Small size of body parts retrieved had indicated explosion on board
Photo Credits: world_2
CAIRO
The head of Egypt's forensics authority dismissed a suggestion on Tuesday that the small size of the body parts retrieved since an EgyptAir plane crashed last week indicated there was an explosion on board.
Investigators struggling to work out why the Airbus 320 jet vanished from radar screens last Thursday, with 66 passengers and crew on board, are looking for clues in the human remains and debris recovered from the Mediterranean Sea so far.
The plane and its black box recorders, which could explain what brought down the Paris-Cairo flight as it entered Egyptian air space, have not been located.
An Egyptian forensic official said 23 bags of body parts have been collected since Sunday, the largest of them no bigger than the palm of a hand. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said their size suggested there had been an explosion although no trace of explosives had been detected.
But Hisham Abdelhamid, head of Egypt's forensics authority, said that assessment was "mere assumptions" and that it was too early to draw conclusions.
At least two other sources with direct knowledge of the investigation also said it would be premature to say what caused EgyptAir flight 804 to plunge into the sea.
French investigators say the plane sent a series of warnings indicating that smoke had been detected on board as well as other possible computer faults shortly before it disappeared.
The signals did not indicate what may have caused the smoke, and aviation experts have said that neither deliberate sabotage nor a technical fault could be ruled out.
Investigators rely on debris, bags and clothes as well as chemical analysis to detect the imprints of an explosion, according to people involved in two previous probes where deliberate blasts were involved.
An Egyptian team formed by the Civil Aviation Ministry is conducting the technical investigation and three officials from France’s BEA air accident investigation agency have also been in Cairo since Friday, with an expert from Airbus, to assist.
Egypt has deployed a robot submarine and France has sent a search ship to help hunt for the black boxes, but it is not clear whether either of them could detect signals emitted by the flight recorders, lying in waters possibly 3,000 metres deep.
The signal emitters have a battery life of just 30 days.
Five days after the plane vanished off radar screens, Egyptian and Greek officials -- who monitored the flight before it crossed into Egypt's air space -- have given differing accounts of its last moments.
Greek Defence Minister Panos Kammenos said on Thursday that Greek radar had picked up sharp swings in the jet's trajectory, 90 degrees left, then 360 degrees right as it plunged from a cruising altitude to 15,000 feet before vanishing from radar.
But Ehab Mohieldin Azmi, head of Egypt's air navigation services, said Egyptian officials saw no sign of the plane swerving, and it had been visible at 37,000 feet until it disappeared.
"Of course, we tried to call it more than once and it did not respond," he told Reuters. "We asked the planes that were nearby to give it a relay and we could not reach it. That's it."
Egypt's public prosecutor has asked Greece to hand over transcripts of calls between the pilot and Greek air traffic control, and for the officials to be questioned over whether the pilot sent a distress signal
He also asked France for documents, audio and visual records on the plan during its stopover at Charles de Gaulle airport and until it left French airspace.
At a hotel near Cairo airport where relatives of the victims were giving DNA samples to help identify the body parts recovered so far, grief mixed with frustration.
Amjad Haqi, an Iraqi man whose mother Najla was flying back from medical treatment in France, said the families were being kept in the dark and had not even been formally told that any body parts had been recovered.
"All they are concerned about is to find the black box and the debris of the plane. That's their problem, not mine," he said. "And then they come and talk to us about insurance and compensation. I don't care about compensation, all I care about is to find my mother and bury her."
UK grants asylum to Maldives' ex-President Mohamed Nasheed
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Obama calls for peaceful settlement of South China Sea disputes
AFP
HANOI
US President Barack Obama on Tuesday called for territorial disputes in the South China Sea to be "resolved peacefully" as Vietnam baulks at Chinese actions in the bitterly contested waters.
"Big nations should not bully smaller ones, disputes should be resolved peacefully," he told an audience in Hanoi, referring to the disputed maritime region.
His remarks won loud applause from more than 2,000 delegates including top Vietnamese leaders.
Washington and Hanoi have been drawn closer together through their mutual concern at Beijing's increasing assertiveness in the sea.
China claims almost all the South China Sea and has rattled neighbours with a series of reclamation and construction projects -- including airstrips -- on reefs and islets.
Vietnam and four other countries also have claims to parts of the sea.
The United States takes no position on the competing territorial claims but asserts freedom of navigation and flights in the sea and has sent warships near Chinese-held islets.
"As we go forward the United States will continue to fly, sail and operate wherever international law allows and we will support the right of all countries to do the same," Obama said.
