RT: China tells US not to meddle in Hong Kong’s internal affairs

China tells US not to meddle in Hong Kong’s internal affairs China has warned the United States against meddling in Hong Kong’s internal affairs after Vice President Joe Biden met

China tells US not to meddle in Hong Kong’s internal affairs

China has warned the United States against meddling in Hong Kong’s internal affairs after Vice President Joe Biden met with two former Hong Kong legislators who expressed concern that Beijing is tightening control over the territory.

Biden met with Anson Chan, former chief secretary and founder of pro-democracy group Hong Kong 2020, and Martin Lee – founder of Hong Kong’s opposition Democratic Party – at the White House on Friday.

PHOTO: The Vice President drops by a meeting with Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates Martin Lee and Anson Chan. Photo: RT.com

PHOTO: The Vice President drops by a meeting with Hong Kong pro-democracy advocates Martin Lee and Anson Chan.
Photo: RT.com

Vice President Biden underscored Washington’s “long-standing support for democracy in Hong Kong and for the city’s high degree of autonomy under the ‘one country, two systems’ framework,” the White House said in a statement.

In response, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it “firmly opposes any countries meddling in the city’s internal affairs in any way,” South China Morning Post quoted.

Hong Kong affairs are China’s internal affairs,” said a spokesperson for the Office of the Commissioner of the Foreign Ministry in Hong Kong.

The official added that Hong Kong is currently going through a sensitive political reform period.

[We] would hope the US would be cautious of their words and actions regarding Hong Kong affairs and not let Hong Kong issues impede Sino-American relations,” he noted.

Commenting on the activists’ concerns over press freedom and other core values in Hong Kong, the spokesperson said that “Over the past 17 years since Hong Kong’s return, the region has seen the successful implementation of the ‘one country, two systems’ framework, which contributed to Hong Kong’s great socioeconomic and democratic development.”

As a result, the people in Hong Kong are enjoying unprecedented democratic rights and freedom, which has won international acclaim,” the official added, as quoted by Xinhua news agency.

 

Read Full Story: http://rt.com/news/china-us-biden-interfere-897/

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/rt-china-tells-us-not-to-meddle-in-hong-kongs-internal-affairs/

Ukraine on the Brink of Civil War – Yanukovich, Ukraine’s Ousted President

With the intensification of protests at the eastern Ukraine by Russian speaking Ukranian citizens, specially in the Donesk region, & subsequent crackdown by self appointed government at Kiev, Ukraine is

With the intensification of protests at the eastern Ukraine by Russian speaking Ukranian citizens, specially in the Donesk region, & subsequent crackdown by self appointed government at Kiev, Ukraine is on the verge of potential civil war.

Excerpts  from Russia Today (RT.com) report:

Blood was spilt today,” Yankovich told journalists referring to the events in the eastern city of Slavyansk. “Now our country finds itself in a totally new situation – with one foot in the door of a civil war. The Kiev junta has issued a criminal order to use armed forces and the army against the protesters.

In the event of a mass crackdown on protesters and use of force, the “new rulers” of Ukraine will carry full responsibility, the ousted President said, adding that the people of Ukraine will never accept “dictatorship” and “especially nationalists’ dictate.”

He has urged the country’s security forces not to obey “unlawful orders” and restrain from shooting at “people of Ukraine”.

Ukraine is now “inexorably” heading towards bankruptcy and chaos, Yanukovich also warned in his speech. Holding a referendum is the only one way to avoid splitting Ukraine, the coup-deposed leader stressed.

People watch arned men near a regional police building seized by armed separatists in Slavyansk, Ukraine on April 13, 2014 (AFP Photo / Anatoly Stepanov) Souce: rt.com

Read Full Story: http://rt.com/news/yanukovich-ukraine-war-civil-292/

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/ukraine-on-the-brink-of-civil-war-yanukovich-ukraines-ousted-president/

MH370 ‘hijacked and in Afghanistan’: Mirror UK Reports

Unknown terrorists are said to have taken control of the missing plane MH370 and forced it to land near Kandahar   The extraordinary report attributed the source of the revelation to

Unknown terrorists are said to have taken control of the missing plane MH370 and forced it to land near Kandahar

 

The extraordinary report attributed the source of the revelation to a Russian intelligence source, appeared in the Moskovsky Komsomolets newspaper.

