Italy expected to raise marines issue with Obama

 Rome: The Italian government will raise the case of two Italian marines held in India for the deaths of two fishermen during meetings Thursday with US President Barack Obama, Italy's special envoy in the case said Wednesday.

'I am certain that the case (of the two marines) will be raised tomorrow' during the formal meetings, Staffan de Mistura said.

'The Americans are very well aware of how important this issue is for us, and they have also had their difficult times (with India),' ANSA quoted de Mistura as saying.

Earlier March 21, UN General Assembly President John Ashe said the case of two Italian marines and their trial in India was a 'bilateral' issue.

The remarks came after Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Angelino Alfano met Ashe March 17 and expressed Italy's concerns on the matter.

On Friday, the Indian Supreme Court will examine an appeal filed by the Italian marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the coast of the south Indian state of Kerala in February 2012.

Earlier this month, the two marines filed a petition to prevent the Indian authorities from permitting that country's National Investigative Agency (NIA) anti-terrorism police to probe the case.

The court is also expected to review the marines' request to return to Italy to await the beginning of the trial.

Italy expected to raise marines issue with Obama

 Rome: The Italian government will raise the case of two Italian marines held in India for the deaths of two fishermen during meetings Thursday with US President Barack Obama, Italy's special envoy in the case said Wednesday.

'I am certain that the case (of the two marines) will be raised tomorrow' during the formal meetings, Staffan de Mistura said.

'The Americans are very well aware of how important this issue is for us, and they have also had their difficult times (with India),' ANSA quoted de Mistura as saying.

Earlier March 21, UN General Assembly President John Ashe said the case of two Italian marines and their trial in India was a 'bilateral' issue.

The remarks came after Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Angelino Alfano met Ashe March 17 and expressed Italy's concerns on the matter.

On Friday, the Indian Supreme Court will examine an appeal filed by the Italian marines, Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, accused of killing two Indian fishermen off the coast of the south Indian state of Kerala in February 2012.

Earlier this month, the two marines filed a petition to prevent the Indian authorities from permitting that country's National Investigative Agency (NIA) anti-terrorism police to probe the case.

The court is also expected to review the marines' request to return to Italy to await the beginning of the trial.

One killed in lorry-car road mishap in Kozhikode, 4 suffer grievous injuries

Kozhikode: In a gruesome mishap on Friday morning, a car and a lorry collided at the Thondayad bypass in Kozhikode, killing a Pavangad native Muhammed (34).

Four others were grievously injured and one of the injured is set to be critical. The injured were rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital.

One killed in lorry-car road mishap in Kozhikode, 4 suffer grievous injuries

Kozhikode: In a gruesome mishap on Friday morning, a car and a lorry collided at the Thondayad bypass in Kozhikode, killing a Pavangad native Muhammed (34).

Four others were grievously injured and one of the injured is set to be critical. The injured were rushed to the Kozhikode Medical College hospital.

US court asks Sonia Gandhi to show passport

New York: A US court has asked India's Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi to provide a copy of her passport to show that she was not in the US between Sep 2 and Sep 9 last year.

Gandhi had filed a motion in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, seeking dismissal of a human rights violation case against her relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, asserting she had not been served the summons as she was not in the US during that time.

However, holding that Sonia Gandhi's January 10 declaration is insufficient to prove her absence from US, Judge Brian M. Cogan of Brooklyn Court Thursday asked her to 'provide a copy of her passport, showing her most recent entry and exit stamps into and out of the United States.'

'This would appear to obviate both the need for any documents from the hospital-resolving defendant's medical privacy concerns - and the need to rely upon a third party government agency like Customs and Border Protection', the order states.

'Whatever form this evidence takes, defendant must provide it by April 7, 2014' Cogan ordered.

In his March 20 order the Judge said 'the court cannot find that a sufficient showing of non-presence has been made based on the affirmation without plaintiffs having received some discovery to confirm it'.

'The defendant must provide some documentary evidence to corroborate her otherwise unsupported declaration stating that she was not in the United States at the time of service', he said.

