Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 30, 2015, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A12 A 12 WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015 WORLD winnipegfreepress. com Mon - Tues 9am - 5pm Wed 9am - 8pm Thurs, Fri 9am - 5pm, Sat 10am - 4pm Closed Aug 1- 3 895 CENTURY ST. | 204- 783- 9600 www. billknight. com AREA RUGS DIFFERENT DISTINCTIVE ORIGINAL Hours: M, Tu, F: 10 - 5 W, Th: 10 - 7 Sat: 9 - 5 1512 St. James St. FACTORY REBATES ON ALL SPAS SOLD IN JULY SAVE $ 1,000' S FA FA RE SO SA WE PAY THE TAX ON ALL STOCK PATIO FURNITURE Serving Manitoba for 21 years! 233 Henderson Hwy . 204- 669- 5590 . bikesandbeyond. ca H o u rs : M o n d ay to Fr i d ay 1 0 - 9, S a t u rd ay 1 0 - 6 , S u n d ay 1 - 5 SUMMER FUN AT BIKES & BEYOND SAVE AN ADDITIONAL 15 % OFF THE SALE PRICE! * 36 HOUR SALE HURRY... THE CLOCK IS TICKING! Expedited Delivery on In- Stock Items Ronald McDonald House Charities � Free In- Home Design Assistance 204- 783- 8500 1425 Ellice Avenue Monday to Friday 10 - 8 Saturday 10 - 5 Sunday 11 - 5 www. la- z- boy. com/ winnipeg * Some restrictions apply. Excludes clearance items, special buys and advertised specials. See store for details. ** O. A. C. $ 49 Administration fee. WASHINGTON - Air safety investigators have a " high degree of confidence" aircraft debris found in the Indian Ocean is of a wing component unique to the Boeing 777, the same model as the Malaysia Airlines plane that disappeared last year, a U. S. official said Wednesday. Air safety investigators - one of them a Boeing investigator - have identified the component as a " flaperon" from the trailing edge of a 777 wing, the U. S. official said. A French official close to an investigation of the debris confirmed Wednesday that French law enforcement is on site to examine a piece of airplane wing found on the French island of Reunion, in the western Indian Ocean. U. S. investigators are examining a photo of the debris. The officials spoke on condition they not be named because they aren't authorized to speak publicly. If the debris turns out to be from the missing aircraft, it will be the first confirmation the plane crashed into the Indian Ocean after it vanished on March 8, 2014, with 239 people on board while travelling from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to Beijing. A massive multinational search effort of the southern Indian Ocean, the China Sea and the Gulf of Thailand turned up no trace of the plane. A discovery of debris on Reunion Island would also put to rest theories the plane travelled north after it vanished from radar, and could help investigators figure out how the plane crashed. But whether it will help search crews pinpoint the rest of the wreckage is unclear, given the complexity of the currents in the southern Indian Ocean and the time that has elapsed since the plane disappeared. The last primary radar contact with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 placed its position over the Andaman Sea about 370 kilometres northwest of the Malaysian city of Penang. Reunion is about 5,600 kilometres southwest of Penang and about 4,200 kilometres west of the current search area. At the United Nations, Malaysian Transport Minister Liow Tiong Lai told reporters he has sent a team to verify the identity of the plane wreckage. " Whatever wreckage found needs to be further verified before we can ever confirm that it... belonged to MH370," he said. - The Associated Press Found part unique to W missing plane's type ASHINGTON, D. C. - Mullah Mohammad Omar, the cloaked, one- eyed zealot who led the Taliban, died more than two years ago, the Afghan government said Wednesday, confirming rumours of his demise that had intensified in recent months. The place and cause of his death remained a mystery, as did its impact on the resilient movement he had led since the 1990s and on the nascent peace talks to end the country's long war. The White House said reports of Omar's death were " credible" but said nothing about what evidence it had to make that judgment or how long the administration has known this elusive American foe had died. Omar led the Taliban from its beginnings as a band of student insurrectionists through a fateful alliance with Osama bin Laden, to military defeat following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the movement's re- emergence as an insurgency that threatened the American occupation in Afghanistan. Much about the Taliban chief's biography, including his exact date of birth, is uncertain or clouded by the mythmaking of his propagandists. Yet Omar clearly proved to be a capable and resilient enemy of the U. S., one who fled advancing American troops on a motorcycle in late 2001 but survived that humiliation to revive the Taliban and elude a CIA- led manhunt and the US$ 10- million bounty on his head. Omar's death raises questions about who will become the next leader of the Taliban and whether that man can maintain the loyalty of various factions within the group, particularly if he continues to pursue talks with the Afghan government. Omar's stature held together a dispersed insurgency. Earlier this month, a statement was issued under his name endorsing the peace process. However, there was no video or audio accompanying the statement, which further fuelled speculation about whether he was dead. The talks, which have consisted of one meeting in Pakistan, have led to some internal jostling in the Taliban, which could lead to an open power struggle. When the talks were announced, members based at the Taliban's political office in Qatar said Pakistan took over the initiative, while Afghan officials said the man who was believed to be Omar's deputy, Mullah Akhtar Muhammad, had sanctioned the sit- down. - Washington Post Taliban leader Omar believed dead Mohammad Omar led the Taliban from its start. A_ 14_ Jul- 30- 15_ FP_ 01. indd A12 7/ 29/ 15 10: 38: 11 PM ;