On Monday, Obama announced he was scrapping a Cold War-era ban on weapons sales to Vietnam, seen as a major boost for Hanoi as it tries to bolster its defences against its giant northern neighbour.
"Vietnam will have greater access to the military equipment you need to ensure your security," Obama told delegates, adding the US would continue to train Vietnam's coastguard to "enhance maritime capabilities".
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ANCHOR
Facebook changes policies on 'trending topics' after criticism
Agencies
SAN FRANCISCO
Facebook Inc said on Monday that it had changed some of the procedures for its "Trending Topics" section after a news report alleging it suppressed conservative news prompted a US Congressional demand for more transparency.
The company said an internal probe showed no evidence of political bias in the selection of news stories for Trending Topics, a feature that is separate from the main "news feed" where most Facebook users get their news.
But the world's largest social network said in a blogpost that it was introducing several changes, including elimination of a top-ten list of approved websites, more training and clearer guidelines to help human editors avoid ideological or political bias, and more robust review procedures.
Earlier this month, a former Facebook contractor had accused the company's editors of deliberately suppressing conservative news. The allegations were reported by technology news website Gizmodo, which did not identify the ex-contractor.
The report led Republican Senator John Thune to write a letter demanding that the company explain how it selects news articles for its Trending Topics list.
Two days after Thune's letter, Facebook published a lengthy blogpost detailing how Trending Topics works even though it rarely discloses such practices. Previously, it had never discussed the inner workings of the feature, which displays topics and news articles in the top right hand corner of the desktop homepage for its more than 1.6 billion users.
Facebook said its investigation showed that conservative and liberal topics were approved as trending topics at nearly identical rates. It said it was unable to substantiate any allegations of politically motivated suppression of particular subjects or sources.
But it did not rule out human error in selecting topics.
"Our investigation could not fully exclude the possibility of isolated improper actions or unintentional bias in the implementation of our guidelines or policies," Colin Stretch, Facebook's General Counsel, wrote in a company blogpost.
Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg met last week with more than a dozen conservative politicians and media personalities to discuss issues of trust in the social network.
In his letter, Thune had called on Facebook to respond to the criticism and sought answers by May 24 to several questions about its internal practices.
"Any attempt by a neutral and inclusive social media platform to censor or manipulate political discussion is an abuse of trust and inconsistent with the values of an open internet," Thune said.
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Mexico begins exhumation of grave with over 100 bodies
AFP
TETELCINGO
Mexican authorities and independent experts on Monday began the exhumation of more than a hundred bodies buried in pits in the central state of Morelos.
Prosecutors announced that the 116 bodies in the mass grave — located in the town of Tetelcingo, just south of Mexico City — were buried on March 28, 2014.
Activists are questioning the validity of the official record because authorities have files on only 88 bodies in the pits.
The unfenced rural grave consists of two adjacent 10-meter (33-feet) deep holes covering an area about six meters in length and four in width.
Morelos has been one of the Mexican states most affected by drug violence plaguing the country, including kidnappings and murders.
"We recognize the tireless struggle of the relatives and victims' organizations of the more than 30,000 missing in this country that's sinking into barbarism," said Alejandro Vera, rector of the Autonomous University of the state of Morelos (UAEM), who started a program for those searching for loved ones who have disappeared in the Mexican drug war.
The United Nations along with several human rights organizations estimate that at least 20,000 people have gone missing in Mexico.
The head prosecutor in Morelos, Javier Perez, was among those witnessing the exhumation, which could last up to five days.
Dozens of relatives of the disappeared also attended, including Maria Concepcion and Amalia Hernandez, mother and aunt of the kidnapped and murdered Oliver Wenceslao Navarrete Hernandez.
In 2013, his body was discovered in a ravine and identified by his family. But prosecutors insisted on delaying burial to obtain forensic evidence, and over time the body disappeared from the records.
After months of "many complaints and many battles," an official revealed that the victim's body had been buried in Tetelcingo "with signatures of false authorization," Hernandez told AFP. On December 9, 2014, a judge ordered his body be exhumed.
The body was found under dozens of others, "violating international protocols that indicate that in mass graves bodies must be separated from each other to allow eventual claims," said Roberto Villanueva, director of a program for victims at UAEM.
The bodies found alongside Navarrete's were reburied. His family filmed the process, and have widely publicized the footage since then to bring attention to the case.
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Hardliner elected head of key Iran oversight body
AFP
TEHRAN
Iran's "assembly of experts" chose ultraconservative Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati on Tuesday to head the key body which oversees the work of the country's supreme leader and will elect his successor, state television reported.
