Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Debris Confirmation 'Any Time Now' as Australia Resumes Search in Indian Ocean

A Royal Australian Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft takes off from RAAF Base Pearce north of PerthReuters

Malaysian authorities are hoping the confirmation of sighting the debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 could take place "any time now" as Australia resumes its search operation in the Indian Ocean deploying several aircraft and naval vessels.

"It will be the most important breaking news which the people here and throughout the world will want to know and, believe me, when we get the information we will release it," Malaysia's defence minister and acting transport minister Hishammuddin Hussein told reporters.

He said ships and aircraft are being mobilised at the location in the southern Indian Ocean where a satellite picked up suspected debris of the vanished jetliner.

"This gives us hope. As long as there is hope, we will continue our search and that is why I said that it is a priority to find the aircraft and the black box," Hussein said.

The search operation spans a vast area in a remote and stormy section of the Indian Ocean. Although the surveillance aircraft detected two floating objects, which are supposed to be plane wreckage, the search was hampered on Thursday (20 March) by bad weather.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said: "Four aircraft have now departed Perth for the search area in the southern Indian Ocean. A RAAF P3 Orion departed around 9.15am (local time) and is now in the search area. A second RAAF P3 Orion departed around 11.15am and an ultra long range Bombardier Global Express jet departed around 11.30am."

A merchant vessel is already at the location, which is 2,500 kilometres south-west of Perth, and will be joined by another vessel later.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has insisted although the sightings appear to be credible so far, there are possibilities the objects are unrelated to MH370.

He said: "Now it could just be a container that's fallen off a ship, we just don't know. But we owe it to the families and the friends and the loved ones of the almost 240 people on flight MH370 to do everything we can to try to resolve what is as yet an extraordinary riddle. We also owe it to them to give them information as soon as it's to hand and I think I was doing that yesterday in the parliament."

'MH370 Prophet' TB Joshua Claims Abortion After Rape is 'Double Sin'

The preacher has sparked controversy with his latest comments.http://ift.tt/1fJULZN

A Nigerian preacher who allegedly foresaw the disappearance of the Malaysia Airlines flight has provoked fresh controversy after declaring that women who abort babies conceived through rape are committing a "double sin".

Pastor TB Joshua of TBJ Ministries in Lagos waded in to the abortion debate while answering questions from fans on Facebook.

When an online user asked his thoughts on getting rid of a baby in the case of a rape victim, he advised that drawing closer to God was a better alternative. He went on to claim that God often orchestrates situations like rape to change people.

"Committing an abortion when you are raped is a double sin. God often uses foolish things to express himself," he wrote.

"Many great people and heroes today are products of this background.

"In any way, in any circumstance you find yourself in today as you are reading this note, you have not committed any unpardonable sin. Run to Jesus; don't run from Him whatever situation you find yourself."

His comments prompted mixed reaction from the Christian community.

"After all is said, people will still do what's on their minds. It's between you and your God," one commenter said.

Another wrote: "I agree with prophet Joshua..who are we to approve though? Abortion is murder of a baby who knows nothing about his or her coming..I pray not to experience it though."

A third said: "So in the case of incest the woman should also keep the baby as well? stfu TB Joshua and I feel sorry for those who listen to people like you. Abortion is a women's [sic] right to choose. Nobody should make that decision for them."

Joshua's remarks come days after Pastor Oyakhilome claimed that the decision should be the victim's.

"It is never mentioned anywhere in the Bible to keep a child from a woman who is raped!" he said.

Joshua recently made headlines after a video of him supposedly prophesising the disappearance of flight MH370 back in 28 July 2013 emerged online.

"We have to pray, this is an Asian country. I will not mention any country but God showed me the country. I am seeing a very big balloon," he said in the clip.

"If God gives me the grace I will send a letter to the embassy of the country. Check your airlines in your country."

Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Australian Planes Search Indian Ocean for Debris Spotted by Satellite

Military search planes have been flying over a remote part of the Indian Ocean to see if two large objects spotted in satellite images are debris from Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. The plane disappeared on 8 March with 239 people on board.

One of the objects spotted by satellite was 24 metres (almost 80ft) in length and the other was 5 metres. They were sighted about 2,500km (1,550 miles) southwest of Perth, Western Australia.

Royal Australian Air Force pilot Flt Lt Russell Adams of 10 Squadron, steers his AP-3C Orion over southern Indian Ocean in the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370Reuters

This satellite image shows objects that may be debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean off the southwest coast of AustraliaDigitalGlobe/AMSA via Getty Images

A map of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority's planned search areaAMSA/Reuters

This Australian Maritime Safety Authority map shows the areas searched between March 18 and March 20AMSA/Reuters

A Royal Australian Air Force AP-3C Orion aircraft from 10 Squadron, No 92 Wing, has post-flight checks conducted by maintenance personnel after its arrival at RAAF Base Pearce, Western AustraliaGetty

A Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3K2 Orion aircraft arrives at RAAF Base Pearce, Western Australia, to join the Australian Maritime Safety Authority-led search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian OceanGetty

Norwegian car carrier Hoegh St Petersburg has reached the area in the southern Indian Ocean off Australia where two floating objects, suspected to be debris from the missing Malaysian jetliner, were spotted. The car carrier was on its way from Madagascar to Melbourne when it got a request from Australian authorities to assist in investigating the objects spotted by satelliteReuters

US Navy Lieutenants Kyle Atakturk and Nicholas Horton assist in search and rescue operations over the Indian OceanReuters

"If it turns out that it is truly MH370 then we will accept that fate," said Selamat Bin Omar, the father of the jet's flight engineer. But he cautioned that relatives still did not know for sure whether the debris was from MH370 or something else. "We are still waiting for further notice from the Australian government," he said.

Some analysts said the debris were unlikely to be pieces from the missing plane. "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.

Selamat Omar, father of flight engineer Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, waits for news at a hotel in Putrajaya, MalaysiaReuters

Rosila Abu Samah, 50, and her daughter Kaiyisah Selamat, eight, the mother and sister of flight engineer Mohd Khairul Amri Selamat, hug each other during an interview at a hotel in PutrajayaReuters

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Indian Author and Journalist Khushwant Singh Dies at 99

Indian author and socialite Khushwant Singh passes away at the age of 99Creative Commons

Renowned author, journalist and satirist, Khushwant Singh, also known as the "grand old man" of Indian literature, has died at the age of 99 in New Delhi in the presence of his family.

"He was fine and passed away peacefully at home on Thursday," his daughter Mala Singh told reporters.

Singh, an anglophile, was known for his love of scotch, poetry and emphatic secular and agnostic views.

He was close to India's first political family, the Gandhis, especially Indira Gandhi's controversial son Sanjay Gandhi, who died in an air crash.

A born storyteller and raconteur with liberal political views and a penchant for outrageous humour, he went on to head several literary and news magazines including, the defunct Illustrated Weekly of India.

Singh was an ardent socialite and lived a full life, having been a lawyer-turned-diplomat-turned-writer. His autobiography, Truth, Love and a Little Malice, was published by Penguin in 2002.

Vikram Seth, a leading Indian novelist and poet, described him as a "fearless writer; a man of great discipline yet full of zest for life; a great Indian who embodied our national values of affection, tolerance and understanding; and a true friend".

Born in undivided India, Singh is best known for his classic, Train to Pakistan, which provides a moving account of the emotional price people had to pay for leaving their homes and migrating across borders after the India-Pakistan partition.

His other famous works include I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi.

Active till quite recently, he wrote a novel, The Sunset Club, at the age of 95.

His death has sparked off a flurry of messages on social media sites.

Shahrukh Khan, Indian film actor and producer tweeted: "Oh no Khushwant Singh is no more. He made our lives so much richer by his literary contributions. "With Malice towards one and all" [weekly column series published in English Daily The Hindustan Times]RIP.

Celebrated Indian author, Amitav Ghosh, wrote: "Very sad to hear of the death of Khushwant Singh - great historian, novelist, editor, columnist, and a wonderfully kind, generous man. RIP."

Indian journalist Chitra Narayanan tweeted "RIP Khushwant Singh - bet he will be telling jokes in heaven."

