Gunmen kill 5 customs officials in Kohat

-----File Photo

PESHAWAR: Unidentified gunmen shot dead five customs officials patrolling overnight in the Kohat city of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, authorities said on Wednesday.

The gunmen attacked the duty officers at around midnight in Kohat city, some 80 kilometres (49 miles) southwest of Peshawar, capital of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.

“Three gunmen fired at the customs team indiscriminately. Four officials died on the spot and another succumbed to his injuries in hospital later, “Sohaib Ashraf, district police chief in Kohat, told AFP.

“We are unaware of the identity of the attackers but it's an act of terrorism,” he said.

Another police official in the area, Iqbal Mohmand said the attackers escaped on foot under cover of darkness.

A customs department official also confirmed the incident.

“It was a terrorist attack on our team. All five members of the team were killed in this attack. They hailed from local areas of Kohat and Karak districts,” he said.

Uniformed government officials, including polio vaccination workers, are often targeted by militants who want to overthrow the government.

Customs officials, meanwhile, sometimes come under attack by criminal gangs.

Pakistan has strengthened its anti-terror strategy in the wake of a December 16 attack on an army-run school in Peshawar that killed 150 people, including 130 children.

Arson attack at German paper that ran Charlie Hebdo cartoons

Firefighters stand outside the building of the 'Hamburger Morgenpost' in Hamburg, northern Germany, Sunday morning, Jan. 11, 2015 - AP

BERLIN: A German newspaper in the northern port city of Hamburg that reprinted Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) cartoons from the French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo was the target of an arson attack early Sunday, police said.

“Rocks and then a burning object were thrown through the window,” a police spokesman told AFP.

“Two rooms on lower floors were damaged but the fire was put out quickly.

“The regional tabloid daily, the Hamburger Morgenpost, had splashed three Charlie Hebdo cartoons on its front page after the massacre at the Paris publication, running the headline “This much freedom must be possible!

“No one was hurt in the attack, which police said occurred at about 0120 GMT.

Two people were detained, while state security has opened an investigation, police said.

Whether there was a connection between the Charlie Hebdo cartoons and the attack was the “key question”, the police spokesman said, adding that it was “too soon” to know for certain.

Police declined to provide further information about the suspects.

No one at the Hamburger Morgenpost, known locally as the Mopo and which has a circulation of around 91,000, could immediately be reached for comment.

“Thick smoke is still hanging in the air, the police are looking for clues,” the newspaper said in its online edition. The newspaper's website is however inaccessible in Pakistan.

Local users trying to access Morgenpost are greeted with a message that says "the site contains content that is prohibited from viewership within Pakistan".

Media reports said the newspaper's publishers had ordered private security protection for the building in the western district of Othmarschen.

German news agency DPA reported that the attack had occurred from a courtyard of the building and hit the newspaper's archive room where some records were destroyed.

It quoted a police spokeswoman as saying that the editorial team should be able to continue work in the building as the damage was relatively minor.

Two Islamic extremists stormed the offices of Charlie Hebdo on Wednesday, killing a total of 12 people including some of France's best-loved satirists.

Both men were killed Friday in a standoff with police.

Several German newspapers had published the Charlie Hebdo cartoons on their front pages Thursday in a gesture of solidarity with the French cartoonists and in defence of free speech.

Germany's Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported earlier Sunday that the bloodshed in France could signal the start of a wave of attacks in Europe, citing communications by Islamic State leaders intercepted by US intelligence.

Shortly after the bloodbath in Paris, the US National Security Agency had intercepted communications in which leaders of the jihadist group announced the next wave of attacks, the tabloid said, citing unnamed sources in the US intelligence services.

Fanaticism: From Peshawar to Paris

A French soldier stands guard in front of the Eiffel Tower as Paris is placed under the highest alert status. —AFP

 

If their agenda is to put a wedge between Muslims and the rest, the Jihadists are doing a pretty fine job.

 

The attack in Paris that killed 12 journalists and police at the office of the newspaper Charlie Hebdo occurred only a day after thousands of ordinary Germans marched in support of Muslims in Berlin and Cologne. The Germans came out in thousands in response to the earlier anti-Muslim rally in Dresden.
Despite the economic hardships seen since 2009, Europe has largely remained a welcoming place for Muslims.