The 89-year-old cleric is one of the few hardliners who secured re-election in a February vote that saw a landslide for reformist and moderates in the capital and big gains elsewhere. Jannati was voted chairman of the 88-member assembly with 51 votes.
No moderates or reformists stood for the post.
Former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had chaired the assembly until 2011 and who topped the polls in Tehran three months ago, did not put his name forward. Media reports suggested he could muster no more than 20 of the assembly's votes.
A conservative supported by moderates and reformists, Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini, who leads prayers in the Shia clerical centre of Qom, won 21 votes. Former judiciary chief Mahmoud Hashemi Sharhoudi took 13.
Despite the advances for reformists in February's election, the assembly remains controlled by conservatives. In Tehran, Rafsanjani won and moderate President Hassan Rouhani came third, but in the provinces conservatives won re-election.
Prominent hardliners lost their seats, however, including outgoing chairman Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi and Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi, a close adviser to ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Jannati scraped in in the capital taking the last of its 16 seats on the assembly. The hardliner also chairs the "guardians council", the body which vets all candidates for public office in Iran and has a veto over all legislation. The council sparked controversy in February's election by disqualifying thousands of hopefuls, most of them reformists.
Jannati's son Ali is minister of culture and Islamic guidance.
Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is 76 and should he die during the assembly's eight-year term, it will have the task of electing his successor. The supreme leader has the final say on all matters of state in Iran, and has far more power than the president.
In a message to the incoming assembly, Khamenei called on its members to remain loyal to the principles of the Islamic revolution of 1979.
"The responsibility is specific — all-around protection of the Islamic and revolutionary identity of the ruling system," he said.
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Greek police evacuate hundreds from Idomeni refugee camp
AGENCIES
IDOMENI
Greek authorities sent hundreds of police into the country's largest informal refugee camp on Tuesday to support the gradual evacuation of the Idomeni site on the Macedonian border.
The left-led government has pledged that police will not use force, and says the operation is expected to last about a week to 10 days. Journalists were blocked from covering inside the camp
By about midday 23 buses carrying a total 1,110 people had left Idomeni, heading to new refugee camps in northern Greece, police said, while earth-moving machinery was used to clear abandoned tents. No violence was reported.
Vicky Markolefa, a representative of the Doctors Without Borders charity, said the operation was proceeding "very smoothly" and without incident. "We hope it will continue like that," she said.
The camp, which sprang up at an informal pedestrian border crossing for refugees and migrants heading north to wealthier European nations, was home to an estimated 8,400 people — including hundreds of children — mostly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.
At its peak, when Macedonia shut its border in March, the camp housed more than 14,000, but numbers have declined as people began accepting authorities' offers of alternative places to stay.
In Geneva, UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards said the evacuation appeared to be taking place "calmly", and the UN refugee agency was sending more staffers to Idomeni.
"As long as the movement of people from Idomeni is ... voluntary in nature (and) that we're not seeing use of force, then we don't have particular concerns about that," he said.
"It often does help move people into more organized sites, when they're willing to move to those places," he added.
In Idomeni, most have been living in small camping tents pitched in fields and along railroad tracks, while aid agencies have set up large marquee-style tents to help house people. Greek authorities have sent in cleaning crews regularly and have provided portable toilets, but conditions have been precarious at best, with heavy rain creating muddy ponds.
Recently the camp had begun taking on an image of semi-permanence, with refugees setting up small makeshift shops selling everything from cooking utensils to falafel and bread.
More than 54,000 refugees and migrants have been trapped in financially struggling Greece since countries further north shut their land borders to a massive flow of people escaping war and poverty at home. Nearly a million people have passed through Greece, the vast majority arriving on islands from the nearby Turkish coast.
In March, the European Union reached an agreement with Turkey meant to stem the flow and reduce the number of people undertaking the perilous sea crossing to Greece, where many have died when their overcrowded, unseaworthy boats sank. Under the deal, anyone arriving clandestinely on Greek islands from the Turkish coast after March 18 faces deportation to Turkey unless they successfully apply for asylum in Greece.
But few want to request asylum in the country, which has been struggling with a deep, six-year financial crisis that has left unemployment hovering at around 24 percent.
Journalists were barred from the camp during the evacuation operation. An estimated 700 police were participating in the operation.
Greek authorities are also eager to reopen a railway line — the country's main freight train line to the Balkans — that runs through the camp and has been blocked by protesting camp residents since March 20.
Anastassios Saxpelidis, a spokesman for Greek transport companies, said Tuesday that the 66-day closure has cost transporters about 6 million euros.
Giorgos Kyritsis, a government spokesman on immigration, said the line should open "in coming days."
The government has been trying for months to persuade people to leave Idomeni and go to organized camps. This week it said its campaign of voluntary evacuations was already working, with police reporting that eight buses carrying about 400 people left Idomeni Sunday. Others took taxis heading to Thessaloniki or a nearby town of Polycastro.
On the eve of the evacuation operation, few at the camp appeared to welcome the news.
"It's not good ... because we've already been here for three months and we'll have to spend at least another six in the camps before relocation," said Hind Al Mkawi, a 38-year-old refugee from Damascus, told Associated Press on Monday evening.
Abdo Rajab, a 22-year-old refugee from Raqqa in Syria, has spent the past three months in Idomeni, and is considering paying smugglers to be sneaked into Germany.
"We hear that tomorrow we will all go to camps," he said. "I don't mind, but my aim is not reach the camps but to go Germany."
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More North Koreans defect to South from China
AGENCIES
SEOUL
Several more North Korean workers have fled their jobs in an overseas restaurant run by the isolated North, South Korea's unification ministry said on Tuesday after a media report said three people had escaped from China and were claiming asylum.
New Focus, a Seoul-based website run by North Korean defectors with sources in the North, said three workers from an unidentified restaurant in Shanghai had fled to a third country, citing an unidentified source.
South Korea's Munhwa Ilbo newspaper reported earlier on Tuesday that the workers were in Thailand. It also cited an unidentified source.
The latest reports follow the defection of 13 North Korean workers from a restaurant run by the secretive North in China in April, a case South Korea described as unprecedented.
North Korea has accused South Korea of a "hideous abduction" and released interviews on state media with the families of some of the workers who arrived in the South in the April incident.
In the latest case, South Korea's unification ministry confirmed that some North Koreans working in a restaurant overseas had recently "broken away".
An official said the ministry could not confirm whether they had entered South Korea, how many workers had defected, and where they currently were.
The two Koreas have remained in a technical state of war since their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. In recent years they have been locked in a prolonged period of rhetoric and heightened tension.
North Korea has adopted a different strategy on defectors under leader Kim Jong-un, displaying those who later defect back to the North on state television and bringing the families of others to Panmunjom on the border between the two states.
Seven of other restaurant workers who did not join the 13 in defecting in April returned to Pyongyang and were later shown to a CNN reporter on a trip to North Korea.
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At least 11 dead in Myanmar jade mine landslide: Officials
AFP
YANGON
At least 11 people died in a landslide in a remote jade mining region of northern Myanmar with many more feared missing.
Locals and officials are searching for bodies after a wall of unstable earth collapsed during a downpour on Monday night in Hpakant, Kachin State, the war-torn area that feeds a huge demand for the precious stone in neighbouring China.
"We have found 11 dead bodies so far. When the landslide happened, about 50 people were searching for jade," Nilar Myint, a local official from Hpakant said
Heavy rain has been falling the whole night," she added.
The area has suffered a string of deadly landslides, with a major incident last November killing 100, and dozens of other smaller accidents leaving scores more dead and injured.
Those killed are usually itinerant workers searching for pieces of jade left behind by large scale industrial mining firms.
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PTI
LONDON
Britain has granted political refugee status to former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed, his lawyer has claimed.
A prominent human rights campaigner and Maldives' first democratically elected President, 49-year-old Nasheed was allowed to go to Britain in January for a spinal cord surgery following a deal brokered by Sri Lanka, India and the UK.
His lawyer Hasan Latheef claimed on Monday that Nasheed has been granted political refugee status, but the British government was yet to comment.
"In the past year, freedom of the press, expression and assembly have all been lost. Given the slide towards authoritarianism in the Maldives myself and other opposition politicians feel we have no choice but to work from exile - for now," Nasheed said in a statement confirming his exile.
The Madives government said on Monday that it was disappointed that the UK government had agreed to "be part of this charade", adding that British ministers were helping with efforts to circumvent the law.
Nasheed became Maldives' first democratically elected leader in 2008, ending three decades of rule by former strongman Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, and served for four years before he was toppled in what he called a coup backed by the military and police.
He was supposed to return to Maldives after the treatment but remained in London where his wife and daughters have been living since he was jailed.
Nasheed was jailed for 13 years on terrorism charges after being accused of illegally ordering the arrest of a judge in a trial that put a spotlight on instability in the Maldives.
The jail term was widely criticised by international bodies, including the United Nations, and foreign governments.
A popular figure on the world stage, Nasheed's case was championed with the help of a international legal team that included Amal Clooney, the British human rights lawyer and wife of the American actor Georg Clooney.
He was accorded a red carpet welcome and received by Prime Minister David Cameron after arriving in Britain for his treatment.
