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Missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370: Iranian Middleman Asked Thai Agent to Book Tickets on Stolen Passports By Gianluca Mezzofiore March 10, 2014 12:24 PM While the search for the missing Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines flight continues, the mystery surrounding the two passengers who used stolen passports to board flight MH370 intensifies. The Financial Times exclusively reported that the Thai travel agency that booked the tickets for the men had been asked to by an Iranian middleman. It is fairly common for fraudulent documents to be used on regional flights for illegal immigration or drug smuggling but the fact that the aircraft...

Fishermen from this village believe they may have seen the missing Malaysia Airlines flight on the night it disappeared flying low over the Gulf of Thailand. It's not clear whether what they saw was flight MH370 or whether it is the latest in a string of false leads in the search for the missing plane, but if true it would suggest that the plane may have flown low to avoid radar, what is known as "terrain masking." On March 8 flight MH370 disappeared from radar as it flew north over the Gulf of Thailand towards Vietnam en route to Beijing....

Thailand's military said Tuesday that its radar detected a plane that may have been Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 just minutes after the jetliner's communications went down, and that it didn't share the information with Malaysia earlier because it wasn't specifically asked for it. A twisting flight path described Tuesday by Thai air force spokesman Air Vice Marshal Montol Suchookorn took the plane to the Strait of Malacca, which is where Malaysian radar tracked Flight 370 early March 8. But Montol said the Thai military doesn't know whether it detected the same plane.

Asian military officials may be staging a mass cover-up over missing flight MH370, because they do not want to expose gaping holes within their countries' air defences, a leading aviation expert has suggested...[SNIP]...Now Thailand's military say they detected a plane at 1.28am, eight minutes after MH370's communications went down, heading towards the Strait but didn't share the information because they were not asked for it.

An Oberlin College professor has filed a lawsuit because, she claims, another professor on the Oberlin faculty has harassed her and created a hostile work environment for female employees for years. The plaintiff is Eunjung An, professor of French and cinema studies ... comparative literature professor Ali Yedes informed an unnamed Oberlin employee last year that he had helped his nephew obtain a student visa to the United States expressly to “stab and kill someone from his department.”.. Yedes serves as the school’s “Muslim Religious Life Affiliate (Islamic Center of Cleveland).” .. An’s lawsuit claims that Yedes has been engaged...

Saturday European officials indicated two of the people on board were using passports that had been stolen in Thailand. On Sunday Malaysia’s transport minister, Hishammuddin Hussein, said Malaysian intelligence officials were also checking the identities of two other passengers, according to The Associated Press. “All the four names are with me and have been given to our intelligence agencies,” Hishammuddin said, according to The AP. “We do not want to target only the four; we are investigating the whole passenger manifest. We are looking at all possibilities.”

Investigations into the stolen passports of two passengers listed on missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 have swung to the Thai resort island of Phuket, where there is a thriving stolen passport racket. Police in Malaysia have also viewed CCTV footage of the passengers on the flight, specifically looking for images of two men listed as Italian Luigi Maraldi and Austrian Christian Kozel. Mr Maraldi, 37, was surprised to see his name on the passenger manifest because he was in fact holidaying in Thailand. He rang his father, Walter in Cesena, Italy, according to Italian press reports. “Ciao, dad,” the younger...

<p>MILAN (AP) — Foreign ministry officials in Rome and Vienna confirm that names of two nationals listed on the manifest of the missing Malaysian airlines flight match passports reported stolen in Thailand.</p> <p>Italy's Foreign Ministry said Saturday that an Italian man whose name was listed as being aboard is traveling in Thailand and was not aboard the plane.</p>

It's happening in Ukraine, Venezuela, Thailand, Bosnia, Syria, and beyond. Revolutions, unrest, and riots are sweeping the globe. The near-simultaneous eruption of violent protest can seem random and chaotic; inevitable symptoms of an unstable world. But there's at least one common thread between the disparate nations, cultures, and people in conflict, one element that has demonstrably proven to make these uprisings more likely: high global food prices. Just over a year ago, complex systems theorists at the New England Complex Systems Institute warned us that if food prices continued to climb, so too would the likelihood that there would be...

Two young siblings and a woman were killed in an apparent grenade attack against anti-government protesters occupying an upscale shopping area of Thailand's capital on Sunday, the latest violence in a months-long political crisis that is growing bloodier by the day.

