China has not held back in forcing the pace of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. It has deployed 21 satellites and a flotilla of naval ships. It has dispatched investigators to Malaysia, run background checks on the Chinese passengers, and scoured radar images of its vast western regions. Every day it has cajoled, chided and criticized Malaysian officials.

And still it has come up empty-handed. Two weeks after the plane vanished on an overnight flight to Beijing, no trace of the Boeing 777 jet or the 239 people on board, two-thirds of whom are Chinese, has been found.

The painful process of working with Malaysia in searching for the airplane and investigating what went wrong in the early hours of March 8 has revealed the limits of China's power, influence and technological and military might in the region, despite its rapid rise as a rival to the United States and American strategic dominance of the Western Pacific.

Within China, anguished relatives and friends of the passengers and their many sympathizers are pressing hard for answers, but the government finds itself helpless as Malaysia takes the lead in the search and investigation efforts, which is consistent with international norms on air disasters.
Malaysia has been keeping other nations, including China, at a distance, to the frustration of officials here, according to political observers. That tension is reflected in the frequent condemnations of Malaysia that have appeared in the Chinese state news media. China is out of its comfort zone, no longer in the position of strength from which it usually deals with smaller Asian nations, including Malaysia.

The two countries have for decades maintained strong economic ties, and Xi Jinping, the Chinese leader, promised closer economic and military cooperation on a visit to Malaysia in October. At the same time, China has not been shy about pressing Malaysia on a range of delicate issues - in January, it sent a naval patrol to a reef in the South China Sea that is claimed by Malaysia; in 2012, it welcomed Malaysia's deportation of six ethnic Uighurs who had fled from China.

Now, Chinese officials find themselves desperately prodding Malaysia to share information, to allow China a hand in the investigation and to placate the irate Chinese families who demand answers daily.

"If you don't push them, they won't move," Zhu Zhenming, a scholar of Southeast Asia at the Yunnan Academy of Social Sciences, said about the Malaysian authorities. "It's mostly to do with their administrative management capabilities, but also their culture."

He added that Malaysia was "too lacking" when it came to "dealing with disaster management" - "not because they don't want to do it, but because they cannot."

That sense of frustration, and perhaps condescension, has come through even in official Chinese remarks that were intended to be diplomatic. On Tuesday, Huang Huikang, the Chinese ambassador to Malaysia, told reporters in Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital, that "the Malaysian government has insufficient capabilities, technologies and experience in responding to the MH370 incident, but they did their best." 

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, who is on the Lok Sabha election campaign, will be holding two election rallies on Saturday.

The Congress's poll campaign chief will be first visiting Mandla district in Madhya Pradesh where he will be interacting with the tribals.

Later in the day, Rahul will head to Pratapgarh district in Uttar Pradesh where he will be addressing a public meeting.

American investigators reviewing a hard drive belonging to the captain of missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 have found that there were deletions of information even closer to the final flight than first indicated by Malaysian officials, U.S. law enforcement officials tell CNN.
The forensic search of the computer files by government experts found files were removed even after February 3, the date Malaysian authorities have cited for when some data was cleared from the drive of the captain.
Investigators are examining the contents of drives belonging to both pilots. Copies of the hard drives are at the FBI's forensics lab facilities in Quantico, Virginia, and one is being analyzed with the assistance of consultants the FBI uses to help analyze such electronic data.
It's not clear why Malaysian officials cited the February 3 date and if they knew of the other deletions. The type of software used for flight simulation takes up a lot of room in hard drives and investigators believe that could be one reason for deletion of files.
It's possible too that some damage could have been done during the first examinations done by Malaysian investigators.
Law enforcement officials say that they aren't drawing any conclusions about the subsequent deletions, or the earlier ones, just two days into reviewing the hard drive contents, which officials described as a large volume of data. More couldn't be learned about the nature of the deletions, and who made them.

Some senior U.S. counterterrorism officials say that an accident is the leading operative theory as cause for the disappearance of Flight 370. That's because there is no other information indicating foul play.
"Barring other information to suggest otherwise one has to first think this was a tragic accident," a U.S. law enforcement official said. But investigators have not ruled out terrorism or other theories.
Investigators have focused on the pilots because of the lack of any other information. But there isn't proof that they did anything wrong.
U.S. investigators have compiled profiles of the two pilots, based on interviews with friends, neighbors and family members conducted by Malaysian investigators, and on a search of their online activities, U.S. officials say.
Those interviews haven't turned up anything that could suggest any explanations for the plane's disappearance.

The February 2 polls, called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in an unsuccessful attempt to ease a months-old political crisis, have not yet been completed because of disruption by demonstrators.

A court spokesman told reporters that the 6:3 ruling was reached on the grounds that voting was not held for the entire country on the same day.

Opposition protesters blocked candidate registrations in 28 constituencies, and also caused the closure of about 10 per cent of polling stations.

The main opposition Democrat Party boycotted the vote, saying it would not end years of political turmoil.

