Two Dutch military aircraft carrying remains of victims from the Malaysian plane disaster departed for the Netherlands yesterday, while Australia’s government dispatched 50 police officers to London to prepare to join a proposed UN team to secure the scattered wreckage.
All 298 people aboard Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 — most of them Dutch citizens — were killed when the plane was shot down on July 17.
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.
Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop was traveling with her Dutch counterpart, Frans Timmermans, to Kiev to seek a memorandum of understanding with the Ukraine government to allow international police to secure the area where the wreckage fell, 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.
The first bodies of the crash victims arrived in the Netherlands on Wednesday and were met by Dutch King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima and hundreds of relatives of victims.
Ukraine’s government said 51 containers of bodies and body parts had been cleared for yesterday’s flights.
At least 200 bodies were aboard the train that brought them from the crash site to Kharkiv earlier in the week.
Russia yesterday brushed off accusations by US officials that Russia was responsible for “creating the conditions” that led to the crash.
The US officials said that the plane was likely shot down by an SA-11 surface-to-air missile fired by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Defense 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?”
Meanwhile, calls to expel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s daughter from the Netherlands over flight MH17 have fallen flat, with many noting that their Argentine-born queen has not been punished for her father’s junta past.
Despite calls from Ukrainian activists and right-wing Dutch newspapers for Maria Putin, 29, most in the Netherlands said that you cannot blame a child for the sins of his or her father.
Mayor Pieter Broertjes of Hilversum, which lost several inhabitants in the crash, hit the headlines on Wednesday after calling for Maria to be kicked out.
However, Broertjes rapidly withdrew his call, saying it had been “unwise” and came “from a feeling of impotence.”
Maria moved to the Netherlands with her Dutch partner two years ago.
In related news, the EU would target state-owned Russian banks and their ability to finance Moscow’s faltering economy in its most serious sanctions so far over the Ukraine crisis under proposals considered by EU governments yesterday, diplomats said.
Ambassadors of the 28-nation bloc met in Brussels to discuss options drafted by the executive European Commission in response to the downing of Flight MH17.
In the key measure, European investors would be banned from buying new debt or shares of banks owned 50 percent or more by the state. These banks raised almost half of their capital needs in EU markets last year.
The proposals also included an arms embargo, although diplomats said it would apply to future deals.
After months of hesitation, powerful EU states including Germany, are now pushing for quick action.
Despite German urgency, several diplomats said they believed economic sanctions would not be finally agreed yesterday and a further ambassadorial meeting next week may be required.
Additional reporting by Reuters
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese