Category Archives: NEWS

A plane carrying 239 goes missing


Kuala Lumpur – A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people lost contact over the South China Sea early on Saturday morning on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and international aviation authorities still hadn’t located the jetliner several hours later.
The plane lost communication two hours into the flight in Vietnam’s airspace at 01:20 (18:20 GMT on Friday), China’s official Xinhua News Agency said.

Vietnamese website VN Express said a Vietnamese search and rescue official reported that signals from the plane were detected about 225km southwest of Vietnam’s southernmost Ca Mau province.

Malaysia Airlines said it was working with authorities who activated their search and rescue teams to locate the aircraft.

The route would take the aircraft from Malaysia across to Vietnam and China.

“Our team is currently calling the next-of-kin of passengers and crew. Focus of the airline is to work with the emergency responders and authorities and mobilise its full support,” Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members,” he added.

All countries in the possible flight path of the missing aircraft were performing a “communications and radio search”, said John Andrews, deputy chief of the Philippines’ civil aviation agency.

Fuad Sharuji, Malaysian Airlines’ vice president of operations control, told CNN that the plane was flying at an altitude of 10 670m and that the pilots had reported no problem with the aircraft.

He said the aircraft’s last communication was over the South China Sea between Malaysia and Vietnam.

Flight MH370 departed Kuala Lumpur at 12:41 on Saturday (16:41 GMT on Friday) and had been expected to land in Beijing at 06:30 on Saturday (22:30 GMT on Friday), Malaysia Airlines said.

Passengers on board

The plane was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew members, the airline said. Passengers were from 14 countries, including 153 from China, 38 from Malaysia, seven Australians and four Americans.

At Beijing’s airport, authorities posted a notice asking relatives and friends of passengers to gather to a hotel about 15km from the airport to wait for further information, and provided a shuttle bus service.

Zhai Le was waiting for her friends, a couple who were on their way back to the Chinese capital on the flight. She said she was very concerned because she hadn’t been able to reach them.

A woman wept aboard the shuttle bus while saying on a mobile phone, “They want us to go to the hotel. It cannot be good!”

Yahya, the airline CEO, said the 53-year-old pilot, Zaharie Ahmad Shah, has more than 18 000 flying hours and has been flying for Malaysia Airlines since 1981.

The first officer, 27-year-old Fariq Hamid, has about 2,800 hours of experience and has flown for the airline since 2007.

Malaysia Airlines’ last fatal incident was in 1995, when one its planes crashed near the Malaysian city of Tawau, killing 34 people.

Malaysia Airlines has 15 Boeing 777-200 jets in its fleet of about 100 planes. The state-owned carrier last month reported its fourth straight quarterly loss.

The 777 had not had a fatal crash in its 20-year history until the Asiana crash in San Francisco in July 2013. All 16 crew members survived, but three of the 291 passengers, all teenage girls from China, were killed.

AP

Eskom leaves “no power for big investment”


Cape Town – The impact of the energy crisis in South Africa over the past six years has been so big that the country is no longer seen as the place to invest in Africa, according to economist Mike Schüssler of economists.co.za told Fin24.

“South African firms today invest nearly as much in Africa or elsewhere than in SA. There is simply no power for big investments.”
For more http://www.news24.com

Guard shocked by sight of Reeva


Pretoria – A security guard was shocked to see Oscar Pistorius carrying his girlfriend down the stairs of his home after he had shot her, the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria heard on Friday.

Pieter Baba said he was shocked as he had earlier called Pistorius after tenants in Silver Woods Country Estate had called him, telling him they had heard gunshots.

Baba had been employed at the complex for around two years. He testified that five guards would be positioned at the complex at night, while another five would take the evening duty.

He called Pistorius and he told him that “everything was fine”.

He told a colleague with him that he was sure that something was wrong.

Pistorius phoned him back and Pistorius just started crying over the phone and the line cut.

“I immediately told Jacob everything is not right.”

When Baba arrived at Pistorius’s house he saw Pistorius carrying Steenkamp’s body down he stairs.

“I was so shocked. I couldn’t think for a few moments,” said Baba.

“I was staring at Mr Pistorius. I was terrified,” Baba said in Afrikaans. His evidence was being translated to English.

As Baba recalled the event, Pistorius leaned forward in the dock, and covered his eyes. He seemed to have been crying.