The source told the paper: “Flight MH370 Malaysia Airlines missing on March 8 with 239 passengers was hijacked.

“Pilots are not guilty; the plane was hijacked by unknown terrorists.

“We know that the name of the terrorist who gave instructions to pilots is “Hitch.”

“The plane is in Afghanistan not far from Kandahar near the border with Pakistan.”

FOR LIVE COVERAGE OF THE SEARCH FOR FLIGHT MH370, CLICK HERE.

According to The Daily Star, Moskovsky Komsomolets also claims the passengers have been divided into seven groups and are living in mud huts with almost no food.

Twenty Asian passengers were said to have been smuggled into a bunker in Pakistan. 

Photo: Mirror UK

The unconfirmed report suggested that  the terrorists are possibly seeking to bargain with either America or  China .

However the news is yet to be confirmed by authorities either in Malaysia or China.

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared soon after taking off on March 8 from Kuala Lumpur bound for Beijing.

It had 227 passengers and 12 crew on board, triggering a multinational search that is now focused on the Indian Ocean.

On Friday, the Prime Minister of Australia, Tony Abbott, has said he was “very confident” that signals picked up by search teams in the Indian Ocean were from missing Flight MH370′s black box.

During a visit to Beijing, China, he told the the Australian Broadcasting Corporation: “We have very much narrowed down the search area and we are very confident the signals are from the black box.”

A fifth signal was detected by search crews on Friday.

The signals will eventually allow them to determine an exact resting place for the downed Boeing 777.

They will then send down a submersible vehicle to plumb the depths of the ocean for the black box.

The ‘pings’ emitted by Flight MH370′s black box are soon expected to fade, more than a month after the plane, which was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, disappeared on March 8.

Source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mh370-hijacked-afghanistan-russian-intelligence-3407468#ixzz2yllezOZY

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/mh370-hijacked-and-in-afghanistan-mirror-uk-reports/

Ukraine crisis: US warns Russia over ‘destabilisation’

Source: http://www.bbc.com/ Pro-Russian protesters in Kharkiv threw tyres and plastic barriers on a fire at a government building The US has voiced “great concern” about heightened tension in eastern Ukraine after

Source: http://www.bbc.com/


Pro-Russian protesters in Kharkiv threw tyres and plastic barriers on a fire at a government building

The US has voiced “great concern” about heightened tension in eastern Ukraine after pro-Russia demonstrators seized government buildings in three cities.

US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a phone call that any Russian efforts at destabilisation “would incur costs”.

They discussed the possibility of direct talks within the next 10 days.

Ukraine is sending security officials to Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv, after buildings there were stormed.

Rebels occupying Donetsk’s regional government building declared a “people’s republic” on Monday and called for a referendum on secession from Ukraine to be held by 11 May.

Russia recently annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, where the majority of people are Russian speakers, following a referendum that Kiev and the West say was illegal.

Moscow now has thousands of troops massed along its border with eastern Ukraine. Although it insists it has no intention of invading Ukraine, it says it reserves the right to defend ethnic Russians in the country.

Russia is refusing to recognise the new authorities in Kiev who took power after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February.

‘Whipping up tension’


Steve Rosenberg, Donetsk: “People here want this region, and other regions in eastern Ukraine, to break away from Ukraine and join Russia”

US State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said that in the telephone call, Mr Kerry “called on Russia to publicly disavow the activities of separatists, saboteurs and provocateurs” in Ukraine.

She said Mr Kerry noted that the actions in eastern Ukraine “do not appear to be a spontaneous set of events”.

“He made clear that any further Russian efforts to destabilise Ukraine will incur further costs for Russia,” Ms Psaki said.

