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Airplane

The missing Malaysian flight may have used "terrain masking", a dangerous flying technique, to avoid detection

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© AP Photo/U.S. Navy, Eric A. PastorIn this photo provided by the U.S. Navy, crew members on board an aircraft P-8A Poseidon assist in search and rescue operations for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 in the Indian Ocean on Sunday, March 16, 2014
Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 may have dropped to an altitude of as low as 5,000 feet in an effort to evade the radars of at least three countries. The dangerous flying technique known as "terrain masking" is the latest direction being looked at by investigators trying to locate the missing plane, a Malaysian newspaper reported on Monday.

The New Straits Times in Kuala Lumpur reported that investigators are further asking if the aircraft stuck to a more high-traffic commercial route over the Bay of Bengal in order to avoid the suspicion of those manning military radars.

"To them, MH370 would appear to be just another commercial aircraft on its way to its destination," the Malaysian paper wrote.

"The person who had control over the aircraft has a solid knowledge of avionics and navigation, and left a clean track. It passed low over Kelantan [in Malaysia], that was true," an unnamed official told the New Straits Times. "It's possible that the aircraft had hugged the terrain in some areas that are mountainous to avoid radar detection."

Sheriff

Oklahoma sheriffs visiting State Capitol building ordered to disarm walk out

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© KTUL-TVSheriff Bob Colber
Wagoner County Sheriff Bob Colbert traveled to Oklahoma City, the state's capitol, earlier this week with 40 other sheriffs from around the state like they do every year - to meet with politicians and lobby.

Everything was going fine in the state capitol building on Tuesday. More than that, "everybody in that building knew who we were," Colbert told KTUL-TV in Tulsa.

"One of the senators, who they wouldn't tell us, complained because we were armed in the building," Colbert added to the station. Then he said the sheriffs were given a choice - disarm or leave.

"So we all packed up and left," Colbert told KTUL. Colbert said he doesn't know which senator complained, but he has his own beefs about the treatment he and his associates received. "We're the people that protect these people," he told KTUL.

Family

American father deported from Britain because he had cancer; mother forced to raise daughter alone

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Family: Lorraine Marx (left), 56, of Chidham, West Sussex, nursed her partner Ralph Marx (centre), also 56, when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. They have 10-year-old daughter Alexandra (right).
  • Lorraine Marx, 56, nursed husband when he was diagnosed with leukaemia
  • But he was escorted onto a plane and deported against medical advice
  • Home Office ruled Ralph Marx, 56, had become burden on the taxpayer
  • Couple, who have 10-year-old daughter Alexandra, married 13 years ago
  • Mr Marx chose not to apply for residency status when he wed Mrs Marx
  • It meant the engineer could only stay in UK for up to six months at a time
A British mother has been left to bring up her daughter alone after her American husband was kicked out of the country - because he had cancer.

Distraught Lorraine Marx, 56, nursed her husband Ralph Marx, also 56, when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

But the Home Office ruled he had become a burden on the taxpayer - despite having private health cover - after the NHS billed him £98,000 for the emergency cancer treatment he had received.

Red Flag

Former House stenographer, known for bizarre rant in the House chamber, says she 'did not have a breakdown'

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Messenger: Dianne Reidy said she was prompted to speak by the Holy Spirit
Former House stenographer Dianne Reidy, the woman who was removed from the House chamber last October when she went on a rant about God and the Constitution, released a video statement Saturday denying she suffered a breakdown and claiming that God guided her actions.

Reidy, who appears alongside her husband Dan in the video, said her public comments are meant to "set the record straight" about what unfolded late last year.

"I remember getting up to the podium and after saying, 'God will not be mocked.' I don't have a memory of anything else that was said that evening until I was escorted off the floor," Reidy said during the 38-minute video statement.

She later added, "I knew that God was going to speak through me, and I knew it was going to be during the vote, raising the debt ceiling level and ending the government shutdown."

Comment: See: 'You cannot serve two masters!' House stenographer goes crazy during House vote, escorted out


Bizarro Earth

Blaming the victim: School bans bullied 9-year-old from carrying My Little Pony lunchbag

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© WLOS
A mother and her 9-year-old son say school officials won't let him bring a My Little Pony bag to school. The boy and his mother say he's getting shoved around because bullies think his pick of a favorite toy is for girls. It's a decades-old kids show where pony characters emphasize the bonds of friendship.

It's become anything but friendship for 9-year-old Grayson Bruce. Grayson Bruce, My Little Pony fan, "they're taking it a little too far, with punching me, pushing me down, calling me horrible names, stuff that really shouldn't happen." Grayson picked a Rainbow Dash bag out this year, which he says has intensified the attacks against him. Grayson, "most of the characters in the show are girls, and most of the people put it toward girls, most of the toys are girlie, and surprisingly I found stuff like this."

