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From Washington, this is VOA news. Coming up, the latest on a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, Ukraine's ousted leader says he is still president. Hello everyone, I'm Steve Norman.
The Malaysian military says the passenger jet that disappeared last Saturday veered off course from its intended flight path from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. Officials said Tuesday that radar tracked Flight 370 over the Strait of Malacca, hundreds of kilometers to the west of where civilian air traffic controllers lost contact with it off Malaysia's east coast. The location of the Boeing 777, with 239 people aboard, remains a mystery. It disappeared from civilian radar without any distress calls about an hour after leaving Kuala Lumpur early Saturday. Dozens of ships and planes involved in the search have failed to turn up any trace of the plane. Meantime, at airports in the region, many travelers remain nervous. Hoo Wee Sin was waiting to board a plane at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Tuesday where Saturday's flight took off. "Frankly speaking, I feel about, I feel worried about it. I feel troubled, you know, too, because it only happened about, you know, three or four days ago, so it's not that peaceful actually." About two-thirds of the people on board were Chinese nationals, with the remainder from other Asian countries, Europe and North America. Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych says he remains the country's president and commander-in-chief. He made his second public appearance Tuesday since fleeing to Russia late last month. Michael Eckels reporting now from Moscow. The ousted president made his case. "A group of ultra-nationalists and neo-fascists is at work in Ukraine to put the country's army under the banner of Bandera and start a civil war," Mr. Yanukovych said. Stepan Bandera was a highly controversial World War II era Ukrainian nationalist leader, who had ties to the Nazis. Mr. Yanukovych criticized the United States for promising monetary aid to Ukraine's new government, insisting that U.S. laws prohibit it from giving money to what he called bandits. Michael Eckels, Moscow, Russia. And Crimea's regional legislature adopted a "declaration of independence" Tuesday, stating that the peninsula will declare itself an independent state. If Crimean residents vote Sunday for the region to join Russia as a constituent republic, Ukraine's national government has said that it should be up to all Ukrainians to vote on such a referendum allowing Crimea to join Russia. President Obama will host Ukraine's interim prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, at the White House on Wednesday. The White House says the president will stress his strong support for the Ukrainian people and talk about economic aid. The United States has already pledged $1 billion in aid to Ukraine. U.S. Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan says the spy agency did not hack into computers the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee was using to investigate Bush-era interrogation programs. "As far the allegations of, you know, CIA hacking into, you know, Senate computers, nothing could be further from the truth. We wouldn't do that. I mean that's, that's, that's just beyond, you know, the scope of reason." Earlier on Tuesday, Intelligence Committee head Senator Dianne Feinstein said the CIA improperly searched the computers. She said she had "grave concerns that the CIA's search may have well violated the separation of powers principles embodied in the U.S. Constitution." Feinstein said the CIA inspector general referred the matter to the Justice Department for investigation of a possible "criminal violation by CIA personnel." The [CAI] CIA, that is, provided the computers for the panel to review millions of pages of top-secret documents during its investigation into the CIA's alleged use of torture. Amid the ongoing fighting in Syria, suicide bombers have attacked a hotel being used for the local administration of the Kurdish town of Qamishli. Sources told VOA's Kurdish service that the eight people were killed there. A local official said several attackers wearing explosive belts shot guards outside the building, walked in and hurled grenades before detonating explosives. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but suspicion fell on the group called the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The group has been known for fighting against rival rebel factions and Kurdish militias in battles that have killed hundreds of people. Get more news at our website voanews.com. |