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Debris
from the A321 Russian airliner at the site of the crash in Wadi
el-Zolomat, a mountainous area in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, on November
1, 2015. (AFP/Khaled Desouki)
Israel provided intelligence
regarding the Russian plane crash in the Sinai Peninsula, which
indicated that a bomb had detonated on board, CNN reported on Sunday.
An
unnamed US official and diplomatic source said that Jerusalem handed
over information about the blast to the US and UK. One US official told
the news outlet he was “99.9% certain” the plane had been bombed, while
another said it was “likely.”
Israeli officials declined to comment on the report.
Earlier,
a member of the Egyptian investigation team said they were nearly
certain explosives had brought the plane down, killing all 224
passengers on board.
“The indications and analysis so far of the
sound on the black box indicate it was a bomb,” an investigator — who
asked to not be identified — told Reuters. “We are 90 percent sure it
was a bomb.”
As for the slim chance of another explanation to the crash, the investigator only commented, “I can’t discuss this now.”
US
and British officials have cited intelligence reports indicating that
the October 31 flight from the Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh to
St. Petersburg was brought down by a bomb on the plane.
Most of the passengers were from St. Petersburg and the surrounding region.
Israeli and foreign fighter jets fly in formation through cloudy skies over the Negev desert during the ‘Blue Flag’ exercise at Ovda Airfield near Eilat on October 27, 2015. (Israeli Air Force)
Air forces from around the world have gathered deep in the Arava desert in the south of Israel for the past week and a half to take part in the largest aerial exercise in the history of the Israeli Air Force.
The “Blue Flag” exercise, which is continuing through November 3, pits the Israeli Air Force, the United States Air Force, Greece’s Hellenic Air Force and the Polish Air Force against a fictional enemy state, the captain in charge of all IAF exercises told The Times of Israel Thursday night.
A number of other countries, including Germany, also sent pilots and officers to observe the exercise, but did not take part.
This joint drill is the second “Blue Flag” exercise; the first took place in 2013 and was the largest multi-lateral exercise the IAF had ever hosted.
The various air forces collaborated closely through every step of the current exercise, the IAF captain said, from planning to execution and finally to debriefing.
Though the exercise began on October 18, planning for it started nearly eight months ago, the Israeli official said, with an IAF representative contacting each participating country and initially asking, “What do you want to train for?”
Those requests came together to form the plan for “Blue Flag,” which sent Israeli and American F-15 squadrons, along with Israeli, Hellenic and Polish F-16 squadrons, flying through nearly all of Israel’s air space, firing simulated weapons against fictional enemy missile launchers, convoys and aircraft, he said.
Israel hosts largest-ever intl air force drill, pitting troops against fictional enemy
Israel is hosting its largest-ever international air force exercise. The two-week 'Blue Flag' drill features Israeli, American, Greek and Polish troops in a battle against a fictional enemy state.
The Blue Flag drill consists of Israeli and American F-15 squadrons, as well as Israeli, Hellenic, and Polish F-16 squadrons flying through Israeli airspace while firing simulated weapons against fictional enemy missile launchers, convoys, and aircraft, the Israeli Air Force captain in charge of the exercise told the Times of Israel.
However, the captain said the exercise is designed to test the capabilities of the troops involved, rather than the military equipment itself.
“We wanted it to be challenging for the airmen, rather than for the machines,” said the IAF captain, who could not be named due to security reasons.
However,
the Egyptian government has rubbished that the plane was shot down by
missile. The Russian concluded that the Russian Airbus A321 that crashed
in the Sinai broke up in mid-air at 36,000-feet. The
plane had been heading from the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh to the
Russian city of St Petersburg before the crash.
MOSCOW
(Sputnik) — While covering the developments related to the Russian A321
plane crash in Egypt, media should rely exclusively on official
statements, while any "uncertain" sources should be avoided, the head
of the Egypt-led investigation committee said on Sunday.
On
Saturday, the Egypt-led investigation committee issued a statement,
according to which the reason for the Russian Kogalymavia plane crash
in Sinai is yet to be determined. The following day, Reuters reported,
citing a unidentified member of the inquiry, that investigators into the
plane crash in Egypt were "90 percent sure" the noise heard on the
final seconds of a cockpit recording was an explosion caused by a bomb.
Russian passenger jet crash: Black boxes analyzed, show no sign of system failure Live updates
The search and recovery operation continues in Egypt’s Sinai after a Russian passenger plane crashed there, killing all 224 people on board Saturday. Russian and Egyptian investigators are looking into the causes of the tragedy.
08 November 2015
13:13 GMT
13:12 GMT
Investigators of the jet crash are "90 percent sure" that the noise heard in the final moments of the cockpit recording was a bomb exploding, a member of the investigation team told Reuters.
09:32 GMT
Emirates Airlines expects the plane tragedy will result in demands for stringent aviation security across the globe, the airline’s president, Tim Clark said, as cited by Reuters.
09:27 GMT
The luggage of Russian tourists who arrive from Egypt is undergoing stricter than usual checks, said Igor Pedan, an official from UTG aviation services, which maintains Moscow’s Vnukovo Airport.
“The procedure was non-standard, I can say,” he said. “All luggage was sent to a special zone, [it] was checked by cynologists [dog-handlers] with [sniffer] dogs, the luggage was checked by special equipment and only then was transferred to a clear zone, for passengers to pick it up, ” he added.
Read More Here
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Unclear 'noise' recorded before A321 crash, its nature to be determined – Egypt’s investigators
The
Russian A321’s black box recorded an unclear noise before crashing in
Sinai, the head of Egypt’s investigation committee has confirmed.
However, spectral analysis is required to determine its nature.
The
head of the Investigations Committee, Captain Ayman Mokadem, said the
nature of debris scatter suggests an in-flight break up, but it is still
too early to draw conclusions on the causes of the crash. While both
flight data recorders have been found, the investigators are still
studying them.
Mokadem confirmed that some “noise” can be
heard on the recording right before the crash. He still said its nature
is unclear and a spectral analysis will be carried out to identify it.
An international team of investigators are at the scene still “collecting information,” he said.
Ayman el Mokadem says there are 47 investigators into Metrojet crash - 29 from egypt, 7 russia, France 6, Germany 2 - Ireland 3 #egyptcrash
According
to the flight data recorders, the incident occurred 23 minutes and 14
seconds after takeoff at an altitude of 30,888 feet in climbing mode, at
a speed of 281 knots-autopilot engaged, he said.
The
investigators have listened to the audio from the cockpit voice recorder
and are currently in the phase of writing the transcript, he added.
Access
to the crash site has been impeded by bad weather since Tuesday, he
said. An investigation team consisting of 58 experts plan to return to
the site as soon as weather conditions improve in the next few days.
Vladimir
Putin orders halt to all flights to Egyptian airports as evidence
mounts that flight 9268 was brought down rather than suffering
mechanical failure
Russian tourists queue at the airport in Sharm El-Sheikh. Photograph: Mohamed El-Shahed/AFP/Getty
Friday 6 November 2015 15.42 EST Last modified on Friday 6 November 2015 20.10 EST
The
sound of an apparent explosion can be heard on the flight recorder of
the Russian-operated plane that came down over the Sinai peninsula,
killing all 224 people on board, adding to mounting evidence that a bomb
was smuggled aboard, French media sources said on Friday. Giving
further credence to the idea that the plane crash was a terrorist act
rather than because of structural failure, Russia, which for a week has been resistant to speculation about a bomb, suspended flights to all Egyptian airports.
An
Egyptian-led international team of aviation experts, including some
from France, successfully recovered the black box, the flight recorder,
from the crash site. Several French media outlets, including the
television station France 2, reported that the investigators had
listened to it and concluded that a bomb had detonated, which would seem
to rule out structural failure or pilot error. The pilots can be heard
chatting normally, including contact with airport controllers, up until
the apparent explosion.
The reports about the black box contents came as British attempts to bring passengers home from Sharm el-Sheikh descended into chaos on Friday.
While
Russia had earlier suggested that the UK was acting prematurely in
halting flights to the Red Sea resort over terrorism fears, Vladimir Putin
ordered even wider restrictions on Friday, including halting all
flights from Cairo. The head of his federal security services said it
would be “expedient” to suspend flights until they had discovered why
the Airbus 321 had crashed last Saturday.