The case was one of a slew of legal hurdles facing Yingluck, who has withstood calls to resign despite months of political street protests.

A spokesman for her Puea Thai Party described the outcome as "regrettable", and said the annulment of the vote would "set a bad precedent".
The petition was filed by a Bangkok law lecturer. A similar bid, submitted by the opposition on the grounds that the failure to hold the entire election on the same day was an attempt to grab power unconstitutionally, was rejected by the constitutional court last month.

Yingluck's government, in a caretaker role following the incomplete election, faces a series of legal challenges that could lead to her removal from office, including negligence charges linked to a rice subsidy scheme.

She has faced more than four months of street demonstrations seeking to force her from office and install an unelected government to oversee reforms and curb the dominance of her billionaire family.

Twenty-three people have been killed in recent weeks in gun and grenade attacks, mostly targeting protesters.

It is the latest chapter in a political crisis stretching back to a military coup in 2006 that ousted Yingluck's brother Thaksin Shinawatra, a divisive tycoon-turned-politician who lives in Dubai to avoid prison for a corruption conviction.

Crimea's Moscow-backed leaders declared a 96% vote in favour of quitting Ukraine and annexation by Russia in a referendum Western powers said was illegal and will bring immediate sanctions.
As state media in Russia carried a startling reminder of its power to turn the United States to "radioactive ash", US President Barack Obama spoke to Vladimir Putin, telling the Russian president that he and his European allies were ready to impose "additional costs" on Moscow for violating Ukraine's territory.
The Kremlin and the White House issued statements saying Obama and Putin saw diplomatic options to resolve what is the gravest crisis in East-West relations since the Cold War.

A pro-Russian protester celebrates in Simferopol's Lenin Square on March 16, 2014 after exit polls showed that about 95% of voters in Ukraine's Crimea region supported union with Russia (AFP photo)

But Obama said Russian forces must first end "incursions" into its ex-Soviet neighbour while Putin renewed his accusation that the new leadership in Kiev, brought to power by an uprising last month against his elected Ukrainian ally, were failing to protect Russian-speakers from violent Ukrainian nationalists.
Moscow defended a military takeover of the majority ethnic Russian Crimea by citing a right to protect "peaceful citizens". Ukraine's interim government has mobilised troops to defend against an invasion of its eastern mainland, where pro-Russian protesters have been involved in deadly clashes in recent days.
With three-quarters of Sunday's votes counted in Crimea, a Black Sea peninsula that is home to 2 million people, 95.7% had supported annexation by Russia, chief electoral official Mikhail Malyshev, was quoted as saying by local media.
Turnout was 83 percent, he added - a high figure given that many who opposed the move had said they would boycott the vote. Russia's lower house of parliament will pass legislation allowing Crimea to join Russia "in the very near future", news agency Interfax cited its deputy speaker as saying on Monday.
"Results of the referendum in Crimea clearly showed that residents of Crimea see their future only as part of Russia," Sergei Neverov was quoted as saying. Japan on Monday echoed Western nations in rejecting the referendum and called on Russia not to annex Crimea. US and European officials say military action is unlikely over Crimea, which Soviet rulers handed to Ukraine 60 years ago.

But the risk of a wider Russian incursion, as Putin probes Western weakness and tries to restore Moscow's influence over its old Soviet empire, leaves NATO calculating how to help Kiev without triggering what some Ukrainians call "World War Three".
"We hope all parties can calmly maintain restraint to prevent the situation from further escalating and worsening.
Political resolution and dialogue is the only way out," Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Li Baodong told reporters on Monday, ahead of a visit to Europe by President Xi Jinping later this month. China avoided making a comment on the Crimea referendum and has said it does not back sanctions on Moscow - a close diplomatic ally and key economic partner.

Highlighting the stakes, journalist Dmitry Kiselyov, who is close to the Kremlin, stood before an image of a mushroom cloud on his weekly TV show to issue a stark warning. He said: "Russia is the only country in the world that is realistically capable of turning the United States into radioactive ash."
On Lenin Square in the centre of the Crimean capital Simferopol, a band struck up even before polls closed as the crowd waved Russian flags. Regional premier Sergei Aksyonov, a businessman nicknamed "Goblin" who took power when Russian forces moved in two weeks ago, thanked Moscow for its support.
The regional assembly is expected to rubber-stamp a plan to transfer allegiance to Russia on Monday before Aksyonov travels to Moscow, although the timing of any final annexation is in doubt. Putin may choose to hold off a formal move as diplomatic bargaining continues over economic and diplomatic sanctions that many EU states fear could hurt them as much as they do Russia.

Following Lady Gaga's interesting, and debatably disturbing, SXSW performance, Demi Lovato took to Twitter to criticize the bit involving performance artist Millie Brown.

Lovato's struggles with eating disorders and addiction are well-known, and so she was quick to point out that Brown forcing herself to vomit all over Gaga was unacceptable. She stated that Gaga was glamorizing eating disorders and that the performance wasn't "cool" in any way whatsoever.
"Putting the word ART in it isn't a free card to do whatever you want without consequences," she tweeted.