Respected fellow Thai citizens and dear rice farmers, I wish to begin by reaffirming that over the past two years since being appointed Prime Minister, I have been committed to serve the people of Thailand with honesty, integrity and every determined effort, as I have always been conscious of the mandate entrusted to me by the Thai people. I shall therefore not let them down; in particular the responsibility to protect the interests of the Thai people and uphold our democratic system with His Majesty the King as the Head of State. [snip] My fellow Thai citizens, I wish to...

Explanation: Can the night sky appear both serene and surreal? Perhaps classifiable as serene in the above panoramic image taken last Friday are the faint lights of small towns glowing across a dark foreground landscape of Doi Inthanon National Park in Thailand, as well as the numerous stars glowing across a dark background starscape. Also visible are the planet Venus and a band of zodiacal light on the image left. Unusual events are also captured, however. First, the central band of our Milky Way Galaxy, while usually a common site, appears here to hover surreally above the ground. Next, a...

Forecasting Tsunami Threats Through Layers of Sand and Time Map Of The Bay Of Bengal The catastrophic Indian Ocean event in December 2004 that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries – including 15,000 in India – was hardly a one freak occurrence. It could happen again. Newswise — Azhii peralai: from the deep … large waves. This is the expression for ‘tsunami’ in Tamil, the oldest language in southern India. For an ancient dialect to have its own phrase for destructive waves triggered by earthquakes, the people of Tamil Nadu likely experienced tsunamis periodically through the centuries, says Halifax...

KIEV, February 5 (RIA Novosti) – Ukraine has delivered the first five main battle tanks to Thailand of a 2011 order worth over $200 million, a state-run arms exporter said Wednesday. The shipment is part of an order of 49 Oplot-M tanks to be put in service with the Royal Thai Armed Forces in the near future. The Ukrainian tanks arrived at the port of Sattahip on Tuesday and will undergo additional acceptance trials, Ukrspetsexport said in a statement. The Oplot is armed with a 125-mm smoothbore gun, a 7.62-mm coaxial machine gun and a 12.7-mm anti-aircraft machine gun. The...

The Ministry of Commerce said the Chinese government pulled out of the the deal to buy 1.2 million tonnes of rice because of an ongoing probe. Thailand's Anti-Corruption Commission is investigating PM Yingluck Shinawatra over a rice purchase policy. The policy has been a factor in the anti-government protests that have sparked Thailand's political crisis. The deal with China would have been the first stage of what the Thai government was hoping to be a larger shipment of rice this year. [ snip ] The rice purchase scheme, introduced by Ms Yingluck's governing Pheu Thai party, has seen the government...

Thai protesters vowed Monday to stage larger rallies in central Bangkok and push ahead their efforts to nullify the results of elections that were expected to prolong a national political crisis. Despite fears of violence, voting proceeded peacefully in 90 percent of polling stations Sunday. The protesters forced polling booths to close in Bangkok and southern Thailand, disenfranchising millions of registered voters. As a result, not all Parliament seats will be filled and a series of by-elections are required to complete voting, extending political paralysis for months.

Explosions and heavy gunfire rattled Bangkok Saturday as pro- and anti-government protesters clashed on the eve of controversial Thai elections seen as unlikely to end a cycle of violence in the kingdom after months of opposition rallies. Bystanders, security personnel and journalists raced to take cover in a shopping mall after a masked gunman man began spraying bullets from an assault rifle during confrontations between government supporters and opposition demonstrators, according to an AFP reporter. At least six people were injured as a busy intersection in a northern suburb of the capital was turned into a battle zone with volleys...

Thai authorities declared a 60-day state of emergency in Bangkok that will begin Wednesday. It comes amid growing discontent among pro-government farmers.

Samong "Avajee" Traisattha, 36, was discovered by his wife lying in a pool of blood in his living room The singer of a black metal band has been stabbed to death for tarnishing Satan. Samong "Avajee" Traisattha, 36, was discovered by his wife lying in a pool of blood in his living room. The lead singer and bassist of Surrender of Divinity had earlier welcomed a fan of the band into his home in Thailand. His wife Jaruvan Surapol, 34, told cops she left to put her children to bed but when she returned an hour later on January 8...

Demonstrators have been attempting to 'shut down' Bangkok since Monday. Dozens were injured today as violence escalated after days of relative calm. An explosion during an antigovernment march in Bangkok today wounded at least 36 and raised concerns about escalating violence after the protest movement appeared to be losing steam in recent days.