Grayson has developed a following on Facebook after a friend made a support page for him. Grayson stands by his favorite cartoon and the message he says it sends. His mother says, why not?

Alarm Clock

In the Shadows: How serious is the Military sex assault problem in Hawaii?

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Military sexual assault may happen in the shadows, but Hawaii can be a shadowy place.

Service members have been raped at Kailua barbecues, in Honolulu alleyways, and at bars in Kona and Wahiawa. One attack took place in a parked car in Waikiki. They've been sexually assaulted aboard ships in Pearl Harbor, in government buildings, and in grassy parks on military bases.

A decade of military records, obtained by Civil Beat through a series of open-records requests, details hundreds of sex crimes against male and female service members in Hawaii.

In addition to noting the troubling number and circumstances of such attacks, the records suggest that the underreporting of such assaults continues in all military branches in the state.

In that way, Hawaii is little different from the nation as a whole.

Stormtrooper

Video of Oklahoma cops murdering Luis Rodriguez in broad daylight - Thugs claim they were 'intervening in domestic dispute'

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Luis Rodriguez later died in hospital
"What began as a fun night out to the movies ended in tragedy for one Oklahoma family after a father was beaten to death by police following a domestic dispute," CNN reported.

The incident, which was caught on video, began when Mrs. Nair Rodriguez got into an altercation with her 19-year-old daughter outside the Moore Warren Theatre in the early hours of February 15 and slapped her. A bystander who witnessed the incident reported the event to police.

The mother-daughter disagreement had upset Mrs. Rodriguez so much that she had bolted for the family car. Her husband, Luis followed her to calm her down when he was intercepted by five police who arrived on the scene. However instead of confronting Nair, five cops took down her innocent husband Luis Rodriguez, beating, pepper spraying and pinning him on the road."

Ana Kasparian, Cenk Uygur, Ben Mankiewicz (What The Flick?!, TYT Sports) and Brian Unger (Showdown Of The Unbeatables) break it down on The Young Turks:


Comment: See also: Father trying to stop family fight beaten to death by Oklahoma cops


Briefcase

'Pushed to leave': Packing moods among Ukraine's Jewish minority amidst far-right rise

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With the beating of the head of Hatzalah's local branch in Kiev and an earlier attack on a synagogue, many from the Jewish minority tell RT they feel they will be forced to leave the country, where the far-right is capitalizing on the turmoil.

Unknown men have beaten up the leader of a Kiev Jewish movement, hitting him with bats and shouting anti-Semitic slogans, just a month after a rabbi addressed crowds on Square of independence, calling for peace.

The rabbi, Hillel Cohen, was attacked Thursday in the street by two men, who "struck him in the leg, shouting anti-Semitic slurs," the rabbi's wife told Reuters. Then, the two ran off in a car.

Cohen is the head of the Ukrainian branch of Hatzalah, an international volunteer emergency services organization for Jewish communities. Police are now investigating the incident and looking for the assailants.

Airplane

Drug-loaded drone found 'hovering' near Melbourne, Australia prison

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© NBRSMetropolitan Remand Centre, Department of Justice in Melbourne.
Australian police on Monday said they had arrested a man after a drone allegedly carrying drugs was seen "hovering in the vicinity of a prison".

Victoria state police said the unmanned aerial vehicle, which was carrying a small quantity of drugs, was found near the Metropolitan Remand Centre in Melbourne's west on Sunday.

"A man and a woman were located in a car ... with what was believed to be a drone with four engines and a small quantity of drugs," Victoria Police said in a statement.

The 28-year-old man was charged with possessing a drug of dependence and attempting to commit an indictable offence and was bailed to appear in court later this month.

Comment: Drug smuggling prison guards are a huge problem in the U.S. Maybe Australia should look at who is trafficking the drugs inside the prison instead?


V

Thousands picket Donetsk govt building in Ukraine, demand release of local governor

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© AFP PhotoPro-Russian activists hold Russian national flags during a demonstration rally in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 15, 2014
Thousands have gathered in the city of Donetsk, picketing the Security Council building. The protesters called for the current Kiev authorities to release the local governor and pro-Russian activists detained earlier, threatening to storm the building.

The protesters blocked the Security Council building trying to break the doors and smashing windows on Saturday afternoon. Activists removed the Ukrainian flag from the top of the building, hoisting a Russian tricolor.

The protesters were demanding the release of local governor Pavel Gubarev and 70 pro-Russian activists previously detained by the current Kiev authorities. They also urged local law enforcement to take their side.

The local head of the Security Council has promised the protesters to release the activists and Gubarev, according to Life news. He then reportedly escaped through the back door of the building.

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© AFP PhotoPro-Russian activists hold Russian national flags during a demonstration rally in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on March 15, 2014.