Malaysia announces renewed push to find MH370 decade after disappearance: ‘Search must go on’

The Malaysian government announced Sunday that it is pushing for a renewed search for Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370, which vanished nearly 10 years ago while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Flight MH370 was a Boeing 777 carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it disappeared on March 8, 2014.

The disappearance of the aircraft ranks among the world's greatest aviation mysteries after Australia, China and Malaysia ended a fruitless $157-million search effort in January 2017.

Investigators in Malaysia have not ruled out the possibility that the commercial airline was deliberately taken off course, as debris confirmed and believed to have come from the plane has washed up on the coast of Africa and on islands in the Indian Ocean.

RETIRED FISHERMAN CLAIMS HE FOUND PART OF MALAYSIA AIRLINES MH370 IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN WATERS: REPORT

On Sunday, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said Ocean Infinity, a U.S.-based firm that explores the seabed, had been invited to discuss the latest search proposal after two previous failed efforts.

"The Malaysian government is committed to the search (for MH370) and the search must go on," Loke said at a remembrance event on Sunday.

The minister also said Malaysia would talk with Australia about cooperation in resuming the search once Ocean Infinity’s proposal is approved by the Malaysian government.

MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370 PILOT SUSPECTED BY 'TOP LEVELS' OF MASS MURDER-SUICIDE, EX-AUSSIE PM SAYS

Ocean Infinity did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital on the matter.

One of the victims on the ill-fated flight was Anne Daisy, and her husband, V.P.R. Nathan, said the proposal from Ocean Infinity has a "no find, no fee" option, which he welcomed.

"We want the search to carry on, but we also have to be realistic," he said. "We cannot expect the government to spend billions [on the search]."

The flight’s disappearance sparked a multiyear search that resulted in a confusing and convoluted series of revelations that have yet to turn up a solid conclusion of what happened. After three years, Malaysian authorities called off the search, and subsequent search efforts have remained short-lived.

DEBRIS OFF MADAGASCAR 'MOST LIKELY' FROM MALAYSIA AIRLINES FLIGHT 370, REPORT SAYS

A Netflix documentary released in March 2020 examined the timeline of the plane’s disappearance, speaking with some of the more prominent voices and players involved in the response and search for the plane.

The documentary also revived some of the more outlandish theories about what happened to the plane.

Following its disappearance, the plane emitted several "pings" that London-based satellite firm Inmarsat recorded and tracked over the immediate six hours. 

The pings allowed the company to confirm that the plane backtracked over Malaysia before the final ping somewhere over the Indian Ocean. After that, the mystery deepened. Inmarsat used the data to determine the plane flew south into the Indian Ocean rather than bank north over continental Asia. 

In subsequent years, Blaine Gibson, a self-described hobbyist "adventurer," found several pieces of the plane that washed up on islands around the Indian Ocean that airline authorities say were consistent with the Boeing 777. And they determined that as proof enough that the plane went down because no other plane has been reported missing in the intervening years. It's the closest to a confirmation they believe the families will get. 

Just last year, a retired fisherman claimed he found a large piece of the missing plane off the coast of Australia.

Retired Australian fisherman Kit Olver said, in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald that he discovered the piece of the plane during a deep-sea fishing expedition when his trawler pulled up what appeared to be a wing.

He said he kept quiet for nine years but wanted to come forward with the information to help the families of those who were on board MH370.

Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Hamas delegation arrives in Cairo as Israel puts cease-fire agreement 'on the table'

A Hamas delegation arrived in Cairo, Egypt, on Sunday to engage in negotiations for a cease-fire after Israel put an agreement on the table this weekend.

The last-minute talks are a final push to secure a potential halt in fighting before the Muslim holiday of Ramadan begins. While Israel put forward an approved plan, it has yet to send a delegation of its own to the negotiations in Egypt. 

"The path to a cease-fire right now literally at this hour is straightforward. And there's a deal on the table. There's a framework deal," a U.S. official told reporters Sunday.

If Hamas rejects the current deal, Israel says it will only join the negotiations if Hamas first provides a full list of all the hostages who are still alive, a request Hamas has so far rejected.

BIDEN'S VISION FOR A PALESTINIAN STATE DOOMED, EXPERTS SAY: 'AN EXPLICIT RECOGNITION OF HAMAS'

The potential six-week cease-fire would be the first lengthy pause in fighting since Israel began its retaliatory campaign in October of last year. There was a brief pause in fighting late last year as Israel and Hamas exchanged prisoners for hostages, but the deal broke down in a matter of days.

