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Showing posts from March, 2014

Mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 could spur air safety changes

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Cameras in the cockpit. Real-time streaming of communications and flight information. Increased capacity flight data and voice recorders. Transponders that detach on impact and float. Once the mystery of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 is solved, there are changes in air safety that might result from the lessons of the disappearance of a jumbo jetliner in the age of instant communications. The technologies -- each of which has its supporters and its detractors -- come into question as the search for Flight 370 enters its third week. Here's a look at some possible technological changes: Camera images beamed from cockpit to ground Investigators would be able to see and hear all that transpires in the cockpit. Former American Airlines pilot Mark Weiss and other experts agree that images could prove highly important during investigations. The National Transportation Safety Board has for years campaigned for cockpit video, arguing that images would have helped it solve what happened in ...

Health Ministry says: 10 killed in car bombing at Libyan military base

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A car bomb at a military base has killed at least 10 people in the eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, in the latest violence to wrack the cradle of the North African country's uprising. The blast occurred as new graduates left a technical school at the base, Libya's state news agency LANA reported, quoting a military source in the city. The car was loaded with a large amount of explosives, it added. Speaking on Libyan television, Ammar Mohammed, a spokesman for the Libyan Health Ministry, said the bombing killed at least 10 people and wounded 23. LANA said at least seven soldiers were killed and nine people were wounded. Benghazi is where the 2011 uprising against longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi began. Three years later, it is the scene of almost daily attacks and targeted assassinations, specifically against security officials. While no one has claimed responsibility for the violence that has gripped the city for more than a year, many residents and officials blame it on I...

Two Egyptian army officers killed in shootout with militants

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Gunmen killed two Egyptian military personnel and injured a third when security forces raided a militant hideout on Wednesday, the Interior Ministry said. Two army explosives experts, a general and a colonel, and five members of the Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis were killed in the shootout in Qalyubia province, north of Cairo, the ministry said in a statement posted on its website. Four other members of the group, one of Egypt's most active militant organizations, were wounded, as was a special forces officer. Intelligence had indicated the group was using a wood manufacturing workshop as a base and to store weapons and ammunition, the Interior Ministry said. The clashes lasted several hours, the statement added. Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis, which the United States has designated a terrorist group, has been blamed for attacks in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula as well as on a security forces headquarters in the town of Mansoura last year. It claimed responsibility in January for four blasts tha...

Courtney Cash, grandniece of Johnny Cash, found dead in a box

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Courtney Cash, the grandniece of musician Johnny Cash, was found dead in a box in her home in Tennessee, and a friend is charged in her death, according to Putnam County sheriff's officials. Wayne Gary Masciarella, who is in custody, is charged with first-degree murder, and more charges are expected, Sheriff David Andrews told CNN. Masciarella apparently had gone out Tuesday night with Cash and her boyfriend, William Austin Johnson. The couple lived together, and when all three returned to the apartment early Wednesday, there was an altercation. Cash and Johnson were both stabbed, officials say. Johnson managed to get away from the apartment and gave a statement to investigators at a local hospital. Based on his statement, the sheriff said authorities arrested Masciarella within a couple of hours. Johnson remains hospitalized at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. Cash's grandfather, Tommy Cash, who is Johnny Cash's brother, said on Facebook: "We ask...