A Malaysian Airline Boeing was shot down and crashed in Ukraine.

[singveld]

so the rebels who side with Russia are the good guys?

there is no good and bad, black and white, only shade of grey.

 

[numero uno]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! evidence of midair explosion.............look carefully AT THE TAG HEUER watch face glass>>> the glass face was dislodged or blown out of the socket!!!! it means only one thing, very sudden decompression in the aircraft chamber which is pressurised at 10,000 ft but flying at 32,000 feet.
Sudden decompression very very acutely can blow the glass cover out of the watch face and it means the aircraft was probably blown up into halves at very high up at 30,000 feet by an explosion... and not crashed whole as was theorised. that's why alot of dive watches have pressure release valves for controlled decompression eg rolex sea dweller to prevent such things. those in the diving naval unit know what I am talking about.
all the passengers would have died a quick death. probably better that way

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

You certainly have an eye for detail.

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew grateful to generous Sunderland fans in wake of MH17 plane tragedy

Alan Pardew has thanked Sunderland fans who raised almost £20,000 in the memory of the two Newcastle supporters killed in the Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane disaster

Humbled by tragedy: a solemn looking Alan Pardew takes a training session in Dunedin New Zealand Photo: GETTY IMAGES

By Luke Edwards
11:31AM BST 21 Jul 2014

Newcastle United manager Alan Pardew has thanked the supporters of local rivals Sunderland who have raised almost £20,000 in the memory of the two supporters killed when the Malaysia Airlines MH17 crashed in Ukraine.

John Alder and Liam Sweeney were on the plane that was shot down last week as they were travelling out to watch Newcastle’s pre-season tour of New Zealand.

Although the rivalry between the two north-east clubs is among the most ferocious in English football, Sunderland fans have been deeply moved by the tragedy.

An appeal for donations for a floral tribute to the two men has raised a huge sum of money that the families of the two men have asked to be given to the Sir Bobby Robson Foundation.

“There’s a lot made of the rivalry between the two cities,” said Pardew. “Of course that is there, but it has always been on competitive level.

“I’d like to thank all of the Sunderland fans who have paid tribute. And actually raise a staggering amount of money already.

“I am very proud of Sunderland for the way they have conducted it and I want to thank them.”

The Sunderland supporter responsible for setting up the online donation appeal, Gary Ferguson, said he had been overwhelmed by the response.

“These were proper fans,” he told The Journal. “They were going to New Zealand to support their team. That’s what really resonated with me and with everyone else.

“I’m a Sunderland season ticket holder and I never miss a home game, but these were real loyal supporters. People might be surprised with the rivalry, but I haven’t had any negative responses at all.

Pardew hopes his Newcastle side can pay a fitting tribute to the two supporters killed on their way to support them by having a successful season.

"None of us would be sitting here without the fans,” he said. “Owners and managers come and go, as do players, but the fans are always there, and these two guys in particular, to go to the lengths that they did to get out here, has brought home just how important supporters are to us.

“Sometimes when you lose lives in that manner, it puts into context what we do. This season we want to give their families something to remember them by, by having a successful season.”

On Sunday, Newcastle fans’ group The Football Social called for fans from of all the region’s clubs to attend the club's first home match of the new season, a friendly against Manchester City as a fitting tribute to Mr Alder and Mr Sweeney.

A Twitter post said: “John and Liam would have been attending this friendly match, so let’s get behind them and show them that we are supporting them and their friends and family, put your rivalry behind you and attend this match whether you are a Sunderland fan or any other fan.”

The fans added: “Divided by rivalry but united by grief.”

 

[steffychun]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! evidence of midair explosion.............look carefully AT THE TAG HEUER watch face glass>>> the glass face was dislodged or blown out of the socket!!!! it means only one thing, very sudden decompression in the aircraft chamber which is pressurised at 10,000 ft but flying at 32,000 feet.
Sudden decompression very very acutely can blow the glass cover out of the watch face and it means the aircraft was probably blown up into halves at very high up at 30,000 feet by an explosion... and not crashed whole as was theorised. that's why alot of dive watches have pressure release valves for controlled decompression eg rolex sea dweller to prevent such things. those in the diving naval unit know what I am talking about.
all the passengers would have died a quick death. probably better that way

Is that someone's bra and panties

 

[kukubird58]

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! evidence of midair explosion.............look carefully AT THE TAG HEUER watch face glass>>> the glass face was dislodged or blown out of the socket!!!! it means only one thing, very sudden decompression in the aircraft chamber which is pressurised at 10,000 ft but flying at 32,000 feet.
Sudden decompression very very acutely can blow the glass cover out of the watch face and it means the aircraft was probably blown up into halves at very high up at 30,000 feet by an explosion... and not crashed whole as was theorised.

Hahaha......the plane did clashed as a whole plane is not a theory but was captured on video...
Whether there are holes on the plane causing rapid decompression is another thing..

 

[singveld]

[video=youtube_share;GqBlgCkp-mI]http://youtu.be/GqBlgCkp-mI[/video]

Hong Kong-born chef and wife died aboard Flight MH17 after change of route

Fan Shun-po, a cook working in the Netherlands, was travelling with his Malaysian wife, Jenny Loh, according to a Dutch newspaper

PUBLISHED : Friday, 18 July, 2014, 12:02pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 19 July, 2014, 3:09am

Stuart Lau [email protected]

The Fans with their son Kevin on Facebook.Photo: SCMP Pictures

A change to their usual travel routine proved fatal for a celebrated Hong Kong-born chef and his Malaysian wife.

Each year Fan Shun-po and Jenny Fan, both in their 50s and who owned a Chinese restaurant in Rotterdam, would fly from Amsterdam to Hong Kong and then Kuala Lumpur to visit their respective hometowns.

But this time, because they had to take Jenny's elderly mother home to Penang after she paid them a visit, they opted to fly from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur aboard the doomed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17.

The couple, who perished with 296 others aboard the Boeing 777 after it was shot down over Ukraine, are survived by their son Kevin, who is in his early 20s and also lives in Rotterdam.

The Hongkonger and his Malaysian wife seen in a Dutch cooking show.

Christy Liu, who was in the same Buddhist group as the couple in the Dutch port city, said people who knew them were concerned about Kevin in the wake of the tragedy.

"It is devastating to him. He is very sad, not answering phone calls and only willing to send text messages," Liu said.

"He just texted us back with messages [yesterday] afternoon. He was finding it impossible [on Thursday] to face the matter."

She said friends of the Fans would try to help Kevin arrange his parents' funeral. Many of Kevin's friends have posted on his Facebook page the word sterkte - Dutch for strength.

Fan and his wife migrated to the Netherlands in 1978 and made a name for themselves when their restaurant in downtown Rotterdam, Asian Glories, won a recommendation from the Michelin Guide.

Tributes poured in on the restaurant's Facebook page, where a poster named Gaea Gail recalled nights when "after closing hours [as] we sat and talked about life, Jenny was as lively as she always was and Mr Fan his smiling peaceful self, listening to his wife as she talked the night away".

The pair were also respected for their philanthropy. "Whenever there were natural disasters, the Fans never hesitated to organise charity dinners to help raise funds," Liu said.

In the wake of the Fukushima tsunami in March 2011, the pair staged a dinner that raised €27,500 (HK$288,000) for victims.

Hong Kong's Immigration Department said it was checking if more Hongkongers were on board Flight MH17.

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

United States presents fresh evidence on MH17 downing, but remains unsure on who fired missile

Officials release satellite information and intelligence on Ukraine rebels, but fail to determine who shot down flight MH17

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 23 July, 2014, 11:20pm
UPDATED : Thursday, 24 July, 2014, 5:46am

The Washington Post

Images of the Russian base near Rostov. Photo: SCMP Pictures

The Obama administration, detailing what it called evidence of Russian complicity in the downing of a Malaysian airliner, released satellite images and other sensitive intelligence that officials said proved Moscow had trained and equipped rebels in Ukraine responsible for the attack.

But the three officials who briefed the media said they still could not say they were certain who had done it and whether Russia had been involved.

The officials said they had ruled out involvement by Ukraine's military because its missiles were not within range of the Malaysian plane at the time it was brought down. "That is not a plausible scenario," said one senior US official.

Without disclosing classified information, the officials shared photos posted on social media of the crash site and what they described as missile movements across the Russia-Ukraine border.

The intelligence officials said they had seen an increasing volume of heavy weaponry crossing the border from Russia and that Russia had provided training to the rebels - some of them Russian citizens - including in the use of air-defence systems. They provided an aerial photo of a military facility outside the Russian city of Rostov, near the border with Ukraine, which they said had become a centre of training and weapons supplies for the separatists.

Analysts at the CIA and other US intelligence agencies are continuing to examine information about the crash.

"We are seeing a full-court press by the Russian government to instruct affiliated or friendly elements to manipulate the media environment to spread Russia's version of the story," one of the three officials said. "What this looks like again is a classic case of blaming the victims."

The US intelligence officials, who included experts on Russia's military and its relationship with separatists in Ukraine, said they did not know the identities or even the nationalities - whether Russian or possibly defectors from Ukraine's military - of those who had launched SA-11 surface-to-air missile.

Nor have US spy agencies reached any conclusions on the motive for the attack, except to say that the reaction among separatists recorded on social media indicates they believed they were targeting a Ukrainian plane.

Officials said the rebels operating the missile battery may not have had access to systems designed to help distinguish military targets from civilian planes.

Meanwhile Dutch investigators said they have found no evidence the airliner's black box voice recorder had been tampered with.

"The cockpit voice recorder was damaged but the part that contains the data was intact," the Dutch Safety Board said. The board said it would now work on assessing the information. The examination of the airliner's other black box, the Flight Data Recorder, would start today, it said.

Additional reporting by

Bloomberg, Reuters

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

First plane carrying bodies of MH17 victims arrives in Netherlands as nation mourns

Britain receives black boxes from Malaysia Airlines airline shot down over eastern Ukraine

PUBLISHED : Wednesday, 23 July, 2014, 5:01pm
UPDATED : Wednesday, 23 July, 2014, 11:15pm

Agence France-Presse in Eindhoven

Dutch military personnel carry a coffin containing one of the victims of the MH17 plane crash to a waiting hearse at the airbase in Eindhoven. Photo: EPA

The first bodies from flight MH17 arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday almost a week after it was shot down over Ukraine, with grieving relatives and the king and queen solemnly receiving the as yet unidentified victims.

Church bells rang out throughout the country as the planes touched down with the much-delayed return of the first 40 bodies of the 298 people killed in the disaster, most of them Dutch.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4dHAggUBjAc?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

In a reminder of the ongoing war that is hampering recovery and investigation efforts, the Ukrainian military said that two of its fighter jets had been shot down Wednesday, possibly close to the Boeing’s crash site.

The Netherlands has been united in grief and growing anger because of delays in getting bodies home and over the way pro-Russian separatists have treated the crash site, bodies and personal possessions.

The planes left from Kharkiv in Ukraine, where the bodies were given a dignified ceremony as they were carried on board by army cadets before a small party of officials.

1,000 bereaved

Around 1,000 bereaved relatives of the 193 Dutch dead, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, Prime Minister Mark Rutte and representatives of the other nations that lost citizens on the flight met the planes.

Coffins containing remains of Malaysia Airlines MH17 victims are loaded onto a plane at Kharkiv airport. Photo: Reuters

The bodies are to be transferred to a military base at Hilversum, southeast of Amsterdam, where forensics experts will identify them.

Flags of the 11 nations that lost citizens in the crash flew at half mast at the airport.

Uniformed members of the Dutch military marched to the planes to unload the wooden coffins, while a trumpeter played the Last Post and Reveille.

Motorways along the 100-kilometre (65-mile) route from Eindhoven to Hilversum have been closed for the long convoy of hearses to pass, one coffin per car.

A minute’s silence was observed nationwide, during which no flights landed or took off at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, from where the doomed Malaysia Airlines flight took off on Thursday.

US intelligence officials have said they believe rebels mistakenly shot down the plane that was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with a surface-to-air missile.

Members of the press wait at a military airport in Eindhoven for the plane from Kharkiv. Photo: AFP

The rebels on Wednesday used rockets to shoot down two Ukrainian Sukhoi fighter jets, although it was not clear exactly how far away from the Malaysia Airlines crash site.

Both pilots managed to parachute out, military spokesman Vladislav Seleznev said of the shooting down possibly as close as 25 kilometres from the MH17 crash site.

Unrecovered bodies

Experts and world leaders have expressed concern that not all the remains have been recovered from the sprawling crash site in rebel-held territory.

“It’s quite possible that many bodies are still out there, in the open in the European summer, subject to interference, and subject to the ravages of heat and animals,” said Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose country lost 28 nationals.

Dutch Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans and his Australian counterpart Julie Bishop will travel together to Ukraine on Thursday for talks about completing the repatriation of bodies and the crash probe, the foreign ministry said.

The rebels controlling the crash site released some bodies and handed over two black boxes to Malaysian officials only after intense international pressure.

The black boxes were delivered to Britain for expert analysis, including whether they might have been tampered with, on Wednesday.

DNA samples taken

Rutte has warned that it could take weeks or even months for the bodies to be identified, although some are expected to be handed over to families soon.

Dutch police have been visiting the bereaved for counselling but also to retrieve DNA samples such as from hairbrushes, details of tattoos and fingerprints, as well as medical and dental records, to help with the identification task.

A truce has been declared by rival sides around the crash impact site, but international investigators still face massive obstacles. Dutch officials confirmed receipt of only 200 of the 298 victims’ bodies.

International monitors said more remains were left at the vast crash site, littered with poignant fragments from hundreds of destroyed lives.

A Dutch C130 aircraft carrying 16 bodies leaves Ukraine soil bound for the Netherlands following a ceremony at Kharkiv airport. Photo: EPA

Kiev said the Netherlands and other countries that lost citizens are proposing to send police officers to secure the site, amid concerns that vital evidence has been tampered with.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday pledged to “do everything” to influence the separatists and ensure a full probe into the crash.

Putin is staring down fresh European sanctions just a week after the latest set was unveiled over its role in the Ukraine crisis, which has chilled East-West tensions to the lowest point in years.

Ukrainian government troops are pushing on with an offensive to wrest control of east Ukraine’s industrial heartland from the pro-Moscow separatists.

 

[Sammy]

Riprip rip

 

[sirus]

Europe also lan2 cannot impose sanction.

Despite anger over MH17, Europe shies away from sanctions.
AMSTERDAM — Foreign ministers of the European Union’s 28 member states were under pressure to display resolve and common purpose after the downing of the Malaysia Airlines jet over eastern Ukraine. In the end, there was plenty of tough talk, yet no real punishment for Russia despite calls from Australia, Britain and the United States, who have all accused Russia of supplying the missile that brought down Flight MH17, to take a tougher line.

Dependent on Russian gas and oil, wary of confrontation on the Continent and alive to the fact of Russia’s proximity, Europe’s leaders have largely decided they will have to live with a newly assertive Russia. “Almost every European state has voluntarily handed over power to Russian President Vladimir Putin, allowing him to play countries against each other,” said Ms Marietje Schaake, an influential member of the European Parliament.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the foreign ministers agreed to draw up a new, broader list of targets for sanctions, including Russian individuals and entities, said Ms Catherine Ashton, the EU’s Foreign Affairs Chief.

But no new additional measures were imposed, reflecting fears among some Europeans that tougher sanctions would invite reprisals by Russia against countries dependent on its energy supplies, harming the Continent’s economic growth.

Nowhere is the European conundrum clearer than in the Netherlands, a tiny nation of 16 million, but one of the wealthiest in the EU. For more than a decade, the Dutch have been forging closer ties with Russia, emphasising a growing trade and economic partnership while pointedly ignoring President Vladimir Putin’s regional ambitions.

Shell, the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, which has its head office in The Hague, is one of the largest foreign investors in Russian gas fields in Siberia. Shell is the largest corporation in the Netherlands, and its stock is widely held in the nation’s pension funds. If Shell loses money, the pensions of Dutch teachers, civil servants and many others suffer.

As a result, the company’s welfare inevitably influences policy, analysts said. “Naturally Shell will try to prevent any sanctions against Russia,” said Dr Sweder van Wijnbergen, who was the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Economic Affairs from 1997 to 2000. His former boss in that job, the then Minister-in-Charge of the economy, Dr Hans Wijers, sits on the Shell board of directors. “Of course, the government ultimately makes its own decisions,” Dr Van Wijnbergen added. Four Shell employees died in the crash of Flight MH17.

The Russians and the Dutch have invested billions in each other’s countries. In 2012, the Netherlands imported €20.3 billion (S$34 billion) worth of gas, reselling 95 per cent of it to the rest of Europe, official statistics show. Russia imported €7.2 billion in office equipment, food and flowers. In recent days, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has made sure to keep his lines of communication with Mr Putin open, to “bring the bodies home”. The Dutch entanglement with Russia through Shell is emblematic of ties that many European nations, such as France and Germany, have with Russia.

In Ukraine, Europe was widely seen as waffling. “It looks like they will not impose any strict sanctions,” said Dr Svitlana Khutka, an associate professor of sociology at a Kiev university.

“You just don’t believe that they are concerned, because it is quite evident that they have their own interests.”

THE NEW YORK TIMES

http://www.todayonline.com/world/europe/despite-anger-over-mh17-europe-shies-away-sanctions

 

[THE_CHANSTER]

Just compare how the Dutch received their dead in Eindhoven and how the bodies were treated in eastern Ukraine.
The difference between a first world free democracy and third world scum.

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

Fighting rages near flight MH17 crash site, frustrating investigations

Pro-Russian rebel leader in Ukraine confirms they had Buk rockets near where MH17 downed

PUBLISHED : Thursday, 24 July, 2014, 11:38pm
UPDATED : Friday, 25 July, 2014, 1:27am

Reuters in Donetsk, Ukraine

A week after flight MH17 was shot down, wreckage from the Boeing 777 is strewn over a wide area, such as overhead lockers in trees. Photo: AP

Fighting between Ukrainian troops and rebels raged yesterday near the crash site of Malaysian flight MH17, as countries which lost 298 citizens in the disaster moved to deploy their police to secure the impact zone.

The Dutch team leading the crash probe was stuck in Kiev, unable to join a handful of international investigators at the rebel-controlled site.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's army reported four soldiers killed over the last 24 hours in its offensive to retake the eastern industrial heartland from the pro-Russian insurgents. Two Ukrainian fighter jets were shot down Wednesday 45 kilometres from the crash site, just as the first bodies recovered from the fated flight were flown out to the Netherlands, which counts 193 citizens lost in the disaster.

While the Dutch offered a solemn ceremony for the victims' remains, soldiers hoisting 40 wooden coffins into as many waiting hearses, British experts began analysing the black boxes from the flight.

Investigators said human remains were still strewn amidst the debris of the wreck, where recovery work has been at a standstill since Tuesday.

Dutch authorities said they can only be sure that 200 corpses have been recovered out of the 298 people killed on board.

Announcing Australia was ready to deploy police to secure the debris zone, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said a rigorous search of the site was still needed.

"On the site it is still clear that nothing is happening without the approval of the armed rebels who brought the plane down in the first place," he said.

Abbott, whose country lost 28 citizens, said 50 Australian officers were on standby in London.

Rebels and government forces have declared a ceasefire in the immediate vicinity of the site, but just beyond, fierce fighting was ongoing.

The Ukrainian military said rockets were yesterday being fired "from the Russian side", hitting locations close to Luhansk airport and in several areas in the Donetsk region.

Mortar shells also rained down on Avdiyika in the Donetsk region, the army said, without giving details of casualties.

Since the airliner crashed with the loss of all 298 on board, the most contentious issue has been who fired the missile that brought the jet down in an area where government forces are fighting pro-Russian rebels.

Alexander Khodakovsky, commander of the rebels' Vostok battalion, acknowledged for the first time since the plane was brought down last Thursday that the rebels did possess the Buk missile system and said it could have been sent back subsequently to remove proof of its presence.

Khodakovsky blamed the Kiev authorities for provoking what may have been the missile strike that destroyed the doomed airliner, saying Kiev had deliberately launched air strikes in the area, knowing the missiles were in place.

"I knew that a Buk came from Luhansk. At the time I was told that a Buk from Luhansk was coming under the flag of the LNR," he said, referring to the Luhansk People's Republic.

"I think they sent it back. Because I found out about it at exactly the moment that I found out that this tragedy had taken place. They probably sent it back in order to remove proof of its presence," Khodakovsky said.

"The question is this: Ukraine received timely evidence that the volunteers have this technology, through the fault of Russia. It not only did nothing to protect security, but provoked the use of this type of weapon against a plane that was flying with peaceful civilians," he said.

Reuters, Agence France-Presse

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

Australian troops to help secure flight MH17 crash site in Ukraine

Prime Minister Tony Abbott says 90 Australian police are in Europe and ready to travel on to the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 to secure human remains and personal effects

PUBLISHED : Friday, 25 July, 2014, 4:43pm
UPDATED : Friday, 25 July, 2014, 10:07pm

Agence France-Presse in Sydney

Assistant Australian Federal Police commissioner Michael Outrim (left) shows Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott an aerial view of the MH17 crash site in Canberra on Friday. Photo: EPA

Australian troops plan to join a police contingent helping to secure the site in Ukraine where Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 crashed, Prime Minister Tony Abbott said yesterday.

He stressed the mission would be humanitarian in nature.

Abbott has criticised the response on the ground to the downing of the plane, which was carrying 298 people when it was shot down in rebel-held eastern Ukraine.

About 90 Australian Federal Police have already been deployed to Europe for a planned international mission to help secure the wreckage and retrieve bodies. A further 100 were to leave yesterday to participate in the operation and "do the right thing by the grieving families", Abbott said. Canberra was close to finalising an agreement with Ukraine for deployment of the officers.

"Many of the police deployed won't be armed. Some of them could be armed," Abbott said.

"And, yes, there will be some ADF (Australian Defence Force personnel) as part of this deployment, should it go ahead."

Abbott's office later confirmed the defence personnel were troops.

The majority of those on flight MH17 were Dutch, but 28 Australians and nine permanent residents of Australia were also on the plane.

"This is a humanitarian mission with a clear and simple objective, to bring them home," Abbott said. "All we want to do is to claim our dead and to bring them home." He added that given human remains were still to be recovered, it was "more important than ever" that the site be properly secured.

"I expect the operation on the ground in Ukraine, should the deployment go ahead, to last no longer than a few weeks."

The prime minister said he had spoken twice to Russian President Vladimir Putin since the tragedy occurred last week.

"President Putin has been full of sympathy, as you would expect from another human being, for what's happened to 37 families in Australia," Abbott said.

"And he certainly has been publicly and privately supportive of securing the site so that the full impartial investigation ... can be completed and all of the bodies can be brought home."

 

[Yazoo]

INFOGRAPHIC: A historical look at aviation accidents (2014)

With over 700 dead in six accidents in little more than six months, 2014 is likely to be one of the worst years in recent history for commercial aviation.

Adolfo Arranz and Jane Pong
PUBLISHED : Friday, 25 July, 2014, 4:49pm
UPDATED : Friday, 25 July, 2014, 11:05pm

With over 700 dead in six accidents in little more than six months, 2014 is likely to be one of the worst years in recent history for commercial aviation.

https://www.scmp.com/sites/default/files/2014/07/25/20140724-aircrash-graphic.png

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

Second wave of planes carrying flight MH17 bodies from Ukraine arrives in the Netherlands

The bodies of more victims from flight MH17 arrived in the Netherlands on Thursday as the US said Russia intends to deliver heavier and more powerful rocket launchers to separatist forces in Ukraine

PUBLISHED : Friday, 25 July, 2014, 11:51am
UPDATED : Friday, 25 July, 2014, 5:33pm

Associated Press in Kharkiv

A convoy of funeral hearses carrying the remains of the victims of the MH17 plane crash is driven from the airbase in Eindhoven to Hilversum, the Netherlands, on Thursday. Two more planes carrying bodies are scheduled to arrive on Friday. Photo: EPA

Two more military aircraft carrying remains of victims from the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 disaster arrived in the Netherlands on Thursday, while Australian and Dutch diplomats joined to promote a plan for a UN team to secure the crash site, which has been controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

Human remains continue to be found a full week after the plane went down, underlining concerns about the halting and chaotic recovery effort at the sprawling site spread across farmland in eastern Ukraine. Armed separatists control the area and have hindered access by investigators.

All 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 – most of them Dutch citizens – were killed when the plane was shot down on July 17. US officials say the Boeing 777 was probably shot down by a missile from territory held by pro-Russian rebels, probably by accident.

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who says he fears some remains will never be recovered unless security is tightened, has proposed a multinational force mounted by countries such as Australia, the Netherlands and Malaysia that lost citizens in the disaster. Abbott said on Thursday he had dispatched 50 police officers to London to be ready to join any organisation that may result.

Australia’s Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was travelling with her Dutch counterpart Frans Timmermans to Kiev to seek an agreement with the Ukraine government to allow international police to secure the wreckage, Abbott said.

Details, including which countries would contribute and whether officers would be armed and protected by international troops, were yet to be agreed, Abbott said.

<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/O0R-IXewNT0?rel=0" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" width="640"></iframe>

Meanwhile, global aviation leaders will meet in Montreal next week to initiate discussions on a plan to address safety and security issues raised by the downing of the jet, an aviation official said late on Thursday. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorised to discuss the issue publicly by name.

International experts found more remains still at the crash site both on Wednesday and Thursday, Michael Bociurkiw, a spokesman for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), told reporters in Donetsk on Thursday. OSCE observers, sent to monitor the conflict, escorted a delegation from Australia to examine the wreckage on Thursday for the first time. More Australian specialists are expected to join them on Friday, Bociurkiw said.

On Monday, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution proposed by Australia demanding that rebels co-operate with an independent investigation and allow all remaining bodies to be recovered.

The first remains arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday and were met by Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and hundreds of relatives. The two planes on Thursday brought a total of 74 more coffins back to the Netherlands, said government spokesman Lodewijk Hekking.

Patricia Zorko, head of the National Police Unit that includes the Dutch national forensic team, said some 200 experts, including 80 from overseas, were working at a military barracks on the outskirts of the central city of Hilversum to identify the dead. Around the world some 1,000 people are involved in the process, which also includes gathering information from next of kin.

A piece of wreckage is seen at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Staff will “examine the bodies, describe the bodies, take dental information, DNA and put all the information together in the computer and compare this information with the information they gathered from the families in the last days,” police spokesman Ed Kraszewski said in a telephone interview. “Then we have to see if there is a match.”

There are three scientific methods of identifying bodies: dental records, finger prints and DNA.

After the experts believe they have positively identified a body, they will defend their findings to an international panel. If both agree, the positive identification will be sent to a Dutch prosecution office, which has the power to release the body to the next of kin.

Zorko warned that the process of identification could be drawn out.

“Unfortunately this type of investigation often takes time,” she said. “Count on weeks and maybe even months.”

The Dutch Safety Board said investigators in the UK had successfully downloaded data from Flight 17’s Flight Data Recorder. It said “no evidence or indications of manipulation of the recorder was found.” It did not release any details of the data.

Meanwhile, police and traffic authorities appealed to the public not to stop on the highway as a convoy of hearses passes by on Thursday on its way from Eindhoven Air Base to Hilversum.

Dutch military personnel carry a coffin containing the remains of one of the victims to a hearse at the airbase in Eindhoven. Photo: EPA

On Wednesday, the convoy of hearses passed through roads lined with thousands of members of the public, who applauded, threw flowers or stood in silence as the cars drove by.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that the number of Dutch victims had risen by one to 194, taking into account a woman with joint German and Dutch nationalities who earlier had been listed as German.

Senior US intelligence officials said on Tuesday that Russia was responsible for “creating the conditions” that led to the crash, but offered no evidence of direct Russian government involvement.

The officials said the plane was probably shot down by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile fired by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. The US officials cited intercepts, satellite photos and social media postings by separatists, some of which have been authenticated by US experts.

Russia on Thursday brushed off the accusations. Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov said in a video statement that if the US officials indeed had the proof the plane shot down by a missile launched from the rebel-held territory, “how come they have not been made public?”

Pro-Russian rebels and Ukrainian government troops have been fighting for more than three months, leaving at least 400 dead and displacing tens of thousands.

The Obama administration on Thursday accused Russia of firing artillery from its territory into Ukraine to hit Ukrainian military sites and asserted that Moscow is boosting its supply of weaponry to pro-Russian separatists.

Russia's Deputy Defence Minister Anatoly Antonov on Thursday rejected US claims Moscow was continuing to supply armed Ukrainian rebels with missiles. Photo: AFP

“We have new evidence that the Russians intend to deliver heavier and more powerful multiple rocket launchers to separatist forces in Ukraine and have evidence that Russia is firing artillery from within Russian to attack Ukrainian military positions,” State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. She said the evidence derived from “some intelligence information” but declined to elaborate, saying it would compromise sources and methods of intelligence collection.

In Brussels, ambassadors from the 28 European Union nations agreed on Thursday to add more names to the list of Russians and pro-Russian Ukrainians subject to EU-wide asset freezes and travel bans for allegedly acting against Ukraine’s territorial integrity. Seventy-two people are already covered by the measures.

European Union officials said the new names would be made public only on Friday and the fresh sanctions could for the first time result in Russian companies being blacklisted from doing business in the EU.

On Friday, the ambassadors will meet again to discuss the possible imposition of further sweeping measures, targeting Russia’s high-tech, energy, defence and banking sectors, if Russia fails to cease its alleged support for the rebellion.

White House spokesman Eric Schultz said the White House expects that at least some of the individuals targeted by the EU will overlap with those sanctioned already by the US.

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

Malaysian, Dutch PMs to discuss gaining ‘full and secure access’ to MH17 crash site

Najib Razak will travel to the Netherlands to talk with Mark Rutte about ensuring investigators' access to debris from the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in Ukraine

PUBLISHED : Saturday, 26 July, 2014, 7:31pm
UPDATED : Saturday, 26 July, 2014, 7:31pm

Reuters in Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak signs a condolence book for the victims of flight MH17 at the residence of the Netherlands' ambassador in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. Photo: AFP

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said on Saturday he would meet his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte next week to discuss how to secure full access for investigators to the site in Ukraine where a Malaysian airliner was brought down.

Pro-Russian separatists remain in control of the area in eastern Ukraine where the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 was downed last week on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 on board.

Najib helped clinch a deal with separatist leaders to secure the return of the victims’ remains as well as the aircraft’s two “black box” flight recorders, critical to determining what happened to the aircraft. It was now time, he said, to proceed with the full investigation.

“My priority now is to ensure the third part of the deal is honoured, and that international investigators are given full and secure access to the site,” he said in a statement.

“This will require the cooperation of those in control of the crash site and the Ukrainian armed forces.”

The statement said Najib would fly to the Netherlands for talks on Wednesday, after Malaysia has marked the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte attends a debate about flight MH17 in Ukraine at the parliament in The Hague in the Netherlands on Thursday. Photo: EPA

Malaysian experts believe at least 30 investigators will be required to cover the full site of the crash, the statement said, in addition to Dutch investigators and an expert from the United Nations’ civil aviation body, the ICAO.

“Unfortunately events on the ground – including ongoing fighting between Ukrainian and separatist forces – prevent such a large contingent of investigators being deployed,” it said.

Ukraine’s armed forces have been trying to dislodge pro-Russian separatists from towns in eastern Ukraine since April.

The United States and other Western countries suggest the separatists shot down the plane with a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia. The separatists deny shooting down the plane and Russia says it has provided no such weapons.

A total of 193 Dutch nationals and 43 Malaysians were among the victims aboard MH17.

The Dutch Safety Board said this week it had taken control of an investigation into the crash and would coordinate a team of investigators from Ukraine, Malaysia, Germany, the United States, Britain, Russia and the ICAO.

Debris of the fuselage at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 near the village of Grabovo, some 80 kilometres east of Donetsk, Ukraine on Thursday. Photo: AFP

The European Union reached an outline agreement on Friday to impose the first economic sanctions on Russia over its annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March and suspicions that it is actively involved in destablising eastern Ukraine.

The 28-nation EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on Russian intelligence chiefs and other officials accused of undermining Ukraine’s sovereignty.

One official added to the list, Alexander Tkachyov, the governor of Russia’s southern Krasnodar region, said he had no regrets about any action he had taken. He said the West was “settling scores” for the success of the Winter Olympics at Sochi in his region in February.

“I have no regrets because of the sanctions,” Tkachyov said on Twitter. “Even if I had known about this beforehand, I would do what I did.”

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

Grieving relatives at MH17 site as Dutch, Australia ready troops

AFP
July 27, 2014, 5:37 am

Grabove (Ukraine) (AFP) - The first relatives of victims on the ill-fated Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 arrived on Saturday at the crash site, as Dutch and Australian forces prepared for possible deployment to secure the location in rebel-held east Ukraine.

A truce has been called in the immediate area around the site by both the Kiev forces and pro-Russian separatists, but combat was raging just 60 kilometres (35 miles) away, with loud explosions heard at regular intervals in western and northern suburbs of rebel stronghold Donetsk.

Ignoring safety warnings, an Australian couple travelled to the scene of the crash without any escort, saying they were fulfilling a promise to their only child that they would be there.

"She was full of life," said Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski of their 25-year-old daughter Fatima, an aerospace engineering student who died when the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur plane was shot down July 17, killing all 298 people on board.

She and her husband Jerzy Dyczynski, who wore a T-shirt with the words "Fatima: We Love You" were overcome with emotion as they walked among the wreckage and scorched earth, and laid a large bouquet of flowers on part of the debris.

The Dutch government, which is in charge of identifying the remains found at the site, said that forensic experts had confirmed the identity the first victim on Saturday, one of 193 Dutch citizens who had been on board.

An investigation into the downing of flight MH17 has been hampered by the violence plaguing east Ukraine, which claimed at least nine lives in the last 24 hours in insurgent holdout Lugansk.

Dutch experts sought to travel to the site on Saturday but turned back because of safety concerns.

- 'Humanitarian mission' -

The rebels who are accused of shooting down the plane with a missile from Russia have signalled they are only open to allowing a small group of Australian and Dutch officers in.

But Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose country lost 28 citizens in the crash, stressed that it is a "humanitarian mission".

"It's the presence of unrecovered remains that makes it more important than ever that an international team be dispatched," he said.

"Others can get involved if they wish in the politics of eastern Europe. Our sole concern is to claim our dead and to bring them home."

Abbott later on Saturday discussed plans with Russian President Vladimir Putin for "an independent and objective international inquiry," the Kremlin said in a statement.

After a few days when little activity was seen, recovery efforts appeared to restart again on Saturday, AFP reporters at the scene said.

The mission may not be imminent in any case as Ukraine's parliament, which needs to formally approve any international deployment, is only due to broach the issue at a session on Thursday.

The Netherlands is planning to send 60 officers and said troops had been consigned to barracks and had leave cancelled ahead of the planned mission.

Australia is sending 190 police along with a small number of its defence forces to the Netherlands in view of the mission.

- 'Second front' -

In Brussels, the European Union punished Russia -- which it accuses of abetting the insurgency by arming the rebels -- with new sanctions on its intelligence chiefs.

Moscow angrily blasted the move as "irresponsible" and warned it put at risk cooperation on security issues.

Ukraine's army meanwhile pressed its offensive to wrest back control of the vital industrial east, with volleys of what appeared to be Grad rocket fire heard all through Saturday.

"We can't sleep at night! There's no electricity, no water, no gas. The houses are burning," said Viktoriya Konovalova, 32, who sat selling apricots by the side of the road in the Oktyabrsky suburb of Donetsk as the booming echoed behind her.

While the fighting raged, politicians in Kiev were battling to limit the fallout from Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's abrupt resignation on Thursday.

Lawmakers are to meet next week to discuss the prime minister's future. President Petro Poroshenko has insisted on Yatsenyuk's cooperation until new elections are held.

The premier quit in fury after several parties walked out of his ruling coalition in what appeared to be the beginning of a rancorous campaign ahead of parliamentary elections this fall.

The Fatherland faction of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko condemned the coalition's collapse, saying it "opens up a second front" as the country battles to quell the eastern insurgency.

In a sign the upheaval in the cash-strapped country is ringing alarm bells, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde rang Poroshenko to remind him of reforms Kiev had pledged to undertake in exchange for its $17-billion two-year financial lifeline.

The IMF had previously forecast that Ukraine's economy would contract by 6.5 percent this year.

The other chief protagonist in the Ukraine conflict -- Russia -- is also widely expected to sink into recession.

 

[ULike2CarryModBalls]

First MH17 victims identified as grieving relatives defy safety worries to visit crash site

PUBLISHED : Sunday, 27 July, 2014, 11:25am
UPDATED : Sunday, 27 July, 2014, 12:45pm

Agence France-Presse in Grabove, Ukraine

Perth-based couple George and Angela Dyczynski, whose daughter Fatima was aboard the plane MH17, visited the crash site. Photo: Reuters

Forensic experts have identified the first of 298 people killed in the MH17 disaster, the Dutch government said, as grieving relatives defied safety concerns to pay an emotional visit to the crash site in eastern Ukraine.

A truce has been called in the immediate area around the site by both the Kiev forces and pro-Russian separatists, but combat was raging just 60 kilometres (35 miles) away, with loud explosions heard at regular intervals in western and northern suburbs of rebel stronghold Donetsk.

Ignoring safety warnings, an Australian couple travelled to the scene of the crash without any escort Saturday, saying they were fulfilling a promise to their only child that they would be there.

“She was full of life,” said Angela Rudhart-Dyczynski of their 25-year-old daughter Fatima, an aerospace engineering student who died when the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur plane was shot down July 17, killing all 298 people on board.

She and her husband Jerzy Dyczynski, who wore a T-shirt with the words ”Fatima: We Love You”, were overcome with emotion as they walked among the wreckage and scorched earth, and laid a large bouquet of flowers on part of the debris.

People watch as the convoy of hearses arrives at the Korporaal van Oudheusdenkazerne in Hilversum, Netherlands. Photo: EPA

The Dutch government, which is in charge of identifying the remains found at the site, said that forensic experts had confirmed the identity of the first victim on Saturday, one of 193 Dutch citizens who had been on board.

An investigation into the downing of flight MH17 has been hampered by the violence plaguing east Ukraine, which claimed at least nine lives in the last 24 hours in insurgent holdout Lugansk.

Dutch experts sought to travel to the site on Saturday, but turned back because of safety concerns.

The rebels who are accused of shooting down the plane with a missile from Russia have signalled they are only open to allowing a small group of Australian and Dutch officers in.

But Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, whose country lost 28 citizens in the crash, stressed that it was a “humanitarian mission”.

“It’s the presence of unrecovered remains that makes it more important than ever that an international team be dispatched,” he said.

“Others can get involved if they wish in the politics of eastern Europe. Our sole concern is to claim our dead and to bring them home.”

Abbott later on Saturday discussed plans with Russian President Vladimir Putin for “an independent and objective international inquiry”, the Kremlin said in a statement.

After a few days when little activity was seen, recovery efforts appeared to restart again on Saturday, AFP reporters at the scene said.

People watch as the convoy of hearses arrives at the Korporaal van Oudheusdenkazerne in Hilversum. Photo: AFP

The mission may not be imminent in any case as Ukraine’s parliament, which needs to formally approve any international deployment, is only due to broach the issue at a session on Thursday.

The Netherlands is planning to send 60 officers, and said troops had been consigned to barracks and had leave cancelled ahead of the planned mission.

Australia is sending 190 police along with a small number of its defence forces to the Netherlands in view of the mission.

In Brussels, the European Union punished Russia -- which it accuses of abetting the insurgency by arming the rebels -- with new sanctions on its intelligence chiefs.

Moscow angrily blasted the move as “irresponsible”, and warned it put at risk cooperation on security issues.

British Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg joined calls on Sunday for Russia to be stripped of the World Cup in 2018 following the MH17 disaster.

The Liberal Democrat leader said sporting events should be part of a new package of EU sanctions against Moscow.

“You can’t have this -- the beautiful game -- marred by the ugly aggression of Russia on the Russian Ukrainian border,” Clegg told the Sunday Times newspaper.

People watch as the convoy of hearses arrives at the Korporaal van Oudheusdenkazerne in Hilversum. Photo: AFP

Clegg’s call echoes that of several German politicians earlier this month, although the idea was quickly rejected by football officials.

Ukraine’s army, meanwhile, pressed its offensive to wrest back control of the vital industrial east, with volleys of what appeared to be Grad rocket fire heard all through Saturday.

“We can’t sleep at night! There’s no electricity, no water, no gas. The houses are burning,” said Viktoriya Konovalova, 32, who sat selling apricots by the side of the road in the Oktyabrsky suburb of industrial city Donetsk as the booming echoed behind her.

While the fighting raged, politicians in Kiev were battling to limit the fallout from Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s abrupt resignation on Thursday.

Lawmakers are to meet next week to discuss the prime minister’s future. President Petro Poroshenko has insisted on Yatsenyuk’s cooperation until new elections are held.

The premier quit in fury after several parties walked out of his ruling coalition in what appeared to be the beginning of a rancorous campaign ahead of parliamentary elections later this year.

The Fatherland faction of ex-prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko condemned the coalition’s collapse, saying it “opens up a second front” as the country battles to quell the eastern insurgency.

In a sign the upheaval in the cash-strapped country is ringing alarm bells, International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde rang Poroshenko to remind him of reforms Kiev pledged to undertake in exchange for its $17-billion two-year financial lifeline.

The IMF previously forecast that Ukraine’s economy would contract by 6.5 percent this year.

The other chief protagonist in the Ukraine conflict -- Russia -- is also widely expected to sink into recession.

 

[numero uno]

Just compare how the Dutch received their dead in Eindhoven and how the bodies were treated in eastern Ukraine.
The difference between a first world free democracy and third world scum.

also compare how dutch reacts versus ah tiong react with MH370. blardy ah tiong cow beh cow bu like mad children. show how uncivilised ah tiongs are