Pictures of CRASHED MALAYSIAN AIRLINER MH - 17

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Malaysia Airlines 'loses contact' with flight over Ukraine

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia Airlines said on Thursday it had "lost contact" with one of its passenger planes whose last known position was over eastern Ukraine, amid speculation it had been shot down. 

"Malaysia Airlines has lost contact of MH17 from Amsterdam," the airline, still reeling from the disappearance of flight MH370, said on its Twitter account. 

"The last known position was over Ukrainian airspace," it said, adding that it would provide more details soon. 

The plane was due to travel from Amsterdam on an overnight flight to Kuala Lumpur, and was expected in the Malaysian capital at around 6am on Friday (2200 GMT Thursday). 

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said the jet crashed over rebel-held eastern Ukraine and may have been shot down. 

"We do not exclude that the plane was shot down and confirm that the Ukraine Armed Forces did not fire at any targets in the sky," Poroshenko said in a statement posted on the president's website. 

Russia's UN envoy denied involvement. "We didn't do it," Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told reporters at UN headquarters in New York. 

Malaysia Airlines did not immediately specify the type of aircraft involved or how many passengers were aboard. 

"I am shocked by reports that an MH plane crashed," Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on his Twitter feed. 

"We are launching an immediate investigation." The flag carrier and Malaysia's government are still struggling to provide answers to the mysterious March 8 disappearance of flight MH370. 

The plane went missing with 239 passengers and crew on board and is now believed to have diverted off its flight path and crashed in the remote Indian Ocean.

Malaysia Airlines crash: Ukraine crash less like accident than crime, Australian PM says

SYDNEY: The Malaysia Airlines crash in Ukraine looked less like an accident than a crime, Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Friday, as he urged Russia to cooperate with an investigation into the incident.

The airliner carrying 298 people came down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine on Thursday, and US officials said it appeared to have been shot down by a surface-to-air missile.

Abbott said he owed it to the families of those onboard, including 27 Australians, to find out exactly what happened to the plane which was travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.

"As things stand, this looks less like an accident than a crime," he told parliament.

"And if so, the perpetrators must be brought to justice," he added to cries of "hear, hear".

Abbott said Australia would as quickly as possible work for a binding resolution at the United Nations Security Council calling for a full and impartial investigation.

This would require full access to the site, the debris, the black box and "all individuals who might be in a position to shed light on this terrible event", he said.

"The minister for foreign affairs will shortly summon the Russian ambassador to seek a categoric assurance from the ambassador that the Russian government will fully cooperate in this investigation," he said.

Abbott said a department of foreign affairs team would be departing soon for Kiev, and bodies would be repatriated as soon as possible while support would be offered to families.

"We can and will do everything we can to support them in this sad and bitter time," he said

"The bullying of small countries by big ones, the trampling of justice and decency in the pursuit of national aggrandisement, and reckless indifference to human life should have no place in our world," he added.

Australia is leading the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 which is thought to have crashed into the Indian Ocean on March 8. No sign of the jet carrying 239 people has yet been found.

US officials say they suspect SA-11 or SA-20 missiles brought down Malaysia jet

American officials, who said a surface-to-air missile was responsible for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 on Thursday, said they suspected that the missile was either an SA-11 or SA-20, both Russian made.

In the early hours of the investigation, determining clear accountability for a missile attack was impossible, in part because all three of the forces in or near the conflict area - the pro-Russian separatists, the Ukrainian military and the Russian military - could possess SA-11s, which are one of many legacy weapons from the Soviet Union circulating through this war.

Known in Russian as a "Buk" and among Nato nations as a "Gadfly," the SA-11 was first designed in the 1970s. Successor variants are in the inventories of both Russian and Ukrainian air-defense units. A Buk system is vehicle-mounted and self-propelled, which means it can be moved around the battlefield, making it hard to track.

For ordnance, the SA-11 system fires roughly 18-foot-long missiles that can reach much higher than the reported altitude - 33,000 feet — of the Malaysian passenger jet. (Some variants of the missiles can reach above 70,000 feet.) Each missile carries a large high-explosive warhead, against which a thin-skinned Boeing 777 would have no defense.

SA-11s are normally operated in a battery, with a command vehicle and a separate target-acquisition radar. According to a written analysis by Doug Richardson of IHS Jane's, a sole SA-11 vehicle "can also operate in stand-alone mode."

"Its built-in radar is normally used to track the target being engaged, but can be operated in a target-detection mode, allowing it to autonomously engage targets that were present in the radar's forward field of view," he wrote.