ISRAELI PARLIAMENT BACKS NETANYAHU, REJECTS PUSH FOR 'UNILATERAL' RECOGNITION OF PALESTINIAN STATE

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that while he is ready for another temporary cease-fire to bring hostages home, the war will continue until Hamas is fully rooted out of Gaza.

Netanyahu said an Israeli invasion of the final Hamas stronghold in Rafah will move forward in the coming days or weeks depending on the success of negotiations.

ISRAELI SECURITY EXPERTS SAY BIDEN’S PALESTINIAN STATE PUSH IS AN ’EXISTENTIAL THREAT’

Meanwhile, the U.S. has warned that any invasion of Rafah must include a clear means of protecting civilians in the region, many of whom have been crowded into the border town as a result of Israeli strikes in more northern areas of the Gaza Strip. Netanyahu has agreed with the position that Israel must take care to protect civilians.

The U.S. has also called for more aid to Gaza. President Biden's administration launched an aid campaign to airdrop food and supplies to Gaza. The U.S. military partnered with the Jordanian Royal Air Force to airdrop some 38,000 meals into the region on Saturday alone.

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UN expert on freedom of expression urges end to Julian Assange’s prosecution over press freedom concerns

A United Nations expert on freedom of expression called on the U.S. government to drop the charges against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, expressing concern that his possible extradition from the U.K. to face prosecution in the U.S. would set a dangerous precedent for investigative journalism.

The Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression at the U.N., Irene Khan, said Assange's possible extradition to the U.S. and subsequent prosecution could have serious implications for freedom of expression. Assange's possible final appeal challenging his extradition wrapped up last month before the British High Court in London, with Assange not appearing in court due to health reasons.

"Gathering, reporting and disseminating information, including national security information when it is in the public interest, is a legitimate exercise of journalism and should not be treated as a crime," Khan said in a statement Friday.

Assange, 52, is charged in connection with WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of classified U.S. military documents leaked by U.S. Army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning. Assange is facing 17 charges for allegedly receiving, possessing and communicating classified information to the public under the Espionage Act, and one charge alleging a conspiracy to commit computer intrusion.

JULIAN ASSANGE'S US EXTRADITION HEARING WRAPS UP IN LONDON, DECISION NOT EXPECTED UNTIL AT LEAST NEXT MONTH

"I am concerned about the use of the Espionage Act in this case, as this statute provides no protection for the publication of information in the public interest," Khan said.

The charges were brought by the Trump administration's Justice Department over WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of cables leaked by Manning detailing war crimes committed by the U.S. government in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp. The materials also exposed instances of the CIA engaging in torture and rendition.

WikiLeaks' "Collateral Murder" video showing the U.S. military gunning down civilians in Iraq, including two Reuters journalists, was also published 14 years ago.

Assange, who is Australian, is the first publisher to be charged by the U.S. government under the Espionage Act, and many press freedom groups have argued that his prosecution is intended to criminalize journalism.

"It would set a dangerous precedent that could have a chilling effect on investigative journalism in the United States and possibly elsewhere in the world," Khan said.

Assange has been held at London's high-security Belmarsh Prison since he was removed from the Ecuadorian Embassy on April 11, 2019, for breaching bail conditions. He had sought asylum at the embassy since 2012 to avoid being sent to Sweden over allegations he raped two women because Sweden would not provide assurances it would protect him from extradition to the U.S. The investigations into the sexual assault allegations were eventually dropped.

A U.K. District Judge rejected the U.S. extradition request in 2021 on the grounds that Assange was likely to kill himself if he was held under harsh U.S. prison conditions. Higher courts later overturned that decision after receiving assurances from the U.S. about his treatment, and the British government signed an extradition order in June 2022.

While February's hearing could be Assange's final appeal attempting to block his extradition to the U.S., a full appeal hearing could come in the future if the judges rule in his favor. If he loses this appeal, however, Assange's only remaining option would be at the European Court of Human Rights.

The judges who heard arguments in the two-day hearing last month said they would take time to reach a verdict in Assange's case.

UK HIGH COURT HEARS ARGUMENTS IN ASSANGE'S US EXTRADITION CASE WITHOUT HIM PRESENT DUE TO HEALTH REASONS

Should he be extradited to the U.S. after exhausting all his legal appeals, Assange would face trial in Alexandria, Virginia, and could be sentenced to up to 175 years in an American maximum-security prison. His supporters have argued that he would not receive a fair trial if he is extradited.

"International human rights law provides strong protections for whistle-blowers, journalistic sources and reporting in the public interest," Khan said. "I call on the United States and the United Kingdom, which profess to uphold the right to freedom of expression, to uphold these international standards in the case of Julian Assange."

Last month, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Torture, Alice Jill Edwards, called on the U.K. government to halt the possible extradition of Assange over concerns that he would be at risk of treatment amounting to torture or other forms of ill-treatment or punishment.

In January, a group of Australian lawmakers wrote a letter to U.K. Home Secretary James Cleverly demanding Assange's U.S. extradition be halted over concerns about his safety and well-being, urging the U.K. government to instead make an independent assessment of Assange's risk of persecution.

Assange's wife Stella has said that her husband's life is at risk every day he remains in prison and that she believes he will die if he's extradited to the U.S.

One of Assange's lawyers, Mark Summers, said during last month's hearing that there was evidence showing there had been a plan crafted by the Trump administration's CIA to kidnap or murder Assange while he was in the Ecuadorean Embassy and that former President Trump had requested "detailed options" to kill him.

The CIA under the Trump administration allegedly had plans to kill Assange over the publication of sensitive agency hacking tools known as "Vault 7," which were leaked to WikiLeaks, Yahoo reported in 2021. The agency said the leak represented "the largest data loss in CIA history."

The agency was accused of having discussions "at the highest levels" of the administration about plans to assassinate Assange in London and allegedly acted upon orders from then-CIA director Mike Pompeo to draw up kill "sketches" and "options." The CIA also had advanced plans to kidnap and rendition Assange, and had made a political decision to charge him, according to the Yahoo report.

While he was in the embassy, the CIA was exposed for spying on Assange and his lawyers. A judge recently ruled that a lawsuit brought against the CIA for spying on his visitors can move forward.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT URGES UK TO RELEASE ASSANGE AS POSSIBLE FINAL APPEAL CHALLENGING US EXTRADITION BEGINS

The Obama administration in 2013 decided not to indict Assange over WikiLeaks' 2010 publication of classified cables because it would have had to also indict journalists from major news outlets who published the same materials, which has been described as "The New York Times problem." Former President Obama also commuted Manning’s 35-year sentence for violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses to seven years in January 2017, and Manning, who had been imprisoned since 2010, was released later that year.

But the Justice Department under former President Trump later moved to indict Assange under the Espionage Act, and the Biden administration has continued to pursue his prosecution.

Khan urged the U.K. authorities not to extradite Assange and the U.S. government to drop the charges against the Australian publisher.

In 2022, the editors and publishers of U.S. and European outlets that worked with Assange on the publication of excerpts from the more than 250,000 documents he obtained in the Cablegate leak – The Guardian, The New York Times, Le Monde, Der Spiegel and El País – wrote an open letter calling for the U.S. to drop the charges against Assange.

There have also been  made by lawmakers in the U.S. and Australia in the last year to demand Assange's freedom, including a vote last month in which the Australian Parliament overwhelmingly supported calling on the U.S. and U.K. Governments to end Assange's prosecution and a resolution introduced in January in the U.S. House calling for him to be released.

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Russian apartment building attacked by alleged drones from Ukrainian forces: state media

A drone crashed into an apartment building in St. Petersburg Saturday morning, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

The local state news agency said that Ukrainian forces had damaged the apartment building.

Two buildings were damaged in St. Petersburg's Krasnogvardeisky district following the alleged attack.

Photos from the dilapidated-looking apartment complex showed large craters on the building's exterior.

ALEXEI NAVALNY FUNERAL: FAMILY OF PUTIN ARCH-NEMESIS GATHER TO SAY GOODBYE IN MOSCOW

The local media said that six apartment residents were injured by the explosion, and they were transported to the hospital. 

St Petersburg Governor Alexander Beglov said that residents were forced to evacuate.

Local residents told Reuters that they heard a "pop" and a "blaze."

RUSSIA PUSHES INTO MORE UKRAINIAN TOWNS, UKRAINE SHOOTS DOWN MORE WAR PLANES

"I first heard a whistle, because I had just opened the window, then a pop, a blaze and a full apartment of smoke, the window flew out," local resident Elena told Reuters. 

She said this happened after 7:00 a.m. local time.

The state newspaper's report came after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that eight people were killed in a Russian drone attack in Odesa, Russia.

Zelenskyy identified the youngest victims of the attack as four-month-old Tymofiy and Mark, aged two.

Odesa regional Gov. Oleh Kiper said the Shahed Russian drone was shot down by Ukrainian air defenses, but the falling debris hit the apartment building on Saturday.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Cambodia's pioneering post-Khmer Rouge era Phnom Penh Post newspaper will stop print publication

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — The Phnom Penh Post, a newspaper founded in 1992 as Cambodia sought to re-establish stability and democracy after decades of war and unrest, said Friday that it will stop publishing in print this month, the latest blow to the country's dwindling independent media.

The Post was founded as an English-language biweekly in 1992. It later added a Khmer-language edition, and in 2008 began publishing daily.

