Indian ships joins operation to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines plane

New Delhi:  Two Indian ships from the Andaman and Nicobar Islands were today deployed to locate the missing Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared from radar screens last Saturday, nearly an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur. (Missing Malaysia Airlines plane's pilots under scrutiny after mystery)

The Defence Ministry has also ordered that more aircraft and helicopters will be deployed for the search operation that involves a dozen countries. India's latest long-range maritime reconnaissance planes, Boeing P 8i, will also join the search.

India is likely to begin looking for the aircraft in the area east of Campbell Bay. Air Marshal PK Roy, Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman Nicobar Command will coordinate the operations.

On Wednesday, a Dornier aircraft belonging to India's coastguard set off to search the eastern side of the Andaman Islands, but found nothing.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, with 239 people on board, vanished from air traffic control screens midway between Malaysia's east coast and Vietnam. Its fate remains a mystery and no wreckage has been identified.

The search involves a dozen countries and has been widened to the Andaman Sea, to the west of the Malaysian peninsula. US investigators suspect that the aircraft flew for some four hours after its last confirmed location, the Wall Street Journal reported. But Malaysia's Transport Minister has said the reports are not true

Cuban Spy Set to Be Released from U.S. Prison

A Cuban intelligence officer convicted of spying in the United States was set to be released from federal prison on Thursday after serving around 15 years.

Fernando Gonzalez, 50, a member of the so-called Cuban Five, will be released and is expected to return to Cuba in a few days, the Spanish-language El Nuevo Herald reported.

Gonzalez and fellow members of the spy ring -- that was also known as the Miami Five -- were arrested in 1998. The Cuban government eventually acknowledged that they targeted anti-Cuban government exile groups in the United States but denied they spied on American interests. All five were convicted of spying on U.S. military installations.

One member of the group, Gerardo Hernandez, was charged with conspiracy to murder after he gathered information on Brothers to the Rescue, a Cuban exile group that dropped anti-government leaflets on Cuba. Four members of Brothers to the Rescue died in 1996 after their two planes were shot down by the Cuban air force.

Rene Gonzalez, another member of the jailed group, was released in 2011. Ramon Labanino and Antonio Guerrero remain in prison.

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BJP leaders meet Paswan

New Delhi, Feb 27 (PTI) Senior BJP leaders today met LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan here to finalise details related to their alliance and possibly sharing of seats.

     BJP leaders Rajiv Pratap Rudy, Ravi Shankar Prasad and Shahnawaz Hussain went to Paswan's residence where they were received by his son Chirag Paswan, who is strongly batting for the tie-up.

     Significantly, the meeting took place on a day BJP's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi is here and there was speculation that Paswan would meet him.

     Modi held a separate meeting with BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

     The meeting came a day after LJP gave clear hints about allying with BJP after their Parliamentary Board meeting.

  To a question whether LJP will tie-up with BJP, Chirag Paswan had said that "all options are now open for the LJP".

     "LJP Parliamentary Board has passed a resolution that all steps, even if they are strong ones, should be taken in the

interest of the party and if an alternative alliance is to be firmed up, party chief Ram Vilas Paswan should take the

decision", said Chirag Paswan, who heads the Parliamentary Board.

      BJP leaders had also said yesterday that the talks on alliance were at an advanced stage.

Sources said the two parties are engaged in negotiations over the sharing of seats in Bihar.

Prasad later said the meeting was "good" and they had shared "sweets".

     He praised Paswan, saying he is a "senior" leader not only of Bihar but the entire country.

     "We have worked together during Atal Bihari Vajpayee government," the BJP leader recalled.

Paswan's brother Ram Chandra Paswan said the "distance between BJP and LJP has come to an end on poll alliance" in Bihar. 

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BAGHDAD:Police and medical sources says

Police and medical sources say a suicide car bomber rammed his vehicle into a security checkpoint in a crowded area in southern Iraq, killing 32 persons.

The checkpoint blast at the entrance to the city of Hilla also wounded 40 other people.

“Some of the victims were burned inside their cars,” a police officer said.

The Shia-dominated city is located about 95 kilometers south of Baghdad.

Iraq has seen a spike in violence since last April, with the death toll climbing to its highest levels since the worst of the country's sectarian bloodletting in 2006-2008.

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Murli Manohar Joshi denies rift over Narendra Modi and his seat in UP

Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi

New Delhi: Senior BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today dismissed reports of a rift in the party over who will contest from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, calling it a "media creation".

The remarks come after Dr Joshi, according to sources, confronted BJP chief Rajnath Singh over media reports that the party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi could contest the general elections from the said seat. The veteran leader is the sitting MP from Varanasi.

"The decision is taken by parliamentary board and the meeting will take place on 13th... every disciplined soldier accepts it... I will say what I have to in front of the board," the 80-year-old said.

Sources say Dr Joshi, at a meeting of the BJP's Central Election Committee yesterday, had quoted media reports on the controversy over Varanasi to ask Mr Singh why the party, if there was no decision on the matter, had not issued a clarification.

"The party would take a decision which will neither dent the prestige of our PM candidate nor compromise the party's winning chances," he said today.

The temple town had recently been awash with posters of Dr Joshi amidst a strong buzz that his party could pick Mr Modi as its nominee from Varanasi. The posters, which were later pulled down due to the model code of conduct, were widely viewed as a counter by Dr Joshi's supporters to that possibility. Dr Joshi is reportedly not inclined to surrender his seat.

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