‘Fine’ or ‘okay’

Advocate Barry Roux started digging into Baba’s statement, asking whether Pistorius said “he is okay” or “everything is okay”, and whether he said “okay” or “fine”.

An exasperated Baba sighed, lowered his head and repeated, slowly: “My Lady, the exact words were ‘security, everything is fine’.”

Roux replied dryly: “We’ll deal with that on Monday.”

There were giggles from the public gallery.

Prosecutor Gerrie Nel then asked Judge Thokozile Masipa whether could court start at 10:00 on Monday, instead of 09:30, as this day had “its own character”.

“What character?” Masipa asked, smiling.

“My Lady, everything goes wrong on Monday,” Nel replied, to laughter.

He eventually dropped his request and Masipa said court would start at 09:30.

Pistorius is accused of the murder of model and law graduate Steenkamp on 14 February 2013.

He is also charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition, and two counts of discharging a firearm in public.

He allegedly fired a shot from a Glock pistol under a table at a Johannesburg restaurant in January 2013.

In September 2010 he allegedly shot through the open sunroof of a car with his 9mm pistol while driving with friends in Modderfontein.

SAPA

Saps spokesperson failed matric- trial


Durban – Former police spokesperson Vincent Mdunge failed his matric exams in 1985, as well as supplementary exams written in 1986, a KwaZulu-Natal education official told the Durban Regional Court on Friday.

Bongani Chiliza, giving evidence in Mdunge’s trial, said: “According to our records, no [matric] certificate was issued to him”.

Mdunge is accused of fraudulently presenting a fake matric certificate when he joined the police in 1987. He resigned last year, after the allegation surfaced in September, and was arrested in October.

He faces three charges of fraud and one of uttering.

Chiliza said the matric certificate Mdunge claimed he was issued with was invalid because the exam number on the certificate was 83, not 85, the year that Mdunge claimed he wrote his matric examinations.

Chiliza said the highest qualification Mdunge had obtained was a Standard Eight certificate.

‘Tampered unlawfully’

Two of Mdunge’s fraud charges relate to his presentation of the alleged fraudulent certificate to the SA Police Service when he joined the police. He earned a salary of R3.5 million during his employ with the SAPS.

The third fraud charges relates to his presentation of the alleged fraudulent certificate to the University of South Africa to obtain admission for a course to obtain a National Diploma in Police Administration.

Mdunge’s lawyer, Saleem Khan, told the court that when Mdunge went to the education department’s offices in July 2013, to have his matric certificate issued, the official he dealt with exclaimed: “There is something wrong. Someone has tampered unlawfully with his records”.

Chiliza said he could not comment on the allegation.

He also denied Khan’s assertion that he had previously met Mdunge, or spoken to him over the phone.

Khan said Chiliza had met Mdunge at the department’s Melgate building in Durban to discuss fraudulent matric certificates.

He said he would get cellphone records proving that Chiliza had spoken to Mdunge.

Before the trial got underway, magistrate Thandeka Fikeni issued a warrant of arrest at the State’s request for a witness who had failed to appear in court.

Asking for the warrant, prosecutor Barend Groen told the court that Daniel Morape had been subpoenaed, but had failed to arrive at court.

The trial continues.

SAPA

Oscar said everything was fine: Guard


Pretoria – The ninth witness brought to the stand in the murder trial of Oscar Pistorius was Pieter Baba, a shift leader and security guard at Silverwoods Country estate.

Baba was on duty the night Pistorius shot his model girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp.
For more http://www.news24.com

A man nabbed with bag of dagga


By Obakeng Maje
Kimberley- In a joint police operation, Kimberley K9 unit, Galeshewe Crime Intelligence and members from SAPS Plooysburg successfully arrested a man on his way to Namibia with bags of dagga.

“It is alleged that on Thursday at about 09:00 police pulled over a 22 meter truck on the N8. The truck was bound for Namibia” colonel Priscilla Naidu said.

Police said the back was loaded with deep freezes.

When police searched the passenger section of the truck, they found 9 bags of dagga with a total weight of 223kg.

“The 42 year-old driver could not account for the possession. The truck was confiscated and the man arrested. The estimated value of the cannabis is R223 000” Naidu said.

He is expected to appear in court on Monday on a charge of possession of dagga.