Al-Qaeda and its affiliates, however, have a different agenda. They want to define the relationship between Islam and the West. The Paris attack appears to be a retaliation against the caricatures of revered figures of Islam published earlier by Charlie Hebdo. The editor, Stéphane Charbonnier, also among the dead, had received death threats in the past.



From Paris to Peshawar, a plague of intolerance has swept through parts of Muslim societies. The Taliban kill children in Allah’s name, and are unrepentant. The police even murdered an accused left in their protective custody. The man on the street turns to violence when his religious sensibilities are disturbed.

There are the lynch mobs in Punjab who burnt alive a pregnant woman and her husband after accusing them of blasphemy. The couple’s toddler witnessed the lynching and narrated the story that will haunt him forever.
If poverty is Pakistan’s excuse for wholesale fanaticism, what is the excuse for Iran, which is set to execute 30-year old Soheil Arabi for “insulting the Prophet” in his Facebook posts? A few decades earlier, Iran’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a death sentence to Salman Rushdie for similar accusations.
Would anyone care to stop and think why Muslims are killing in the name of the Prophet (PBUH) who always pardoned those who transgressed against his person?

The Islamic teachings we grew up with conflict squarely with what the armed, bearded, and hooded men proclaim today.

—Source: Pew Research Global Attitudes Project Spring 2013. 

We were told as children how the Prophet (PBUH) looked after the same ailing old woman who used to throw refuse at him. We were taught how the Prophet honoured the agreements (Suleh Hudaibia) with his enemies, even if it meant hardships. Murder in the name of the one who pardoned his worst enemies in war makes little sense.



The attack on freedom of expression is likely to be more painful for the French who embody liberté, égalité, and fraternité. Only a week ago, we learnt from the International Federation of Journalists that Pakistan was the most dangerous place for journalists to work where 14 journalists lost their lives in 2014.
A single attack in Paris has killed several journalists in the heart of Europe and at the hands of Muslims. No amount of scapegoating by Muslims will succeed in shifting the blame to a ‘misguided minority’ among the larger Muslim body politic.

It would be naïve to assume that those who marched in support of Muslims against the rightwing extremists in Germany were unaware of the threats posed by the Islamic extremists. A Pew Research Global Attitudes poll in Spring 2013 revealed that 95 per cent of Germans considered Islamic extremists a threat to their country.

Still, when racist elements pushed against Muslims and immigrants, ordinary Germans marched in solidarity with Muslims.

At the same time, 94 per cent of French and 88 per cent of the British felt the same about Islamic extremists.
Despite these reservations, European Muslims do live freely and pursue successful careers in academia, government, and the industry.

 This is not to deny the racial biases in Europe, but, is Pakistan or other Muslim nations free of such biases where ethnic, sectarian, and religious minorities face open discrimination?

The massacres in Peshawar and Paris, and the daily bombings in Yemen, Syria, and Iraq must provide the impetus for a tolerant and forgiving Islam to emerge in Muslim societies, where the majority needs to shun its justifications or silence, and loudly refuse to tolerate killing in the name of Islam.

12 Dead In Shooting At Paris Offices Of Satirical Magazine

A video image circulating on Facebook and YouTube, showing two gunmen on a road near the Paris offices. -Photo Public Domain

PARIS: Two brothers suspected of having gunned down 12 people in an Islamist attack on satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo were spotted Thursday morning and are armed, sources close to the manhunt said.

The manager of a petrol station near Villers-Cotteret in the northern Aisne region “recognised the two men suspected of having participated in the attack against Charlie Hebdo”, the source said.

French Police, earlier on Thursday, identified three men, including two brothers, as suspects in the attack at the offices of weekly satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, as security officers fanned out around the Paris region in a manhunt.

Armed gunmen face police officers near the offices of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris on January 7, 2015, during an attack on the offices of the newspaper which left eleven dead, including two police officers, according to sources close to the investigation. —AFP

One police official said the men had links to a Yemeni terrorist network. Witnesses of the attackers' escape through Paris said one claimed allegiance to al Qaeda in Yemen.