The 1984 human rights violation case against Gandhi hinges on the issue whether she was served on Sep 9 as claimed by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) or she was not present in the US during that time as per her claim.

SFJ claims that on Sep 9, it had served the summons and complaint on the hospital and security staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York where Sonia Gandhi was believed to be undergoing medical treatment.

The Brooklyn court had in Sep 2013 issued summons against Gandhi on the complaint filed by SFJ and some victims of anti-Sikh violence in India in November 1984.

The group has sought compensatory and punitive damages against Gandhi for her alleged role in shielding and protecting Congress party leaders including Kamal Nath, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler from prosecution for their alleged role in the 1984 violence.

US court asks Sonia Gandhi to show passport

New York: A US court has asked India's Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi to provide a copy of her passport to show that she was not in the US between Sep 2 and Sep 9 last year.

Gandhi had filed a motion in a federal court in Brooklyn, New York, seeking dismissal of a human rights violation case against her relating to the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, asserting she had not been served the summons as she was not in the US during that time.

However, holding that Sonia Gandhi's January 10 declaration is insufficient to prove her absence from US, Judge Brian M. Cogan of Brooklyn Court Thursday asked her to 'provide a copy of her passport, showing her most recent entry and exit stamps into and out of the United States.'

'This would appear to obviate both the need for any documents from the hospital-resolving defendant's medical privacy concerns - and the need to rely upon a third party government agency like Customs and Border Protection', the order states.

'Whatever form this evidence takes, defendant must provide it by April 7, 2014' Cogan ordered.

In his March 20 order the Judge said 'the court cannot find that a sufficient showing of non-presence has been made based on the affirmation without plaintiffs having received some discovery to confirm it'.

'The defendant must provide some documentary evidence to corroborate her otherwise unsupported declaration stating that she was not in the United States at the time of service', he said.

The 1984 human rights violation case against Gandhi hinges on the issue whether she was served on Sep 9 as claimed by Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) or she was not present in the US during that time as per her claim.

SFJ claims that on Sep 9, it had served the summons and complaint on the hospital and security staff at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre in New York where Sonia Gandhi was believed to be undergoing medical treatment.

The Brooklyn court had in Sep 2013 issued summons against Gandhi on the complaint filed by SFJ and some victims of anti-Sikh violence in India in November 1984.

The group has sought compensatory and punitive damages against Gandhi for her alleged role in shielding and protecting Congress party leaders including Kamal Nath, Sajjan Kumar and Jagdish Tytler from prosecution for their alleged role in the 1984 violence.

Missing jet: Air search expands in remote south Indian Ocean

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Search planes flew out of Australia on Friday to scour rough seas in one of the remotest places on Earth for objects that may be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

In what one official called the 'best lead' of the nearly 2-week-old aviation mystery, a satellite detected two large objects floating off the southwest coast of Australia about halfway to the desolate islands of the Antarctic.

The area in the southern Indian Ocean is so remote is takes aircraft longer to fly there — four hours — than it allows for the search.

The discovery raised new hope of finding the vanished jet and sent another emotional jolt to the families of the 239 people aboard.

A search on Thursday with four planes in cloud and rain found nothing, and Australian authorities said early Friday efforts were resuming with the first of five aircraft — a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion — leaving at dawn for the area about 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) from western Australia.

A civilian Gulfstream jet and a second Orion were to depart later Friday morning and a third Orion was due to fly out in the early afternoon to scour more than 23,000 square kilometres (8,880 square miles) of ocean.

A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft was scheduled to leave the base at about 4 p.m. (0600 GMT), but like the other planes, it will have enough fuel for only two to three hours of search time before returning to Perth.

A New Zealand P-3 Orion plane took part in the unsuccessful search on Thursday, and Mike Yardley, an air commodore with New Zealand's air force, said the plane was forced to duck below thick clouds and fog to a very low altitude of 60 meters (200 feet), hampering the operation.

But Yardley was optimistic that the searchers will find the objects. 'We will find it — I'm sure about that piece of it. The only reason we wouldn't find it was that it has sunk,' he said of the large unidentified object spotted by the satellite.