The US and the EU have already imposed targeted sanctions on Russian and Ukrainian individuals over the annexation of Crimea.

Mr Lavrov, in an article on the website of the UK’s Guardian newspaper, denied Russia was destabilising Ukraine and accused the West of the “groundless whipping-up of tension”.

He also warned authorities in Kiev against any use of force against pro-Russian demonstrators.

Russian flags outside administration building in Donetsk. 7 April 2014
Protesters raised Russian flags outside the Donetsk administration building
Pro-Russia activists vote on the proposal to declare a new "republic"
Activists occupying the Donetsk government building “voted” for a referendum
Sergei Lavrov. 7 April 2014
Sergei Lavrov says the West is whipping up tension in Ukraine

Russia’s foreign ministry said it was “closely watching” events in eastern Ukraine, “particularly in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions”.

It reiterated Moscow’s demands for the creation of a federal Ukraine with broader powers for provinces.

“Stop pointing to Russia, blaming it for all of the troubles of today’s Ukraine,” the statement said.

Pro-Russian protesters seized official buildings in Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk on Sunday night. Police said they cleared protesters from the building in Kharkiv but in Luhansk demonstrators had seized weapons.

Ukraine’s interim President Oleksandr Turchynov called the unrest an attempt by Russia to “dismember” Ukraine.

Speaking on national TV, he said it was “the second wave” of a Russian operation to destabilise Ukraine, overthrow the government and disrupt planned elections.

He has cancelled a visit to Lithuania to deal with the worsening crisis.

Interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, at an emergency cabinet meeting, blamed Russia for the seizures.

“The plan is to destabilise the situation, the plan is for foreign troops to cross the border and seize the country’s territory, which we will not allow,” he said.

Support for unity

His words were echoed by Ukrainian presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko who was in Donetsk on Monday.

She said that the pro-Russian activists were working for the Russian secret service.

BBC Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford says that although events in Donetsk appear similar to those in Crimea, there are major differences.

Donetsk has many Ukrainian speakers as well as a Russian-speaking majority, and opinion polls there have shown considerable support for a united Ukraine, he says.

Also on Monday, Nato said it was limiting Russian diplomats’ access to its headquarters in Brussels.

It comes days after Nato foreign ministers agreed to suspend all practical co-operation with Moscow over its annexation of Crimea.

Eastern Ukraine was the political heartland of Mr Yanukovych and has a large Russian-speaking population.

Mr Yanukovych fled Kiev for Russia after months of street protests triggered by his refusal to sign an association agreement with the EU in favour of closer ties with Russia. More than 100 people died in the ensuing unrest.

BBC map of cities in eastern Ukraine

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/ukraine-crisis-us-warns-russia-over-destabilisation/

More pings raise more questions about missing plane

Source: CNN (CNN) – Almost a month after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, searchers say pulse signals detected in the Indian Ocean provide the best hope so far for finding it. However, those

Source: CNN

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(CNN) – Almost a month after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared, searchers say pulse signals detected in the Indian Ocean provide the best hope so far for finding it.

However, those same officials warn it will take time to confirm if the sonar pings come from the missing plane, meaning nothing is certain yet.

The new information raises more questions about what the pulse signals mean and what happens now.

Is this it?

Maybe.

An Australian ship using high-tech U.S. equipment has twice detected signals along the suspected flight path of the airliner off its country’s western coast.

Angus Houston, who heads the rescue effort, told reporters that a device called a towed pinger locator on the vessel Ocean Shield received signals similar to the kind that the aircraft’s on board data and cockpit voice recorders would emit.

The first detection, which occurred over the weekend, lasted more than two hours before the ship lost contact, Houston said. A second detection several hours later lasted 13 minutes, and more importantly, included two separate signals audible to the locator device, he said.

Two signals could mean they came from the so-called black boxes, as expected.

“It’s probably the best information that we have had,” Houston said before immediately noting that “we haven’t found the aircraft yet; we need further confirmation.”