Egyptian Soldier Aurelius Polion's 1,800-Year-Old Letter Home Has Poignant Modernity

Letter from soldier shows concerns and emotions have not changed in 2,000 yearsUniversity of California, Berkley's Bancroft Library

A 1,800-year-old letter sent by an Egyptian soldier has been translated for the first time and has poignant similarities to those involved in modern warfare.

The letter was sent by Aurelius Polion, a soldier serving in a Roman legion in Europe to his family at home. In it, he addresses his brother who has not written to him for some time.

Translated by religious studies student Grant Adamson from Rice University in Texas, the letter was first discovered in 1899 by an expedition team searching the ancient Egyptian city of Tebtunis.

Written mostly in Greek, Polion addresses his brother, sister and mother. It shows how he is desperate to contact them after receiving no reply to six previous letters: "I pray that you are in good health night and day, and I always make obeisance before all the gods on your behalf. I do not cease writing to you, but you do not have me in mind.

"But I do my part writing to you always and do not cease bearing you (in mind) and having you in my heart. But you never wrote to me concerning your health, how you are doing. I am worried about you because although you received letters from me often, you never wrote back to me so that I may know how you are.

"I sent six letters to you. The moment you have(?) me in mind, I shall obtain leave from the consular (commander), and I shall come to you so that you may know that I am your brother. For I demanded(?) nothing from you for the army, but I fault you because although I write to you, none of you(?) ... has consideration. Look, your(?) neighbour ... I am your brother."

The soldier came from the Egyptian city of TebtunisRoland Unger

Published in the Bulletin of the American Society of Papyrologists, Adamson thinks Polion was stationed in the province of Pannonia Inferior at Aquincum, an area that is now Budapest. He believes the legion the soldier belonged to travelled a lot, even as far as modern day Istanbul.

After its discovery by Grenfell and Hunt a century ago, it was catalogued and left unread: "This letter was just one of many documents that Grenfell and Hunt unearthed," Adamson said. "And because it was in such bad shape, no one had worked much on it for about 100 years." Even now portions of the letter's contents are uncertain or missing and not possible to reconstruct.

"Polion was literate, and literacy was rarer then that it is now, but his handwriting, spelling and Greek grammar are erratic. He likely would have been multilingual, communicating in Egyptian or Greek at home in Egypt before he enlisted in the army and then communicating in Latin with the army in Pannonia."

To establish the date of the letter, Adamson looked at handwriting styles and his name – Aurelius – which would have been a result from the expansion of Roman citizenship in the second century.

April DeConick, chair of Rice University's religious studies department, said: "One thing that I think is important about this letter is that it reflects the emotions of a soldier in the ancient world. His emotions are really no different than those of soldiers today, who are longing to go home."

Uganda First Lady Janet Museveni: If Cows Can't Be Gay Humans Can't Be Gay

Uganda's President Yoweri Museveni is congratulated by Chief Justice Benjamin Odoki as his wife Janet looks after taking his Oath of Office during a ceremony at the Kololo Airstrip grounds in the capital KampalaReuters

Uganda's First Lady has declared that if cows can't be gay then humans definitely cannot be gay either.

Janet Museveni delivered the bewildering statement during a speech to the Church of Uganda's bishops to praise their work which had "progressed" the country.

Uganda recently passed an anti-gay bill, supported by the church, which will punish homosexual acts with life sentences.

"If cows did not practice homosexuality, how could we the human beings start arguing over homosexuality?" asked Museveni, who is also Minister for Affairs in the region of Karamoja.

Museveni stated that Uganda should follow God and not repeal the anti-gay law, after more than 50 civil society groups filed opposition petitions against the bill in Uganda's Constitutional Court last week.

"We must listen to God and obey him," she said. "Thank you God for leading us."

Stricter new law

Uganda's anti-homosexual law, passed by Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, imposes stricter laws for gays including life sentences for "aggravated homosexuality" and bringing in a law that criminalises the failure to report anyone who breaks the anti-gay law.

Homosexuality is illegal in 37 African countries and 83 worldwide, but the law passed by Museveni has led to widespread criticism in Western nations.