Meanwhile, the US
announced new security measures – including tighter screening – for
flights from some airports in the Middle East. Jeh Johnson, the homeland
security secretary, said that the move was motivated by “an abundance
of caution”. Russia initially dismissed claims by Islamic State
(Isis) of responsibility for downing the Metrojet flight, which came
weeks after threats of retaliation for Russian planes bombing Syria, and
Moscow reacted angrily after David Cameron said it was “more likely
than not” a bomb.
Clues
about the fate of Airbus A321 have mounted quickly over the last few
days, pointing to the conclusion that the Russian plane was brought down
by a bomb.
The balance tipped towards terrorist action when Russia,
which had urged the UK against jumping to premature judgments, finally
bowed and suspended all Russian flights to and from Egypt.
The
move was in response to a series of developments since Tuesday, when it
was revealed that US satellite imagery had picked up a heat flash before
the plane went down.
British government sources reported
“chatter” picked up by surveillance agencies, hinting that a bomb may
have been involved. There was alarm over the extent of lax security at
Sharm el-Sheikh airport and on Friday, French media reported that
sources close to the investigation were saying evidence on the black
boxes pointed towards an attack.
The “chatter” was picked up by
one of the most important of the overseas listening stations run by
Britain’s surveillance agency GCHQ at Mount Troodos, in Cyprus. From
that listening post, the British can pick up communications as far away
as Beijing but the interest this time was nearer at hand, information
heard linking the crash to Islamic State and a bomb.
Egyptian security officials frisk a child as part of the increased
security measures at Sharm el-Sheikh airport amid chaotic scenes on
Friday. Photograph: Peter Beaumont for the Guardian
The
UK government’s attempt to evacuate thousands of stranded British
holidaymakers from the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh
descended into angry scenes as tourists berated the UK ambassador to
Cairo over further delays, with only eight out of 29 planned flights
cleared to fly.
The first two repatriation flights from Sharm to the UK touched down on Friday afternoon
after a day of conflicting information from airlines, embassy staff and
Egyptian officials over the timetable for flights, during which the
ambassador, John Casson, was heckled by furious tourists.
In
a crowded terminal of the resort’s airport hundreds of Britons were
hoping to return home after they were ferried to the airport in buses,
only for easyJet to tell them that Egypt was blocking the arrival of extra flights.
Terrifying
final moments of doomed Russian jet: Flight data reveals plane lurched
up and down then passengers were sucked out in their seats - as US
satellite detects heat flash suggesting a bomb
Doomed Russian holiday jet lurched up and down before plunging 31,000ft after being blown apart, bosses claim
Travellers still strapped in seats sucked from stricken Airbus A321 through hole at back of jet when the tail blew off
Plane crashed into Sinai peninsula killing all 224 passengers and crew just 23 minutes after leaving Sharm El Sheikh
PM said security officials are ‘looking very carefully’ at whether there is a safety risk to Britons travelling to Egypt
Published: 18:52 EST, 2 November 2015 | Updated: 23:26 EST, 2 November 2015
A
doomed Russian passenger jet lurched up and down before plunging 31,000
feet after being blown apart by an ‘external impact’, airline bosses
have revealed.
Travellers still
strapped in their seats were sucked from the stricken Airbus A321
through a hole at the back of the jet when the tail blew off 23 minutes
after leaving the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, it was
claimed.
The plane twice abruptly
climbed nearly 3,000 feet in three seconds before falling 3,000 feet
moments later in the final minutes before disappearing from radar,
crashing in the Sinai peninsula with the loss of all 224 passengers and
crew.
The news comes as US officials
claim an American infra-red satellite detected a heat flash on the route
the aircraft was taking seconds before the plane fell from the sky,
suggesting there was some sort of explosion on board.
Egyptian
military approach a plane's tail at the wreckage of a passenger jet
bound for St Petersburg in Russia that crashed in Hassana
WILL YOUR FLIGHT BE CROSSING A TERRORIST DANGER ZONE? GRAPHIC REVEALS NO FLYING ZONES IN PLACE
Passenger jets leaving Britain routinely fly over areas of the world where conflict on the ground could put them at risk.
