Malaysia's civil aviation chief resigns following MH370 report
Kuala Lumpur, July 31 : Malaysia's civil aviation chief resigned on Tuesday, a day after a report into the disappearance of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 showed lapses by Kuala Lumpur's air traffic control centre.
In a statement, Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said although the investigation report "does not suggest that the accident is caused by the Department of Civil Aviation then, nevertheless, there are some very apparent findings with regards to the operations of the Kuala Lumpur Air Traffic Control Centre; where it was stated that the Air Traffic Controller did not comply with certain Standard Operating Procedures", reports Efe news.
"Therefore, it is with regret and after much thought and contemplation that I have decided to resign as the Chairman of Civil Aviation Authority of Malaysia effective fourteen days from the date of the resignation notice which I have served today," Azharuddin said.
The Boeing 777 disappeared from radar on March 8, 2014, around 40 minutes after it took off from Kuala Lumpur with 239 people on board, 154 of whom were Chinese.
On Monday, an international team of experts from eight countries presented the report of a four-year long investigation, but they were unable to determine who was responsible for the plane's disappearance.
The document indicates that the course of the flight was changed manually after taking off from Kuala Lumpur. The report also points to failings in Malaysia's surveillance systems and does not rule out interference by third parties.
Investigators believe the aircraft crashed into the Indian Ocean and 27 fragments of the plane have been recovered from beaches in Reunion, Mozambique, Mauritius, South Africa and Pemba Island (Zanzibar).
Specialised search teams combed an area of 120,000 sq.km and experts believe the plane was likely to have crashed, but called off the operation after they found nothing.
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Death toll from Israeli strikes in northeast Lebanon rises from 8 to 24, Lebanese news agency says
Deir al-Balah, Nov 1: Israeli airstrikes on Friday killed at least 24 people in northeastern Lebanon, the country's news agency said, raising the death toll from eight there.
It was the latest deadly toll in the area since the conflict between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah escalated last month.
Israel's military has said that its operation in Lebanon is targeting Hezbollah's military infrastructure.
Lebanon's state National news Agency reported four airstrikes in different villages across country's northeast, saying rescuers were still searching for survivors in Younine, a town in the Bekaa Valley, from the rubble of a targeted house.
Hussein Haj Hassan, a Lebanese lawmaker representing the region in Baalbek-Hermel region, said that 60,000 people have already fled their homes in the area due to Israeli bombardment.
