seeks US sonar gear for search

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is weighing a request from Malaysia for sonar equipment to bolster the so-far frustrated search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, as concerns grow that any debris may have sunk to the bottom of the sea.

Missing MH370: Flight to oblivion

THE disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH 370 proves that despite the world’s technological advances, we are not as good as we think we are.

Two weeks after the last communication with the Boeing 777-200, there is still no confirmation that “objects’’ seen by a satellite have anything to do with what remains an aviation mystery.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott revealed on Thursday that specialist analysis showed two “possible objects’’ perhaps connected to the flight.

Australia says possible debris from Malaysia Airlines MH370 jet may have sunk

SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss said on Friday objects spotted on satellite images that sparked an international hunt in the remote southern Indian Ocean for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 may have sunk.

Missing MH370: No sightings as first search plane returns

The first of five aircraft sent out to the southern Indian Ocean where debris has been spotted on satellite imagery has reported no sightings of the elusive objects despite favourable weather, the Australian Maritime Safety Authority says.

Chinese relatives turn on M’sia govt officials

Relatives have been speaking of hunger strikes and demonstrations in recent days.

BEIJING - Relatives of Chinese passengers on board MH370 vented their fury Friday in their first meeting in Beijing with Malaysian government officials, almost two weeks after the aircraft vanished.

The event began in angry fashion, with family members yelling at the group of political representatives and senior military officials to stand up when they were being introduced, rather than nodding while sitting down.

Missing MH730: Pilot made call from cockpit before takeoff

A report has surfaced that the pilot of missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 had made a call from inside the cockpit shortly before take off.

UK-based The Sun said investigators are trying to establish who Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah spoke to in the cockpit minutes before the flight took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 12.41am on March 8.

Missing MH370: Australia resumes ocean search

PERTH - An international search force resumed the hunt for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the remote southern Indian Ocean on Friday as authorities pored over satellite data to try and confirm a potential debris field.

Missing MH370: Weather may obstruct SAR for black boxes

KUALA LUMPUR - If two blurred objects photographed from space are confirmed as debris from Flight MH370, scientists will still face a daunting task to find and recover the sensitive recorders containing clues to the Malaysian jet's disappearance.

Obama says search for flight MH370 ‘top priority’

President Barack Obama said yesterday the search for the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH30 jetliner was a "top priority" for the United States and offered every possible resource – including the FBI.

In his first on camera comments on the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, Obama offered thoughts and prayers to the relatives of the missing passengers.

Missing MH370: Largest ‘object’ sighted in MH370 search is 24 metres, says AMSA

The largest object sighted in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 is 24 metres, with a second, smaller object also spotted, Australian authorities said today.

"The objects are relatively indistinct. The indication to me is of objects that are of a reasonable size and probably awash with water and bobbing up and down over the surface," said Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) official John Young.

Missing MH370: Thai radar adds possible clue to trace jet's route

Thai military officials said Tuesday their own radar showed an unidentified plane, possibly Flight 370, flying toward the strait minutes after the Malaysian jet's transponder signal was lost. Air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn said the Thai military doesn't know whether the plane it detected was Flight 370.

Malaysian Air Search Zone Shrunk on Analysis Using Fuel Data

Australian surveillance planes searching for Malaysian Air Flight 370 combed a remote area in the southern Indian Ocean as data about the plane’s fuel reserves narrowed the search zone.

Missing MH370: Why didn’t passengers use phones?

One of the most commonly asked questions about Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is: Why didn’t the passengers aboard use their cellphones to call for help? We all remember United Airliners Flight 93, whose passengers communicated with the ground by phone after the plane was hijacked during 9/11. Given how famous the incident became, it’s hard to see why none of the 227 passengers aboard Flight 370 tried something similar.

Missing MH370 believed out of fuel crashed in southern Indian Ocean

Investigators examining the March 8 disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines plane with 239 people on board believe that the plane had most likely flew into the southern Indian Ocean, a source close to the investigation said today.

"The working assumption is that it went south, and furthermore that it went to the southern end of that corridor," said the source, referring to a search area stretching from west of Indonesia to the Indian Ocean west of Australia .