The
risk was brought into tragic focus in July last year when a Malaysia
Airlines passenger flight was shot down in eastern Ukraine by a missile
launcher allegedly operated by pro-Russian separatists. All 298 people
aboard Flight MH17 were killed.
Since then, with the exception of direct flights into Kiev, most airlines have avoided Ukrainian airspace.
However,
MH17 is thought to have been destroyed by a sophisticated long-range
missile – not the shoulder-launched devices obtained by IS gunmen and
other rebel groups. These normally have maximum vertical range of 15,000
to 20,000ft, much less than the cruising height of commercial
airliners.
Aviation
authorities issue ‘Notices to Airman’ that place restrictions on
commercial flights operated by carriers crossing hazardous airspace. For
the world’s most dangerous areas – including Syria and Libya – all
flights are banned.
But
in others restrictions only apply to flights below a certain altitude,
usually around 26,000ft, depending on the perceived range of
anti-aircraft weapons available to gunmen in those countries. Warnings
issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration cover global hotspots
including Libya, Iraq, Yemen and parts of the Sinai Peninsular in Egypt.
They are regarded as an international standard.
The
Department for Transport’s list of flying restrictions for nine
countries issued to British carriers is almost the same but also
includes Pakistan.
Planes
flying over such areas are warned not to go beneath 26,000ft because of
the risk from terrorist or rebel fighters. In many cases – such as the
Ukrainian capital Kiev – the no-fly rule does not include direct flights
in and out.
Many
terror groups around the world have access to the shoulder-launched
surface-to-air missiles, known as MANPADS – or Man-portable air-defence
systems. They were developed by the US and Russia in the Cold War.
They
are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters, and it is
possible they could be used to attack an aircraft taking off or landing.
In
February 2003, then Prime Minister Tony Blair sent armoured vehicles to
Heathrow in response to intelligence warning of an ‘extremely probable’
terrorist attack. While it did not happen, it is likely that such an
attack could have involved the use of MANPADS.
The
data does not show the heat flash travelling at any time, as would be
the case had a ground-to-air missile been launched in the plane's
direction.
Instead, the satellite evidence illustrates that there was just a single burst of ferocious heat on the jet's path.
That
has now opened up the possibility that a bomb on board, or an explosion
in a fuel tank or engine as the result of a mechanical failure, caused
the plane to come down.
All
passengers on the Russian flight from Egypt died when the plane crashed
in the Sinai peninsula Saturday, the Russian embassy said in a
statement
Egypt PM Sherif Ismail (R) at the site of the wreckage of a crashed Russian airliner in HassanaImage Credit: AFP
Emergency workers unload bodies of victims from the crash of a Russian aircraft from a police helicopter.Image Credit: AP
Relatives react at Pulkovo international airport outside Saint Petersburg after a Russian plane with 224 peoplImage Credit: AFP
Relatives react after a Russian airliner crashed, as people gather at an information desk in Russia.Image Credit: AP
Paris:
Air France and Lufthansa said Saturday they will stop flying over
Egypt's Sinai peninsula after a Russian passenger plane went down in the
area with the loss of all 224 people on board.
The airlines said they were taking the measure as a precaution while the cause of the Russian crash was investigated.
The
Daesh affiliate in Egypt has said it downed the plane, without saying
how, but Russia's transport minister said the claim "cannot be
considered accurate" and an Egyptian security official said the plane
did not crash because of an attack.
An Air France spokesperson
told AFP they would not fly over Sinai until further notice, "as a
precaution" while "clarification" was sought over why the Russian
charter plane crashed.
Lufthansa told the German newspaper Die Welt it was taking the same measure for the same reason.
Military
experts have told AFP that Daesh terrorists in Sinai do not have
weapons capable of hitting an aircraft at 30,000 feet (9,000 metres),
the altitude of the airliner when it lost contact.
But they have
not ruled out a bomb on board or the possibility that the plane was hit
by a rocket as it descended because of technical problems.
A
senior Egyptian air traffic control official said the pilot of the
Airbus A321 told him in their last communication that he had radio
trouble.
