The search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight is being expanded.

The Chinese ministry of Transport is adding a number of new vessels to the search grid.

The US military is also sending an additional ship and a number of extra aircraft into the region to help locate the missing plane.

This comes as authorities in Vietnam expand their search for the missing plane to the east of the original search area, which is located to the south of Vietnam where the plane last had contact.

The Boeing 777 with 239-people onboard disappeared early Saturday morning about an hour into its flight here to Beijing from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

Among those missing, 154 of them are Chinese nationals.

 

Chinese plane makes emergency landing over false alarm

A flight from Shanghai to Beijing was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Jinan on Monday after a fire alarm went off.

The fire alarm on the Airbus A-320 turned out to be a false alarm.

Authorities with Juneyao Airlines dispatched another plane to Jinan to pick up the passangers at allow them to finish their trip here to Beijing.

It's unclear at this point what may have triggered the alarm.

 

China expels Philippine vessels from Ren'ai Reef

Officials have confirmed the Chinese Coast Guard has driven away two Philippine ships from the Ren'ai Reef off the Nansha Islands.

The Chinese foreign ministry says the Philippine ships were loaded with construction materials. 

They were spotted near the Nansha Islands on Sunday.

The two ships turned around after receiving a warning from the coast guard.

The Chinese foreign ministry says the Philippine side was attempting to begin a construction project on the islands, adding the move infringes on China's sovereignty and violates the spirit of the Declaration of Conduct of the Parties in the South China Sea.

 

Ukraine update

Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is planning to make another official statement later on today in Russia.

Yanukovych was last seen at a news conference in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don late last month.

During his last appearance, Yanukovych suggested he remains the legitimate president of Ukraine.

The scheduled statement comes days ahead of a referendum in the Crimea about whether the autonomous republic should join Russia.

Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon is cautioning against "hasty action" and "provocative rhetoric", saying he is becoming "increasingly alarmed" by the developments in Ukraine.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel have also held another discussion over the situation in Ukraine.

The two say their priority is to de-escalate the tensions and to get Russia to engage in a contact group.

 

Israeli soldiers shoot dead Palestinian for hurling stones

Israeli soldiers have shot dead another Palestinian on Monday, the 2nd killing in the course of the day.

The second victim was shot by Israeli forces for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli vehicles.

Earlier in the day on Monday, a Jordanian judge, who was originally a Palestinian, was shot and killed at a border crossing between Jordan and the West Bank.

Israeli forces contend the man was shot after he tried to wrestle a gun away from an Israeli soldier.

However, Palestinian sources at the crossing say that victim was targeted immediately as he came off a bus at the crossing.

 

U.S. encouraging Japan to handle historical issues in helpful manner

The US government says it is encouraging Japan's leadership to handle historical issues in a way that contributes to better ties with its neighboring countries.

The State Department statement comes after Japan's chief cabinet secretary announced his country will not revise the world-recognized statements issued by previous administrations concerning wartime atrocities and the issue of sex-slaves.

A US State Department spokesperson is calling Suga's pledge a "positive step".

Yoshihide Suga's latest announcement runs counter to an earlier statement, where he suggested Japan's government is setting up a team to reexamine those statements.

 

China's new yuan loans down in February

New analysis shows lending through February has come in at 645-billion yuan, down from a four-year high in January.

The People's Bank of China says the latest figure is less than half of January's new lending, but is 24.5-billion yuan higher than the previous February. 

It's being suggested the fluctuation of the credit figures have been mainly caused by seasonal and holiday factors.

 

Warm, wet climate aids Mongol Empire's expansion 800 years ago: study

New research being conducted in Mongolia is shedding some potential new light on the expansion of the Mongol empire some 800-years ago.

American reseachers studying ancient trees in central Mongolia say they've determined the weather conditions at the time of the Mongol expansion were actually warm and more moist than usual at that period of time.

This would seem to fly in the face of common historical convention, which has generally suggested the Mongol tribes expanded off the steppe because of cold and less-than-ideal weather conditions.

The researchers from Colubmia University are suggesting the warm and wet conditions during Genghis Khan's rule between 1211 and 1225 would have allowed for greater productivity for the tribes, allowing them to fuel their conquests.