Missing MH370: Maldives Islanders Claim Seeing Low-Flying Jet

NEW DELHI - As a multinational search for a missing Malaysian airliner intensified, a Maldivian news portal reported that Maldives islanders claimed to have seen a low-flying jet on March 8, the day the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft disappeared.

Residents of the remote Maldives island of Kudahuvadhoo in the Dhaal Atoll claimed to have seen a plane flying low on the day that the Kuala Lumpur-Beijing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370 went off radar screens, said the website Haveeru.

Christian appeals against khalwat conviction

Christian Indonesian migrant worker Halimah's plea for leave to appeal against her conviction for khalwat (close promixity with a member of the opposite sex who is not her spouse) crossed its first hurdle.

Like many Indonesians, Halimah goes by one name only.

Missing MH370: Computer reprogrammed sent plane off path deliberately?

WASHINGTON - Investigators are convinced that the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 was deliberately diverted and that foul play was involved.

Missing MH370: Wish we could hijack the plane, say Pakistani Taliban

As the hunt for the missing jet continues, the investigators have not ruled out the possibility of foul play like hijack, into the disappearance of the plane; with some hinting that the jet might have been veered towards Taliban controlled areas near Pak-Afghan border.

PKR adalah tidak ikhlas dan tamak PRU13

Menurut Dr Jeffrey, parti pembangkang tempatan, tidak menolak sepenuhnya kerjasama dengan parti pembangkang di peringkat nasional iaitu Pakatan Rakyat.

“Tetapi sebagai pemimpin Sabah kita harus menunjukkan ketegasan khususnya dalam soal hak dan otonomi Sabah.  Kerjasama itu haruslah  menjurus kepada matlamat mengekalkan kedua-duanya,” tegas beliau.

Malaysia plane search grows to 26 nations

Some 26 countries are now involved in the massive international search for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, authorities said Monday.

Study: M'sia world's top three in cronyism

Malaysia has once again made world news for the wrong reasons, coming in third in The Economist's crony capitalism index for 2014.

Topping the list was Hong Kong followed by Russia, wrote the UK business weekly last Saturday.

According to the report, all three held the same positions since the last study in 2007.

FBI regrets Malaysia won't let it help more

A senior official of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has criticised Malaysia for hoarding information on the missing Flight MH370 and not acting fast enough to establish "malicious intent" early on.

The New York Times (NYT) quoted the official as saying that more could have been achieved if Malaysia had agreed to receive more than the two FBI agents now helping out in Kuala Lumpur.

Sarawak seeks 20 percent oil royalty

Former CM Taib (left) with Tan Sri Adenan Satem at right

KUCHING - New Chief Minister Tan Sri Adenan Satem hopes to get the Federal Government to agree to 20 pc oil royalty for the State.

"I would like to have 20pc royalty, sure," he said, "but what was agreed before was 5pc of gross. I will ask the Federal Government if they can accommodate us but let us be. realistic", he said.

Adenan believed the Federal Government would respond positively.

Missing MH370: Flight engineer aboard missing plane under probe

KUALA LUMPUR - Police are allegedly investigating a flight engineer who was among the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 as they focus on the pilots and anyone else on board who had technical flying knowledge, a senior police official said.

Musa-Shafie rivalry: Semporna Bajau sidelined by Musa's govt?

The Sabah Semporna Bumiputera Bajau group claim that their community is being sidelined at state level civil service.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah’s east-coast Bajaus, claiming to have been sidelined by the state government, want more from their community to be promoted to high-ranking positions in Sabah civil service.

They also want eligible Bajaus from the east to head more agencies or departments in Sabah.

Missing MH370: Malaysia Appeals to 15 Nations to Aid in Wider Search

Malaysian authorities appealed to 15 countries to aid in finding a missing passenger jet as they prepared to extend the search as far north as Kazakhstan and as far south as the Indian Ocean off Australia.

Police search home of missing plane's pilot

Police began searching the home of the pilot of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight today, after Prime Minister Najib Razak confirmed the plane was suspected to have been deliberately diverted, a senior police official told Reuters.

Police officers arrived at the home of the captain, 53-year-old Zaharie Ahmad Shah  in Shah Alam, on Saturday afternoon, shortly after Najib ended his news conference.

