Nazri: Perbicaraan 'palsu' MH17 tanpa penjenayah

Bekas menteri undang-undang Datuk Seri Nazri Abdul Aziz berkata, Malaysia tidak dapat menjalankan perbicaraan dalam kes tembakan jatuh MH17 kerana hanya akan dianggap sebagai perbicaraan “palsu”.

Katanya, perkara itu tidak mungkin kerana pesalahnya akan menghadiri perbicaraan kes pesawat yang ditembak jatuh pada 17 Julai lalu akan hadir ke mahkamah negara ini.

“Kita tidak boleh bawa pemberontak ke sini untuk dibicarakan, dan jika mereka tiada di sini untuk dibicarakan, ia hanya akan menjadi perbicaraan palsu,” kata Nazri, menteri kebudayaan dan pelancongan, kepada Malaysiakini.

Menteri di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Nancy Shukri semalam dilaporkan berkata, Malaysia dan Ukraine bukan anggota Mahkamah Jenayah Anrabangsa (ICC), berbanding Belanda yang merupakan anggota ICC.

"Negara perbicaraan masih belum ditentukan lagi, masih bergantung kepada keputusan siasatan lagi. Jika keputusan siasatan mendapati lebih baik dilakukan (perbicaraan) di Malaysia, dalang akan didakwa di negara ini.

"Kalau keputusan siasatan mendapati lebih baik didakwa di negara lain terutama Belanda, jadi kita serahkan kepada Belanda, yang penting keputusan memilih negara perbicaraan akan memberi faedah semua mangsa nahas tersebut," beliau dipetik sebagai berkata oleh Bernama.

Beliau berkata demikian kepada pemberita ketika ditemui pada Majlis Rumah Terbuka Aidilfitri beliau di Pustaka Negeri Sarawak, Petra Jaya semalam.

Nancy bagaimanapun berkata Peguam Negara Tan Sri Abdul Ghani Patail yang kini mewakili Malaysia dalam jawatankuasa menyiasat nahas MH17 itu tetap mengkaji pilihan terbaik sama ada mengambil tindakan membicarakan dalang di dalam atau luar negara.

"Walaupun Malaysia bukan anggota ICC, tindakan terhadap dalang masih boleh dilakukan di negara ini. Kita ada peruntukan tertentu antaranya di bawah Akta Kesalahan Keselamatan (Langkah-Langkah Khas) 2012 (SOSMA)," katanya seperti dilaporkan agensi berita nasional.

Three airline crashes in a week - Is it safe to travel by air anymore?

July 29, 2014

 

Three airline crashes in a week - Is it safe to travel by air anymore? - File Photo

 

KUALA LUMPUR: The answer is yes, according to aviation statistics.

Overall, deaths related to aviation and plane crashes globally have been dropping and the world is enjoying what it seems to be the safest period in aviation history.

In fact, 2013 was the safest year in aviation for almost seven decades, based on an aviation report by CNN.com

“Last year, 265 people were killed in flight related incidents -- the safest year in aviation since 1945. This year, the worldwide number of aviation deaths has more than doubled, but it's still relatively low.”

There is growing concern over the safety of air travel given the number of airline disasters in the past few months.

On July 17, Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down, killing all 298 aboard.

Close to a week later, 48 were killed when TransAsia Airways Flight 222 crashed near an airport in Taiwan.

The next day, Air Algerie Flight 5017 crashed in Mali, leaving 119 dead.

On top of that is the unexplained disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 with 239 people aboard in March.

According to the Aviation Safety Network, one of several organizations that track aviation data and statistics, there had been 764 deaths in 12 commercial aviation accidents in 2014, thus far.

However, experts insist the numbers are nowhere close to it being the deadliest year in aviation history.

The worst year on record was held in 1972 where the world witnessed 55 airline disasters that killed 2,429 people.

On 13 October 1972, Aeroflot Flight 217 en-route from Paris to Moscow crashed in Russia, killing 174 people.

On 3 December 1972, Spantax Convair 990 crashed at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife while taking off, killing all 155 aboard.

Just five years later, at the same airport, two Boeing 747s collided on the runaway, killing 583 people and making it the deadliest aviation accident in history.

Global program director of Washington's Flight Safety Foundation Rudy Quevedo said the triple airline disaster this year is indeed a ‘rare event’.

