26/11: Pak court issues notices to accused, government over plea to examine boat

 A top Pakistani court on Monday issued notices to the seven Mumbai attack case accused, including 26/11 mastermind Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi, and the government over the prosecution’s plea to form a commission to examine the boat used by the 10 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists to reach India.

“The Islamabad High Court has issued notices to the accused of Mumbai attack case and the government on the prosecution’s plea to form a commission to examine the boat at port city of Karachi,” a court official said. He said the court has also sought record of the case from the trial court — Anti-Terrorism Court Islamabad. The official said the date for hearing of the case will be fixed later.

Boat’s name: Al-Fauz

The prosecution had challenged the trial court’s decision to reject its plea to form a commission to examine the boat ‘Al-Fauz’ used by Mumbai attack terrorists so that the vessel could be made “case property.”

Al-Fauz is in the custody of the Pakistani authorities in Karachi, from where the 10 militants, armed with AK-47 assault rifles and hand grenades, had left for India to carry out the Mumbai attack in 2008.

Attackers used 3 boats

According to the Federal Investigation Agency, the attackers used three boats including Al-Fauz to reach Mumbai from Karachi.

It said the security agencies had also traced the shop and its owner from where the culprits bought the engine and the boat while a bank and a money exchange company were also traced which were used for the transaction of money.

Killer diary

The 10 LeT militants had left Karachi on the boat on November 23, 2008.

En route to their destination, they hijacked another boat, killing four of its crew. They allegedly forced the vessel’s captain to take them close to the Indian shores.

The captain was killed when the vessel reached Mumbai’s coast.

Inordinate delay, understandably

The Mumbai attack case is facing inordinate delay as no proceedings practically have been held for more than two months. The Mumbai case hearing is scheduled to be held once a week.

The lawyers associated with the case say as all Pakistani witnesses in the case have recorded their statements, it may further be delayed if India does not send 24 witnesses to Pakistan. They say Pakistan is awaiting India’s response on sending the witnesses here for recording the statements in the case.

Charges against accused

Mumbai attack mastermind Lakhvi, Abdul Wajid, Mazhar Iqbal, Hamad Amin Sadiq, Shahid Jameel Riaz,Jamil Ahmed and Younis Anjum are accused of abetment to murder, attempted murder, planning and executing the Mumbai attack.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/

Egyptair Jet From Paris to Cairo Crashed, French President Says

An Egyptair flight with 66 people on board crashed while en route from Paris to Cairo on Thursday, the French president confirmed.

Flight MS804 left Charles de Gaulle Airport at 11:09 p.m. Paris time (5:09 p.m. ET) and vanished over the Mediterranean Sea.
Image: An Egyptair Airbus A320 with the registration SU-GCC
The missing Egyptair Airbus A320 — with the registration SU-GCC — sits on the tarmac at Cairo airport on Dec. 10, 2014. AP

French President Francois Hollande told a press conference that the plane had crashed, but said it was too soon to speculate as to the cause.

"No hypothesis can be ruled out," he said.

Egyptian and Greek authorities are searching for the plane, which was flying at an altitude of nearly 37,000 feet when it disappeared from radar shortly before it was due to land.

Almost immediately after entering Egyptian airspace the plane swerved sharply and then lost altitude before it dropped off radar, Greece's Defense Minister Panos Kammenos told a press conference.

When the plane vanished it was about 175 miles away from Egypt's coast, according to officials.
[Ex-NTSB Investigator on MS804: 'Commercial planes don't make abrupt turns']
Ex-NTSB Investigator on MS804: 'Commercial planes don't make abrupt turns' 3:00

There were 56 passengers — including three children — along with seven crew and three "security" personnel on board the Airbus A320, Egyptair said. The airline initially had said a total of 69 people were on board but later revised the figure.

Related: Missing Egyptair Jet Raises Fears of 'Worst-Case Scenario'

Airbus — the maker of the plane — said in a statement that it regretted to confirm that "an A320 operated by Egyptair was lost" over the Mediterranean Sea.

French and Egyptian officials stressed they were closely cooperating to determine what caused the crash. Radar showed no adverse weather in the area at the time of the jet's disappearance.

Egyptian and Greek authorities were focusing search efforts in the Mediterranean Sea.

The Greek military confirmed that one of its frigates and two of its aircraft were assisting in the operation about 130 nautical miles south-southeast of the island of Karpathos.

Two helicopters also were on standby on Karpathos, Greek Cmdr. Vasilios Beletsiotis told NBC News.

The U.S. Navy confirmed that — at the request of the Greek government — a Navy P-3 aircraft would soon be joining the search.
""The current indications are leaning toward some sort of abrupt incident as opposed to some sort of gradual malfunction""

Egyptair said the flight was carrying 30 Egyptian nationals along with citizens from 11 other countries — including Canada, France, the U.K., Belgium and Iraq.

Britain's Foreign Office told NBC News it was "in urgent contact with local authorities in Paris and Cairo" and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs opened a crisis hotline.

Greek air traffic controllers had a normal interaction with the Egyptair pilot as he flew above the island of Kea, according to the head of the country's civil aviation authority.

Kostas Lyntzerikos told NBC News the plane exited Greek airspace at 3:26 a.m. local time (8:26 p.m. ET) and disappeared from radar screens two minutes later — at which point controllers notified Egyptian authorities.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com