Two police officials named the three suspects as Frenchmen Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, who are brothers and in their early 30s, as well as 18-year-old Hamyd Mourad, whose nationality wasn't immediately clear.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to publicly discuss the sensitive and ongoing investigation.

Cherif Kouachi was convicted in 2008 of terrorism charges for helping funnel fighters to Iraq's insurgency, and sentenced to 18 months in prison.

During his 2008 trial, he told the court he was motivated by his outrage at television images of torture of Iraqi inmates at the US prison at Abu Ghraib.

Hooded gunmen stormed the Paris offices of a weekly satirical magazine, killing at least 12 people, including two police officers in the worst militant attack on French soil in recent decades.
Charlie Hebdo (Charlie Weekly) is well known for courting controversy with satirical attacks on political and religious leaders.

Victims included four prominent cartoonists, among them the editor-in-chief, Stephane Charbonnier, who had lived under police protection for years after receiving death threats.

The chief editor was holding a morning meeting when the assailants armed with Kalashnikovs burst in and opened fire. The three other cartoonists who died were Jean Cabut, Georges Wolinski and Bernard Verlhac.
Two assailants were captured on video calmly leaving the scene after the shooting. A police union official said the assailants remained at liberty and there were fears of further attacks.

France Info radio said police had confirmed 10 injured. Police informed Reuters that of the 10 wounded, five were injured critically.

There were no immediate arrests and no immediate claim of responsibility for the shootings.

A tweeter from al Qaeda's Yemeni branch, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, who communicated Wednesday with The Associated Press, said the group is not claiming responsibility, but said it might have inspired the attack.

The satirical newspaper gained notoriety in Feb 2006 when it reprinted sacrilegious cartoons that had originally appeared in Danish daily Jyllands-Posten. The cartoons set off a wave of violence in the Middle East which claimed 50 lives.

A firebomb attack gutted the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo in November 2011 after it put an image of the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) on its cover.

Hafeez Fails To Clear Bio-Mechanics Test On Bowling Action

This photograph taken on December 5, 2014, shows Mohammad Hafeez delivering the ball during the second and last International T20 cricket match at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai. — AFP/file

This photograph taken on December 5, 2014, shows Mohammad Hafeez delivering the ball during the second and last International T20 cricket match at Dubai International Stadium in Dubai. — AFP/file

LAHORE: All-rounder Mohammad Hafeez has failed to clear the second bio-mechanics test conducted to assess the legality of his bowling action in a lab in Chennai, India according to initial reports received by the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) .

 

A PCB official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the bending of Hafeez’s arm both round and over the wicket exceeded the limit of 15 degrees — the legal level set by the ICC for bowlers.

Over the wicket, Hafeez turned his arm at angles measuring from 16 to 18 degrees while round the wicket it ranged between 12 and 19 degrees, disclosed the official.

The PCB had selected Chennai as the venue for Hafeez’s test on grounds that a couple of bowlers had been cleared from there in the recent past.

However, former PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf had warned the PCB not to send the senior all-rounder to Chennai, rather to Brisbane, Australia for the bio-mechanics test..

However, the PCB still believes that compared to banned off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, Hafeez’s problems are far too less and therefore, he would be selected in the World Cup squad as he will have more than one month to improve his bowling action before the World Cup which commences in Australia and New Zealand on Feb 14.

Ajmal, whose action was found to be at an alarming level of 48 to 50 degrees, has optd out of the World Cup selection as it will still take him a considerable time to remodel his action and get it approved from the ICC. As for Hafeez, since he is also a recognized batsman, the PCB believes he would still be quite useful in the upcoming mega event.

It is up to Hafeez to show his mental strength in overcoming the odds and retaining his place in the national team purely as a batsmanif he does not get the required clearance on his bowling action.

As batsman, Hafeez’s performance in the last 12 One-day matches is not too impressive. He has aggregated 360 runs at a modest average of 30. But his nine wickets haul in 12 matches makes him a solid asset for the Pakistan team. However, it will be a testing time for the selectors whether to select Hafeez or not just as batsman.