This would mean the separatists might be capable of using an SA-11, too, even without a full battery. (Recent interviews with rebels by The New York Times found that many were veterans of the Soviet or Ukrainian militaries, including air-defense units.)

But whether the rebels possess SA-11s, as part of a battery or otherwise, is an unsettled question.

Ukrainian and American officials have accused Russia of providing the separatists with many sophisticated and powerful weapons, and the rebels have also captured many Ukrainian weapons, meaning they could have obtained SA-11s from either source.

A social media post attributed to Igor Strelkov, the shadowy pro-Russian commander, showed him claiming to have captured Buk missiles. That claim has not been verified independently, and the rebels have been given to boasts.

The Ukrainian government released audio recordings that it claimed were intercepted phone calls between rebels discussing shooting down the plane.

Malaysian PM Razak (right) addresses reporters as Malaysia's defence minister Hussein stands by him at Sama-Sama Hotel near Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang. (Reuters photo)

The separatists have repeatedly spoken of other, verifiable air-defense capabilities, and have often been seen with other surface-to-air missiles — heat-seeking, shoulder-fired missiles known as Manpads.

This image taken from a video on July 17, 2014, shows a guidebook found in the wreckage of the Malaysian plane downed over Ukraine. (AP photo) 

With maximum elevations that are not much beyond 10,000 feet, Manpads cannot reach to the cruising altitudes of commercial passenger jets. Both pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian officials have said, however, that they have shot down helicopters in the conflict.

Malaysia says jetliner did not make distress call

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: The Malaysia Airlines jetliner that went down in war-torn Ukraine did not make any distress call, Malaysia's prime minister said on Friday, adding that its flight route had been declared safe by the global civil aviation body. 

Najib Razak, who addressed a middle-of-the-night news conference after speaking with leaders of Ukraine and the Netherlands, and to President Barack Obama, said "no stone will be left unturned" in finding out what happened to Flight 17 and the 298 people on board. 

It is the second tragedy to hit Malaysia Airlines this year. Its Flight 370 disappeared March 8 while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. It has not been found, but the search has been concentrated in the Indian Ocean west of Australia. 

"This is a tragic day in what has already been a tragic year for Malaysia," Najib said. 

In both tragedies, the planes were the wide-bodied Boeing 777-200. 

Najib said that Ukrainian authorities believe Flight 17, which was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with 283 passengers and 15 crew, was shot down Thursday. Among the passengers were three infants. 

A U.S. official said American intelligence authorities believe a surface-to-air missile took down the plane, but it is not clear who fired it. He said it appears unlikely the Ukrainian government, which has denied responsibility, shot down the plane because it doesn't have the capabilities. Pro-Russia separatists fighting the government have also denied any responsibility. 

"At this stage, however, Malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy but we must, and we will, find out precisely what happened to this flight," Najib said. "If it transpires that the plane was indeed shot down we insist that the perpetrators must swiftly be brought to justice," he said. 

At least 27 of the victims were Australian, and Prime Minister Tony Abbott said Friday that authorities owed it to the families of the dead to find out what happened. 

"As things stand, this looks less like an accident than a crime. And if so, the perpetrators must be brought to justice," Abbott told parliament. 

Abbott said he thought Russia was behind the shooting down of the plane. 

"This is a grim day for our country and it's a grim day for our world," he said. "Malaysia Airlines MH17 has been shot down over the eastern Ukraine it seems by Russian-backed rebels." 

Najib said the aircraft flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organization. The International Air Transportation Association had also stated that the air space that the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions, he said. Besides, "Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that the aircraft did not make a distress call." 

Still, a former head of airports security group BAA suggested that many airlines including Malaysia Airlines had continued to use the route despite warnings because it was shorter and cheaper. 

"It is a busy aviation route and there have been suggestions that a notice was given to aviators telling airlines to avoid that particular area," said Norman Shanks, who is a professor of aviation security at Coventry University in England. 

"But Malaysia Airlines, like a number of other carriers, have been continuing to use it because it is a shorter route, which means less fuel and therefore less money," he told The Associated Press. 

Hours after the disaster, Malaysia Airlines announced all European flights will henceforth take an alternative route. 

Najib said the Ukrainian government has promised a full and thorough investigation which will include Malaysian officials. He said they will also negotiate with rebels to "establish a humanitarian corridor to the crash site." 

In his conversation with Obama, Najib said they agreed that "the investigation must not be hindered in any way. An international team must have full access to the crash site. And no one must interfere with the area, or move any debris, including the black box." 