'I've been on these missions before when it's taken a few days to come across it,' he said.

Warren Truss, Australia's acting prime minister while Tony Abbott is overseas, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that weather conditions in the search area were poor and may get worse.

'And so clearly this is a very, very difficult and challenging search. Weather conditions are not particularly good and risk that they may deteriorate,' Truss said.

One of the objects on the satellite image was 24 metres (almost 80 feet) long and the other was 5 metres (15 feet). There could be other objects in the area, a four-hour flight from Australia, John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division, said Thursday.

'This is a lead, it's probably the best lead we have right now,' Young said. He cautioned that the objects could be seaborne debris along a shipping route where containers can fall off cargo vessels, although the larger object is longer than a standard container.

Truss said officials were checking more satellite images with stronger resolution to find out how far the objects might have shifted since the initial images were captured. 'They will have moved because of tides and wind and the like, so the search area is quite broad,' Truss said, adding marker buoys were dropped to help get a better understanding of what drift is likely to have occurred.

The Norwegian cargo vessel Hoegh St. Petersburg, with a Filipino crew of 20, arrived in the area and used lights to search overnight before resuming a visual search Friday, said Ingar Skiaker of Hoegh Autoliners, speaking to reporters in Oslo.

The Norwegian ship, which transports cars, was on its way from South Africa to Australia, he said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said another commercial ship and an Australian navy vessel were also en route to the search area.

Three Chinese naval ships were heading to the area. China's search and rescue agency also said it had asked the country's Oceanic Administration to dispatch the icebreaker Xue Long (the Snow Dragon), which was in Perth following a voyage to the Antarctica in January, to take part in the search.

There have been several false leads since the Boeing 777 disappeared March 8 above the Gulf of Thailand en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and one analyst cautioned against rising hopes the objects are from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

'The chances of it being debris from the airplane are probably small, and the chances of it being debris from other shipping are probably large,' said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

The development also marked a new phase for the anguished relatives of the passengers, who have been critical of Malaysian officials for what the relatives say has been the slow release of timely information. While they still hope their loved ones will somehow be found, they acknowledged that news of the satellite images could mean the plane fell into the sea.

'If it turns out that it is truly MH370, then we will accept that fate,' said Selamat Bin Omar, the father of a Malaysian passenger. The jet carried mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals.

But he cautioned that relatives still 'do not yet know for sure whether this is indeed MH370 or something else. Therefore, we are still waiting for further notice from the Australian government.'

Malaysian officials met with the relatives Thursday night in a hotel near Kuala Lumpur, but journalists were kept away. After the meeting, groups of people left looking distraught.

Hamid Amran, who had a child on Flight 370, said questions asked at the meeting made it 'apparent that Malaysia's military is incapable of protecting its own airspace.'

He believes 'that my child and all the other passengers are still alive. I will not give up hope.'

Malaysian Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the relatives in Kuala Lumpur were being given updates by high-level officials 'two or three times a day.'

'We do take care of the next of kin,' he said, adding that if the debris is located 'close to Australia, we will obviously make arrangements to fly the next of kin there.'

DigitalGlobe, a Longmont, Colo.-based company, said it provided the images to Australian officials. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority released two images of the whitish objects. They were taken March 16, but Australian Air Commodore John McGarry said it took time to analyze them.

'The task of analyzing imagery is quite difficult, it requires drawing down frames and going through frame by frame,' he said.

The hunt has encountered other false leads. Oil slicks that were seen did not contain jet fuel. A yellow object thought to be from the plane turned out to be sea trash. Chinese satellite images showed possible debris, but nothing was found.

Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation for what happened to the jet, but have said the evidence so far suggests it was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.

Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board.AP

Missing jet: Air search expands in remote south Indian Ocean

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: Search planes flew out of Australia on Friday to scour rough seas in one of the remotest places on Earth for objects that may be from the missing Malaysia Airlines plane.

In what one official called the 'best lead' of the nearly 2-week-old aviation mystery, a satellite detected two large objects floating off the southwest coast of Australia about halfway to the desolate islands of the Antarctic.

