Tuesday 15 April 2014
Monday 24 March 2014
Sighting by Chinese plane is latest in hunt for missing jet
About two-thirds of the 227 passengers onboard the flight, which vanished on March 8 after leaving Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing, were Chinese nationals, and the Chinese government has been particularly vocal in demanding an intense hunt for any signs of the missing Boeing 777-200. No definitive evidence has been found so far.
A brief bulletin from a Chinese Air Force IL-76 plane that has joined the search off western Australia appeared to bolster hopes that traces of the plane might yet be found. But the description of the sighting Monday was vague, and it seemed entirely possible that it could prove to be another in a long list of false leads.
"The crew of a Chinese IL-76 plane spotted some suspicious objects in the southern Indian Ocean on Monday," said a report from Xinhua, the Chinese state-run news agency, which had a reporter on the plane.
The plane spotted a number of objects, including two large pieces, Xinhua reported. "From a height of 1,000 meters, there were two quite large objects, and some small, white fragments scattered within a radius of several kilometers," the report said.
The Australian Maritime Safety Authority, which is coordinating the search off western Australia, said in a statement that it had been "advised about the reported objects sighted by a Chinese aircraft." It said the "reported objects are within today's search area and attempts will be made to relocate them."
Earlier, the Xinhua reporter onboard the Chinese search plane had said that visibility was "quite poor" because of low-hanging clouds.
The Chinese government has directed a polar exploration vessel, Xuelong, to the search area in the southern Indian Ocean. Xinhua said the ship was heading to the vicinity of the latest sighting of unusual objects, but would not get there before Tuesday morning.
Australia and China have already released blurry satellite images of objects floating in the search area, and officials said those might be wreckage from the Boeing 777-200. On Sunday, a French satellite was also reported to have detected objects in the southern Indian Ocean that might be related to Flight 370. France's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the possible debris was spotted using satellite-based radar, but gave no other details about the image or the objects' precise location.
The recent announcements appeared likely to reinforce a belief that the plane fell into the ocean far off western Australia after veering sharply from its planned route. Investigators say they believe military radar and satellite signals indicate the plane cut across mainland Malaysia, headed west over the Indian Ocean and then possibly south, toward the area where Australia has now organized a search involving New Zealand and the United States. Britain, China and Japan have also sent military planes and ships to aid the hunt.
Flight Lt. Russell Adams, the pilot of an Australian P-3 military aircraft that spent more than 10 hours on Sunday searching for debris, said weather conditions had deteriorated in parts of the search zone.
"There was cloud down to the surface," he told reporters Sunday, minutes after landing at the base here, which is about 30 miles north of the western Australian city of Perth.
The search is focused on an area about 1,550 miles southwest of Perth. On Monday, Australian authorities said 10 aircraft would be involved in the search, including a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon, two Chinese transport aircraft and two Japanese patrol planes, all departing from the Air Force base here.
China has described the "unusual object" sighted by one of its satellites Tuesday as measuring about 74 feet by 43 feet. It was observed about 65 nautical miles southwest of the spot where, two days earlier, another satellite had captured similar images of floating objects, which the Australian government said might be wreckage from Flight 370.
Experts on satellite imagery and open-ocean recovery said those two sightings might be of the same object or objects, and that might give the search teams more information with which to calculate ocean currents and drift speeds, turn back the clock and estimate where the plane might have struck the ocean sometime after 8 a.m. Malaysia time on March 8.
So far, however, there is no evidence that the debris in any of the Indian Ocean sightings is from the missing airliner. On Saturday, a New Zealand P-3 Orion patrol plane flew over the area and reported sighting only "clumps of seaweed," the Australian Maritime Safety Authority said. Early search efforts, including in the South China Sea, were plagued by sightings of debris that turned out to be false leads.
As searching resumed Monday, the U.S. Pacific Command said it would move into the region a Towed Pinger Locator System, capable of locating a flight information recorder - the so-called black box - down to a depth of 20,000 feet. But an officer of the Navy 7th Fleet stressed that the move was a precaution, in case wreckage from the missing plane is found.
"This movement is simply a prudent effort to pre-position equipment and trained personnel closer to the search area so that if debris is found, we will be able to respond as quickly as possible, since the battery life of the black box's pinger is limited," Cmdr. Chris Budde, an operations officer, said in an email issued by the fleet's public affairs office.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia said Sunday that the Chinese satellite images were consistent with the images he announced in Parliament on Thursday. "Obviously we have now had a number of very credible leads and there is increasing hope, no more than hope, that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen," Abbott was quoted by the Australian Broadcasting Corp. as saying.
Flight 370 was about 40 minutes into a six-hour flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it stopped communicating with air traffic controllers and changed course. On board were 239 people, including two infants.
Signals that the plane transmitted to a satellite - the last one at 8:11 a.m., more than seven hours after the jet took off - allowed investigators to say that the plane took one of two broad paths, one south to the current focus of search operations and the other north across the Asian continent.
On Saturday, Hishammuddin Hussein, the defense minister of Malaysia, said that seven countries - China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Myanmar and Pakistan - had seen nothing to suggest the plane took the north route.
More than two dozen countries are on the hunt from land, air, space and sea for any visible sign of the plane. Investigators from law enforcement and aviation safety agencies around the globe have combed through the backgrounds of all the passengers, and so far have revealed no potential suspects. The Malaysian police are investigating the backgrounds of the plane's pilot and first officer. So far, there is no proof that the plane's disappearance was caused by human intervention, nor is there any conclusive evidence that it was caused by a mechanical malfunction or an onboard accident, such as an electrical fire.
Locating the wreckage of the missing aircraft and, most important, the black box that recorded information about its operations during its final hours, would be crucial to determining what happened on Flight 370, said Simon Bennett, director of the Civil Safety and Security Unit at the University of Leicester in Britain.
"In all likelihood, we may never ascertain what happened to MH370, which is a real shame, because then the speculation will simply accelerate and mount up," he said. "What actually needs to happen is that we need to find the hull, find the flight recorders, and then carefully deconstruct what happened. But in the middle of all that is this blizzard of insane conjecture."
Malaysian co-pilot was on first 777 flight without minder
Co-pilot Fariq Abdul Hamid has come under intense scrutiny, along with Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, after Malaysian authorities said flight MH370's disappearance was due to "deliberate" action in the cockpit.
However, nothing has yet emerged publicly to implicate the two men.
The flag carrier said Fariq, 27, had come through his initial outings in the 777 model with no issues under a standard arrangement in which a First Officer's first five flights in a new model of plane are done under the watchful eye of a "check co-pilot".
"The first five flights, the co-pilot normally flies with what we call the check co-pilot. He actually passed the first five flights. We do not see any problem with him," the airlines' chief executive Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a daily press conference on the crisis.
Flight 370 disappeared off civilian radar about an hour into its journey from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing carrying 239 people, sparking an unprecedented international search across huge swathes of the Indian Ocean and South China Sea.
Ahmad Jauhari added that Zaharie, 53, was himself an experienced 777 examiner.
"You must realise that he (Fariq) is flying with an examiner. The captain is a 777 examiner," he added, referring to Zaharie.
Aircraft and ships from several nations are zeroing in on suspected plane debris in the southern Indian Ocean, but have been prevented from recovering anything for confirmation due to the distances involved and rough weather.
Fariq, who joined Malaysia Airlines seven years ago, was accused in an Australian television report of allowing two young South African women into the cockpit of a plane he piloted in 2011, breaching rules imposed after the 9/11 attacks in America.
Police also removed a flight simulator from Zaharie's home and were examining it for any clues.
NaMo chants remind me of emergency, reek of arrogance: Jaswant Singh attacks Narendra Modi
"I will not say good bye till the party says goodbye," he said later, putting the ball on a possible expulsion firmly in the BJP's court. On other fronts, he was less diplomatic. "NaMo NaMo ka jo tamasha hai (this circus around NaMo) and the way decisions are being taken nowadays reminds me of 1975 - the tradition of being inclusive has reduced, arrogance has increased," he said, denouncing the party's focus on its prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi.
At the alleged lobbying of Vasundhra Raje, the BJP has picked Colonel (retd) Sonaram Choudhary as the candidate from Barmer. The retired army officer quit the Congress for the BJP just days ago. Mr Singh's supporters say it's preposterous for a newcomer to be rewarded at the cost of a veteran. But the retired army officer is from the dominant Jat community in Barmer, which could make him a vote-getter.
"I hope Jaswant Singh sees reason, and retracts his decision to contest. If the party tells you to work for the party, you must learn to accept that," said senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley to NDTV. (Read: Leaders should learn to accept 'no', says Jaitley)
In 2009, Mr Singh was expelled after his book was seen as cheerleading for Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan. He was re-inducted 10 months later at the urging of LK Advani.
Adding to the new contretemps is the fact that Mr Singh's son, Manvendra, represents the BJP in the Rajasthan legislature.
Though Mr Singh won the last national election from Darjeeling in West Bengal, he said he wanted to fight this one from Barmer because he was born here.
