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There are three pieces of evidence that aviation safety experts say make it clear the missing Malaysia Airlines jet was taken over by someone who was knowledgeable about how the plane worked.



One clue is that the plane´s transponder — a signal system that identifies the plane to radar — was shut off about an hour into the flight. In order to do that, someone in the cockpit would have to turn a knob with multiple selections to the off position while pressing down at the same time, said John Goglia, a former member of the National Transportation Safety Board.



That´s something a pilot would know how to do, but it could also be learned by someone who researched the plane on the Internet, he said.



Another clue is that part of the Boeing 777´s Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) was shut off. The system, which has two parts, is used to send short messages via a satellite or VHF radio to the airline´s home base. The information part of the system was shut down, but not the transmission part.



In most planes, the information part of the system can be shut down by hitting cockpit switches in sequence in order to get to a computer screen where an option must be selected using a keypad, said Goglia, an expert on aircraft maintenance. That´s also something a pilot would know how to do, but that could also be discovered through research, he said.



But to turn off the other part of the ACARS, it would be necessary to go to an electronics bay beneath the cockpit. That´s something a pilot wouldn´t normally know how to do, Goglia said, and it wasn´t done in the case of the Malaysia plane. Thus, the ACARS transmitter continued to send out blips that were recorded by the Inmarsat satellite once an hour for four to five hours after the transponder was turned off.



The blips don´t contain any messages or data, but the satellite can tell in a very broad way what region the blips are coming from and adjusts the angle of its antenna to be ready to receive message in case the ACARS sends them. Investigators are now trying to use data from the satellite to identify the region where the plane was when its last blip was sent.



The third indication is that that after the transponder was turned off and civilian radar lost track of the plane, Malaysian military radar was able to continue to track the plane as it turned west. The plane was then tracked along a known flight route across the peninsula until it was several hundred miles (kilometers) offshore and beyond the range of military radar.



KUALA LUMPUR: Airliners normally fly from waypoint to waypoint where they can be seen by air traffic controllers who space them out so they don´t collide. These lanes in the sky aren´t straight lines. In order to follow that course, someone had to be guiding the plane, Goglia said.



Goglia said he is very skeptical of reports the plane was flying erratically while it was being tracked by military radar, including steep ascents to very high altitudes and then sudden, rapid descents. Without a transponder signal, the ability to track planes isn´t reliable at very high altitudes or with sudden shifts in altitude, he said.
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Should you click over to Amy Adams’ IMDB profile, it’s pretty clear why she’s been such a staple at awards shows for, oh, the last seven years. From her first Oscar-nominated role in Junebug to this year’s award-winning double header (American Hustle, Her) Adams’ resume is dotted with critically acclaimed films that include a range of compelling characters.



It’s this versatility that landed Adams a contract with Lacoste as the face of its women’s fragrances, including Eau de Lacoste Pour Femme and Eau de Lacoste Sensuelle. It’s a seemingly perfect match: the fragrances are all about femininity, confidence and natural elegance—which could just as easily describe Adams’ own effortless style. But don’t let us convince you! We caught up with Adams last week and after chatting about everything from red carpet style secrets to fragrance facts, it’s clear that she’s as charming and down-to-earth as they come.



I mentioned to a few friends that I was talking with you and almost every single one gushed about your glowing skin. So! What are your skincare secrets? Are there any products that you’re obsessed with?

Thank you! I’ve been a long time user of La Mer, I have to say. I have really tricky skin. And there was a period of time I was having a hard time keeping it balanced and I was getting really dry skin. Someone recommended La Mer and I started using [the cream and the lotion] and it kind of saved me. I was shooting in New Mexico at the time and I’ve kind of been a loyal user of La Mer since.



Are there any skincare rules that you follow? Like never going to sleep without washing your face or always wearing sunscreen?

All of those. I tend to follow the traditional ones: wearing sunscreen, drinking water and washing your face. But, you know, I make mistakes, sometimes it happens—I fall asleep with my makeup on, the night gets away from you.



Do you enjoying wearing and applying makeup?

I do, I have fun with it. But on a day-to-day basis I tend to get really busy so I try to just have my core products that I use.



I’ve heard other actresses say that makeup now seems like more of a job-only thing.

It’s funny, when I put makeup on now, my daughter asks if I’m going to work.



When it comes to red carpet hair, do you let your stylist determine the look or do you have, say, a secret Pinterest board of hairstyles that you want to try?

Pinterest is awesome, isn’t it? I’ve definitely gotten ideas from Pinterest, but I get inspiration from lots of different places. Sometimes I tell my hairstylist it’s a freebie, do whatever you want—which I think I’m probably going to start doing more and more. I feel like I’ve tried everything I’ve felt like trying and they’re such amazing artists. I’m curious to see what their vision is now.



Is strawberry-blonde your natural colour or do you do anything to enhance or brighten it?

I do. My natural colour is strawberry blonde but it’s a lot ashier now because I’m a normal human being (aging!) and so I do, I get an assist with the hair colour. To brighten it, I use a semi-permanent or temporary, I like that. It washes out, it’s more natural.

You’ve been working with Lacoste since 2013. What have you enjoyed the most about being the face of their fragrances?

They’ve really taught me a lot about how you build a fragrance and it’s been really fascinating to learn. [Also] their approach to femininity: how much they really protect the Lacoste woman [and how they see her] as being confident and driven by simplicity. I really respect how much they value that ideal of woman. It’s attainable.



If you had to pick one of the gowns that you wore over the past awards season to best represent the Lacoste fragrance woman, which look would you pick?