The area in the southern Indian Ocean is so remote is takes aircraft longer to fly there — four hours — than it allows for the search.

The discovery raised new hope of finding the vanished jet and sent another emotional jolt to the families of the 239 people aboard.

A search on Thursday with four planes in cloud and rain found nothing, and Australian authorities said early Friday efforts were resuming with the first of five aircraft — a Royal Australian Air Force P3 Orion — leaving at dawn for the area about 2,300 kilometres (1,400 miles) from western Australia.

A civilian Gulfstream jet and a second Orion were to depart later Friday morning and a third Orion was due to fly out in the early afternoon to scour more than 23,000 square kilometres (8,880 square miles) of ocean.

A US Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft was scheduled to leave the base at about 4 p.m. (0600 GMT), but like the other planes, it will have enough fuel for only two to three hours of search time before returning to Perth.

A New Zealand P-3 Orion plane took part in the unsuccessful search on Thursday, and Mike Yardley, an air commodore with New Zealand's air force, said the plane was forced to duck below thick clouds and fog to a very low altitude of 60 meters (200 feet), hampering the operation.

But Yardley was optimistic that the searchers will find the objects. 'We will find it — I'm sure about that piece of it. The only reason we wouldn't find it was that it has sunk,' he said of the large unidentified object spotted by the satellite.

'I've been on these missions before when it's taken a few days to come across it,' he said.

Warren Truss, Australia's acting prime minister while Tony Abbott is overseas, told Australian Broadcasting Corp. that weather conditions in the search area were poor and may get worse.

'And so clearly this is a very, very difficult and challenging search. Weather conditions are not particularly good and risk that they may deteriorate,' Truss said.

One of the objects on the satellite image was 24 metres (almost 80 feet) long and the other was 5 metres (15 feet). There could be other objects in the area, a four-hour flight from Australia, John Young, manager of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's emergency response division, said Thursday.

'This is a lead, it's probably the best lead we have right now,' Young said. He cautioned that the objects could be seaborne debris along a shipping route where containers can fall off cargo vessels, although the larger object is longer than a standard container.

Truss said officials were checking more satellite images with stronger resolution to find out how far the objects might have shifted since the initial images were captured. 'They will have moved because of tides and wind and the like, so the search area is quite broad,' Truss said, adding marker buoys were dropped to help get a better understanding of what drift is likely to have occurred.

The Norwegian cargo vessel Hoegh St. Petersburg, with a Filipino crew of 20, arrived in the area and used lights to search overnight before resuming a visual search Friday, said Ingar Skiaker of Hoegh Autoliners, speaking to reporters in Oslo.

The Norwegian ship, which transports cars, was on its way from South Africa to Australia, he said. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority said another commercial ship and an Australian navy vessel were also en route to the search area.

Three Chinese naval ships were heading to the area. China's search and rescue agency also said it had asked the country's Oceanic Administration to dispatch the icebreaker Xue Long (the Snow Dragon), which was in Perth following a voyage to the Antarctica in January, to take part in the search.

There have been several false leads since the Boeing 777 disappeared March 8 above the Gulf of Thailand en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, and one analyst cautioned against rising hopes the objects are from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

'The chances of it being debris from the airplane are probably small, and the chances of it being debris from other shipping are probably large,' said Jason Middleton, an aviation professor at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.

The development also marked a new phase for the anguished relatives of the passengers, who have been critical of Malaysian officials for what the relatives say has been the slow release of timely information. While they still hope their loved ones will somehow be found, they acknowledged that news of the satellite images could mean the plane fell into the sea.

'If it turns out that it is truly MH370, then we will accept that fate,' said Selamat Bin Omar, the father of a Malaysian passenger. The jet carried mostly Chinese and Malaysian nationals.

But he cautioned that relatives still 'do not yet know for sure whether this is indeed MH370 or something else. Therefore, we are still waiting for further notice from the Australian government.'

Malaysian officials met with the relatives Thursday night in a hotel near Kuala Lumpur, but journalists were kept away. After the meeting, groups of people left looking distraught.

