Saturday 23 August 2014

The Bike Book 4th Edition (2014) (eBook)

Teach yourself Photoshop (2014) (eBook)

47 Creative Photography & Photoshop Project (2014) (eBook)



First Malaysian bodies from MH17 crash fly home

A plane carrying the bodies of 20 Malaysian victims of flight MH17, which crashed in Ukraine in July, took off from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, Dutch media reported.
There was no ceremony for the departure from Schiphol airport, local news agency ANP reported, with the plane to land in Malaysia on Friday, which has been declared a day of national mourning.
The plane will be met by Malaysia’s king, prime minister and other dignitaries accompanied by a minute of silence at Kuala Lumpur’s main international airport, Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said last week.
The remains will then be taken to the hometowns of the victims’ next-of-kin to be laid to rest.
The Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine on July 17 en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, killing all 298 on board.
More than 220 coffins filled with remains have been taken to the Netherlands for identification.
Of those aboard, 193 were Dutch and 43 were Malaysians, including 15 crew members.
A total of 28 Malaysian victims have been identified in the Netherlands, which is in charge of the identification process.
Some victims may never be identified after the search for body parts was called off at the crash site because of ongoing fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
Article source: http://news.yahoo.com/first-malaysian-bodies-mh17-crash-fly-home-155437497.html

MH17: Minute of silence observed as Malaysia mourns





Soldiers carry a coffin as it leaves the plane
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The plane carrying the twenty bodies arrived at Kuala Lumpur airport on a specially chartered flight, as Mike Embley reports

Malaysians observed a moment of silence following the arrival in Kuala Lumpur of the bodies of 20 Malaysian victims of Flight MH17 that crashed in Ukraine in July.
A specially chartered plane took off from Amsterdam and landed around 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT).
National flags are flying at half-mast for the day of mourning.
Flight MH17 is believed to have been shot down by a missile fired by pro-Russian rebels. They deny the claim.
All 298 passengers and crew on board the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 died on 17 July.
Family members and next-of-kin of the Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 victims pause for a moment of silence during a ceremony in the Bunga Raya complex at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang on 22 August  2014.Family members observed a minute of silence following the arrival of the plane
Malaysian Muslim and family members offer special prayers for the remains of co-pilot Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi (L) and flight attendant Nur Shazana Mohamed Salleh (R), the Malaysians who perished aboard flight MH17 that was downed in eastern Ukraine at a mosque in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur on 22 August 2014Co-pilot Ahmad Hakimi Hanapi and flight attendant Nur Shazana Mohamed Salleh were mourned at a mosque
Malaysia Airlines flight attendants cry during the arrival of the coffins at Kuala Lumpur airport. Photo: 22 August 2014A group of Malaysia Airlines staff werre on the tarmac at the Kuala Lumpur airport
Malaysian Army soldiers carry a coffin containing one of the bodies of the downed MH17 flight upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, Friday, 22 August 2014The coffins were draped in the national flag of Malaysia
From office workers to train drivers, many among the nation of 30 million observed a minute’s silence as white hearses drove the remains from the airport to private funerals in various provinces.
The country’s public transportation, including the national rail system and Kuala Lumpur’s monorail, paused during the minute of silence.
Prime Minister Najib Razak, who turned his Twitter and Facebook pages black, wrote a condolence message that was widely shared.
line
At the scene: Jonathan Head, BBC News, Kuala Lumpur
This was a full state occasion. The flag-draped coffins were solemnly shouldered by soldiers clad in white and gold, and the procession of hearses driven slowly past the King and the Prime Minister.
It is unusual for civilian victims of an air accident to be accorded this kind of honour; but then this has been an extraordinary, unlucky year for Malaysia’s aviation industry.
Very little has been said in the build-up to this Day of Mourning about that other flight, MH370.
It must be assumed that the 239 people on board that Malaysian Airlines plane are dead, but with no wreckage, no bodies, and no explanation of what happened, it has been impossible to hold the kind of ceremony held today.
As we watched the family of flight attendant Hamfazlin Sham bury her in a cemetery outside Kuala Lumpur, there was a palpable sense of relief, that at last it was over.
Her sisters were pleased with the large turnout, and the attention they were getting from the government and local politicians. It has taken Dutch forensic experts a month to identify these first 20 of the 43 Malaysians on board. “But at least we had a body to bury”, said one sister.
There has been no such finality for the families of those on board flight MH370.
line
“Last month, 43 Malaysian lives were taken over eastern Ukraine. Today we mourn the loss of our people. Today, we begin to bring them home.”
“Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families and friends of those who lost their lives. Today we stand with you, united as one.”
Transport minister Liow Tiong Lai said in a statement that the government will “redouble” efforts to bring home the remaining victims.
Malaysia Airlines is organising a public prayer session and a spokesman also expressed the company’s condolences.
Earlier on Thursday, a contingent of Malaysian soldiers met the plane to escort the coffins to the hearses.
All the coffins were draped in the national flag. Three of the 20 bodies have been cremated in the Netherlands.
Investigation hampered
The victims’ bodies have been given to their families and relatives to be laid to rest.
This is the first time Malaysia is holding a national day of mourning for civilian victims.
The honour has traditionally been accorded only to the royal family and heads of government.
Of the 43 Malaysian victims, 28 have been identified in the Netherlands so far, which is leading an international investigation into the crash in eastern Ukraine.
More than 200 coffins with remains of the victims have so far been taken to the Netherlands.
But the inquiry is being hampered by continuing fighting between Ukrainian government troops and pro-Russian rebels near the crash site.
A firefighter stands by debris of MH17Debris from MH17 was scattered across 35 sq km (13 sq miles) of territory held by pro-Russian rebels
map
Map showing the crash site of flight MH17 and the areas of east Ukraine under rebel control