Saturday 22 March 2014
ECB's Liikanen says Ukraine crisis impact on financial markets muted
Helsinki:The Ukraine crisis has not had much impact on international financial markets so far, although it has hit Ukraine and Russia, European Central Bank Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said on Saturday.
Russian annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea has led to sanctions against Moscow by the European Union and United States.
Asked about the impact of the crisis in a TV interview, Liikanen said: "For international, European financial markets, its impact has not been large. It has been very large for Ukraine, large for Russia, but on average it has been limited internationally."
The ECB has already discussed the crisis, said Liikanen, who also heads the Bank of Finland.
Turning to further, possibly harsher European Union sanctions against Russia, he said EU countries should share the impact equally.
"It is extremely important that any EU sanctions treat all member states in an equal manner," he said.
"One cannot think that those have already taken the biggest hit would suffer more than the others."
Russia is one of Finland's largest trading partners, with about one-tenth of Finnish exports going to its eastern neighbour. Finnish industry is dependent on Russian raw materials.
"The international uncertainty hits us strongly," he said. The Finnish economy has seen two consecutive years of declining gross domestic product.
"What has happened in Russia has already had an impact on the Finnish economy," he said, citing increased uncertainty, a weaker rouble and plunging stock prices in Russia.
Russian annexation of the Ukrainian region of Crimea has led to sanctions against Moscow by the European Union and United States.
Asked about the impact of the crisis in a TV interview, Liikanen said: "For international, European financial markets, its impact has not been large. It has been very large for Ukraine, large for Russia, but on average it has been limited internationally."
The ECB has already discussed the crisis, said Liikanen, who also heads the Bank of Finland.
Turning to further, possibly harsher European Union sanctions against Russia, he said EU countries should share the impact equally.
"It is extremely important that any EU sanctions treat all member states in an equal manner," he said.
"One cannot think that those have already taken the biggest hit would suffer more than the others."
Russia is one of Finland's largest trading partners, with about one-tenth of Finnish exports going to its eastern neighbour. Finnish industry is dependent on Russian raw materials.
"The international uncertainty hits us strongly," he said. The Finnish economy has seen two consecutive years of declining gross domestic product.
"What has happened in Russia has already had an impact on the Finnish economy," he said, citing increased uncertainty, a weaker rouble and plunging stock prices in Russia.
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyis pay bumped to $13.2 million
PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi got a pay package worth $13.2 million last year, representing a 5 per cent increase from the previous year.
The pay bump for the Indian-born Nooyi was the result of a higher performance-based bonus, reflecting the company's improved financial results after coming out of a "transitional year" in which it slashed costs and stepped up investments in flagship brands.
In addition to its namesake soda, PepsiCo makes Gatorade, Mountain Dew, Quaker oats and Frito-Lay snacks such as Doritos and Cheetos.
PepsiCo Inc., based in Purchase, New York, had been under pressure to improve its results when Nooyi announced a "reset" in 2012 to strengthen its brands. The company made a point of investing more heavily in marketing for its Pepsi soda, which had lost market share to Coca-Cola Co. over the years.
Even as it worked to deliver stronger results in 2013, however, the company was working to beat back calls from Trian Fund Management's Nelson Peltz to spin off its underperforming beverage unit. The activist investor wanted PepsiCo to then merge with Oreo cookie maker Mondelez to create a global snack food giant.
Peltz has since backed down from the calls for a marriage between the two companies, but continues to press his case for PepsiCo to split up its snacks and drinks businesses. PepsiCo executives have stressed their intention of moving forward as a combined company, saying the two units complement each other.
Its results in 2013 were better, with net income and earnings per share increasing. Drinks continued to lag in North America, with soda in particular seeing declines. But executives say having a diversity of products helps PepsiCo weather a variety of challenges. It also notes it's positioned to benefit from the strength of its non-carbonated drinks like Gatorade as people continue to move away from soda.
For 2013, Nooyi's pay included a base salary of $1.6 million, stock awards of $7.5 million and a performance-based bonus of $4 million. In 2012, her performance-based bonus was $3.3 million.
Other pay last year included $102,772 for use of the company aircraft and $30,463 for ground transportation.
Nooyi, 58, has been chief executive since 2006 and board chair since 2007.
The Associated Press formula for executive compensation includes salary, bonuses, perks, above-market interest the company pays on deferred compensation and the estimated value of stock and stock options awarded during the year. It does not count changes in the present value of pension benefits, which makes the AP total slightly different in most cases from the total reported by companies to the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The value that a company assigned to an executive's stock and option awards was the present value of what the company expected the awards to be worth over time. The number is just an estimate and what an executive ultimately receives will depend on the performance of the company's stock.
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