Hamid Amran, who had a child on Flight 370, said questions asked at the meeting made it 'apparent that Malaysia's military is incapable of protecting its own airspace.'

He believes 'that my child and all the other passengers are still alive. I will not give up hope.'

Malaysian Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said the relatives in Kuala Lumpur were being given updates by high-level officials 'two or three times a day.'

'We do take care of the next of kin,' he said, adding that if the debris is located 'close to Australia, we will obviously make arrangements to fly the next of kin there.'

DigitalGlobe, a Longmont, Colo.-based company, said it provided the images to Australian officials. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority released two images of the whitish objects. They were taken March 16, but Australian Air Commodore John McGarry said it took time to analyze them.

'The task of analyzing imagery is quite difficult, it requires drawing down frames and going through frame by frame,' he said.

The hunt has encountered other false leads. Oil slicks that were seen did not contain jet fuel. A yellow object thought to be from the plane turned out to be sea trash. Chinese satellite images showed possible debris, but nothing was found.

Malaysian authorities have not ruled out any possible explanation for what happened to the jet, but have said the evidence so far suggests it was deliberately turned back across Malaysia to the Strait of Malacca, with its communications systems disabled. They are unsure what happened next.

Police are considering the possibility of hijacking, sabotage, terrorism or issues related to the mental health of the pilots or anyone else on board.AP

Italy appeals to UN to help free marines from India

United Nations: Italy has appealed to the United Nations to help free its two marines who are being tried in India for killing two Indian fishermen in 2012.

'Italy is willing to try the marines at home, but in the meantime we ask for their freedom,' said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.

Alfano's remarks came ahead of his meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki—moon here.

Italy has been trying to rally international support among the EU, the US and NATO countries to bring home its marines.

Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone shot dead two fishermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012, sparking diplomatic tensions between India and Italy.

The marines, deployed on the Italian-flagged oil tanker MT Enrica Lexie, said they mistook the fishermen for pirates.

They are now staying in the Italian Embassy in New Delhi awaiting trial.

India has removed the possibility of a death penalty but insisted that the marines would still be prosecuted under the anti—piracy law. Now, they face up to 10 years in jail.

Rome wants the marines to be tried in Italy, claiming the incident took place in international waters. However, New Delhi says it has the right to try the Italians as the victims were Indians on board an Indian fishing boat.

Italy argues that the case sets dangerous and wide-ranging precedents for any country involved in anti-piracy missions overseas.

Last month, UN chief Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters that the Secretary-General is 'concerned that this longstanding matter between Italy and India remains unresolved and is prompting tensions between two friendly and important member states of the organisation.'

Italy appeals to UN to help free marines from India

United Nations: Italy has appealed to the United Nations to help free its two marines who are being tried in India for killing two Indian fishermen in 2012.

'Italy is willing to try the marines at home, but in the meantime we ask for their freedom,' said Interior Minister Angelino Alfano was quoted as saying by ANSA news agency.

Alfano's remarks came ahead of his meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki—moon here.

Italy has been trying to rally international support among the EU, the US and NATO countries to bring home its marines.

Marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone shot dead two fishermen off the Kerala coast in February 2012, sparking diplomatic tensions between India and Italy.

The marines, deployed on the Italian-flagged oil tanker MT Enrica Lexie, said they mistook the fishermen for pirates.

They are now staying in the Italian Embassy in New Delhi awaiting trial.

India has removed the possibility of a death penalty but insisted that the marines would still be prosecuted under the anti—piracy law. Now, they face up to 10 years in jail.

Rome wants the marines to be tried in Italy, claiming the incident took place in international waters. However, New Delhi says it has the right to try the Italians as the victims were Indians on board an Indian fishing boat.

Italy argues that the case sets dangerous and wide-ranging precedents for any country involved in anti-piracy missions overseas.

Last month, UN chief Ban Ki-moon's spokesperson Martin Nesirky told reporters that the Secretary-General is 'concerned that this longstanding matter between Italy and India remains unresolved and is prompting tensions between two friendly and important member states of the organisation.'