(PENTAGON) […]  Earlier this week, a Chinese fighter jet pulled off a similar stunt with a U.S. spy plane. On Monday, Aug. 18, a Chinese Su-27 fighter jet intercepted a U.S. P-8 Poseidon surveillance plane near Hainan Island. The P-8 had likely been monitoring a massive Chinese military exercise nearby, and the Su-27 flew dangerously close to its American opponent, a clear mark of the Chinese government’s displeasure at U.S. surveillance activities off the Chinese coast.

At a briefing Friday, Pentagon spokesman Rear Adm. John Kirby provided more details on the encounter. The Chinese jet flew directly in front of the P-8 at a 90-degree angle about 40 feet from the modified Boeing 737. Kirby said the Su-27 passed the P-8 with its belly facing the plane, most likely to display its weapons’ load to the American pilots. The Chinese plane then pulled up alongside the P-8 and performed a barrel roll over the U.S. plane.
No word on whether the Chinese aviator flipped the bird in the direction of the Americans. (read more)

ON THE night of June 3rd–4th 1989 the Chinese army unleashed its tanks in the centre of Beijing to crush a protest that had begun seven weeks earlier against the Communist Party’s autocratic rule.

Ever since, Chinese officials grow nervous in the run-up to the anniversary of the crackdown. This year they are especially jittery, fearful that the symbolic passage of a quarter of a century might encourage some dissidents to be more daring than usual in their public remembrance of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, who were killed.

Security forces around the country are on heightened alert, particularly in Tiananmen Square, the plaza that has become synonymous with the unrest. (more…)

You’ve probably seen this picture before:

But have you ever seen the full picture ?

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The U.S. Military and Australian Search Authority in charge of looking for missing Malaysian Airline MH-370 have now admitted what independent researchers announced a few weeks ago.   They have no idea where to look, and admit the initial ping signals were mistakenly interpreted.  The search is suspended.

VIA CNN – The four acoustic pings at the center of the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 for the past seven weeks are no longer believed to have come from the plane’s black boxes, a U.S. Navy official told CNN.

The acknowledgment came Wednesday as searchers wrapped up the first phase of their effort, having scanned 329 square miles of southern Indian Ocean floor without finding any wreckage from the Boeing 777-200. (more…)

The CNN article does not contain a link to the actual 47 page document, nor does it state how the Inmarsat position changed from “the data was irretrievably lost” to now “the data is being released”.  Go Figure…   If you find it can you drop a link in the comment section.    Never mind, I found it here:  http://www.dca.gov.my/mainpage.html

I uploaded the Malaysian Press Release and Data to the SCRIBD account, and will embed the data in a separate post (the next post).   Thanks… /SD

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (CNN) — Data from communications between satellites and missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was released Tuesday.

For weeks, the satellite company Inmarsat said it didn’t have the authority to release the data, deferring to Malaysian authorities, which are in charge of the search for the plane that disappeared more than two months ago over Southeast Asia. (more…)

(New York Post)  Members of a violent cell of al Qaeda-linked terrorists are being questioned in connection with the disappearance of Flight MH370, according to several British press reports.

International law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and Britain’s MI6, asked Malaysian authorities to conduct intense interrogations of the 11 militants, who range in age from 22 to 55 and include students, business professionals and a young widow, the Mail newspaper said.

They were all arrested in Malaysia last week. (more…)

Australian search team leader, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, has announced that after 6 consecutive days of no further signal detections they are calling off the use of the Towed Ping Locator.  

In addition Angus Houston says: “the chance of finding any floating debris has diminished”; and visual debris searches are due to be discontinued in the next 48 hours pending further consultation with all parties assisting in visual search…..

The search team has determined to go underwater. They are moving to deploy the autonomous underwater side scan radar known as Bluefin-21.
Each deployment of the Bluefin-21 will take 24 hours. Two hours to reach depth (approx. 4,500 meters); 16 hours “on station” as it sweeps the sea floor [5k x 8k];  two more hours to resurface, and four hours to download and prepare for redeployment.
The use of the Bluefin-21 side-scan radar begins today. (more…)

Other than Australian Search authorities saying they located four pings of similar profile to the black boxes, not so much has come to light about missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370.  
However, the Malaysian authorities are backtracking on their prior position that all crew and passengers were cleared with investigation and background checks.    In addition they are now saying the Co-Pilot may have tried to make a call during the odd directional changes.

(Via Daily Mail)  The co-pilot of missing flight MH370 made a call from his mobile phone while the aircraft flew low over the west coast of Malaysia, it was revealed today as the U.S. denied reports the plane landed at a military base on the remote island of Diego Garcia. (more…)

SEARCH crews have relocated signals, hoped to be from MH370’s black box, another two times.

AUSTRALIA – Search coordinator and retired Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston has told reporters in Perth the discovery by Australian ship Ocean is “further encouraging”.

“The detection yesterday afternoon was held for approximately five minutes and 32 seconds,” he said.  “The detection late last night was held for approximately 7 minutes.”
It takes the number of transmissions detected by Ocean Shield to four.
“Yesterday’s signals will assist in better defining a reduced and much more manageable search area on the ocean floor,” the coordinator added. (more…)

Air Chief Marshal Houston has told Radio 3AW he was concerned that there haven’t been any further signal detections today.

“The worry we have is that we haven’t been able to reacquire it,” he told 3AW radio.

“Underwater searching with an autonomous underwater vehicle takes an awful long time so it’s not like using an aircraft. You literally crawl along the ocean floor.” (link)

Acting Prime Minister Warren Truss described today as “critical”, as crews try and reconnect with the signals.

“The connections two days ago were obviously a time of great hope that there had been a significant breakthrough and it was disappointing that we were unable to repeat that experience yesterday,” Mr Truss told reporters in Sydney.
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