Article source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-28891322

Monday 18 August 2014

MH17: Genap sebulan tragedi, ingatan terhadap mangsa terus segar

Suasana sepi menyelubungi galeri khas 'Reflection MH17' di Lapangan Terbang Antarabangsa Schiphol di Amsterdam semalam walaupun ramai pelancong asing dan rakyat tempatan memenuhi ruang itu bagi memberi penghormatan sempena genap sebulan tragedi pesawat Malaysia Airlines (MAS) penerbangan MH17 semalam.
Hujan renyai di sekitar Amsterdam sejak awal pagi seolah-olah turut menangisi pemergian kesemua 298 penumpang dan anak kapal yang terkorban dalam nahas itu pada 17 Julai lepas, ketika dalam perjalanan dari Amsterdam ke Kuala Lumpur.
Tinjauan di galeri itu mendapati ada pelawat yang meletakkan kuntuman bunga, surat, mesej, gambar, lilin, bendera dan pelbagai barangan sebagai tanda takziah dan kenangan buat mangsa.
Ada yang bertafakur, ada yang memeluk anggota keluarga sambil menangis ketika mendekati sudut yang memaparkan gambar dan maklumat mengenai semua penumpang dan anak kapal MH17.
Kesan titisan air mata juga menjadi sebahagian daripada kandungan di dalam buku takziah di galeri itu, yang menurut petugas galeri berkenaan yang enggan dikenali, berpuluh-puluh buku takziah disediakan di ruang itu sejak bulan lepas.
Seorang pelancong kanak-kanak dari Itali yang hanya mahu dikenali sebagai Leonardo, 10, berkata beliau menulis "Kami akan sentiasa bersama anda" di dalam buku takziah itu.
Seorang gadis tempatan yang hanya mahu dikenali sebagai Maaike, 20, percaya semua mangsa nahas itu pasti dikenangi selama-lamanya terutamanya dalam kalangan rakyat Belanda.
Seorang petugas di lapangan terbang itu pula berkata, hatinya sentiasa sedih dan sayu setiap kali melalui galeri itu dan berharap roh semua mangsa tenang.
Para pengunjung galeri itu tidak ketinggalan merakamkan takziah khusus buat juruterbang dan anak kapal MAS yang terkorban.
Penjaga parkir, Bashah dari Surinam berkata:"Saya amat sedih dengan tragedi ini, dan saya bersimpati dengan negara anda yang terpaksa berdepan dengan tragedi dua pesawat."
Selain pesawat MH17 yang ditembak jatuh pihak tidak bertanggungjawab di Donestk, timur Ukraine bulan lepas, Malaysia masih lagi kesedihan dengan kehilangan penerbangan MH370 yang membawa 239 penumpang dan anak kapal ketika dalam perjalanan dari Kuala Lumpur ke Beijing pada 8 Mac lepas.
Gerakan mencari MH370, yang membabitkan pelbagai negara, bermula di Laut China Selatan sebelum diperluas ke Selat Melaka dan di selatan Lautan Hindi. – Bernama, 18 Ogos, 2014.