Nonetheless, with the exception of the 9/11 attacks, it's hard to know whether the loss of three airliners in seven days is unprecedented, he told CNN.

Based on data compiled, the world is seeing fewer fatal accidents on the whole.

“It's a perfectly safe system. So while it's an unfortunate tragedy to have these recent three crashes together, it doesn't shock me, because you could go two or three years in a row without having one. It all equals out in the end,” said Quevedo in the report.

He added that numbers of crashes or deaths alone doesn’t offer an accurate safety snapshot; the overall amount of aviation traffic must also be taken into consideration.

According to CNN, aviation industry trackers monitor total worldwide airport departures by all commercial aircraft.

Then they divide the number of annual accidents by that number of departures. The result is called the aviation accident rate.

In 2013, the rate was 0.24 out of 1 million departures – which means less than one accident for every 1 million flights.

“That number proves that the chances of being in a fatal aircraft accident are extremely rare.” Quevedo said.

Hopes set to rise as RMN vessel joins search for MH370

August 03, 2014

KD Mutiara will set out on Monday for the southern Indian Ocean in search of MH370.

 

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Hopes are set to rise as a Royal Malaysian Navy vessel sets out tomorrow for the southern Indian Ocean in search of a Malaysia Airlines aircraft that has been missing since March 8.

The hydrographic vessel, KD Mutiara, has sophisticated sonar equipment that that can detect objects on the ocean bed up to 7,000 metres deep and employs the bathymetric measurement for defining the objects.

RMN fleet commander Vice Admiral Datuk Mohamad Roslan Ramli is set to flag off KD Mutiara at the RMN Lumut Base operations jetty in Perak at 8.15 am.

KD Mutiara, commissioned on Dec 18, 1977, was built in Butterworth, Penang, by Hong Leong Lurssen Shipyard Sdn Bhd and is the lead ship of the 36th Hydrographic Squadron.

Mohamad Roslan is confident that KD Mutiara would be able to unearth new leads as to the whereabouts of Flight MH370 which dropped off radar on March 8 as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.

The Boeing 777 aircraft has yet to be found, even after an exhaustive search in the southern Indian Ocean where it is believed to have gone down after veering off course.

"I am optimistic that the bathymetric measurement can have a positive impact (on the search) and identify the location of MH370," he told Bernama.

KD Mutiara will have for company the RMN Bunga Mas 6 auxiliary vessel which is already in Australia with two vessels from China and one from Australia.

Mohamad Roslan said the RMN experts and personnel for the latest SAR mission were being finalised.

"Besides the RMN experts and personnel, doctors and 'ustaz' (Islamic religious experts) will also be in the mission to the Indian Ocean," he said.

Work to map the seabed in the 7th arc of the Indian Ocean in an attempt to detect any sign of MH370 is going on smoothly.

A statement issued on July 31 by the Joint Action Coordinating Centre (JACC) stated that the process was being undertaken by the vessels Zhu Kezhen of China and Fugro Equator, a vessel contracted by Australia, and was expected to be completed next month.

The mapping exercise was being done in preparation for a seabed search JACC insists that it is important to scour the seabed in the isolated area of the Indian Ocean that has yet to be fully explored.

After aviation incidents, M'sian companies should take crisis management seriously

August 03, 2014

 

Filepic of the search and rescue operation in the MH370 incident. 

 

KUALA LUMPUR: Local companies should take their crisis management capability seriously, after the two recent aviation incidents that put Malaysia and related industry players under international scrutiny, says a communications specialist.

"Malaysian companies and their leadership need to invest more in building and strengthening their crisis preparedness and response mechanism.

"CEOs, in particular, must step out of their comfort zone and be willing to test their 'crisis quotient' through surprise simulations triggered at least twice a year," said Perception Management Sdn Bhd's CEO Kishore Ravuri.

Corporate risk management teams have a role to play in expanding the horizon to anticipate and prepare CEOs against all risks associated with their respective businesses, he told Bernama.

"The fact is, despite having crisis management policies put to test every year through simulations, many local companies do not revisit them frequently to amend obsolete processes and far-fetched scenarios.

"If executed correctly, crisis management can help businesses seek the benefit of stakeholders' engagement, which can safeguard corporate interests even in the worst case of a crisis," he said.

Citing the case of the missing Malaysia Airlines (MAS) Flight MH370, which put the country under the global spotlight with a lot of criticism, Kishore said it exposed some degree of "unpreparedness" and "vulnerable position" of spokespersons.

The Beijing-bound MH370, carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew, was pronounced missing by the authorities after having left Kuala Lumpur on March 8, 2014.

"The disconcerted execution of MAS' crisis management and communication plan, if it existed in the first place, was a disappointment from the public relation's perspective.

"The identification and mobilisation of the right spokespersons in the right place at the right time, and their preparedness to manage risks associated with their business, has become extremely critical in a globalised world. This was fundamentally a lost cause in the case of MH370," Kishore said.

However, he emphasised, a crisis of this degree or intensity is a rare phenomenon.

Malaysia and local companies can pick up a few lessons from the episode and in future, take crisis as an opportunity to demonstrate leadership, the preparedness to manage multiple-stakeholders and international media appetite, as well as communication tactics and sophistication, he said.

Royal Jordanian gantung penerbangan ke Iraq kerana bimbangkan keselamatan

Ogos 04, 2014

 

Royal Jordan menggantung penerbanganya ke Iraq

 

AMMAN: Syarikat Penerbangan kebangsaan Jordan, Royal Jordanian pada Ahad menggantung beberapa penerbangan syarikat itu ke Iraq ekoran kebimbangan dengan tahap keselamatan di negara itu, lapor AFP.

“Royal Jordanian menggantung penerbangan ke Baghdad atas alasan keselamatan,” kata seorang pegawai syarikat penerbangan itu yang enggan dinamakan.

Syarikat itu kini sedang memantau dengan rapi perkembangan di Iraq dan berkemungkinan akan melanjutkan penggantungan penerbangan ke negara bergolak itu.

Sementara itu kumpulan pemisah di utara negara itu dilaporkan membunuh 16 anggota tentera Kurdish sementara 30 pejuang pro kerajaan Iraq turut terbunuh dalam pertempuran di utara negara itu, kata pegawai kerajaan pada Sabtu.

Kumpulan yang bercita-cita menegakkan sebuah negara Islam itu melancarkan serangan pada 9 Jun lalu dan berjaya menawan Mosul, bandar kedua terbesar di Iraq dan dikuasai puak sunni.

Selain Royal Jordanian, syarikat penerbangan Jerman Lufthansa dan syarikat penerbangan Australia Qantas pada Ahad turut menggantung penerbangan ke Iraq.

Turut mengambil keputusan yang sama adalah syarikat penerbangan Air France-KLM, Delta, Emirates, United dan Virgin Atlantic.

Glasgow 2014: Northern Ireland win first golds as Scots also shine

2 August 2014 Last updated at 21:53 GMT

By Ben Dirs BBC Sport, at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow

 

Boxers Paddy Barnes and Michael Conlan have claimed Northern Ireland's first gold medals of Glasgow 2014. 

First Barnes beat India's Devendro Laishram in the light-flyweight final at a packed SSE Hydro Arena, becoming the first home nations boxer to defend a Commonwealth Games title.

Bantamweight Michael Conlan then saw off England's Qais Ashfaq.

Scotland then got in on the act, with golds for Charlie Flynn (lightweight) and Josh Taylor (light-welterweight).

Flynn beat Northern Ireland's Joe Fitzpatrick before Taylor outclassed the awkward Namibian Junias Jonas.

In the evening session England won four more gold medals to top the boxing medal table.

Play media

Glasgow 2014: Paddy Barnes makes history with title defence

Northern Ireland's boxers have won a remarkable nine medals in all - two gold, two silver and five bronze - out of a total medal tally of 12.

Scotland finish with two golds and two bronzes, while Wales managed five bronzes. England ended with five golds, one silver and one bronze. They top the medal table due to the greater number of golds.

Barnes, a two-time Olympic bronze medallist, beat Laishram in the quarter-finals at London 2012 and was awarded a unanimous decision in Glasgow.

Belfast boxer Barnes, the defending champion, started faster than his rival and won the first two rounds on all three judges' scorecards. Laishram came on furiously in the final round but Barnes had already done enough.
Conlan and tricky Leeds southpaw Ashfaq were difficult to separate in the first round, which included lots of scrappy exchanges on the inside.

