SHANGHAI: China’s aviation regulator has said it had ordered Chinese airlines to suspend their Boeing Co 737 MAX aircraft operations by 6 p.m.

The orders have been given following a deadly crash of one of the planes in Ethiopia on Sunday.

An Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 with 157 people on board, crashed minutes after take-off on Sunday.

This was the second crash of the 737 MAX, the latest version of the Boeing’s workhorse narrow-body jet. (Agencies)

MOSCOW: Thousands of people rallied against Russia’s increasingly restrictive internet policies Sunday which some say will eventually lead to “total censorship” and isolate the country from the world.

The mass rally in Moscow and smaller events in other cities across the country was called after the Russian lower house of parliament backed a bill to stop Russian internet traffic from being routed on foreign servers, in a bid to boost cyber security.

The move was labelled by critics as the latest attempt to control online content under President Vladimir Putin, with some fearing the country is on track to completely isolate its network like in North Korea.

Activists counting people said more than 15,000 people have turned up to listen to internet and media rights activists as well as music performers who have complained of government pressure in recent months.

“The government is battling freedom, including freedom on the internet, I can tell you this as somebody who spent a month in jail for a tweet,” one of the rally speakers Sergei Boiko, an internet freedom activist from Siberia, said.
Police detained several people without explanation. An AFP correspondent saw a man being dragged away by arms and legs near the entrance to the rally.

The popular Telegram messaging app, which Russian authorities have been unsuccessfully trying to block for many months, called on its users to attend the rally last week.

A message in Russian on its official account said that the bill on internet centralization aims to “cut off Russia from the rest of the world, after which they can block foreign social networks and messengers.” The goal of the bill is “total censorship,” it said.

The bill has not yet been voted on in key second reading. A petition against the bill launched by the Roskomsvoboda internet freedoms group calls on Russians to appeal to lawmakers to strike the bill down, “otherwise soon we will be living in anti-utopias of Orwell,” it says.

(Agencies)

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India has informed that voting for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections will be  in 7-phases starting from 11 April.

The contest for the 543 Lok Sabha seats pits the ruling BJP’s Narendra Modi against Rahul Gandhi-led Congress party which is attempting to work with regional parties to try stopping PM Modi’s return to power. PM Modi – the second non-Congress Prime Minister after Atal Bihari Vajpayee to complete a full term in office – is making a strong pitch for his re-election.

Nearly 900 million voters are entitled to vote, many of them will be voting for the first time in the national elections and have been the focus of PM Modi and Rahul Gandhi’s campaigns.

Four states, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, will also vote for new provincial governments.

According to the commission, the votes will be counted on 23 May.

The announcement of the poll schedule kicks in the ground rules for the contest, called the model code of conduct designed to create a level-playing field for opposition parties. The code prohibits governments from making any announcement that could influence the voters and gives the poll panel, the power to transfer any official associated with the election process across India.

NAIROBI: An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 jet en route to Nairobi crashed killing all 157, including 149 passengers and eight crew members on board, media reports said.

According to reports, there were no survivors.

The ill-fated flight had left Bole airport in Addis Ababa at 8.38 am local time when it lost contact with the control tower a few minutes later.

The state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation said there were no survivors onboard the flight. The airlines was carrying passengers from 33 countries, reports said.

The flight ET 302 crashed near the town of Bishoftu, some 62 kilometers southeast of the capital Addis Ababa, according to the airlines.

Officials said search and rescue operations were in progress. (Agencies)

YANGON: Rakhine insurgents killed at least nine Myanmar police in the country’s western Rakhine State, local media reports have said.

Local media said the insurgents raided a police post in the village of Yoe Ta Yoke late on Saturday night.

San Aung Thein, the village’s administrator said nine police were killed by the insurgents. He, however, gave no details of the attack.

This is the second biggest attack on police this year. The insurgents had in January attacked on a station killing 13 police.