MH17: Netherlands wrestles with huge criminal case


A firefighter stands by debris of MH17Debris from MH17 was scattered across 35 sq km (13 sq miles) of rebel-held territory
A month after the MH17 air disaster in eastern Ukraine the investigation still has a very long way to go, the BBC’s Anna Holligan reports from The Hague.
“If you told me a month ago that I’d be happy my daughter’s body was in one piece and not 17 pieces, I’d have thought you were crazy… now of course I am just grateful that she is home.”
Hans de Borst’s only child, Elsemiek, was identified on 8 August. She was 17 years old. Elsemiek is one of 127 victims identified so far by international teams of forensic investigators and pathologists working at a military base in Hilversum.
“They used her teeth and a ring,” Elsemiek’s father tells us. “I told the Family Detectives about the ring. She didn’t wear much jewellery but always this ring. It had the letters ‘Els’.”
The dedicated “Family Detectives” have been assigned to act as a go-between. They provide a buffer between the clinical forensic investigation process and the personal grief of the relatives.
Two-thirds of the 298 people on board Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 were from the Netherlands. That is why the Dutch have taken the lead in identifying the bodies, trying to establish what caused the crash and running the criminal investigation.
Elsmiek and her father, HansHans declined to see Elsemiek’s body – he says “I want to remember the way she was before”
A shrine for the Wals family in Neerkant, NetherlandsA shrine for a family of six from Neerkant who died in the MH17 crash
Western governments suspect that the jet, with 298 people on board, was hit by a Russian surface-to-air missile fired by pro-Russian separatists. The rebels and Russia blamed the Ukrainian military for the crash.
Like most of the families, Hans de Borst gave DNA samples a week after the crash. He was also offered the chance to see his daughter’s body in the makeshift morgue. He declined:
“They told me she is in one piece. So in that way maybe I am lucky. But she is damaged of course. I don’t want to see that. I want to remember the way she was before… They took photographs, in case I change my mind in 10 years time.”
Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

