Plane Flew 7 Hours, Iconic Sailor Dies

Flight 370: The missing Malaysian airlines jet was deliberately diverted from its course and flew for at least seven hours, prime minister Najib Razak said today. The plane bound from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing is now believed to have taken a hard left and crossed back over Malaysia. The transponder, which puts the plane’s blip on radar, was deliberately turned off, Najib said.

  The disappearance is now being investigated as a crime. Police searched the pilot’s home today.

Authorities released a map showing the plane’s last possible location along two long arcs stretching over thousands of miles. One arc runs from the southern Kazakhstan in Central Asia to northern Thailand, and a second stretches from near Jakarta to the Indian Ocean, roughly 1,000 miles off west of Australia. The northern arc passes through some of the world’s most militarized countries with tight air defenses, including India, Pakistan, and Iran.

“Due to the type of satellite data, we are unable to confirm the precise location of the plane when it last made contact with a satellite,” Najib said.

  Several reports say the plane made extreme changes in altitude and was following navigation waypoints that only a pilot could follow. “These movements are consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane,” Najib said.

Ukraine: As many as 50,000 people rallied in Moscow today to protest the Russian occupation of Crimea and tomorrow’s scheduled secession vote. They held Russian and Ukrainian flags, shouting, “The occupation of Crimea is Russia’s disgrace.”

  Secy. of State John Kerry said in London yesterday that the US will not recognize the results of tomorrow’s vote in Crimea.

Nation: Operators of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco are considering fitting the bridge with nets to catch suicide jumpers. At least 46 people jumped to their deaths last year, and the bridge has been a suicide magnet since it opened in 1937. About 1500 people are known to have jumped and died.

The Obit Page: Glenn McDuffie, who was identified as the sailor kissing a nurse in the iconic photo snapped in Times Square at the end of WWII, died last Sunday in Dallas at age 86.

Famed photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt took the picture as people celebrated the announcement of victory over Japan on August 14, 1945. Many men claimed to be the sailor, but he was finally identified as McDuffie in 2007. McDuffie said he was changing subway trains on the way to see his girlfriend when he heard the news. “I was so happy. I ran out in the street,” he said McDuffie, “And then I saw that nurse.”

The Pistorius Files: Double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius vomited in court twice this week during testimony about his dead girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp.  Yesterday Pistorius became ill as the lawyers flipped through pictures of the bloody crime scene and Steenkamp’s body. Earlier in the week he got sick during testimony about the bullet wounds in the model’s body. Pistorius fired bullets designed to pancake and shatter, hitting Steenkamp in her head, hip, and elbow.

Celebrity Roundup: Ape expert Jane Goodall says Michael Jackson used to beat up and abuse his chimp “Bubbles”; Scarlett Johansson is pregnant; Chris Brown, more famous for beating up girlfriend Rihanna than his own music, was kicked out of rehab and arrested; Self-promoter Donald Trump says he won’t run for governor of NY because the Republican party can’t get behind his candidacy. He says that like it’s a mystery.

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Friday, March 29, 2024

Page Two

The Most Corrupt Justice

Monday, October 2, 2023

Democracy and Video in the Dark

Sunday, February 26, 2023

Page Two: Do the Right Thing

Tuesday, February 1, 2022

Page Two: Sound Recall

Monday, September 13, 2021

Page Two: Cuomo Must Go

Friday, August 13, 2021

Trump and the Truth

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

The “Great” President

Monday, March 30, 2020

The Wright Stuff

Saturday, February 29, 2020

It's Been Said

"In my mind, I’ve never crossed the line with anyone, but I didn’t realize the extent to which the line has been redrawn. There are generational and cultural shifts that I just didn’t fully appreciate, and I should have, no excuses."

-Andrew Cuomo, resigning as governor of New York after accusations of sexual harassment

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