Dreamliner 787s: Discovery Of Cracked Wings

Boeing's 787 Dreamliner has suffered another production problem after cracks were found in the wings of some aircraft.

The company said the hairline cracks were discovered in planes currently under construction, adding that none of the 122 jets already in service were affected.

Boeing spokesman Doug Alder said: "We are confident that the condition does not exist in the in-service fleet.

"We understand the issue and what must be done to correct it, and are completing inspections of potentially affected airplanes."

About 40 aircraft could be affected by the cracks, the company said.

The cracks are expected to take between one and two weeks to repair.

The Dreamliner has suffered some teething problems since entering service in 2011, three years behind schedule.

Last year, lithium-ion batteries overheated on two Dreamliners, prompting regulators to ground the fleet for more than three months.

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Turkey Scrambles Jets After Russian Flyover

Does Putin Have A Point On Ukraine?

Updated: 10:50pm UK, Thursday 06 March 2014

By Ian Woods, Sky News Senior Correspondent, in Moscow

Listen to Western politicians debating Ukraine and you will hear that the Russian government is acting illegally and aggressively.

Talk to Russians and you will hear them make the same accusation about the people who are now in power in Ukraine.

Russian politicians will tell you that the demonstrators who drove Viktor Yanukovych out of power are not democrats; they are ultra-national extremists, even Nazis. 

It's not because they think Mr Yanukovych is a saint - even President Putin appeared to accuse of him of corruption. But they argue that the only way an elected President should be replaced is if he dies, or is impeached, not driven out of office by an angry mob.

Yesterday I visited the offices of Pravda - the newspaper of the Communist Party. 

For years it was the official mouthpiece of the old Soviet Union, read by 10 million citizens every day. Now its circulation is only 100,000 and it publishes only three times a week. 

The editor Boris Komotskiy is also a Communist member of parliament, a political opponent of President Putin. But on this issue his only criticism is that Putin didn't act quickly enough.

"We believe that all that is happening in Ukraine today is characterised as an fascist coup d'etat." he told me.

"This is not an exaggeration, it is confirmed by all the tactics and the behaviour that the so called Maidan activists exhibited.

"Their weapons, their insignia, is decidedly Nazi, there can be no doubt about that. So we think that any action taken to prevent that has to be the strongest possible."

To try to explain Russia's perspective, let's imagine that similar events occurred in Spain.

Let's suppose that for months there have been violent protests on the streets of Madrid, with demonstrators demanding that the Spanish prime minister and his government should resign. 

Eventually the protests escalate and the security forces open fire using live ammunition and kill many people. Key members of the government flee the country for their own safety. 

How would Britain and other fellow members of the European Union react to the turmoil? 

Would they, as democratically elected governments support the prime minister, or hail the demonstrators for their bravery and encourage them to form a new government?

And then let's imagine that the newly installed but unelected government in Madrid starts passing legislation which half a million Britons who live in Spain feel is discriminatory. It orders them to speak only Spanish when dealing with state employees. How does Downing Street react to that?

This is an over-simplification of course, but it gives a sense of how the Russians feel about the new men and women in charge in their neighbouring country.

Mr Komotskiy told me: "The first laws that the new Kiev authorities started to push were very nationalist - the prohibition on the use of the Russian language in the places densely populated by Russians. 

"First of all, Russians do not live in just some places, they live all across Ukraine. I know this for sure personally because my first job was in a university in Dnepropetrovsk, (Ukraine's fourth largest city). The whole city spoke Russian and it is the same today.

"The right of a person to speak, be educated, address government officials - we have examples where a Russian doctor has to write out a prescription to a Russian patient in Ukrainian. This isn't normal."

Maxim Kononenko is a popular political commentator on Russian television and a supporter of President Putin. He says that Mr Putin's decision to hold a news conference earlier this week shows that he does care about international opinion - even though no international journalists were invited.

"It wasn't for our benefit because in Russia, everyone is more or less content. In Russia it would be quite hard to find someone who thinks that Crimea is Ukrainian.

"Here mostly everyone thinks that this is our land, that historically an injustice has been done, and that it should be returned to us.