Moscow, Cairo refute Daesh claim on downing Russian plane
Sat Oct 31, 2015 6:43PM
Egypt's
Prime Minister Sherif Ismail looks at the remains of a Russian airliner
after it crashed in central Sinai near El Arish city, north Egypt,
October 31, 2015. (Reuters Photo)
Moscow and
Cairo have denied claims by the Daesh Takfiri group's Egyptian
affiliate to have downed a Russian aircraft that crashed in North Sinai
with more than 200 passengers on board.
“Now in various
media there is assorted information that the Russian passenger
(plane)... was supposedly shot down by an anti-aircraft missile, fired
by terrorists. This information can’t be considered accurate,” Russian
Transport Minister Maksim Sokolov said on Saturday.
“We are in
close contact with our Egyptian colleagues and aviation authorities in
the country. At present, they have no information that would confirm
such insinuations,” he added.
Meanwhile, Mohamed Samir, Egypt’s
army spokesman, also refuted the claim by the Takfiri group, saying that
“the army sees no authenticity” to the terrorists claims or videos.
“They
can put out whatever statements they want but there is no proof at this
point that terrorists were responsible for this plane crash” he said.
“We
will know the true reasons when the civil aviation authority in
coordination with Russian authorities completes its investigation,” he
added.
An
Egyptian soldier and rescue crew transfer the body of a victim of a
plane crash, from a civil police helicopter to an ambulance at Kabrit
airport in Suez, east of Cairo, Egypt, October 31, 2015. (Photo by
Reuters)
Terrorists, non-state actors had no capacity to down Russian plane, security & aviation experts say
Published time: 1 Nov, 2015 01:34
84175
While
the investigation into the causes of the Russian passenger jet crash
over the Sinai Peninsula continues, civil aviation and security experts
agree that theories that the plane was downed by a militant group can be
ruled out, despite terrorists making such claims.
All
224 people on board the Kolavia airline’s flight from resort area Sharm
El-Sheikh to Russia’s St. Petersburg died after the aircraft crashed in
Egypt's Sinai Peninsula on Saturday. Experts are still decoding the
flight recorders, and the Russian Air Transport Agency has said that
there is no point in hypothesizing about the cause of the crash until
there is reliable data on the circumstances.
While
Islamic State jihadist group allegedly claimed responsibility for the
attack, saying it downed the Airbus A321 as retaliation for Russia’s
airstrikes against terrorist targets in Syria, aviation and security
experts believe it to be highly unlikely.
“As far as it’s
known, Islamic State and its affiliate groups don’t have the capability
to bring down aircraft flying at the height that this aircraft
reportedly was, which is something around 10,000 meters,” security analyst and former UK counter-terrorism officer Charles Shoebridge told RT.
That’s Russian man Anatoly Tuptey speaking with The Siberian Times after the animal-lover braved treacherous conditions to save to kittens trapped in an oil spill.
“My
soul could not stand the cries, I went to see. You never know what is
going on, I had to check,” said Tuptey after an oil spill in
Nefteyugansk, Russia (we can’t pronounce it either).
Tuptey reportedly waded into the oil to rescue the kittens then, using his t-shirt, dried them off and kept them warm.
Victory! World’s Largest Nation Bans GMO Food Crops
Victories
are to be celebrated and for the future of healthy life on our planet
we all can celebrate a beautiful victory. The world’s largest nation,
the Russian Federation, whose landmass spans Eurasia from the Baltic and
Ukraine on the west to Vladivostock and the Pacific on her east, has
formally declared all commercial planting of Genetically Modified
Organisms, GMOs, to be prohibited.
The
issue has been subject of a heated debate for some months inside
Russia. In February 2014, just days prior to the US-orchestrated coup
d’etat in Ukraine, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev created a
national research project to obtain scientific information so the
Government and Duma might make a decision on GMOs in Russia. Now a
definitive decision has been made, and it goes against Monsanto and the
US-led GMO cartel. We can say Russia’s crisis has concentrated minds on
the essentials of life.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dorkovich told an international biotechnology conference in Kirov September 18, “As far as genetically-modified organisms are concerned, we have made the decision not to use any GMO in food productions.”
