News–25/03/2014

He May Be Sentenced

On Valentines Day 2013, the south African sprinter Oscar Pistorius was arrested on suspicion of the murder of his girlfriend. 13 months later, the sprinter found out he would have to wait until (at least) May to be told of his fate. The delay in trial time was due to the prosecution not yet completing its case in the 4 weeks the trial has been happening. The trial will now give representatives from both sides an opportunity to rethink their witnesses and statements.

DETAILED ACCOUNT OF MURDER TRIAL – DAY 15

Debris Sparks Hope in the Baffling Mystery of Malaysian Jet

Over three weeks since the disappearance of flight MH370 which has dumbfounded the international community since its signals fell of the radar, it seems some promising evidence has been unearthed. In a search spread in an arc from the North West of China to the Indian Ocean just off of Australia, five countries have deployed leading search jets in the hope they will find an indication of what happened to the Malaysian jet. Over the past week, three potential sightings of debris from the jet have been discovered by the Australian search team, making the area the focus point of the search. Debris over 20 metres long was detected by satellite and aviation professionals have indicated that this debris has potential strong links to discovering the fate of the plane. Despite some scepticism over the debris, with certain professionals claiming it is unlikely that a part of the plane 20 metres long would stay intact after impact, Australia PM Tony Abbott is hopeful about the sightings in the southern corridor of the Indian Ocean: "There is increasing hope that we might be on the road to discovering what did happen to this ill-fated aircraft". Unfortunately, not all involved in the mysterious disappearance of the airliner shares the Prime Minister’s hope. Family frustration has engulfed this story over the past week with families of the missing passengers accusing search teams of lackadaisical efforts. Families are angered that after three weeks there is still no conclusive evidence of indication of whether they are safe or not and in recent press conferences globally, frustration has become uncontainable. We continue to sympathise with these families and keep all of those affected by this mystery in our thoughts.

Mystery Shrouds Vanished Jet

The whereabouts of the vanishing Malaysian plane has been a topic on everyone’s mind since it’s unexplained disappearance one week ago. Now missing, 239 passengers were aboard flight MH370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing including 2 passengers with stolen passports. Speculation about how these two passengers managed to board the flight has been rife, and recent developments have provoked even further conversation. It was revealed today that signals from the plane were ‘deliberately disabled’ in a statement from the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak. A plane then suspected, but not confirmed as MH370, turned back on its course before all signals were lost. Subsequent to the loss of radar contact, the plane continued for some 7 hours before altogether vanishing into the mystery encompassing the flight for the past 7 days. Theories from hijacking to crash landing have been surfacing in the international news; however Mr Razak could neither confirm nor deny any of these speculations stating in his speech earlier today that ‘all possibilities’ were being explored. Teams have been deployed to search for any wreckage or indications of the plane’s fate in the Indian Ocean and the globe stays strong in hope for any news about the wellbeing of the missing passengers. However, in a search that has been compared to looking for a needle in a haystack, conclusive developments look unlikely in the immediate future.
Thanks to Rachael Griffiths for the post.