Despite some passioned reactions from upset Gaga fans, Lovato continued to warn of the negative ways pop culture can impact others, especially someone with as much clout as Gaga.

However, in the end, Lovato reminded everyone that was still a Little Monster at heart. Read her tweets below.

On Saturday, the social media reacted strongly to reports of Veena's alleged anti-India tweet. After the news went viral, we received a mixed reaction from some members of the Pakistani entertainment industry.

Farhan Saeed, former member of the Pakistani band Jal, told us, "It's really sad if she did so, but then what else do we expect from Veena Malik? Anything that keeps her in the news. I think we artistes should be a bridge between the two countries, especially the ones who work on both sides of the border. But coming from Veena, it is surely a publicity stunt."
Sunny Ghanshyam, lead guitarist of Raeth, remarked, "What is she all about? No one knew who Veena Malik was before she came to India. It's only after she got a chance in Bollywood that she got her recognition here in India. She should be grateful and should owe her success to India. I'm sure she got this rishta out of what she is today or else it would have been really difficult for her to travel to the US. Sad how people change over times they need to respect the people and the place."

Adds Hadiqa Kiani, pop singer and renowned makeup artist, "It's not about India or Pakistan . Human beings are the same everywhere. We must think beyond racism."SOURCE

Two unidentified men threw acid at an aide of one of the witnesses in the rape case against self-styled godman Asaram Bapu in Surat on Sunday.

"The victim has been identified as Dinesh Bhavchandani (39) who has given a statement against Asaram in the case," said the officer.

"The incident took place when Bhavchandani was riding to his house near Vesu Royal Residency. Two men on a bike overtook him and threw acid," she said.

He was taken to a private hospital.

Earlier, two witnesses in cases of rape against Asaram and his son Narayan Sai have been attacked.

Asked about police protection for the witnesses, the DCP said, "Most witnesses are given police protection, but these three victims had refused it."

A Surat-based woman has accused Asaram of repeated rapes and illegal confinement between 1997 and 2006 when she was living at his ashram on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. Her younger sister has lodged a similar complaint against Narayan Sai.

Asaram (72) is currently in a Jodhpur jail after being arrested in September 2013 for sexually assaulting a minor girl at his ashram there.

Entered the Egyptian dancer Sama, which knew her marriage to former Attorney Salafi Anwar Albulkima, the world of politics and joined the opposition a lyrical dancer paragraph attacking President Mohamed Morsy and mockery of the Renaissance project, which was promised in his election campaign.

Contained this dance on the sharp criticism of the president's policy Mursi, arguing that the Renaissance project "pollen Venkoh", meaning that the project and the placebo, and that Mercy did not achieve anything except in "manga", in reference to the president's statement to the famous Egyptian in the first 100 days of his reign on the decline price mango, a statement that was met with ridicule from some activists and Egyptian revolutionary coalitions and a number of media.

As used in the song accompanying the dance political words related persons of the Muslim Brotherhood, such as the word "hell" that became famous by guiding the former Mahdi Akef in a dialogues when he was quoted as saying: "hell in Egypt", which raised a storm of attack angry against him, and used some Implications verbal referring to others like Dr. Essam el-Erian.
Dance and song to قيتا strong echo on social networking sites between critic strongly welcome the
way that you used in attacking the president Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood, and sarcastic comments someone say: "the opposition and many faces."
Confirmed Sama Egyptian at the beginning of her speech she did not know anything about politics, not far nor near, defender video that does not carry any words offensive to any particular person, and citing that artists do not insult anyone by contrast members of some Islamic groups who Lisbon actors and actresses verbally inappropriate.

It indicated before the video display consulted a lawyer presented the possibility that this work to any legal liability, he stressed that the work does not insult any particular person.
She explained Sama Egyptian that the lyrics are words circulating in the Egyptian street has photographed in her home during her spare time without the benefit of team work, explaining it during their presence in demonstrations Friday "Egypt not manor" and found a group of young people chanting slogans that she said in the clip on some melodies arose her performance songs on the way "satirical comedy."
Sama said the Egyptian It's not worried about this video because it does not carry any abuse to Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, pointing out that Dr. Morsi must respect for his position as Egypt.
At the end of her speech Sama said that if she happened to her any harm in the coming days will be by Islamic groups.

And jumped name Sama Egyptian into the spotlight following the publication of the newspaper "The Republic", the semi-official, news in March / March last as married deputy of Parliament for the Nour Party Salafi (formerly) Anwar Albulkima, known then as Vice cosmetic or vice nose; due conducting surgery and his claim that he was subjected to the assault incident resulted in serious injuries and steal 100 thousand pounds, then returned and admitted that it was not real and that he was under the influence of the anesthetic.
The newspaper published a statement accounted for Sama Egyptian Albulkima threatens to kill and maim her face with water fire after attempts to uncover their secret marriage.