Last
year the Duma or parliament voted to make tough GMO labeling laws as a
first step to the new ban in order to inform consumers of presence of
GMO in various foods they buy. That was before US and EU sanctions led
to Russian counter-sanctions against EU imports of agriculture products.
In August 2014, the Russian government announced its bans on import
from the EU and several other countries of meat, fish, dairy products, fruit and vegetables as a response to the sanctions. It produced surprising results. Since the imposition of tough Russian food import bans, Russian agriculture has undergone a spectacular rebirth.
Russian
supermarkets from Rostov on Don to Sochi to Moscow today feature
overwhelmingly Russian products, domestically grown. Russians I spoke
with during a visit this August to the Rostov region told me they
realized that the taste of Russian food such as tomatoes was far
superior to that of imported food that often is artificially colored and
treated with chemical preservatives that it holds on the shelf, looking
fresh. Following the tumultuous collapse of the Soviet Union in the
early 1990’s the corrupt Yeltsin government opened the doors for western
agribusiness giants like Kraft, Nestle, Unilever to fill Russian stores
with their agribusiness industrialized food products.
Fighting in Slavyansk on Monday, chaos in Odessa, and entrenchment on all elevates talk of open war
- Jon Queally, staff writer
Pro-Russia
gunmen on armored personal carriers passing by barricades on a road
leading into Slavyansk. (Photograph: Darko Vojinovic/AP)
Interim
president Oleksandr Turchynov on Monday was the latest to indicate that
the spiraling violence in an increasingly divided Ukraine looks more
and more like civil war as efforts to contain uprisings in the east
against Kiev's authority have only elevated the violence in recent days.
"War
is in effect being waged against us, and we must be ready to repel this
aggression," said Turchynov in a televised address from Kiev and
referring to violence in the cities of Odessa, Slavyansk, and elsewhere
over the weekend. According to Agence France-Presse,
the latest high-level warning from Kiev comes as Ukraine spirals
"further into a chaos that many fear could result in open civil war."
Turchynov
has called up additional forces and reintroduced conscription for
military-aged Ukrainians citing fear of a Russian invasion on the
eastern border.
This AFP video report shows how some regular Ukrainians are preparing for "civil war":
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ajtkVurRoQ]
Meanwhile, in and around the city of Slavyansk on Monday, journalists reported that opposing factions were exchanging heavy gunfire and that loud explosions could be heard throughout the area.
And
in Donetsk, militias opposed to Kiev's rule and calling for a
referendum vote on their autonomy have now taken full control of the
city despite continued threats from the Ukraine army.
“What is
happening in the east is not a short-term action,” said Vasyl Krutov,
who heads the Kiev government’s military operations in the east. “This
is essentially a war.”
As the following map by AFP shows, the number of cities in open revolt against the Kiev government is growing:
The Associated Pressreports:
Ukraine
is facing its worst crisis in decades as the polarised nation of 46
million tries to decide whether to look towards Europe, as its western
regions want to do, or improve ties with Russia, which is favoured by
the many Russian-speakers in the east.
In the last few weeks,
anti-government forces have stormed and seized government buildings and
police stations in a dozen eastern Ukrainian cities. Authorities in Kiev
– who blame Russia for backing the insurgents – have up to now been
largely powerless to react.
And since Russia has kept tens of
thousands of troops along Ukraine's eastern border – and annexed its key
Black Sea peninsula of Crimea last month – Ukraine's central government
fears Russia could try to invade and grab more territory.
Since
the government began trying to take back the buildings late last week,
Slavyansk has been under a tight security cordon. Movement in and out of
the city has ground almost to a halt, causing shortages in basic
supplies. Lines have been seen at grocery stores.
The goals of the
insurgency are ostensibly geared towards pushing for broader powers of
autonomy for the region, but some insurgents favour separatism, and the
annexation of Crimea looms over the entire political and military
discussion.
Following Friday's violence in Odessa and
the growing number of revolts in the east, former U.S. ambassador to
Moscow, Michael McFaul, spoke with Time magazine and made this warning: “The last 24 hours was a major escalation,” told TIME. “This is real. This is war.”
________________________________
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