I really did approach this year with a sort of simplicity [in mind] but I wanted to have fun with it at the same time. So although [all the dresses] had this simplistic line, there was something about each one that I found unique. But probably the one that I wore to the Oscars, I feel had something unique about it, but it’s very you know, straightforward and well tailored.



Sticking with the Oscars theme, you’ve said that “fragrance is incredible in how it can instantly trigger an emotion or memory.” Is there a smell or a fragrance that will bring you right back to the 2014 Oscars in an instant?

Pizza! Because they were passing pizza around while I was getting ready to present and I missed the pizza and I could smell it, and I was so hungry.



You didn’t get any backstage?

No, the pizza guy didn’t come backstage! Meryl Streep got pizza. But did I get pizza? No.



Bad pizza timing.

That’s right.



I know that you love singing, so if there was a song that you’d want to film a Lacoste fragrance commercial to—and you don’t have to be the one singing it!—what song would you pick?

It’s probably been done, but “Natural Woman,” has that been done for a fragrance commercial? If no one’s done it, then Lacoste should do that. I would not be singing it, however. I have a friend, Jessie Mueller, on Broadway right now—I’m doing a pull for my friend!—in the new [Carole King] musical Beautiful, who sings it amazingly. So, if anyone gets a chance to go, watch that musical!
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Peshawar- At least 7people were killed and 25 others injured in a bomb blast near a police station today, said police and rescue sources.

The blast occurred in Bhatta-Tall bazaar near Sarband police station. The victims also included women and children. The injured were rushed to Hayatabad Medical Complex and Lady Reading Hospital.

SP Cantt Faisal Kamran said a police armored van was targeted in the attack that seemed a suicide bombing.  About 10 kilograms of explosive material was used in the blast.
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Miranshah- As US drones flew above them, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) intermediaries and the Taliban political Shura (advisory council) changed their meeting place to a different location.

The second phase of talks between the TTP negotiators and the Taliban political shura began today.

The TTP intermediaries had left Islamabad and reached North Waziristan to meet the shura on March 14, 2014.

Coordinator of TTP committee Maulana Yousaf Shah, Jamaat-e-Islami’s Professor Ibrahim and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) district chief Maulana Abdul Hai had traveled to North Waziristan via a special helicopter.

The purpose of the visit was to decide the timing and venue for face-to-face talks between the new government negotiators and the TTP.

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that formal talks with the TTP would begin the moment the timing and venue for the dialogue was decided.

The government had formed a new committee on March 12, 2014, to hold direct talks with the TTP as part of efforts to end years of violence that has plagued the country.

Ports and Shipping Secretary Habibullah Khattak would head the four-member committee which will include Fata Additional Secretary Arbab Arif, Additional Secretary to Prime Minister Office Fawad Hassan Fawad and Former Diplomat Rustam Shah Mohmand, who was in the previous negotiating team as well.
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HALA- Pakistan People’s Party leader Amin Faheem has rejected the notion that drought in Tharparkar was caused by his son. He said that an investigation should be carried out before leveling allegations over the situation. Fahim said that his Sarwari Jamaat will not tolerate mudslinging. He said that Sindh Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah should remember that he had worked under him for five years as a subordinate.
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BEIJING: China says that one of its satellites has detected three large "floating objects" in a region of the sea where it suspects the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 had an accident.



China´s state science and technology administration said Wednesday that a Chinese satellite had seen the objects in a "suspected crash sea area" on the morning of March 9, adding that the images were being analysed.



The suspected objects were found at 105.63 degrees longitude East and 6.7 degrees latitude North, the administration said on its website.



It added that the objects were spread across an area with a radius of 20 kilometres (12 miles), in sizes that appeared to be 13 x 18 metres, 14 x 19 metres and 24 x 22 metres.
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GENEVA:The number of U.S. drone strikes in Pakistan plunged last year amid growing care to avoid civilian deaths, but the death toll in neighboring Afghanistan continues to rise, the United Nations´ special investigator on counterterrorism said Wednesday.



Ben Emmerson says that for the first time in nine years no civilians were reported killed in 2013 in Pakistan´s Federally Administered Tribal Regions, or FATA, a semi-autonomous area along the 2,600-kilometer (1,600-mile) Afghanistan-Pakistan border where militant groups operate.



The U.N. special rapporteur, a British lawyer who reports to the 47-nation Human Rights Council and the U.N. General Assembly, told reporters in Geneva there has been "a very significant de-escalation" of U.S. armed drone use in Pakistan´s FATA region, down to 27 strikes last year from a peak of 128 in 2010.



But he said the picture is uglier in Afghanistan, where drone strikes and civilian deaths resulting from their use are intensifying.



In Afghanistan, he said, the number of civilian casualties from drone strikes last year rose to 45 dead and 14 injured, triple the rate experienced in 2012.Emmerson said Yemen had suffered around 500 civilian casualties from drone strikes since 2009, largely because of incompetent targeting.



It doesn´t have to be that way, he said. "In principle, at least, technology which allows military commanders to observe a target 24 hours a day in almost real time is capable of reducing those risks," Emmerson said.



"But that depends on a combination of different forms of intelligence ... and on responsible operational decisions being taken.



"Before his press conference, Emmerson reported to the Geneva-based council on the civilian toll from drone attacks, chiefly carried out by U.S. forces, and called for more independent investigation.



He examined about 30 drone strikes involving civilian casualties committed by American, British and Israeli forces in Afghanistan, Gaza, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen.



He said the U.S. military had reduced the frequency of drone attacks, and limited them to high-value targets, because of growing criticism in Pakistan and abroad.
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