A promising lead

Why this may be it

The signals reported were near the 37.5 kHz “standard beacon frequency” of the recorders, officials say. That frequency was chosen for use to avoid interference from other ocean noises as much as possible.

In addition, the two pulse signals detected at the same time would be consistent with the two emitters on the plane.

Also, the location where the signals were detected is along the missing plane’s probable flight path, according to the latest analysis of its known direction and fuel capacity. Houston said the new information on the likely flight path helped narrow the search area.

“With the acoustic events that we’re getting in the area, we are encouraged that we’re very close to where we need to be,” Houston said, later adding: “This is quite an extraordinary set of circumstances that we’re now in a very well-defined search area which hopefully will eventually yield the information that we need to say MH370 might have entered the water just here.”

On Saturday, a Chinese ship detected a single pulse signal more than 300 miles further south, also near the most recently projected flight path. Houston said the distance made it “unlikely” the Chinese ship and Australian vessel detected the same signal, but added “in deep water, funny things happen with acoustic signals.”

Why this may not be it

From the beginning, search officials have stressed the long odds against figuring out where the plane might be without visible evidence such as wreckage.

For now, all we have are some pulse signals, Houston said, and in the ocean, those could be from a number of things.

“This has been done without finding any wreckage thus far, and I think it’s quite extraordinary and what I’d like to see now is us find some wreckage because that will basically help solve the mystery,” Houston explained, adding that “without wreckage, we can’t say it’s definitely here.”

Next steps

Oceanographers note that the ocean is full of sonar sounds, including whale calls and signals emitted by research equipment left on the bottom to help find it later. While the frequency of the black box signals are intended to be unique, other sounds can cause confusion, they note.

“Unlike in air where sound travels in a straight line, acoustic energy — sound through the water — is greatly affected by temperature, pressure and salinity,” explained Peter Leavy, commander of the military task force conducting the search. “And that has the effect of attenuating, bending — sometimes through 90 degrees — sound waves. So it is quite possible and very hard to predict — it’s quite possible for sound to travel great distances laterally but be very difficult to hear near the surface of the ocean, for instance.”

On Monday, U.S. Navy Commander William Marks told CNN from the search operation that the inability of the Ocean Shield’s pinger locator to find the signals again more than a day since the last reception caused initial optimism to become “more and more cautious.”

What next?

The Ocean Shield and its towed pinger locator continue to search the area where it detected the signals to try to hear them again. If they do, searchers would send out a Bluefin-21 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle with a more accurate sonar and possibly a camera for mapping and studying the the ocean floor, Leavy said.

“At the moment that’s not deployed,” he told reporters. “The focus is on trying to reacquire the acoustic signal that they had” by the end of Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the website MarineTraffic.com indicated Monday that three ships were searching a spot further to the south where the Haixun 01, a Chinese patrol boat, reportedly detected pulse signals on Saturday.

Another Chinese vessel and the HMS Echo of Britain’s Royal Navy joined the Haixun 01 in the area, according to the website, which has been reliable in reporting the movements of search vessels.

Officials had said they would send additional resources to help the Haixun 01 try to find the source of pulse signals it detected on the same 37.5 kHz frequency used by airplane recorders.

A major question is how long the batteries in the recorders will last. They have a 30-day expectancy when activated, and the plane disappeared on March 8, which was 31 days ago.

“We’re already one day past the advertised shelf life,” Houston said. “We hope that it keeps going for a little bit longer.”

Relatives react

Confirmation that the signal comes from the Boeing 777 would mean “the possibility of recovering the plane — or at least the black boxes — goes from being one in a million to almost certain,” said Simon Boxall, a lecturer in ocean and earth science at the University of Southampton.

Houston, a retired Australian Air chief marshal who is chief coordinator of Joint Agency Coordination Centre, warned against expecting a quick resolution.

“It could take some days before the information is available to establish whether these detections can be confirmed as being from MH370,” he said. “In very deep oceanic water, nothing happens fast.”

Read more / Original news source: http://kanglaonline.com/2014/04/more-pings-raise-more-questions-about-missing-plane/