"We didn't need this press conference. It was made for the benefit of the Western media."

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Clinton's 'Unfinished Business' On Women's Day

Hillary Clinton has called achieving equality for women and girls "the great unfinished business of the 21st century" as the world marks International Women's Day.

During a speech at the United Nations headquarters in New York, the former US Secretary of State urged UN member states to include gender equality at the forefront of new goals to promote development.

She said: "When women succeed the world succeeds.

"When women and girls thrive, entire societies thrive. Just as women's rights are human rights, women's progress is human progress."

Mrs Clinton said the goals must ensure women everywhere have the right to find a job, to own and inherit property, to have a valid and legal identity, to have gender parity in primary and secondary education and help end violence against women and child brides.

She stressed there can be no progress "without safeguarding women's reproductive health and rights", saying the platform agreed to by 179 countries at the 1994 UN population conference in Cairo ensuring such rights "must be the starting point for work today".

"If we get it right, we can put the world on the path to less poverty and more prosperity, less inequality and more opportunity," Mrs Clinton added.

Phumzile Mlambo Ngcuka, head of UN Women, drew applause from representatives of the 193 UN member states when she echoed Mrs Clinton, declaring: "The 21st century offers an opportunity for a big leap forward - not baby steps. We've done baby steps."

"The face of poverty is that of a woman," she added. "The majority of the world's poor and illiterate are women and girls."

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also made "a special appeal to the men and boys of the world" to join the conversation about women's rights including reproductive rights, women's empowerment and ending violence against women.

"Where men and women have equal rights, societies prosper," he said. "Equality for women is progress for all."

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Putin 'Repeating Georgia Tactics' In Crimea

Russia is using the same tactics to take control of Crimea as it used in efforts to annex other territories in the region, Georgia's former leader has said.

Mikheil Saakashvili told Sky News that Russia President Vladimir Putin wanted to achieve a number of unspoken aims through its involvement in the ongoing crisis in Ukraine.

And the 46-year-old, who served two terms as Georgia's president between 2004 and 2012, said Moscow was doing "exactly the same thing" in Crimea as it did in its 2008 conflict with Georgia.

He claimed that in both instances, Mr Putin has sent in soldiers not identified as Russian troops to provoke matters in the neighbouring countries - but claimed they were merely Russian citizens seeking to defend themselves.

Mr Putin and Mr Saakashvili before war broke out in 2008

"Of course this is not true, of course this is nonsense spread by Russian propaganda," he said.

"If the Ukrainian government responds now, Russia will say: 'Well those were not our troops and now we are moving in with real troops.'

"That's exactly what happened in Georgia and it's high time people who still propagate this rubbish version (of events) that we attacked first, to consider that (they have been) a victim of Russian lies.

"Putin has this plan to have occupation and annexation of territories ranging from South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Crimea, then all the other parts of Ukraine and then Transnistria in Moldova."

Mr Saakashvili said Mr Putin had various other motives in the Ukraine crisis.

"I think President Putin has very clear goals here," he said.

Russian soldiers in Georgia during the 2008 conflict

"If Ukraine makes it, becomes a European and democratic state, then Russian citizens will be asking quite rightly why Russians cannot have the same, why they should live in a mafia-ridden, oligarchic, corrupt country.

"The other thing is Crimea has lots of shale gas. Actually, within the next three years, thanks to American companies, Ukraine was going to become a net exporter of gas and stop buying Russian gas.

"That would basically mean that Gazprom would lose its biggest buyer of gas in Europe."

Ukraine says Russia currently has around 16,000 troops in its Crimean territories. Kiev says the soldiers are behind the seizure of key bases in the region.

Mr Putin has claimed the gunmen responsible are merely local militias.

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Woman Shot Dead By Gun Hidden Inside Sock

A Chicago woman has been killed after a gun that was hidden among donated clothes accidentally went off, hitting her in the chest.

Carmen Dominguez was working at the charity clothing store in Chicago's Washington Heights neighbourhood when a co-worker picked up a sock.

A .22-caliber gun inside the sock fell into the co-worker's hand, and accidentally fired.

The gun was hidden inside a sock donated to the charity shop

"Preliminary indications during the course of the investigation are that this is a tragic, accidental incident," police said in a statement.

Ms Dominguez, 54, was taken to a nearby hospital, where she was pronounced dead.

The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating.

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Pistorius: Public Opinion And Evidence Collide

Pistorius 'Fired Gun In Car And Cheated On Ex'

Updated: 7:55pm UK, Friday 07 March 2014

An ex-girlfriend of Oscar Pistorius wept as she told the court how the athlete cheated on her with Reeva Steenkamp.

It was also confirmed on Friday that the Paralympian would take the stand during the trial.

Samantha Taylor told how Pistorius once shot a bullet through a car sunroof, and on another occasion waved his weapon at a vehicle which he thought was following him.

:: Sky News' live coverage of the trial is under way, and a special highlights programme will be broadcast every weekday at 9.30pm.

Proceedings were halted twice as Ms Taylor had to compose herself during a drama-packed morning at the Pretoria court.

The evidence was heard shortly before a Pistorius family spokesperson confirmed for the first time that the athlete will, at some point, give evidence at the trial.

In another development, a security guard at the star's estate said Pistorius told him that "everything is fine" shortly after shots were reported.

"Mr Pistorius said to me 'security, everything is fine'," Pieter Baba told the court on Friday afternoon.

"That's when I realised that Mr Pistorius was crying," he added.

Earlier, Ms Taylor told how Pistorius nearly always carried a gun and recalled one night when she was awoken by the athlete who feared an intruder in the house.

The court was told how Pistorius grabbed his gun, got out of bed and went to investigate.

Ms Taylor also described occasions when Pistorius screamed at her "out of anger" and said he was often on his mobile phone when they were in bed together.

She described another time when the athlete became angry when police stopped a car he was travelling in.

The court heard that about 15 minutes after being stopped he fired his gun out of the sunroof - to "irritate the police", laughing after doing so.

He had earlier joked with the driver of the car about shooting "a robot" - South African slang for a traffic light. 

On another occasion Pistorius was followed by a white Mercedes car, the court heard.

Ms Taylor said that Pistorius leapt out of his car as he approached the security gates of his home and waved his gun at the car, which drove off. 

The court was told how Ms Taylor normally spent four nights a week at Pistorius' home. 

She wept, and the court was adjourned twice, as she said how "upset" she was about the couple's break-up and the fact that she had been cheated on.

Earlier, radiologist Johan Stipp finished giving his evidence and was questioned by defence lawyer Barry Roux.

He had described on Thursday how Pistorius knelt at Ms Steenkamp's side and struggled in vain to help her breathe by holding two fingers in her clenched mouth.

Mr Stipp said he went to Pistorius' home after hearing shots fired on the night Ms Steenkamp was killed and found "a lady lying on her back".

"I also noticed a man kneeling on her side, on the left side. I remember the first thing he said when I got there was 'I shot her, I thought she was an intruder. I shot her,'" Mr Stipp told the court.

He said he did not recognise Pistorius, and described how he tried in vain to resuscitate Ms Steenkamp.

He said Pistorius was "crying all the time" and praying that she would not die.

On top of the premeditated murder allegation, Pistorius faces a charge of illegally possessing ammunition and two further counts related to shooting a gun in public in two separate incidents before the killing.

He denies all the charges against him and maintains he shot Ms Steenkamp after mistaking her for an intruder.

The athlete could face 25 years in jail if he is found guilty by Judge Thokozile Masipa. South Africa does not have trials by jury.

The trial has been adjourned until Monday.

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Malaysia Airlines Plane Has 'Superb' Record

The safety record of the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200, which is feared to have crashed near Vietnam with 239 people on board, is "superb", an aviation expert has told Sky News.

However, David Learmount said the aircraft's sudden disappearance without sending out a distress signal had echoes of the Air France Airbus A330 that crashed into the South Atlantic in 2009, killing all 228 passengers.

The loss of the plane would be the worst involving the Boeing 777-200 since it entered service 19 years ago, although it would be the second fatal accident involving the aircraft in less than a year.

An Asiana Airlines Boeing 777-200ER crash-landed in San Francisco in July 2013, killing three passengers and injuring more than 180.

Despite this, Mr Learmount said the plane's safety record was "absolutely superb".

"Aviation safety now is quite extraordinarily good," he said. "It's far better than it was 20-30 years ago - I mean massively better.

The same type of aircraft crashed less than a year ago in San Francisco

"That's why things like this are so surprising. They just should not happen any longer.

"The likelihood of this having been something catastrophic having happened to the aeroplane, just forget it. It wasn't that. Catastrophic things do not happen to modern aeroplanes. They just don't."

Mr Learmount added: "The extraordinary thing is that this aircraft has gone missing without the pilot saying a single word.

"The aircraft would have been at cruising height which is nice and high, which if anything goes wrong gives the pilots plenty of time to talk to people. So why didn't they?"

There was no suggestion that a bomb had exploded on board, Mr Learmount said.

Pointing to the loss mid-Atlantic of the Air France flight, he added: "It happened just like this one.

Wreckage from the Air France flight in 2009 is recovered from the Atlantic

"The pilots didn't say anything but they could have done, as they had been in touch with air traffic control not long before the aircraft went missing. The aircraft just went down into the sea.

"We knew that there was a minor glitch on board the aeroplane, but it was very minor and only lasted for less than a minute, but it confused the pilot to such an extent that they never regained their composure.

"The reason why this is a possibility is that this Malaysian disappearance happened at the same time of day, about 1 or 2am local time, when people are at their lowest level of mental and physical capability."

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Ukraine 'Will Not Give Up Crimea To Russia'

Ukraine's acting foreign minister has said the country "will not give up Crimea to anyone", amid continued tensions in region.

Andrii Deshchytsia insisted Crimea, which was given to Ukraine by the Soviet Union in 1954, "is and will be Ukrainian territory".

It came as Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said his country was open to an "honest, equal" dialogue over the crisis.

Uniformed Russian forces have surrounded Ukrainian bases since taking control of the peninsula last week, although Mr Lavrov denied Moscow has any direct role.

Foreign observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe have been turned away from the region after warning shots were fired as they approached.

A source in the monitoring mission said "probably three shots" were fired as a convoy approached a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian forces, but added the shots did not seem to have been directed at them.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama praised the European Union and the United States for the "unified position" over the military incursion.

Speaking in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the US President said European leaders "agreed on the need for Russia to pull back its forces".

Russia's President Vladimir Putin at the Paralympic Games in Sochi

A White House spokesman said the two leaders had "grave concerns" over Russia's intervention and discussed the need for dialogue between Moscow and Kiev.

However, Mr Lavrov used a news conference to repeat Russian attacks on the current interim government.

"(It) isn't independent," he said. "It depends, to our great regret, on radical nationalists who have seized power with arms."

Nationalist groups are using "intimidation and terror" to control Ukraine, he added.

Mr Lavrov earlier labelled planned US sanctions on those Washington holds responsible for the intervention as "hasty and reckless steps" which could harm relations between the two countries.

"Sanctions ... would inevitably hit the United States like a boomerang," a statement issued by Russia's foreign ministry said.

The measures include bans on travel to America and the freezing of US assets, although a US official has said Russian President Vladimir Putin was not on the list of those to be sanctioned.

Russian forces now have complete control of Crimea, although Moscow claims the only troops it has there are the 11,000 based in Sevastopol - a claim ridiculed by the West.

More than 30,000 Russian troops are estimated to be in the disputed region, which will hold a referendum on becoming part of Russia on March 16.

Late on Friday, around 20 pro-Russian militants stormed a Ukrainian missile defence airbase in Sevastopol in two transporter trucks and entered into negotiations with the commander of the airbase.

Around 100 Ukrainian troops are understood to be stationed at the base, where the tense stand-off was eventually resolved.

The crisis in Ukraine was sparked when the deposed former President Viktor Yanukovych rejected a European Union trade deal for closer ties with Russia.

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North Korean Women Reveal Emotional Struggle

By Mark Stone, Asia Correspondent

In a television studio in a suburb of the South Korean capital, Seoul, an unusual show is being filmed.