Norway and Denmark have decided to withhold donations to Uganda while the World Bank has postponed a $90m (£54m) loan to Uganda because of the law.

The United States has announced that it is reviewing its relationship with the African country.

Hot Shots Photos of the Day: Giant Baby, Nazi Art School, Spider-Man Audition

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The obese baby's mother Eunice Fandino admitted it was her fault that her son piled on weight, because every time he cried she would feed him to calm him downReuters

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Godofredo Rodriguez Pacheco displays a sign with a swastika at the President General Augusto Pinochet Ugarte art school in Chiloe, off the coast of Chile. The curriculum will include workshops on Nazism, said Pacheco, a nationalist who supports Pinochet and has sympathies with Nazi ideologiesReuters

An artist's impression of a previously unknown bird-like dinosaur formally called Anzu wyliei, but more popularly named 'the chicken from hell'. The seven-foot-tall creature weighed about 500 pounds when it roamed western North America 66 to 68 million years agoMark Klingler/Carnegie Museum of Natural History via Getty Images

Peter Norbot and Kris Hamilton leaf through a magazine as they wait for their turn to audition for a promotional campaign for the new film "The Amazing Spider-Man 2" in ChicagoReuters

Roy Ramsay, dressed as King Robert the Bruce, and Roy Murray, dressed as Edward II, promote Bannockburn Live, an event being held in Stirling on June 28 and 29 to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the Battle of BannockburnGetty

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Free Syrian Army fighters climb the stairs at the justice palace in the old city of Aleppo, after the FSA claimed to have taken control of it from forces loyal to Syria's President Bashar al-AssadReuters

A member of pro-Russian forces looks through a wall after breaking into the naval headquarters in SevastopolReuters

This satellite image shows objects that may be debris of the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370. Two objects possibly connected to the search for the passenger line have been spotted in the southern Indian Ocean off the south west coast of AustraliaDigitalGlobe/AMSA via Getty Images

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Zenit St Petersburg's Tomas Hubocan receives medical aid after he crashed into Borussia Dortmund's Robert Lewandowski during their Champions League match in DortmundReuters

Former Microsoft Staffer Alex Kibkalo Charged with Leaking Trade Secrets to Blogger

The Microsoft logo is seen at the firm's offices in Bucharest, Romania.Reuters

A former Microsoft employee is facing criminal charges after he allegedly handed over trade secrets to a blogger in France, US court documents showed.

Russian national Alex Kibkalo, a former Microsoft employee in Lebanon and Russia, has confessed to Microsoft investigators that he provided confidential company documents and information to the blogger, documents from a Seattle federal court showed.

Kibkalo has relocated to Russia and, based on a LinkedIn account, is currently working for another US-based technology firm with offices in Moscow and St. Petersburg, according to an FBI agent who investigated the matter.

A lawyer representing Kibkalo could not be reached for comment outside regular US business hours.

Earlier, an internal probe by Microsoft revealed illegal transmissions of proprietary and confidential trade secrets, according to the court documents. An email from Kibkalo was found within the blogger's Hotmail account, confirming that he transferred confidential data, reported Reuters.

The blogger, who was not identified, was known to those in the Microsoft blogging community for posting screenshots of pre-release versions of the Windows Operating System. The blogger hid his identity by stating that he was from Quebec, Canada, according to the documents.

The court documents said during interviews, the blogger admitted to posting information on Twitter and his websites and selling Windows Server activation keys on eBay.

"We take protection of our intellectual property very seriously, including cooperating with law-enforcement agencies who are investigating potential criminal actions by our employees or others," a Microsoft spokesman told Reuters.

Kibkalo worked with Microsoft for seven years. He received a poor performance review in 2012 and threatened to resign if the review was not revised, court documents showed.

According to Microsoft, in July and August 2012, Kibkalo uploaded proprietary software including pre-release software updates of Windows 8 RT and ARM devices, alongside the Microsoft Activation Server Software Development Kit (SDK) to a computer in Washington and later to his personal Windows Live SkyDrive account.

The case is in USA versus Kibkalo, Case No 2:14-mj-00114-MAT, US District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle.