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Islamic State Demolishing Second Ancient Site

Written By Unknown on Senin, 09 Maret 2015 | 00.00

Islamic State militants have reportedly begun looting and destroying artefacts from the ancient archaeological site of Hatra in Iraq - a move described as "cultural cleansing".

A Kurdish official said militants removed artefacts from Hatra on Thursday, and started destroying the Roman period ancient fortress city on Saturday.

He said people living near Hatra heard two large explosions on Saturday morning, and then reported seeing bulldozers move in.

Hatra is located 68 miles south-west of Iraq's second largest city Mosul and was declared a UNESCO world heritage site in 1985.

UNESCO director general Irina Bokova said: "The destruction of Hatra marks a turning point in the appalling strategy of cultural cleansing under way in Iraq."

The site, which was founded more than 2,000 years ago, is the second ancient city targeted by IS militants in recent days.

On Thursday, Iraqi officials said IS had "assaulted the historic city of Nimrud and bulldozed it with heavy vehicles".

UNESCO said the destruction of Nimrud "constitutes a war crime" and called on people around the world to protect "the heritage of the whole of humanity".

Nimrud is located on the Tigris River just south of Mosul, which was captured by IS in June.

The extremists, who control a third of Iraq and Syria, have attacked other archaeological and religious sites, claiming they encourage people to abandon Islam.

Speaking about the destruction at Nimrud, Abdulamir Hamdani, an Iraqi archaeologist from Stony Brook University, said: "I'm sorry to say everybody was expecting this.

"Their plan is to destroy Iraqi heritage, one site at a time."

Last week IS released a video showing militants armed with sledgehammers and jackhammers smashing priceless ancient artefacts at the Mosul museum.

The attack led to widespread condemnation, with some archaeologists and heritage experts comparing it with the 2001 demolition of the Bamiyan Buddhas in Afghanistan by the Taliban.


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Mystery As Ship Goes Missing With 49 On Board

Written By Unknown on Minggu, 08 Maret 2015 | 23.59

A Taiwanese ship with 49 people has gone missing near the Falkland Islands.

The Hsiang Fu Chun, a 700-tonne squid fishing vessel, vanished shortly after its skipper reported it was taking on water, but no mayday call was made.

Its crew include a Taiwanese skipper and chief engineer, along with 11 Chinese, 21 Indonesians, 13 Filipino and two Vietnamese.

Hsiang Fu Chun, which was built 28 years ago, sailed off from Kaohsiung in January and was about 1,700 nautical miles off the coast of the Falkland Islands when it disappeared, according to satellite data.

The ship lost contact with its owners soon after reporting that water was leaking on to the deck at around 3am on 26 February.

Some Taiwanese media have said the vessel could have lost power and be drifting or that it could have been hijacked by crew but a Taiwanese search effort has found no trace of it.

The search is being hampered by bad weather and the remoteness of the location, with officials saying it takes six days for a boat and 11 hours for a plane to fly to the area and back again.

Taiwanese authorities have now appealed for help from Argentina and Britain to find the ship.

Huang Hong-yen, spokesman for the Taiwanese Fisheries Agency, said: "We still don't know where the ship is and what happened to it."

There was no evidence that the boat has sunk, he said, adding that its system should issue a mayday signal when placed under certain water pressure, but no signal was sent.

He said: "We'll do everything we can even though the search is like searching for a needle in the ocean" but he did not say why it had taken almost two weeks to make the ship's disappearance public.

The South Atlantic Ocean attracts up to 100 squid boats from Taiwan each year, with most of their catch being for domestic consumption.


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MH370 Search Boss 'Expecting' To Find Plane

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

The man in charge of the search for missing flight MH370 has told Sky News that he is "expecting but not guaranteeing" that the aircraft will be found.

Martin Dolan, chief commissioner of the Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB), the organisation coordinating the search in the Southern Ocean, told Sky News that while he was once "cautiously optimistic" he is now "less cautious and more optimistic".

His comments came on the first anniversary of the loss of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. The plane disappeared shortly after take-off with 239 passengers and crew on board.

An interim report into the plane's disappearance says it travelled in a southerly direction until it ran out of fuel in the Indian Ocean, west of Australia.

"I am confident that if the aircraft is in the area we are searching, we will find it, and I have a high degree of confidence but not certainty about the satellite data and the calculations that an international group of experts has come to," Mr Dolan told Sky News.

"I have said previously that I am 'cautiously optimistic'. Because we now know the capacity of our search teams... and we haven't been able to see any flaws in our analysis, I am less cautious than I was; more optimistic but again, I can't guarantee we will get an outcome although we are confident that is the case.

"We have got a priority search area, a large one. Within that there are no relative priorities; each space within that search area is of equal probability.

"So at this stage, with a bit over 40% [of the 60,000 km sq area] covered, we are not feeling that there is any problem.

"We have planned to cover that entire area thoroughly and we are expecting but not guaranteeing that we will find the aircraft during the course of that."

Main points from the report:

:: The underwater locator beacon battery had expired in December 2012, a year before the plane disappeared. The significance of this was not apparent but it would mean that searchers may have a lesser chance of finding the plane, even if they were in its vicinity. However, the report adds: "There is some extra margin in the design to account for battery life variability and ensure that the unit will meet the minimum requirement."

"However, once beyond the expiry date, the (battery's) effectiveness decreases so it may operate, for a reduced time period until it finally discharges," the report said. While it is possible the battery will operate past the expiry date, "it is not guaranteed that it will work or that it would meet the 30-day minimum requirement," said the report.

:: There was nothing unusual or concerning in the health, financial affairs or behaviour of the pilots and crew

:: The plane's right wing had been damaged in Shanghai in 2012 and repaired by Boeing. It had gained its most recent certificate of airworthiness in May 2013, when a flaperon inboard seal needed to be replaced. There were no other issues.

:: There were no significant clouds at the last civil radar point, no lightning, no significant weather phenomena

:: The report has details of the consignment of batteries being carried onboard the plane - Motorola batteries made in Malaysia. The report says that, while they were inspected, they didn't go through additional security screening. The batteries are allowed on flights.

Painstaking analysis of satellite data from British company Inmarsat has concluded that the plane had flown south for up to eight hours before coming down in the Southern Ocean off Perth in Western Australia.

The focus is an extremely challenging search of the sea bed within a 'priority search area' determined by further satellite analysis.

Currently, four ships from the Dutch firm Fugro are scanning a mountainous 60,000 sq km seabed.

Mr Dolan said: "We are certainly confident. We are not certain, of course, because there is a limit to the satellite data and analysis but we have been reviewing that data and analysis continually ever since we took over the search back in April, and we have got as much out of that as we can, and it doesn't give us a guarantee of location just a very high probability."

The search is being jointly funded by the Malaysian and Australian governments who have pledged continued support until it is completed in May.

Mr Dolan gave a remarkably upbeat assessment of one of the most challenging search operations ever mounted.

"If that [satellite] data is reliable, and we think it most likely is then we know that we will cover the search area thoroughly; if the aircraft is there, we will find it," he said.

Each of the four ships in the search area has a crew of about 30.

Three of the vessels are dragging sophisticated sonar devices just above the seabed, scanning for wreckage. This represents a significant challenge because of the rugged mountainous nature of the seabed.

The fourth vessel is using a remote-controlled unmanned submarine which can manoeuvre more easily along the seabed.

Unlike the towed devices, the submarine cannot send back real-time data so it must be hauled to the surface every few days.

"We have got quite elaborate quality assurance system in place to make sure that we are not missing anything with that sonar data and we are very comfortable that we will see things down there," Mr Dolan said.

"We have already found shipping containers and various other things that clearly fell off vessels over the course of storms and so on so we are getting the resolution necessary [to spot the plane]."

Mr Dolan praised the work of the teams on board the vessels.

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  1. Gallery: Vigils Take Place To Remember Missing Flight MH370 One Year After Disappearance

    A Chinese relative of passengers on board the airliner attends a gathering to mark the one-year anniversary of the disappearance in Kuala Lumpur

A child is comforted by her mother during a vigil to remember the victims

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Obama: US Racial History 'Casts Long Shadow'

Obama: US Racial History 'Casts Long Shadow'

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Barack Obama has said that America's racial history "still casts its long shadow" upon the nation despite 50 years of progress.

Speaking on the anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma, Alabama, the President praised civil rights activists who struggled for equal voting rights.

"We just need to open our eyes, and ears, and hearts, to know that this nation's racial history still casts its long shadow upon us," Mr Obama said.

"We know the march is not yet over, the race is not yet won, and that reaching that blessed destination where we are judged by the content of our character requires admitting as much."

Thousands gathered in the riverside town of Selma for commemorations to mark the civil rights protests of 7 March, 1965.

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  1. Gallery: Selma: Thousands Remember Civil Rights Landmark

    Thousands have been gathering in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 50th anniversary of a landmark event in the civil rights movement

President Barack Obama will make a speech in the town of roughly 20,000, where in 1965 police attacked marchers demonstrating for voting rights

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'Bloody Sunday' is seen as building momentum for congressional approval of the Voting Rights Act later that year

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On that day 50 years ago the marchers tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the way to Montgomery, and the Obama family will take part in a ceremonial walk across it

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On the way to Selma, President Obama signed a resolution to grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the 'foot soldiers' who participated in the 1965 march

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Obama: US Racial History 'Casts Long Shadow'

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Barack Obama has said that America's racial history "still casts its long shadow" upon the nation despite 50 years of progress.

Speaking on the anniversary of the "Bloody Sunday" march in Selma, Alabama, the President praised civil rights activists who struggled for equal voting rights.

"We just need to open our eyes, and ears, and hearts, to know that this nation's racial history still casts its long shadow upon us," Mr Obama said.

"We know the march is not yet over, the race is not yet won, and that reaching that blessed destination where we are judged by the content of our character requires admitting as much."

Thousands gathered in the riverside town of Selma for commemorations to mark the civil rights protests of 7 March, 1965.

1/6

  1. Gallery: Selma: Thousands Remember Civil Rights Landmark

    Thousands have been gathering in Selma, Alabama, to mark the 50th anniversary of a landmark event in the civil rights movement

President Barack Obama will make a speech in the town of roughly 20,000, where in 1965 police attacked marchers demonstrating for voting rights

]]>

'Bloody Sunday' is seen as building momentum for congressional approval of the Voting Rights Act later that year

]]>

On that day 50 years ago the marchers tried to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge on the way to Montgomery, and the Obama family will take part in a ceremonial walk across it

]]>

On the way to Selma, President Obama signed a resolution to grant the Congressional Gold Medal to the 'foot soldiers' who participated in the 1965 march

]]>

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On-Board Camera Films Rally Car Crash Into Lake

By Sean Dilley, Sky News Reporter

Footage has emerged of the moment an Estonian racing driver lost control of his car and crashed into a lake at the Rally of Mexico.

The footage filmed inside Ott Tanak's modified Ford Fiesta shows the vehicle leaving the road on the second day of the Guanajuato-based race, sliding down a deep embankment and into the water.

Ott Tanak and his co-driver Raigo Molder managed to free themselves from their racing belts and escape through the door as water flooded into the vehicle on Friday.

Onlookers watched as the Estonian rally racers swam to safety.

Remarkably, Molder managed to hold on to his racing pacenotes throughout the ordeal, returning them safely to dry land.

The team M-Sport rally car remained anchored by its weight to the reservoir's bed for 10 hours before being recovered at the end of the day.

Engineers rebuilt the car's flooded parts, drained the engine and installed a new fuel tank, turbo, gearbox, electronic components and a myriad of other smaller parts.

But after three hours of hard work by M-Sport mechanics, the Ford Fiesta sparked back to life and returned to the track in time for day three.

Praising his M-Sport colleagues on their lightening-speed repairs, Tanak said: "This is something that we have never seen before.

"The car has been gone all day, submerged at the bottom of a lake, full of water, and the team had to do a full rebuild in just three hours."


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Flight MH370: What Happened To Missing Plane?

Flight MH370: What Happened To Missing Plane?

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on 8 March, 2014, with 239 people on board.

Last month, Malaysian authorities officially declared the loss of the Boeing 777 an accident and said all those on board are dead.

Sky News examines some of the explanations that have been put forward to explain what happened to the airliner.

:: Fly Back

A British pilot has theorised that Flight MH370 performed a final "fly-past" of Penang Island before intentionally landing in the sea.

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  1. Gallery: MH370: Timeline Of False Hopes

    March 8: At 9am, an hour after flight MH370 is reported missing, rumours spread online that it has landed safely in China

March 8: Search planes spot two oil slicks in the South China Sea but tests show the fuel is not from an aircraft

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March 9: Vietnam search plane spots mystery objects in the South China Sea but they turn out to be unrelated to MH370

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March 10: A moss-covered piece of floating sea debris is mistaken for a yellow life raft

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March 11: Two MH370 passengers travelling with stolen passports are identified as illegal immigrants from Iran and are no longer suspected of terrorist activity

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Flight MH370: What Happened To Missing Plane?

We use cookies to give you the best experience. If you do nothing we'll assume that it's ok.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing disappeared on 8 March, 2014, with 239 people on board.

Last month, Malaysian authorities officially declared the loss of the Boeing 777 an accident and said all those on board are dead.

Sky News examines some of the explanations that have been put forward to explain what happened to the airliner.

:: Fly Back

A British pilot has theorised that Flight MH370 performed a final "fly-past" of Penang Island before intentionally landing in the sea.

1/16

  1. Gallery: MH370: Timeline Of False Hopes

    March 8: At 9am, an hour after flight MH370 is reported missing, rumours spread online that it has landed safely in China

March 8: Search planes spot two oil slicks in the South China Sea but tests show the fuel is not from an aircraft

]]>

March 9: Vietnam search plane spots mystery objects in the South China Sea but they turn out to be unrelated to MH370

]]>

March 10: A moss-covered piece of floating sea debris is mistaken for a yellow life raft

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March 11: Two MH370 passengers travelling with stolen passports are identified as illegal immigrants from Iran and are no longer suspected of terrorist activity

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Baby Found Alive In Car Upside Down In River

By Sky News US Team

An 18-month-old girl has been found alive after spending 13 hours inside a car that crashed into a river.

A fisherman found the car upside down on Saturday afternoon in Spanish Fork River, in Spanish Fork, Utah.

The girl's mother, 25, was found dead inside the vehicle.

The baby was flown to a hospital around 50 miles away in Salt Lake City in an unknown condition.

Their names have not been released.

Police Lieutenant Matt Johnson said the woman left the city of Salem on Friday evening to drive to her home in Springville.

A resident said he thought he heard an accident at around 11pm US time, but he could not find anything.

According to a press release from Spanish Fork Police Department cited by television station Fox 13 Salt Lake City, it is thought the car hit a cement barrier on the south end of a bridge and then went into the river.

The car was discovered at around 12.30pm on Saturday.

Some of the emergency responders who attended the crash had to be treated in hospital for hypothermia, but were later released.


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Man Admits Involvement In Nemtsov's Murder

Two men have been charged with the murder of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov.

Zaur Dadayev and Anzor Gubashev, both of Chechen origin, are accused of shooting Mr Nemtsov, 55, near the Kremlin in Moscow on 27 February.

A judge said Dadayev has admitted involvement in the killing and will be held in custody until 28 April. 

Dadayev was a deputy commander for a battalion attached to the Chechen interior ministry, while Gubashev worked for a private security company in Moscow, RIA Novosti news agency said.

Three other suspects also appeared with them in Moscow's Basmanny court  on Sunday.

Court officials said the three men - Gubashev's younger brother Shagid Gubashev, and two others named only as Bakhayev and Eskerkhanov - have not been charged, and their case will be handled by a separate judge.

Mr Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister and long-time critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was shot four times in the back as he walked with his girlfriend along a bridge in the heart of the capital.

No information has emerged as to the possible motive of the suspects.

Mr Nemtsov's allies believe his assassination was ordered by the Russian government to silence dissenters.

The allegation has been strenuously denied by the Kremlin.

The killing sent shockwaves through the country's opposition and sparked international condemnation.

Investigators have suggested the killers wanted to destabilise Russia, which is facing its worst stand-off with the West since the Cold War.

They are investigating several motives, including possible connections to Islamic extremism and Mr Nemtsov's personal life.

The chief witness to the killing was Mr Nemtsov's Ukrainian girlfriend, Anna Duritskaya, who has now left Russia.

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  1. Gallery: Boris Nemtsov: Funeral Of Murdered Putin Opponent Held In Moscow

    People stand in line at a memorial service before the funeral of leading Russian opposition figure Boris Nemtsov in Moscow

Several hundred Russians, many carrying red carnations, queued to pay their respects. Mr Nemtsov was shot dead by an unknown gunman last week as he walked with his girlfriend

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US Could 'Walk Away' From Iran Nuclear Talks

By Sky News US Team

The US would "walk away" from nuclear talks with Iran if an acceptable deal does not materialise, Barack Obama has said.

The President delivered the warning as US Secretary of State John Kerry travelled to Paris to try and smooth over differences with France, which has pushed for greater guarantees that any deal will stop Tehran from gaining a nuclear weapon.

Mr Obama said in an interview aired on CBS News Sunday Morning: "If there is no deal then we walk away."

The President said any agreement must allow the West to verify that Tehran is not going to obtain an atomic weapon - and that even if Iran "cheated," Washington and others would have "enough time to take action."

"If we don't have that kind of deal, then we're not going to take it," Mr Obama added.

He said the Iranians had negotiated seriously and progress has been made, but gaps still exist.

Mr Obama said: "And I would say that over the next month or so, we're going to be able to determine whether or not their system is able to accept what would be an extraordinarily reasonable deal, if in fact, as they say, they are only interested in peaceful nuclear programs.

"And if we have unprecedented transparency in that system, if we are able to verify that in fact they are not developing weapons systems, then there's a deal to be had, but that's going to require them to accept the kind of verification and constraints on their program that so far, at least, they have not been willing to say yes to."

In Paris, Mr Kerry agreed there were gaps to overcome in the "critical weeks" to come.

He told reporters after meeting with France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius: "We want an agreement that's solid."

Mr Fabius stressed "differences still remain" which had to be "overcome" and "there is still work to do".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu laid out his concerns about an agreement with Iran in a speech to the US Congress on Tuesday.

In an historic address, Mr Netanyahu said the emerging agreement was "very bad" and could trigger "a countdown to a nuclear nightmare".

In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Mr Netanyahu showed no sign of budging.

He said: "I do not trust inspections with totalitarian regimes.

"And so I'd be a lot more circumspect. In fact, what I'm suggesting is that you contract Iran's nuclear program, so there's less to inspect."

The end of this month has been set as the deadline for an agreement by negotiators.

The next round of talks is due to begin on 15 March.

Iran insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and only for civilian use.


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Boko Haram Militants Ally With Islamic State

Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has pledged allegiance to Islamic State in an audio statement, according to SITE.

The monitoring group said part of the message, which has been translated from Arabic, read: "We announce our allegiance to the Caliph of the Muslims Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al Husseini al Qurashi and will hear and obey in times of difficulty and prosperity.

"We call upon Muslims everywhere to pledge allegiance to the Caliph."

The pledge of allegiance has been attributed to Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau​, and was released through the group's Twitter account.

Ibrahim ibn Awad ibn Ibrahim al Husseini al Qurashi - better known as Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - is the leader of Islamic State.

He has already accepted pledges of allegiance from other jihadist groups in the Middle East, Afghanistan, Pakistan and north Africa.

Boko Haram has staged a military campaign to establish its own Islamic caliphate in northern Nigeria over the last six years.

Shekau was not pictured, but did identify himself in the recording.

The group has begun releasing videos in recent months which resemble those made by IS in Iraq and Syria where hostages, including British aid workers Alan Henning and David Haines, were murdered.

This month, it released footage purporting to show two men being beheaded.

Nigerian government spokesman Mike Omeri said: "(The audio) is confirming what we always thought. It's sad, it's bad.

"It's why we are appealing to the international community... hopefully the world will wake up to the disaster unfolding here."

Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intelligence Group, said: "Boko Haram is now being elevated from a local jihadi group to an important arm of the Islamic State.

"With Boko Haram's wide network in North Africa, the Islamic State's projection of creating an Islamic Caliphate is gaining headway.

"Furthermore, Islamic State's infrastructure, resources and military capabilities will enable Boko Haram to expand its operations and control even faster in North Africa."

On Saturday, four bomb blasts killed at least 50 people in the city of Maiduguri in some of the worst attacks since Boko Haram militants tried to capture the town in two major assaults earlier this year.


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