Sky News has been given rare behind-the-scenes access to a primetime TV programme called Now On My Way To Meet You.

It is part chat show, part talent contest, and it is curious because the contestants are all female defectors from North Korea.

Nearly 70% of people to escape North Korea are female. Their gender increases their chances of successfully completing the long journey, one which all defectors take, through China, southeast Asia and eventually to South Korea.

Women are more likely to make it, first because many are not tied into a job in North Korea from which they will be missed, but also because they are more likely to pick up underground work as they travel through China - often, tragically, in prostitution or forced labour.

In the make-up room, we are introduced to the North Korean contestants preparing for their appearance on the TV show.

Contestants take photos of each other before the show starts

There is hum of excitement. The women, most of whom are in their twenties, compare their scripts and take "selfies" of each other.

Each of them now has a new life in South Korea. They have taken advantage of a pledge by the government in Seoul to provide passports, housing and rehabilitation to all North Korean defectors.

The TV show is another avenue through which they can put their past behind them, but we quickly discover it takes very little to bring it all back.

One of the contestants is Lee SoonShil. She was once a nurse in the North Korean military. We meet her in the make-up room where she begins by explaining how hard it was to escape.

"I crossed over to China nine times between 1997 and 2007," she says. "I was caught every time. The last time I crossed over was when my baby was two."

Mrs Lee then begins to cry. She and her baby daughter were separated and sold on their escape across the border to China.

Lee SoonShil, a military nurse, tried to defect nine times before making it

Mrs Lee was forced into farm labour and other work which she chooses not to elaborate on. Tragically, she has no idea where her daughter went. It is hard to listen to.

"She's my child, I gave birth to her," Mrs Lee says, crying.

"I don't know where she is or if she is dead or alive. My life is dominated by my loss for her. I am dying to see her. I want to find her."

On the studio floor, the defectors have gathered on one side of the set. On the other side are three South Korean celebrities who draw in the viewers.

Kim Young Chul is a well-known South Korean comedian and a regular contributor to the show.

He explains the programme allows the North Koreans the chance to talk about their past lives. But he says it is an education for the South Korean viewers.

"I didn't know much about North Korea to be honest, you know. I read some newspapers and books, that's all I had, but when I worked with them I learnt lots of North Korean things," he says.

A woman impersonates the delivery of a North Korean newsreader

"Sometimes when I work with the defectors, I feel so sad and I cry several times when I hear about their really sad stories."

We watch the filming of the show. There is a mixture of humour and tears. Highbrow talk of politics is mixed with the difficulties of how to find a husband in South Korea.

There is singing, dancing and even a chance for the women to laugh at the cruel regime they have escaped. One of the women impersonates the stern delivery of a North Korean newsreader.

Mrs Lee has wiped away her tears from the make-up room and we watch as she laughs on set with the others. 

"I find consolation by the fact that my daughter is in China," she said.

"At least she wouldn't starve to death like she would if she had lived in the DPRK (North Korea). If I'd left her in DPRK, I would have gone crazy with the thought she would starve to death."

Behind Mrs Lee's make-up and on-set laughter, she is clearly extremely fragile.

Her motivation to talk to us and to appear on the TV show seems to be simple: it is that sliver of hope that her daughter, who would now be eight, might just be watching somewhere and might somehow recognise the mother she lost.

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Malaysia Airlines Plane 'Crashes Near Vietnam'

Nearly 240 people are feared dead after two large oil slicks were spotted where a passenger plane reportedly crashed into the sea off Vietnam.

The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 was flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing when it vanished around two hours into the flight.

The two parallel slicks - both between 10 miles (16km) and 12 miles (19km) long and 500 metres apart - were seen by two Vietnamese air force jets off the south coast of Vietnam.

A photo of the missing plane - seen taking off in Paris in 2011

A Vietnamese government statement said they were consistent with the kind of spills caused by fuel from a crashed airliner.

Rescue boats are being sent to the area from the nearby island of Phu Quoc to look for survivors.

Earlier, the country's state media quoted a navy official as saying Flight MH370 crashed near Tho Chu Islands at around 2.40am local time.

The US Navy is helping teams from Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore search the vast waters in the Gulf of Thailand, between Malaysia and Vietnam.

An information screen at Kuala Lumpur International Airport

Malaysia's Transport Minister Seri Hishammuddin said he was "looking at all possibilities" including a potential terror attack.

Malaysia Airlines said in a statement: "The families of all passengers on board MH370 are being informed. 

Distraught relatives and friends wait at Beijing International Airport

"At this stage, our search and rescue teams from Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam have failed to find evidence of any wreckage."

The airline listed one of the passengers on the plane as a 37-year-old Italian called Luigi Maraldi.

However, according to reports in Italy, Mr Maraldi has contacted his parents to say he was not on the airliner.

The plane is said to have crashed near Tho Chu island, in southern Vietnam

He had his passport stolen in Thailand several months ago, leaving questions over who used his passport to board the plane and whether that has anything to do with the airliner's disappearance.

Austrian newspaper De Standard is reporting that another passenger was using a passport belonging to Austrian citizen Christan Kozel.

He is listed as one of the passengers although he has been confirmed as safe and well by authorities.

He said his passport was stolen in Thailand when he visited two years ago.

Family members have complained of a lack of information

The plane disappeared from radar at 1.30am (5.30pm UK time) about 85 miles (135km) north of the Malaysian city of Kuala Terengganu.

Journalist Leo Lewis, at Beijing airport, told Sky News families were waiting anxiously for news of their relatives.

He said there were "scenes of considerable distress" and "increasing irritation" because of a lack of information about their fate.

Flight MH370 marked in red on Beijing airport's information board

A woman whose mother was on the plane waited for hours without any news and expressed her anger at the way the airline is handling the incident.

Describing the scene inside the room where some 500 relatives are waiting for news, she said: "They used a bus to bring us here, in this hotel. They only give us bread, biscuits and water, that's all.

"There is nobody from the airline, not even one person. Every time I ask 'where is the airline staff; what's the latest?' They say, 'we are only volunteers, we're hotel staff, we're not from the airline'."

Malcolm Moore, the Daily Telegraph's Beijing Correspondent, said the relatives have been taken by bus to a hotel in the centre of Beijing.

Relatives of those on board await news at Beijing airport

He told Sky News: "There has been no official confirmation (about what has happened), but it's looking increasingly grim."

The plane left Kuala Lumpur at 12.41am local time and was due to arrive in Beijing at 6.30am local time.

Malaysia Airlines said the flight was carrying 227 passengers, including two infants, and 12 crew members.

They were from 14 countries - 152 plus one baby from China, 38 from Malaysia, 12 from Indonesia, seven from Australia, three plus one baby from the US, three from France, two from New Zealand, two from Ukraine, two from Canada, one from Russia, one from Italy, one from Taiwan, one from Netherlands, and one from Austria.

A Boeing 777 crash landed in San Francisco

Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang has urged Malaysia to "quickly and vigorously push search and rescue work" for the missing plane, state news agency Xinhua said.

Beijing has sent two maritime rescue ships to the South China Sea to help in the search and rescue work.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said: "This news has made us all very worried. We hope every one of the passengers is safe."

The aircraft was piloted by Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah, a 53-year-old Malaysian with a total of 18,365 flying hours. He joined the company in 1981.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with all affected passengers and crew and their family members," Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya said in a statement.

The airline said it would provide "regular updates" on the situation and has set up the phone line +603 7884 1234 for concerned members of the public.

Aviation expert David Learmount told Sky News the Boeing 777-200's safety record is "absolutely superb".

He said the plane would have been travelling at cruising height (around 35,000ft) and even if both engines had failed, it would have given the pilots plenty of time to make a distress call.

The "simple solution" would be to presume there was a bomb on board, "but there's no suggestion of that," he said.

Malaysia Airlines has 15 Boeing 777-200 jets in its fleet of about 100 planes.

There has been one fatal accident involving a Boeing 777 since the jet entered service in 1995.

Last summer, an Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 crash landed in San Francisco, killing three passengers.

Boeing said it was aware of reports that the Malaysia Airlines plane has gone missing and was monitoring the situation, but had no further comment.

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