Play media

Highlights: Charlie Flynn wins lightweight gold for Scotland

But Conlan, who also won bronze at London 2012 and suffered a bad cut in his semi-final victory over Wales's Sean McGoldrick, made his greater experience tell as the fight wore on, switching stances at will, to earn a unanimous decision.

Fitzpatrick, 19, had a height and reach advantage over his 20-year-old opponent, but Flynn was able to bulldoze his way through his rival's defences.

The Motherwell boxer, who upset Wales' Joe Cordina in the semi-finals, was deservedly awarded a unanimous decision, to the delight of the home fans.

Taylor, who boxed at London 2012, was given a tough fight but landed with the cleaner shots throughout and was awarded a unanimous decision. Jonas's silver medal is his country's first at this year's Games.

In the flyweight final, Australia's Andrew Moloney outpointed Muhammad Waseem, thus denying Pakistan their first gold medal of the Games.

Paddy Barnes (right) is a member of the same Belfast boxing club as Glasgow 2014 silver medallist Michaela Walsh 

Northern Ireland's Michael Conlan (right) gets the better of England's Qais Ashfaq 

Postman Charlie Flynn won lightweight gold for Scotland 

Josh Taylor then doubled Scotland's golden tally by beating tricky Namibian Junias Jonas 

Tom Daley wins Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth diving gold

2 August 2014 Last updated at 22:25 GMT

England's Tom Daley comfortably defended his 10m platform Commonwealth Games title with a classy performance. 

The 20-year-old finished with a score of 516.55 to take gold in the event he also won at Delhi 2010.
A superb back 3.5 somersault in his penultimate dive virtually ensured gold for the 2012 Olympic bronze medallist.

Ooi Tze Liang of Malaysia won the silver medal with a score of 433.70, while Canada's Vincent Riendeau took the bronze with 429.25.

England's James Denny, who had partnered Daley to silver in the 10m synchronised platform event, was sixth while fellow countryman Matthew Dixon, aged 14, finished ninth.

Tom Daley's senior medal haul
Olympics: 2012, bronze	Commonwealth Games: 2014 gold and silver; 2010, two golds
World Championships: 2009, gold	European Championships: 2012, gold; 2008, gold

Earlier, their compatriot Hannah Starling claimed bronze in the women's 3m springboard final, won by Australia's Esther Qin, with Canada's Jennifer Abel taking silver.

Alicia Blagg and Rebecca Gallantree of England were seventh and 10th, while Scotland's Grace Reid came ninth.

Afterwards Daley said his sights were now on the Rio Olympics in 2016. "There's every possibility that I can mix it with the Chinese now," he said.

"I wouldn't mind if I never beat the Chinese until 2016. You've only got to do it once and you've got to do it when it counts.

"Hopefully they'll be able to see that I'm coming to get them."

Daley overcame his problems with his so-called 'demon dive' - a back 2.5 somersault, 2.5 twist routine - which was his second dive of the night, and held the lead from the outset.

He struggled with the dive in the morning preliminaries, and was awarded just 37.8, but after a score of 64.80 in the final he looked comfortable with his subsequent attempts.

"It was a lot better than this morning, I got into it a little bit quicker," Daley told BBC Sport.

"The back twister was better, but still not as great as I wanted it to be. The front four-and-a-half was not as good as it was this morning, but there are still lots of positives and I'm really happy to retain the title."

England's 14-year-old Matthew Dixon, who like Tom Daley is from Plymouth, won European junio bronze earlier this year 

The issues had first occurred at London 2012, when he was put off by a camera flash while executing the dive.


Another misfire in April meant he missed out on a medal at a World Series event in London, and he has also enlisted the help of a psychologist to address the issue.

Analysis
"Outstanding from Tom Daley, winning by an absolute country mile, even with the challenges he had in the prelims. After the questions he has had about what he's been doing, he has silenced his critics."
Tom Daley's former mentor and 2004 Olympic silver medallist Leon Taylor

Having started the final with a score of 94.50 for an armstand back triple somersault, Daley stayed ahead and the 102.6 earned for a brilliant back 3.5 somersault on the fifth of six dives virtually guaranteed the gold medal.

Australia's Matthew Mitcham, who had been expected to challenge Daley for the gold, struggled and finished in fourth place with a score of 420.00.

Tom Daley led throughout Saturday's 10m platform final 

Tom Daley has now won eight senior international titles, including six golds 

Hannah Starling won bronze in the women's 3m springboard