Poll: 95% want independence for Sarawak

An independent online poll has shown that Sarawakians are not supportive of Pakatan Rakyat's objections to an independent Sarawak.

KUCHING: A recent independent online survey showed that 95% of those polled voted for Sarawak to move out of the Federation of Malaysia.

The 10-day poll commencing Feb 14 to Feb 24 was organised by Facebook page Hornbill Talks and attracted the participation of 2,107 voters.

Nasa joins hunt for missing MH370

Nasa is helping to find Flight MH370 by looking at satellite
footage and at a camera on the International Space Station

The mystery surrounding the disappearance of Malaysian Airlines MH370 has grown to such an extent that US space agency Nasa is now pitching in to help find the plane.

Nasa is looking at how it can contribute to the search by making use of its valuable space assets to search images of Earth from space.

"Activities under way include mining data archives of satellite data acquired earlier and using space-based assets, such as the Earth-Observing-1(EO-1) satellite and the ISERV camera on the International Space Station, to acquire new images of possible crash sites," NASA spokesman Allard Beutel told Space.com.

MH370 hijacked, concludes probe ... Satellites scour earth for clues

Investigators have concluded that the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was hijacked, an official said Saturday.

According to the report cited by Xinhua, which is yet to be corroborated, the hijackers had rich flying experience and they switched off communication devices deliberately and steered the Boeing 777 aircraft off course.

Experts suspect suicide bid by pilot of missing Malaysian plane

KUALA LUMPUR -The international search for the missing Malaysian jetliner expanded on Friday further into the Indian Ocean amid signs the aircraft may have flown on for hours after its last contact with air-traffic control nearly a week ago.

Seafloor event detected linked to missing MH370?

Desperate rescuers are attaching great importance to new clues emerging about the location of Malaysia Airlines MH 370 missing plane. Chinese researchers have detected a "seafloor event" near the waters between Malaysia and Vietnam, an area suspected to be linked with the missing Malaysian jetliner that disappeared nearly a week ago.

Girls just wanna have fun, say netizens of 'magic carpet' nurses

PETALING JAYA - If laughter is the best medicine, then netizens see little harm in three Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) nurses spoofing bomoh Ibrahim Mat Zin in a viral photo.

After earlier reports indicated that the trio might face suspension for their actions, hundreds of netizens took to social media to voice their support for the women.

US official: Missing Malaysian Airlines plane is at ‘bottom of Indian Ocean’

INVESTIGATORS searching for missing flight MH370 reportedly now fear the aircraft is sitting at the bottom of the Indian Ocean.

The claim comes on the heels of revelations by the Wall Street Journal that MH370 sent out intermittent ‘pings’ transmitting the aircraft’s altitude, speed and location, for up to five hours after it vanished from civilian radar screens.

Missing MH370: Search expands to Indian Ocean

US officials helping in efforts to locate a missing Malaysian plane on Friday said they are shifting their search to the Indian Ocean region amid reports that the aircraft could have flown for several hours before it disappeared nearly a week ago.

Mystery of Lost MH370

The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is the kind of mystery that's not supposed to be possible any more. The Information Age is also the age of surveillance, of interconnectedness, of cloud computing, of GPS satellites, of intelligence agencies that can monitor terrorists from space or call in a drone strike from a control console on the other side of the world.

Missing MH370: Investigators looking into hostage theory

Investigators are reportedly looking into the possibility that the passengers of the missing Malaysian Airline jet are being held hostage at an unknown location.

The ill-fated Malaysian Airline Flight 370 took off from Kuala Lumpur on Saturday and after just 40 minutes went off radar and it is yet to be found.

Missing MH370: Search closing in... US has ‘indication’ lost MH370 crashed in Indian Ocean

United States officials have an "indication" the missing flight MH370 may have crashed in the Indian Ocean and is moving the USS Kidd to the area to begin searching, ABC News reported early today.

Missing MH370: Satellites picked up “pings” from missing plane

Communications satellites picked up faint electronic pulses from Malaysia Airlines flight 370 after it went missing on Saturday, but the signals gave no indication about where the stray jet was heading nor its technical condition, a source close to the investigation said early today.

