Underwater search for Malaysian Airlines begins
The Australian agency that is coordinating the search efforts for the Malaysian airline began the underwater search in the southern Indian Ocean. The area where the two naval ships were deployed is merely an educated guess based off of where the plane may have hit the water. The Royal Navy survey ship, HMS Echo and the Australian naval supply ship, Ocean Shield, are searching along a 150-mile track. The Ocean Shield has a TPL-25, which is a giant underwater microphone that will listen for any noise from the flight recorder to help locate the plane.
Number of Syrian refugees in Lebanon is 1 million
According to the United Nations’ refugee agency, almost a quarter of Lebanon’s resident population is made up of Syrian refugees, many of which are requesting asylum in rich countries. Based on Thursday’s population count, there are almost 1 million Syrian refugees in Lebanon. In total, there are 2.58 million Syrian refugees in all countries. Jordan and Turkey also have the highest amount of Syrian refugees. Lebanon is the country with the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world.
Russia trying to ‘dismember’ Ukraine through protests
On April 7 Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, accused Russia of trying to “dismember” his country. Turchinov warned that the recent uprisings in three Ukrainian cities are similar to the events that led to the Russian annexation of Crimea three weeks ago. On April 6 Pro-Moscow protesters seized government buildings and declared a new government in the cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkov.
The United States to send more missile defense ships to Japan
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that he will send more missile defense ships to Japan, in an effort to increase protection from North Korean missile threats. Over the past few weeks North Korea has carried out numerous missile launches and has warned that it is in the process of preparing for another nuclear device. Hagel later announced that two Navy destroyers equipped with missile defense systems would be deployed to Japan by 2017.