Earlier, several relatives of those on board the Malaysian airliner began arriving at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport to seek news of their loved ones. 

A distraught Akmar Mohamad Noor said her older sister, who lives in Geneva, was on her way back to celebrate Eid with the family. 

The 67-year-old sister has lived in Geneva for 30 years and last visited the family in Kuala Lumpur five years ago, she said. 

"She was coming back from Geneva to celebrate (Eid) with us for the first time in 30 years," Akmar said in between sobs. "She called me just before she boarded the plane and said `see you soon," Akmar said. 

She said the family saw the news on TV and rushed to the airport to get details. 

Several other angry relatives were shouting and demanding to see the passenger manifest but there was no official from Malaysian Airline present, and security guards prevented them from going into the airline's operating area. 

"We have been waiting for four hours. We found out the news from international media. The Facebook is more efficient than MAS. It's so funny, they are a laughing stock," an angry young man told reporters. He declined to give his name.

Militants kill eight Pakistani paramilitary members

PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Militants killed eight members of a government paramilitary force in a midnight attack on a security checkpoint in Pakistan's restive northwest, security officials said Friday. 

The militants bombarded the checkpoint with rocket-propelled grenades, two senior military officials said, before overrunning and ransacking it. Local residents said the gunfire began around midnight and continued for at least two hours. 

The attack, for which no militant group has so far claimed responsibility, comes amid a military offensive to push the Taliban out of North Waziristan, a remote northwestern region near the border with Afghanistan. 

Nato has long urged the military to take action against Taliban safe havens in North Waziristan, where many groups had bases they used to launch attacks in Afghanistan. 

North Waziristan was considered the key stronghold of the Taliban after other areas in Pakistan had been mostly cleared of militants. 

But residents say most militants moved out before the Pakistani army announced its offensive last month, raising fears that they may now be beefing up their presence in other areas. 

"The militants displaced from North Waziristan have returned to the Khyber agency and started attacks on security forces," said one security official. 

The Khyber Agency is part of the semiautonomous areas where tribal law holds sway instead of Pakistan's judicial system, and the government is represented by a political agent. 

Eight members of the state-run Frontier Corps men were killed and three others injured in the attack in the region's Jamrud subdivision. 

Khyber is about 48 km (30 miles) north of North Waziristan, and also borders Afghanistan.

American who hijacked jet to Cuba in the 1980s gets 20 years in prison

An American who returned from Cuba decades after hijacking a jetliner to the communist island was sentenced on Thursday to 20 years in US prison but will be eligible for early release on parole, an acknowledgement by prosecutors of the years he spent behind bars in Cuba.

US district judge K Michael Moore imposed the sentence on Thursday on William Potts Jr, 57, for the 1984 hijacking of the Piedmont Airlines flight en route from New York to Miami. Potts pleaded guilty to a kidnapping charge, which was substituted by prosecutors for a previous air piracy charge that would have required Potts to serve a minimum of 20 years.

This way, Potts should get out on parole after serving almost seven years, or one-third of the overall sentence. Assistant US attorney Maria Medetis said that was the government's way of giving Potts credit for 13 years he served in Cuba — the Combinado del Este Prison near Havana that Potts' lawyer, Robert Berube, described as a "hellhole".

"He did an unbelievable amount of time in a very bad place," Berube said.

Potts apologized in court and said he is no longer the self-described angry black militant, calling himself "Lt Spartacus," who claimed in a note to a flight attendant that he planned to blow up the flight unless it was diverted to Cuba. Potts returned to the US last year hoping to resolve the case so he could spend time with his two children, who moved from Cuba to this country earlier.

"I changed a long time ago, not just because I'm here before you," Potts told the judge. "I promise you'll never regret this if you give me a chance."

Moore, who could have put Potts behind bars for life, said prosecutors made a major concession by filing the reduced charge to give Potts a relatively light sentence.

"This is a changed defendant and a remorseful defendant," Moore said.

Parole has been abolished in the federal system, but it still applies for Potts because his crime was committed so long ago.

Potts was arrested by Cuban authorities as soon as the Piedmont Airlines jetliner landed in Cuba in March 1984. He was sentenced to 15 years behind bars, ultimately serving 13 years before his release.

In previous interviews, Potts said he thought he'd be welcomed as a hero and given training as a guerrilla. After his release, he lived quietly east of Havana until last year when he decided to return to the US to resolve the charges here.

"I hoped that we could work this out. That's why I came back of my own accord," Potts said in court. "Your honor, I didn't get away with anything."