Missing Malaysia Airlines plane flew on for hours: report

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that US investigators suspect a missing Malaysian jetliner flew on for four hours once it lost contact with air traffic controllers.

The suspicion is based on data from the plane's engines that are automatically downloaded and transmitted to the ground as part of routine maintenance programs.

Juruterbang dilapor aktifkan kod 'tango'

Seorang juruterbang berpengalaman mendakwa juruterbang MH370, Kapten Zaharie Shah telah mengaktifkan isyarat 'tango' 40 minit selepas pesawat itu dikesan hilang dari radar menara kawalan.

Katanya, kod rahsia 'tango' atau 'charlie' hanya diaktifkan apabila berlaku kecemasan seperti rampasan pesawat di udara, lapor Sinar Harian.

Malaysia jet may have flown for hours after disappearance

Plane may have continued flying for four hours after it went missing: 

US investigators In another bizarre twist to the mystery surrounding Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, US investigators are now reportedly saying that the plane may have flown for over four hours after it disappeared off the radar, raising fresh speculation about what could have happened to the flight.

Missing MH370: Bombardier dispatched to site of Chinese satellite images

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia said Thursday it had dispatched an aircraft to investigate the site where Chinese satellites photographed three “suspected floating objects”, near an area where several nations have been hunting for wreckage from a missing passenger plane.

“Bombardier has already been dispatched to investigate alleged claims of debris being found by Chinese satellite imagery,” Acting Transport Minister Hishammuddin Hussein (pic) said on his Twitter feed, on the sixth day of the search for Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370 and the 239 people on board. – AFP

Missing MH370: Shahidan to fly to undisclosed location to verify possible sightings

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Shahidan Kassim confirmed that he will be flying to an undisclosed location late Thursday morning to verify possible sightings of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH370.

Missing MH370: Who Can Believe Malaysia Now?

The plot thickens, but this is no murder mystery for some novel or TV show. This is real life, and it concerns the lives of 239 people on board Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 that went missing about an hour after it took off from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on March 8 bound for Beijing.

Missing MH370: Villagers heard loud explosion in Marang

KUALA TERENGGANU - The Terengganu police today confirmed having received a report on a loud explosion heard by local villagers in Marang last Saturday morning, the day the Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines (MAS) MH370 went missing.

Terengganu police chief Datuk Jamshah Mustapa said the report had been forwarded to the Bukit Aman police yesterday for further action.

Missing MH370: Fishermen find life raft near Port Dickson

The life raft found by a group of fishermen 10 nautical miles
from Port Dickson yesterday. Pix by Dzulkeffli Mustapha

PORT DICKSON - A group of fishermen found a life raft bearing the word “Boarding” 10 nautical miles from Port Dickson town at 12pm yesterday.

One of the fishermen, Azman Mohamad, 40, said they found the badly damaged raft floating and immediately notified the Kuala Linggi Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) in Malacca for assistance to lift the raft as it was very heavy.

"We managed to tie it to our boat as we feared it would sink due to the damages," he said.

When the MMEA boat arrived, the fishermen then handed over the raft into their custody.

However, a Kuala Linggi MMEA spokesman said the raft sunk into the sea while they were trying to bring the raft onboard.

Malaysia under fire over chaotic search for missing jet

Malaysia faced a storm of criticism Wednesday over contradictions and information gaps in the hunt for a missing airliner with 239 people on board, as the search zone dramatically veered far from the intended flight path.

Efforts to locate Malaysia Airlines flight 370, involving the navies and air forces of multiple nations, had focused on Vietnam's South China Sea coast where it last made contact Saturday on a journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Missing Flight MH370 flew for over an hour after losing contact

IT'S the mystery hour that is leaving investigators probing the disappearance of Flight MH370 stumped.

As the fate of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 deepens amid reports it may have changed its course, investigators are increasingly baffled by the possibility it continued flying for an hour after losing contact with air traffic control.

The Last Day of Malaysia Airline Passengers With Stolen Passports

A man claiming to be the friend of two Iranians who used fake passports to board the missing Malaysia Airlines flight told ABC News that the men stayed at his home the night before the flight vanished.