The Kimberley Cluster Commander, Major General Jean Abrahams commended police members for their excellent team effort. “The continuous arrest of drug smugglers sends out a clear and loud message that our Province is not a drug haven. We appreciate the relentless efforts of our members in curbing the illegal trafficking of drugs.” commented Maj Gen Abrahams.-TDN
Follow us on Twitter@Taung_DailyNews or @IceT_

 

 

Bafana ‘fixing’ probe shelved


Johannesburg South Africa will not investigate alleged match-fixing in Bafana Bafana’s warm-up games preceding the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the presidency said on Friday.

“President Jacob Zuma has decided not to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate, among other things, the alleged match fixing and manipulation of soccer [match] outcomes in relation to Bafana Bafana’s pre-2010 World Cup international friendly matches,” spokesperson Mac Maharaj said in a statement.

“The international football association (FIFA) has advised the president that there is currently a pending preliminary investigation on the same matter by FIFA,” he said.

In November last year, the chairperson of FIFA’s ethics committee said it had moved ahead with its own investigation because the South African government had not yet set up an inquiry – seven months after it had agreed to do so, and over three years after the matches in question.

FIFA had found strong evidence that friendlies played in the host country just weeks ahead of the 2010 World Cup were fixed, with allegations that the matches were manipulated by referees working for illegal Asian betting syndicates.

Although the exact games had not been identified, South Africa’s 5-0 win over Guatemala and 2-1 win over Colombia in May 2010 were under suspicion.

Three penalties were awarded in each match, mostly for handball, with a number of the decisions questionable.

Sports minister Fikile Mbalula criticised FIFA at the time it announced its own investigation, accusing it of interfering in South Africa’s business.

FIFA defended itself, saying it was authorised to investigate under its ethics code where “associations fail to prosecute potential breaches of that code”.

Mbalula led the South African delegation which met FIFA in April last year when it was agreed the South African government would set up an inquiry to look into the fixing allegations.

SAPA

Eskom briefing load shedding- as it happen


Cape Town – Eskom said at a media briefing on Friday that it is experiencing severe cash flow problems and a decision to implement rolling blackouts was painful.
The briefing was necessitated after unannounced load shedding across South Africa on Thursday caused chaos for many South Africans.
Late on Thursday, Eskom said electricity was restored to all areas, after the emergency had been lifted at 22:00.
The media briefing on the state of the nation’s power situation as it happened…
For more http://www.news24.com

Oscar previously heard ‘intruders’


Pretoria – Oscar Pistorius had previously believed an intruder was in his house, the North Gauteng High Court heard on Friday.

Samantha Taylor, an ex-girlfriend of Pistorius, said that on one or two occasions while she had been at his home, he had believed there could have been a burglar in the house.

She recalled one night when Pistorius heard something hit against the bathroom window.

“One occasion… he woke me up and asked if I had heard it. I told him it was probably the storm,” said Taylor.

Gun

He said Pistorius took his gun, and he and a friend who was living with him at the time went to investigate. The two men found nothing.

Pistorius is on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, whom he shot dead through a locked bathroom door in his Pretoria home.

He says he mistook her for an intruder.

The State, however, argues that it was premeditated murder.

Taylor completed delivering her evidence on Friday afternoon before the court adjourned for lunch.

Pistorius scared of being attacked

Earlier, Pistorius’s lawyer Barry Roux told the court that his client feared being attacked.

“He was… very scared that he could be attacked,” Roux put to Taylor.

She replied: “Not necessarily… I don’t think he was scared.”

Roux then asked her about a day in April 2012 when she and Pistorius were pursued by a white C Class Mercedes.

“I recall it being a black BMW,” she said.

She said when they arrived at Pistorius’s gated complex in Pretoria, the athlete got out of his car with his gun and the car drove off.

She said neither of them was particularly scared at the time.

“He didn’t seem very concerned,” Taylor said.

She said when Pistorius walked on his stumps he had to balance against something.

Responding to Roux’s statement that Pistorius kept his gun under his bed, she said he either kept it on the floor next to his bed or on his bedside table.

SAPA

Dr Stipp’s testimony vital


Criminal law expert William Booth describes why Dr Johan Stipp’s testimony is vital to the Oscar Pistorius case.
For more http://www.news24.com