Meanwhile, some cricket experts are also backing Azhar Ali to replace Hafeez in the World Cup squad as he can also bowl quite well besides having the ability to open the innings with dashing Ahmed Shehzad.

However, Azhar does not really have established credentials as an all-rounder, especially in the one-day format, so picking him for World Cup as an all-rounder is not a surefire bet for the selectors.

Hafeez was called by the ICC umpires during the first Test against New Zealand in November last year in the UAE. He was sent for his first bio-mechanics test to Loughborough’s National Cricket Performance Centre where he appeared on Dec 7 on the instructions of the ICC. He, however, failed to clear that test.
Instead of starting the rehab process on Hafeez at that time, the PCB and the team management preferred to include him in the third Test against New Zealand and later for the five-match One-day series against the Kiwis in the UAE which was not a wise move.

The final Pakistan squad for the World Cup is to be named on Jan 7.

Nawaz Calls Parliamentary Leaders To Address Concerns On Military Courts

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. — AFP/File

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has called a meeting of parliamentary leaders at the Prime Minister House on Friday (tomorrow) to address concerns that have arisen on the matter of military courts.

The two main opposition parties, Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP), which had earlier endorsed the move, have since been having second thoughts to the commitments they had made during the December 24 meeting of parliamentary parties and key stakeholders, including the military's top brass, who were present there.

Earlier, PPP stalwart and Leader of the Opposition in the Senate Aitzaz Ahsan had categorically stated that he had opposed the idea of amending the constitution for establishing military courts which were mentioned in the document made public after the meeting.


However, today, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Syed Khurshid Shah refuted that the establishment of military courts was discussed during the Dec 24 meeting.

Shah said that during the meeting, establishment of special courts did come into discussion but not military courts. The political parties were told that special courts would try terrorists and organisations where the terrorists were getting their funding from, he added.

The opposition leader said that the meeting had agreed to form a legal team to keep an eye on the process of the formation and workings of these special courts.

Shah however said that consensus has now been developed on carrying out amendments in the Army Act to pave way for creating special courts.


At present, the army act limits the military’s jurisdiction over civilians to specific cases.

The government’s legal advisers are weighing the option of amending Article 8 (1) and Article 212-A and B of the constitution in order to establish military courts in the country, officials privy to discussions on the issue had told Dawn earlier.

Article 8 is titled ‘Laws inconsistent with or in derogation of Fundamental Rights to be void’, while Article 212 deals with administrative courts and tribunals.

If the amendments are carried out, changes will be made accordingly in the Army Act 1952 to set up special trial courts to try terror suspects. Under the proposed constitutional amendment, the military courts will cease to function after a period of two years.

'Keep going, Martin Place was just the beginning for you dogs': Melbourne extremist taunts police with vile tweets and claims to have joined ISIS in Iraq

• Australian man claiming to have joined ISIS has contacted a Sydney activist on Twitter.
• A vocal critic of ISIS in Australia, Zaky Mallah, engaged in a Twitter conversation with 'Abu Abdullah' who claims to be fighting with ISIS in Iraq.
• After monitoring Abdullah's Twitter account Mr Mallah has found threats directed towards the Australian Federal Police.
• He discovered that Abdullah's real name may be Jake and he has made contact with a friend he knew at Melbourne's Hume Islam Youth Centre.
• 'He’s clearly creating a network of people he knows in Australia,’ Mr Mallah said:

A Melbourne man claiming to be fighting for ISIS in Iraq has tweeted a threat on social media to the Australian Federal Police and vowed to carry out a fatwa on Australia.

Zaky Mallah, the first person charged with terrorism in Australia was contacted on Christmas Eve by a man on Twitter using the name Abu Abdullah. 

ISIS IN IRAQ

Mr Mallah, 30, from Westmead in Sydney was jailed in maximum security for two years before being acquitted of terrorism charges. Just four hours into the Sydney siege counter terrorism police also asked him for an ISIS flag to help with their investigations. 

As a moderate Mr Mallah is now a very vocal critic of ISIS in Australia. It was because of this that he was contacted by Abdullah who he now believes is from Melbourne. Abdullah began tweeting him questions asking why he was against ISIS. Since then Mr Mallah has been monitoring Abdullah's other Twitter conversations.