2 ANTI-GOVERNMENT ACTIVISTS IN CAMBODIA CHARGED WITH INSULTING KING ON SOCIAL MEDIA

It wrote on social media accounts that it would stop publishing both English and Khmer editions by March 29, citing a decline in advertising revenues due to a pandemic-related economic downturn, which added to financial difficulties caused by the spread of social media and other new technology.

Although not mentioned in the announcement, Ly Tayseng, the Post's current CEO and publisher, confirmed in a text message to The Associated Press that it will continue publishing online.

The government of then-Prime Minister Hun Sen cracked down heavily on independent media in 2017. The Cambodia Daily, a competitor of the Post, was forced to close when it was presented with a huge tax bill which it felt was presented for political reasons.

The Post came under similar political pressure as it also lagged in advertising revenue, and in 2018 was sold by its Australian publisher to a Malaysian investor who was widely seen as acting as a proxy for the interests of the ruling Cambodia People’s Party. Several senior staff resigned and it ceased most of the sort of aggressive independent reporting that had once been its hallmark.

The Post was founded on a shoestring by Americans Michael Hayes and Kathleen O’Keefe as Cambodia with U.N. help, sought to recover from the devastation wrought by the brutal rule of the Khnmer Rouge in the late 1970s. The Khmer Rouge still posed a military threat into the late 1990s, and much of the early coverage focused on that conflict, aided by a multinational staff and freelancers.

Its journalism flourished, in competition from The Cambodia Daily, founded in 1993 and also heavily staffed by young Westerners. Both papers served as a sort of training ground for young journalists early in their careers.

The Post, which was never very profitable, was sold by its founders to an Australia-led media group in 2008. By that time, all independent media was coming under increasing pressure as then-Prime Minister Hun Sen and his Cambodia People’s Party tightened their grip on power and sought to silence most critics. Hun Sen stepped down last year after 38 years as prime minister and was succeeded by his son, Hun Manet.

Last year, one of Cambodia's few remaining independent media outlets, Voice of Democracy radio, ceased operations after Hun Sen ordered its closure for allegedly slandering his son in a story.

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Dutch forces deployed to Caribbean territory hit by major oil spill

Armed forces from the Netherlands have been deployed to the Dutch Caribbean island of Bonaire to clear beaches of oil coming from an offshore spill blamed on an overturned barge hundreds of miles away.

The military cleaned up several beaches on the island that were reopened to the public on Friday.

"The situation seems to be under control," acting Lt. Gov. Reynolds Oleana said Thursday. "It remains to be seen what will happen in the coming days."

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO FACING 'NATIONAL EMERGENCY' AFTER MAJOR COASTAL OIL SPILL

Environmental officials said they can start assessing the damage once the polluted areas have been cleaned.

The spill occurred last month near Trinidad and Tobago and prompted officials there to declare a national emergency.

The government of the twin-island nation said earlier this week that a minimum of 420,000 gallons of oil mixed with water has been vacuumed from nearby waters. They warn the number is likely larger since it does not include "a substantial amount" of oil that traveled across the Caribbean Sea or that was picked up with sand and sargassum.

A preliminary investigation has found that the overturned barge had departed from Panama and was being tugged to nearby Guyana when it began to sink.

The owner of the barge has not been found.

Officials in Tobago have warned that the spill would take up to eight months to be fully cleaned, and that remediation efforts including repopulating ecosystems would take up to three years.

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Brazil's economy grows 2.9% in Lula's 1st year, beating expectations

SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil's economy grew 2.9% in 2023, beating expectations in the first year of the administration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, according to the government statistics institute Friday.

The number announced by IBGE impressed many economists, whose overall forecast early last year was for only 0.8% growth in 2023.

STATE IN BRAZIL'S AMAZON RAINFOREST REPORTS OVER 2,000 WILDFIRES IN PAST MONTH

Brazil's economy grew 3% in 2022, partly due to government spending programs pushed by then-President Jair Bolsonaro amid his failed reelection bid.

The credit rating agency Austin Ratings said Brazil's economy is now the ninth biggest in the world, based on the preliminary gross domestic product numbers announced Friday. Reaching $2.17 trillion in GDP last year moved the South American nation ahead of Canada and Russia, it said.

The Brazilian statistics agency said Brazil's record production of soybeans and corn helped the overall results.

"Agriculture represented about a third of all the growth of Brazil's economy last year," Rebeca Palis, a coordinator at IBGE, said in a statement.

The government said after the results that it expects 2024 growth to be at 2.2%, which would again above market expectations. Lula has said in public forums he wants to push the number above 3% this year by drawing more foreign investment to Brazil.

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