Mohammad Mallaeibasir, 18, told ABC News that he is a student living in Malaysia who went to high school with one of the men who is believed to have used a fake passport to board the missing flight. He said the other man was a friend of the friend's, and the pair stayed at Mallaeibasir's the night before the flight took off.

Mallaeibasir identified the men as Pouria Nour Mohammadi, 19, and Reza Devalar, 29, are both from Iran. He said he went to high school with Pouria, but had not seen him for a couple of years.

Missing MH370: China deploys 10 satellites

China has deployed 10 high-resolution satellites to sweep and survey the South China Sea to find leads that could help locate the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, the Times of India reported.

Quoting the People's Liberation Army, the newspaper reported that China's Xi'an Satellite Monitor and Control Centre has launched an emergency response for the search and adjusted up to 10 high-resolution satellites to locate the missing plane.

Missing MH370: Interpol identifies second suspect, says duo 'probably not terrorists'

Pouri Nour Mohammadi (left) and Delavar Syed Mohammad Reza (right)

Interpol has identified the second suspect who used a stolen passport to board the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight as Delavar Syed Mohammad Reza, 30, an Iranian, but says the two were "probably not terrorists".

Ronald K. Noble, the international police organisation's secretary-general, said Delavar and the first Iranian suspect - Pouri Nour Mohammadi, earlier identified by Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Khalid Abu Bakar - flew from Doha to Kuala Lumpur with Iranian passports on Feb 28.

Speaking at a press conference in Lyon, he said they then switched to the stolen Austrian and Italian passports to board the MH370 flight.

Missing MH370: Phones of MH370 passengers ringing, online accounts active, claim relatives

Relatives of passengers aboard the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 claimed that they were able to call cell phones of their loves ones, according to media reports.

The Washington Post said that the families of some of the 239 people onboard the missing Boeing 777 claimed to have heard the mobile ringtones.

"In some cases, the relatives could see them active online through a local Chinese networking site called QQ," the Post reported.

The eerie development comes even as Malaysian authorities described MH370's disappearance an unprecedented mystery.

Missing MH370: Malaysian military now reveals it tracked MH370 to Malacca straits

In a strange twist, Malaysia's military believes it tracked the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 by radar over the Strait of Malacca, far from where it last made contact with civilian air traffic control over the Gulf of Thailand.

A military source confirmed with Reuters that the Boeing 777-200ER with 239 on board changed course and made it to the other side of the Malay peninsula.

Missing MH370: One suspect on missing Flight MH370 is Iranian

Pouria Nour Mohammad Mehrdad

Malaysian police have identified one of two men who boarded the missing Malaysian Airline flight with fake passports as a 19-year-old Iranian believed to be seeking to emigrate to Germany. No terror link is suspected.

Malaysian police said on Tuesday they had identified one of two men who boarded a missing Malaysian jet with fake passports as a 19-year-old Iranian believed to be seeking to emigrate to Germany.

"We believe he is not likely to be a member of any terror group and we believe he was trying to migrate to Germany," said Malaysia's national police chief Khalid Abu Bakar.

Khalid said authorities had not yet identified the other man.

Missing MH370: How can a jet disappear?

KUALA LUMPUR - In an age when people assume that any bit of information is just a click away, the thought that a jetliner could simply disappear over the ocean for more than two days is staggering.

But Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 is hardly the first reminder of how big the seas are, and of how agonising it can be to try to find something lost in them.

It took two years to find the main wreckage of an Air France jet that plunged into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. Closer to the area between Malaysia and Vietnam where Saturday’s flight vanished, it took a week for debris from an Indonesian jet to be spotted in 2007.

Today, the mostly intact fuselage still sits on the bottom of the ocean.

Missing MH370: Thai police doubt terror link to stolen passports

Italian Luigi Maraldi (pic) whose passport was stolen
made a police report in Thailand

BANGKOK - Thai police suspect two men travelling on stolen passports on a Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared on Saturday were not involved in terrorism but instead evidence was suggesting they could have been asylum seekers.

Interpol confirmed on Sunday that at least two passengers on the flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing used passports stolen in Thailand within the last two years leading to speculation that the plane had been attacked.

Thai police and foreign police investigators have been questioning two travel agents in the resort city of Pattaya, where the tickets were bought for the two men who boarded the flight using the stolen passports.