‘What struck me the most was that some of things he said on Twitter were very disturbing and he also commented on the Australian Federal Police’s Twitter account calling them ‘dogs’,’ Mr Mallah said. 

‘What I think I have have learned from his conversations on Twitter with me and others is that he is an Australian called Jake who used to live in Melbourne. He’s already tried to make contact on Twitter with a friend of his at the Hume Islam Youth Centre (HIYC) in Melbourne.

On Christmas Day he let his friend know he was in Ramadi in Iraq 

On Christmas Eve ‘Abdullah’ tweeted a friend: ‘Remember me? Revert at hiyc, tall, white, skinny, long hair, we used to speak on Facebook.’ When his friend replied that he remembered him, Abdullah said: ‘I finally made hijra in August, I’m in Ramadi now.’ Ramadi is a city in central Iraq.

The HIYC is based in Motto Drive Coolaroo, Victoria, but no one could be contacted for a response.

Later on Christmas Day Abdullah tweeted: ‘That’s twice now I’ve seriously considered coming back and following Sheikh Adnani’s fatwa in Australia.’ Shaykh Abu Mohammad al-Adnani al-Shami is the official spokesman and a senior leader of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Abdullah tweets that he would only be too happy to see a fatwa take place in Australia  

On Boxing Day he replied to a tweet posted by the Australian Federal Police about two men who had charged by the Joint Terrorism Team in Sydney saying: ‘Keep going, Martin Place was just the beginning for you dogs.’

The police are taunted by Abdullah after they reveal that the Joint Counter Terrorism Squad had made arrests

While in another tweet he admitted to a friend he had been banned from Facebook for things he had written.

‘This guy is serious enough to leave Australia and join ISIS so all the signs are there. It’s a new Twitter account. We don’t know what he’s up to but through Twitter he’s clearly creating a network of people he knows in Australia,’ Mr Mallah said.

Security in Australia has been raised as the threat of ISIS attacks becomes more worrying  

In response to the revelations a spokesperson for the Attorney-General’s Department said they would continue to do all they can to support community leaders, who play 'a critical role in dissuading young Australians from becoming radicalised and travelling to the conflict zones to fight.'

'The government is committed to working with our communities to combat the radicalisation of young Australians and violent extremism. We have consulted with experts and with representatives of the community on the best way to keep the Australian community safe,' the spokesperson said. 

Mr Mallah, 30, from Westmead in Sydney was jailed in maximum security for two years before being acquitted of terrorism charges

In 2003 Mr Mallah was the first person to be charged with terrorism back after he made a video which Federal Police and ASIO said contained a planned suicide attack on federal government offices in Sydney.

A Lebanese Australian, Mr Mallah was charged under Australia's then new anti-terrorism laws after he made the video. He spent two years in the high maximum security Multi Purpose Unit at Goulburn prison awaiting trial, before being acquitted.

Since the rise of ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra he has become very outspoken against them. Today he sees them only as 'a barbaric cult' .

AirAsia Indonesia flight QZ8501 to Singapore missing

An AirAsia Indonesia airliner flying from Indonesia to Singapore with 162 people on board has gone missing.

Flight QZ8501 lost contact with air traffic control at 06:24 local time (23:24 GMT Saturday) over the Java Sea.

The plane, an Airbus A320-200, disappeared midway into the flight of more than two hours from the city of Surabaya. No distress call was made.

Bad weather was reported in the area, and an air search operation has now been suspended for the night.
Planes from Indonesia and Singapore had been scouring an area of sea between Kalimantan (Borneo) and Java. Some boats were reported to be continuing to search as night fell.

AirAsia Chief Executive Tony Fernandes: "We are devastated by what's happened"

No wreckage has been found, an Indonesian official told the BBC.

AirAsia's Chief Executive Tony Fernandes, who has flown to Surabaya, said: "We don't want to speculate but right now of course the plane has been missing for 12 hours and there's a deep sense of depression here.

"This is a massive shock to us and we are devastated by what has happened. It's unbelievable."
He said the captain had more than 20,500 flight hours, almost 7,000 of them with AirAsia.

The flight left Surabaya in eastern Java at 05:35 local time (22:35 GMT) and was due to arrive in Singapore at 08:30 (00:30 GMT).

The missing jet had requested a "deviation" from the flight path to avoid thick storm clouds, AirAsia said.
Indonesia's transport ministry said the pilot had asked permission to climb to 38,000ft (11,000m).
Ministry official Djoko Murjatmodjo said the request "could not be approved at that time due to traffic, there was a flight above, and five minutes later [flight QZ8501] disappeared from radar".

Flight QZ8501 was supposed to arrive early this morning. Hours later the families of the passengers gathered here have very little information.

Airport officials are keeping them well away from the media and trying to make them comfortable.
The scenes at Changi are reminiscent of those in Kuala Lumpur immediately after MH370 went missing in March: anxious relatives waiting for any news on their loves ones, a media frenzy, but no answers.


A few hours ago many of the relatives at the crisis centre in the airport still seemed calm - glued to their phones, perhaps trying to find any news of the plane or stay in touch with friends and loved ones
But more than 12 hours since the plane took off they are looking increasingly worried. Officials still have no idea what happened to the aircraft. The governor of East Java, Soekarwo, the mayor of Surabaya, Tri Rismaharini, and the chief executive of AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, have come to talk to the relatives to assure them that all is being done to locate the missing Airbus.

AirAsia, a budget airline which owns 49% of AirAsia Indonesia, is based in Malaysia and has never lost a plane.

However, 2014 has been a difficult year for aviation in Asia: Malaysia's national carrier Malaysia Airlines has suffered two losses - flights MH370 and MH17.
Flight MH370 disappeared on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in March with 239 passengers and crew. The wreckage, thought to be in southern Indian Ocean, has still not been located. MH17 was shot down over Ukraine in July, killing all 298 on board.

AirAsia plane with 162 on board missing in Indonesia

This picture shows an airplane of Kuala Lumpur-based AirAsia. — AFP

JAKARTA: An AirAsia plane with 162 people on board lost contact with ground control on Sunday while flying over the Java Sea after taking off from a provincial city in Indonesia for Singapore, and search and rescue operations were underway.

The two countries immediately launched a search and rescue operation but there was no word on the plane's whereabouts more than six hours after it went missing.

AirAsia, a regional low-cost carrier with presence in several Southeast Asian countries, said in a statement that the missing Airbus A320-200 was on the submitted flight plan route.

However, it had requested deviation due to weather before communication with the aircraft was lost while it was still under the control of the Indonesian Air Traffic Control.

“We don't dare to pressume what has happened exceped that it has lost contact,” Djoko Murjatmodjo, Indonesia's acting director general of transportation, told reporters.

He said the last contact between pilot and the air traffic control was at 6.13 am (2313 GMT Saturday) “when he asked to hinder cloud by turning left and go higher to 34,000 feet”.

He said there was no distress signal from Flight QZ8501. The contact was lost about 42 minutes after the single-aisle jetliner took off from Indonesia's Surabaya airport, Hadi Mustofa, an official of the transportation ministry told Indonesia's MetroTV.
It was about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore at 0030gmt. Flight QZ8501 tlost communication with Jakarta's air traffic control at 7:24 am Singapore time (2324 GMT Saturday) about an hour before it was scheduled to land in Singapore, the Singapore Civil Aviation Authority said in a statement.
The plane had two pilots, five cabin crew and 155 passengers, including 16 children and one infant, AirAsia Indonesia said in a statement. Indonesian officials had earlier said there were 161 people on board, presumably because the infant was not counted.

The AirAsia statement said there were six foreigners — three South Koreans and one each from Singapore, Malaysia and France. The rest were Indonesians. It said the captain in command had a total of 6,100 flying hours, a substantial number, and the first officer a total of 2,275 flying hours.

At Surabaya airport, dozens of relatives sat in a room, many of them talking on mobile phones and crying. Some looked dazed. Murjatmodjo, the Indonesian official, said the plane is believed to have gone missing somewhere over the Java Sea between Tanjung Pandan on Belitung island and Pontianak, on Indonesia's part of Kalimantan island.

He said the pilot contacted Jakarta air traffic control 6:12 a.m. reporting clouds and asking to go higher from 32,000 feet (9,700 meters ) to 34,000 feet (10,303 meters), the usual cruising altitude for jetliners.
The Singapore statement said search and rescue operations have been activated by the Indonesian authorities. It said the Singapore air force and the navy also were searching with two C-130 planes.
Flightradar24, a flight tracking website, said the plane was delivered in September 2008, which would make it six years old.
The Malaysia-based AirAsia, which has dominated cheap travel in the region for years, has never lost a plane before. AirAsia Malaysia owns 49 per cent of the Indonesian subsidiary.
This is the third major air incident involving Malaysia this year. On March 8, Malaysia Airlines flight 370, a wide-bodied Boeing 777, went missing soon after taking off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. It remains missing until this day with 239 people in one of the biggest aviation mysteries.
Another Malaysia Airlines flight, also a Boeing 777, was shot down over rebel-controlled eastern Ukraine while on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur on July 17. A total of 298 people on board were killed.
The crew's request for an unusual route is curious since the weather “didn't seem to be anything unusual,” said William Waldock, an expert on air crash search and rescue with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona.
Severe weather is the reason pilots usually request a different route, but in this case the “winds were light, there were a few thin clouds, but that's about it,” he said in an interview.
Waldock cautioned against drawing comparisons to the disappearance of Malaysia flight 370. “I think we have to let this play out,” he said. “Hopefully, the airplane will get found, and if that happens it will probably be in the next few hours. Until then, we have to reserve judgment.”
The circumstances bode well for finding the plane since the intended flight time was less than two hours and there is a known position at which the plane disappeared, he said.

Assad wants to talk again: Syria

UN Special envoy to Syria Staffan de Mistura, left, speaks with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus last month. Source: AP

SYRIA’S regime was willing to meet the country’s opposition again in Moscow to seek a way out of the nearly four-year civil war, a government official said last night.
“Syria is ready to participate in a preliminary and consultative meeting in Moscow to respond to the aspirations of Syrians who are trying to find a solution to the crisis,” the foreign ministry official in Damascus said, quoted by SANA state news agency.

The decision followed talks between Syria and Russia about a possible meeting, the official said.

“The Syrian Arab Republic has always been ready for dialogue with those who believe in its unity, sovereignty and freedom of choice,” the official said.

The main opposition coalition held talks with Syria’s government earlier this year.
But they collapsed as the opposition demanded Mr Assad’s resignation, while the regime insisted the main focus of the negotiation should be on fighting “terrorism”.

Since then, some opposition figures have suggested that a deal could see Mr Assad remain in power for a limited time.

The change in tone reflects growing concern over advances by jihadists who have expelled more moderate opposition rebels from large areas.

Syria’s war began as a pro-democracy revolt, but escalated into a multi-sided civil war drawing foreign jihadists after President Bashar al-Assad’s regime began a crackdown on dissent.

An estimated 200,000 people have been killed, and half the population have been forced to flee their homes.
Russia has been trying to relaunch peace talks for Syria that would include meetings between delegates of the regime and the fractured opposition.

The Russian foreign ministry declined to comment last night. But on Thursday, Moscow said that it planned to host delegations from the Syrian opposition in late January, possibly followed by a visit by regime representatives that could bring the two sides together for talks.

Mr Assad has said he backs the efforts by his key ally.

Foreign fighters have flocked to join al-Qa’ida-linked militants and the Islamic State group which led an offensive that seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, committing widespread atrocities.

A monitoring group said yesterday that Islamic State had lost ground in the Syrian town of Kobane, where Kurdish fighters now control more than 60 per cent of territory.

The strategically located town on the border with Turkey has become a major symbol of resistance against IS.

The jihadists launched a major offensive in mid-September to try to capture Kobane, and at one point controlled more than half of the town, known in Arabic as Ain al-Arab.

But supported by US-led air strikes and reinforced by Kurds from Iraq, “Kurdish forces now control more than 60 per cent of the city”, said Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
AFP