The insurgents have been fighting for autonomy for Rakhine. More than 5,000 people have been displaced so far, authorities said. (Agencies)

An Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 737 jet, carrying 149 passengers and eight crew members, has crashed on a flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi, media reports said.

According to the airlines, the crash happened today, shortly after take-off from Nairobi.

Search and rescue operations were under way, the airlines said.

The airlines said their staff will be sent to the accident site and will do everything possible. (Agencies)

KUALALUMPUR: Police in Malasiya have stepped up security measures upon the arrest of 9 terrorist suspects last month. The arrest signals of the infiltration of foreign terrorists in the country.

Police has taken their presence seriously and will continue to cooperate with foreign intelligence agencies to weed out undesirable elements, according to Mohd Fuzi Harun, inspector general of police.

Nine terror suspects including six Egyptians and one Tunisian were arrested in Klang Valley and Sarawak between Feb 2 and Feb 9.

Two of them, a 21-year-old Egyptian and a 22-year-old Tunisian are said to be members of Ansar Al Shariah Al Tunisia, who entered Malaysia using false Syrian travel documents. Based in North Africa, Ansar Am Shariah Al Tunisia is listed by the United Nations as an international terrorist group responsible for planning large scale attacks in several countries.

The other five Egyptians picked up by police special branch on counter terrorism are members of Muslim Brotherhood Al Ikhwanul Muslimin and functioned as facilitators to secure lodging, logistics and jobs including buying air tickets for members.

Two of them were students from institutions of higher learning in Malaysia, while another two were teachers, one at a religious school in Klang valley and another an Arabic teacher.

Also arrested were two Malaysians in Serian Sarawak who were charged with terror offences as facilitators to foreign fighters.

All seven foreigners were deported to their home countries on Mar 5 and blacklisted in Malaysia. The Malaysia police also outlined some common methods used by foreign fighters to come in and operate in Malaysia including marrying locals in order to get a spouse visa. Others exploit their student visa or try to set up businesses in Malaysia. (Agencies)

BOGOTA: A total of fourteen people died in a plane crash in the Colombian plains province of Meta, according to Colombia’s civil aviation agency.

According to media agency reports, there were no survivors of the crash.

The plane owned by Laser Aereo airlines was en route from San Jose del Guaviare to central Villavicencio, according to reports.

The plane crashed in San Carlos de Guaroa municipality, about midway through its flight. (Agencies)

TOKYO: A 116-year-old Japanese woman who still enjoys studying math and playing board games has been recognized as the world’s oldest person, the Guinness World Records said Saturday.
Kane Tanaka was born on 2 January 1903, the year when the Wright brothers launched humanity’s first powered flight.

Tanaka’s recognition was celebrated at the nursing home where she lives by city Mayor, Soichiro Takashima and other well-wishers in western Japan’s Fukuoka .
Asked what moment she was the most happy in life, she replied: “Now.”
She married Hideo Tanaka in 1922, giving birth to four children and adopting a fifth.
Kane normally wakes each morning at 6 am and passes the afternoons by studying mathematics and practicing calligraphy.
“One of Kane’s favorite pastimes is a game of Othello and she has become an expert at the classic board game, often beating rest-home staff,” Guinness said.
Japan has one of the world’s highest life expectancy rate and has been home to several people recognised as among the oldest humans to have ever lived.
They include Jiroemon Kimura, the longest-living man on record, who died soon after his 116th birthday in June 2013.
The oldest verified person ever — Jeanne Louise Calment of France — died in 1997 at the age of 122, according to Guinness.

(Agencies)

WASHINGTON: Unemployment rate in the USA is not worse despite the fact that many industries laid off their workers. Only 20,000 new jobs were added to the market last month while many companies had laid off workers.  However, the jobless rate fell from two tenths to 3.8 percent, its lowest level since October, according to the Labor Department report.

Meanwhile, hourly wages saw their biggest gains in nearly a decade, more evidence of the tight labor market.