Sometimes I wish I was on that plane too because what’s my purpose in life now?”
End Quote
Hans de Borst
Father of MH17 victim
Who did it?
This is the biggest criminal investigation ever conducted in the Netherlands.
“Never before have we had a murder case with so many victims,” said Wim de Bruin from the Dutch prosecution service, fielding press inquiries from all over the world. Passengers from 10 different countries were on board Flight MH17.
Ten Dutch prosecutors and 200 police officers are involved in gathering and preparing the evidence for a criminal trial.
There are three main questions about the eventual MH17 trial: Where will it be conducted? What crimes will the accused be charged with? How long before we see the suspects in court?
The Dutch prosecutors are still in the initial stages of the criminal investigation, but they have already dismissed speculation that the trial could be held at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The ICC only takes cases if countries are unable or unwilling to prosecute. The Dutch are willing and able.
Under the current plan, the suspects would be extradited to face trial at the District Court in The Hague. But extradition would require the host country’s co-operation, once the suspects are identified.
Wim de Bruin says they are considering “several grounds and possibilities” concerning the charges.
“Of course murder, but we also have the crime of ‘wrecking an airplane’ and we could use international criminal law – that would mean possible charges of war crimes, torture and genocide.”
A man stands in the debris of MH17The number of missing bodies is still unknown
Investigators examine the wreckage near Grabovo, UkraineInvestigators examine the wreckage near Grabovo, Ukraine
Lockerbie lessons
It is impossible, they say, to give a time frame. The only reference they have is Lockerbie. Pan Am Flight 103 was blown up over Scotland in 1988, killing 259 people on board and 11 others on the ground. In 2001, a Libyan intelligence officer was jailed for the bombing.
Yet questions remain about the bomb plot – not only the perpetrators but also the motives. In 2003 Col Muammar Gaddafi – later killed in the Arab Spring – accepted responsibility and paid compensation to the victims’ families.
“With Lockerbie it took three years for the investigation and then another seven for the trial,” Mr De Bruin recalls. “And that was with a plane that crashed in a peaceful place. With MH17 the case is more complicated.”
The passengers were catapulted into a conflict zone. The evidence is scattered over a 35 sq km (13 sq mile) radius, across sunflower fields and farmland.
Tributes in Hilversum churchTributes in a Hilversum church: Three local families and a teenage boy died
And there are concerns about what happened to the debris in the initial days after the crash. Was vital evidence lost or tampered with? Two Dutch prosecutors flew to Kiev but have been unable to access the site in eastern Ukraine.
Some say gaining control of the crash site around Grabove has become a point of honour for the Ukrainian government forces and the pro-Russian separatists fighting them, making visits to the area risky.
On 6 August the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, announced that the Dutch forensic investigators and their sniffer dogs were pulling out until the situation calmed down.
More than 220 coffins have been returned to the Netherlands with an unknown number of passengers inside. They don’t know how many bodies are still missing, and not all of the remains have been recovered.
What caused the crash?
A team of 25 air crash investigators is trying to establish what destroyed the plane.
Experts from Ukraine, Russia, Germany, the UK, Australia, Malaysia and the United States are working at the rather nondescript Dutch Safety Board headquarters in The Hague.
Normally with any aviation investigation they would start at the crash site, but counter-terrorism experts feared the presence of aviation investigators might jeopardise the forensic team’s efforts to recover the bodies, so they have been forced to rely on alternative sources of evidence.
Wim van der Wegen from the Dutch Safety Board says they already have enough to prepare a preliminary report. “We are using the voice recorder, the black box flight data recorder, satellite images, information from air traffic control and photos taken by people who were able to visit crash site.”
They expect to publish the preliminary report within two weeks. It will not attribute blame or liability.
From the moment the first remains were repatriated, the Dutch authorities have strived to restore the honour and dignity that was stolen from the families.
Bringing the perpetrators to justice would help to heal a wound that has cut deep into Dutch society.
map
Map showing the crash site of flight MH17 and the areas of east Ukraine under rebel control
Article source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-28808832

Malaysia Airlines MH17 plane crash: Supporters pay tribute to Newcastle United

A minute’s silence was observed by fans at St James’s Park today during tributes to two Newcastle United fans who died on doomed Flight MH17.
Family members of John Alder, 63, and Liam Sweeney, 28, were greeted with huge applause as they laid flowers in the centre circle of the stadium.
They were joined by Fabricio Coloccini, captain of Newcastle, and Vincent Kompany, captain of Manchester City, as well as Sunderland legend Jimmy Montgomery.
The silence was then perfectly observed by both sets of fans as they remembered the pair who had been travelling to New Zealand to watch their team play .
In his programme notes, Newcastle manager Alan Pardew described them as two of the club’s most loyal fans and said they would ensure their memory would live on.
He also paid tribute to Newcastle University students Aidan Brunger, 22, and Neil Dalton, 23, who were killed in Borneo.
“We lost two of our most loyal supporters in John Alder and Liam Sweeney last month, and I know everyone will join myself and all in our dressing room in endorsing the efforts the club have made and are continuing to make to ensure their memories will live on,” he said. “They will not be forgotten by any of us.
“The same goes for Newcastle University students Aidan Brunger and Neil Dalton, who lost their lives in a horrible incident in Borneo.
“Aidan spent some time at our training ground last season and a number of staff got to know him, so it was especially difficult news to digest. Our condolences go to the families of all four lost souls.”
The students were were followed by four men in a car after a bar row and knifed in the street .
Article source: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/malaysia-airlines-mh17-plane-crash-4067084

Saturday 9 August 2014

150 Minimalist House Ideas (eBook)


iPhone 5c for Beginners (eBook)


Fluent Forever (eBook)


The Greats Quotes Book (E-Book)


The Business Book (Big Ideas Simply Explained) (eBook)


The Complete Photography Book (eBook)


Popular Mechanics USA - September 2014 (eBook)


Saturday 2 August 2014

MH17 Remains Found as Experts Walk Ukraine Tightrope

Investigators began searching the wreckage of Malaysian Air Flight MH17 after two weeks of delays, finding body parts and personal belongings of the victims as the pro-Russian revolt in eastern Ukraine raged on around them.
Dozens of forensics experts, mainly Dutch and Australian, followed scouts along a four-hour journey from the regional capital Donetsk to the chicken farm near the village of Grabovo where the bulk of the fuselage came down on July 17, according to Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, head of the recovery mission.
“A number of human remains were found,” Aalbersberg said in an e-mailed statement. Those will be put in refrigerated rail cars and sent to the evacuation center in Kharkiv, from where they’ll be flown to Amsterdam, where the flight originated.
The U.S. and Ukraine say the Boeing Co. 777 was most likely brought down by a missile fired by pro-Russian insurgents amid months of fighting that has claimed more than 1,000 lives. Both Russia and the rebels blame Ukrainian forces. Aalbersberg the recovery effort will include fours teams of 20 experts each over the weekend, with a fifth team joining in a few days, when divers and sniffer dogs may be deployed, Aalbersberg said. The mission will take weeks to complete.





Photographer: Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images
A piece of the fuselage at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), some 80km east of Donetsk, on July 25, 2014. Close
A piece of the fuselage at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near… Read More

Open
Photographer: Bulent Kilic/AFP via Getty Images
A piece of the fuselage at the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), some 80km east of Donetsk, on July 25, 2014.
Related:
Former Soviet states from Ukraine to the Baltics said they were menaced by jets from neighboring Russia yesterday as fighting continued in the mainly Russian-speaking Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Jets Scramble

NATO jets were scrambled from a Lithuanian air base at about 9 a.m. today to “identify” Russian aircraft “flying without a pre-agreed schedule” in neutral waters near Estonia, according to a spokeswoman for Lithuania’s Defense Ministry, Viktorija Cieminyte. The Defense Ministry in Kiev said it downed a Russian drone inside Ukraine, one of several aircraft to violate the country’s airspace in the past two days.
“During the last 24 hours, terrorists fired on the checkpoints and positions of Ukrainian forces in a number of cities and villages,” Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian military, told reporters in Kiev yesterday. “Part of the shelling came from Russian territory.”
Russia is deploying Grad rocket systems and continues to build up artillery positions near the border, according to Lysenko. The Defense Ministry in Moscow declined to comment on any alleged violations of airspace.
The Interfax news service cited unidentified officials as saying Russia plans to call up military reservists for training exercies that will last at least through October. Scheduled maneuvers that began near Ukraine yesterday included about 30 helicopters and 300 pilots, according the Zvezda army website.

Obama, Putin

Presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone about the deepening crisis yesterday, during which Obama “reiterated his deep concerns about Russia’s increased support for the separatists,” the White House said in a statement.
Putin said the sanctions imposed against Russia as a result of the crisis in Ukraine have done “serious damage” to international relations, according to the Kremlin. Both sides stressed the importance of establishing an “immediate, sustainable cease-fire” to begin peace talks, the Kremlin said.
The leaders spoke after an assault by 150 rebels backed by three tanks near the city of Shakhtarsk left 10 government troops dead and 13 wounded, according to Ukrainian officials.

More Deaths

In the city of Luhansk, one of the main population centers of the rebel-held areas, five civilians were killed and nine wounded in the past 24 hours, according to the local council. The city of more than 400,000 people is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe because it has no electricity, water supply or mobile phone coverage, it said on its website.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who was elected after his Russian-backed predecessor, Viktor Yanukovych, was deposed after months of protests in February, reiterated in a television interview that Ukraine won’t negotiate over territory, including Crimea, which Russian annexed in March.
Putin, speaking at the opening of a monument to the soldiers of World War I in Moscow, said earlier yesterday that tragedies worldwide are caused by the ambitions of leaders and called for peace.
Russia has repeatedly denied any involvement in the conflict. The U.S. and its European Union allies, though, blame Putin for failing to rein in the insurgency and stop the war.

‘Substantial Problems’

The EU yesterday blacklisted state-run Russian banks OAO Sberbank, VTB Bank, Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank and Rosselkhozbank, barring them from selling shares or bonds in Europe as punishment for Putin’s policies in Ukraine. That’s part of the 28-nation bloc’s deepest sanctions yet, announced July 29, that includes restrictions on the exports of equipment for Russia’s oil industry and curbs on arm sales.
While the measures create “substantial problems” for Russian banks, they are “unlikely to significantly alter,” the Kremlin’s policy in Ukraine, Mujtaba Rahman, an analyst at Eurasia Group in London, said by e-mail.
“The likelihood of continued Russian actions in support of the separatists make additional level 3 sanctions probable this fall,” Rahman said.
Group of Seven countries will vote against approving new World Bank projects in Russia as punishment over Ukraine, according to three government officials with knowledge of the agreement. The action, which puts at least $1.5 billion of possible projects at risk, was decided by deputy finance ministers from the G-7 during a conference call last week, according to two of the officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the call wasn’t public.
The World Bank will have trouble getting approval for projects in the face of opposition from the G-7, which has more than 40 percent of votes on the bank’s board, said Scott Morris, a former deputy assistant secretary for development finance and debt at the U.S. Treasury Department.
“It will be very difficult for management to contemplate proceeding with anything that requires board approval,” said Morris, a senior associate at the Center for Global Development, an aid research group in Washington.
To contact the reporters on this story: Volodymyr Verbyany in Kiev at vverbyany1@bloomberg.net; Daria Marchak in Kiev at dmarchak@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Balazs Penz at bpenz@bloomberg.net Brad Cook
Article source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-08-01/mh17-remains-found-as-experts-walk-ukraine-tightrope.html

Ukraine MH17: Air crash team finds human remains


Australian experts examine the area of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 plane crash near the village of Grabove, east Ukraine, 1 AugustAustralian experts examine the crash site
A team of 70 Dutch and Australian forensic experts has found human remains at the site of the flight MH17 crash in east Ukraine.
They made their discovery on their first full day of searching at the site, an area of some 35 sq km (13.5 sq miles) inside the conflict zone.
Local search parties found 227 of the 298 victims earlier and they were flown to the Netherlands for identification.
Presidents Obama and Putin discussed the crisis by telephone on Friday.
The US president told his Russian counterpart that while he was “deeply concerned” over his continuing support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine, he hoped a diplomatic solution was still possible.
Ukrainian army servicemen check a car at a checkpoint outside the eastern Ukrainian village of Nikishyne (1 August 2014)There are innumerable checkpoints manned by both sides in the east of Ukraine – adding to the woes of civilians
“I think that we have done everything that we can to support the Ukrainian government and to deter Russia from moving further into Ukraine,” President Obama said afterwards.
“But short of going to war there are going to be some constraints in terms of what we can do if President Putin and Russia are ignoring what should be their long term interests.”
Both President Obama and President Putin agreed that continuing fighting in Ukraine was not in the interests of either country, the Kremlin said.
The clashes between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels had previously prevented the investigators reaching the area. Ten Ukrainian soldiers were killed near the crash site on Thursday.
A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 airliner came down on 17 July with the loss of all 298 passengers and crew, while flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur.
Continue reading the main story

Start Quote

The stench of death is still there”
End Quote
Michael Bociurkiw
OSCE spokesman at crash site
After Ukraine’s military declared a unilateral one-day suspension of operations against the rebels in Donetsk region on Thursday, an exploratory visit was made by the forensic experts, followed by the full deployment on Friday.




File picture of Ukrainian troops
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Tom Burridge in Kiev: “Taking control of Donetsk from rebels will be a difficult task”

It is now unclear whether Ukraine’s army or separatist forces control the site, as fighting continues nearby, the BBC’s Tom Burridge reports from Kharkiv.
Trucks and armoured vehicles of the Ukrainian army along a road outside the eastern Ukrainian village of Nikishyne, in Donetsk region (1 August 2014)The Ukrainian army is on the offensive in eastern Ukraine
A Ukrainian soldier cleans up his Armoured fighting vehicle as he guards a checkpoint outside the eastern Ukrainian village of Nikishyne  (1 August 2014)The fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatist rebels had previously prevented the investigators reaching the MH17 crash site
Artillery fire
The head of the search mission, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, announced that it had completed its first day of work and had recovered human remains which would be sent to the Netherlands.
He said the mission was moving to a new base in the Donetsk town of Soledar.
The investigators had travelled in 16 vehicles to the crash site, outside the village of Grabove, along with monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
Artillery fire could be heard periodically somewhere in the distance during the work on Friday, AP news agency reports.
Australian and Dutch investigators examine a piece of debris from the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 plane, near the village of Hrabove, 100km from Donetsk, eastern Ukraine (1 August 20014)Australian and Dutch experts examine plane wreckage at the site
An investigator examines the area of the Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site, near the village of Hrabove, 100 km from Donetsk, Ukraine (1 August 2014)An investigator examines debris from flight MH17 in east Ukraine
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BBC Defence correspondent Jonathan Beale in eastern Ukraine




A mother and child fleeing their town
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The BBC’s Jonathan Beale: “It’s mostly the poor, the helpless and the old that have been left behind”

The fighting is getting more intense around the pro-Russian separatist stronghold of Donetsk.
It is becoming harder to leave and enter the city, but life inside continues as normally as it possibly can.
In satellite towns around Donetsk, though, it is a different story.
There you can see smoke rising across the horizon, often the aftermath of heavy bombardment by rockets and artillery.
It’s a sign that Ukrainian forces are stepping up their efforts to take the rebel-held areas.
We went to Shakhtarsk, 65km (40 miles) east of Donetsk.
We watched civilians fleeing their homes. They were shell-shocked and war weary.
The town itself was littered with glass, broken bricks and torn-up trees. Few had stayed behind.
But nervous rebels were still manning checkpoints and patrolling the town. They are not giving up.
The ongoing conflict is forcing the team of international monitors, as well as Dutch and Australian experts, to take a long detour to the crash site of MH17.
line
Talks between a rebel delegation and officials from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE are to resume next week in Belarus, the OSCE said in a statement.
In a separate development, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that long-awaited parliamentary elections will take place in the autumn.
“[Then] there will be a new parliament that will start on reforms,” the president said in a televised interview.
More than 1,500 people are believed to have been killed in the conflict which erupted in east Ukraine in April, after separatists declared independence from the new government in Kiev.
Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region in March, has been accused of arming the rebels and has been targeted by US and EU sanctions.
BBC map
Article source: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-28599315