"We haven't ruled it out but the weight of evidence we're getting swings against the idea that these men are or were involved in terrorism," Pattaya chief of police Supachai Puikaewcome told Reuters on Tuesday.

Karpal fined RM4,000 for seditious remark

KUALA LUMPUR - The High Court today fined DAP chairman and lawyer Karpal Singh RM4,000 committing sedition against the Sultan of Perak in 2009.

Judge Datuk Paduka Azman Abdullah handed down the sentence after taking into account mitigation plea from Karpal's counsel Gobind Singh Deo and arguments for deterrent sentence by deputy public prosecutor Noorin Badaruddin.

Under the Federal Constitution, an MP is disqualified if he is fined more than RM2,000 or sentenced to jail of more than a year.

Karpal was also represented by counsel Sangeet Kaur Deo and Ram Karpal Singh.

Missing MH370: "Yellow floating object" not plane life raft - reports

The object has been identified as a moss-covered cap of a cable reel

KUALA LUMPUR - Vietnam's civil aviation body said they had retrieved a "yellow floating object," but it was not a plane life raft, reports AFP.

Civil Aviation Department (DCA) head Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said two ships had been dispatched to investigate the sighting of the "floating object" that could be a life raft, as it the hunt for the missing MH370 airplane continues.

Missing MH370: Identified man with stolen passport, say Malaysian cops

CNN-IBN reports that the Malaysian Police has identified one of the persons who boarded the ill fated MH70 flight with a stolen passport. However the police are tight lipped about the details of the passenger for now and haven't listed his nationality but clarified that he wasn't Malaysian.

Missing MH370: Oil slick not from plane, says MMEA

PASIR PUTEH - Tests on a sample of the oil slick found off the Kelantan coast reveal that it was not from the missing Malaysia Airlines MH370 flight.

Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) eastern region enforcement chief Datuk Nasir Adam revealed test results showed that it was bunkering activities.

"This is information I received from Kuala Lumpur. The oil slick is from bunkering activities and not from an aircraft," said Nasir at the MMEA's base in Tok Bali here on Monday.

Officials at the MH370 operation coordinating centre in Sepang said this was confirmed by the Chemistry Department.

On Sunday, MMEA's search team found a "yellowish" oil slick about 10 miles (16km) long, some 20 nautical miles (37km) south of the last point of contact of MH370.

Missing MH370: Search teams scramble helicopters and ships to investigate sighting of 'possible life raft'

Authorities searching the missing Malaysia Airlines jet have scrambled rescue helicopters and boats after the unconfirmed sighting of what could be a life raft from the plane.

The crew from a Vietnamese jet reported seeing a "yellow object" floating in the sea around 250 miles off the country’s southern coast, but were unable to get close enough to describe it in any more detail, the Vietnamese transport minister said.

Missing MH370: MH370 hijacked?

Is there a possibility the flight was under threat by a third party within the plane? Was it a hijack that went horrifically wrong?

If it was indeed highjacked mid-air upon reaching the ‘hand-over’ to the Vietnamese air control authorities, the hijackers could have taken control of the flight, thus the abrupt cut in communication. They could have disengaged all systems, paralysing radio tracking and radar detection.

For a plane to nose dive from 35,000 feet at cruising speed, takes time. It does not happen in a split second and there will definitely be sufficient time to relay a distress signal.

Missing MH370: 'Radar data can tell if plane blew up'

A veteran military and commercial pilot said today that with radar and transponder information alone, investigators should be able to tell if missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 blew up in mid-air.

Missing MH370: 'Mystified' why no jet debris found

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysia said Monday there is still no trace of wreckage from a jet that vanished with 239 people on board, deepening the anguish of relatives two days after the "mystifying" disappearance.

A potential breakthrough emerged Sunday when an aircraft scouring waters off southern Vietnam - part of an international search and rescue effort - spotted two objects authorities said could be debris from Malaysia Airlines flight MH370.

But Malaysian authorities said there was no confirmation they came from the Boeing 777 which slipped off radar screens early on Saturday, an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

"Unfortunately ladies and gentleman, we have not found anything that appears to be objects from the aircraft, let alone the aircraft itself," said Malaysia's civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.