Section: San Francisco Chronicle (USA)
Russian execs fear lasting damage from plane crash
MOSCOW (AP) — Having for months dismissed Western sanctions on Russia as toothless, business leaders here are now afraid that the crash of the Malaysian jetliner will bring about an international isolation that will cause serious and lasting economic damage. “Over the past few months, there was a sense that Mr. Putin acted decisively,...
Australia readies 90 police for Ukraine crash site
SYDNEY (AP) — Australia is close to finalizing a deal with Ukraine to send police and a small number of troops to secure the Malaysian plane crash site as part of a multinational team, the Australian prime minister said Friday. Australia has 90 federal police officers in Europe ready to be deployed to the site in eastern Ukraine where...
Ukraine reports overnight rebel attacks on border
MOSCOW (AP) — The Ukrainian army has reported rebel attacks overnight throughout the restive east, claiming that at one border crossing the rebels were supported by artillery fire from the Russian side. …read more Source: San Francisco...
France sends soldiers to guard Air Algeria wreck
PARIS (AP) — French officials have dispatched a military unit to secure the site in Mali where an Air Algeria plane crashed in a heavy rainstorm with 116 people aboard. The pilots had sent a final message to ask Niger air control to change its route because of heavy rain, Burkina Faso Transport Minister Jean Bertin Ouedraogo said Thursday....
Ukrainian prime minister announces resignation
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced his resignation Thursday, opening the way for new elections that would reflect the country’s starkly changed political scene after the ouster of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February. The nationalist Svoboda party and the Udar party led by former...
Official: Air Algerie flight ‘probably crashed’
Two French fighter jets are among aircraft scouring the rugged north of Mali for the plane, which was traveling from Burkina Faso’s capital, Ouagadougou, to Algiers, the Algerian capital. Before vanishing, the pilots sent a final message to ask Niger air control to change its route because of heavy rain in the area, Burkina Faso Transport...
Ukraine accused of targeting civilians in east
DONETSK, Ukraine (AP) — War literally came to Alexander Litvinenko’s living room, when a missile punched a gaping hole into the wall of his ninth-floor apartment. Five civilians were killed and 12 injured in fighting between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian rebels on Monday, according to the mayor’s office. While the...
Long odds for justice in Malaysia jet disaster
The airliner’s destruction over eastern Ukraine on July 17 might qualify as a war crime or a crime against humanity, but winning a guilty verdict would be difficult because it would require proving there was a systematic or widespread attack against civilians, experts said. “Malaysia Airlines was a clearly identified commercial...
2 planes with more crash victims to leave Ukraine
KHARKIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s government says 51 containers holding bodies and body parts of victims of the Malaysia Airlines crash are ready to depart for the Netherlands aboard two military transport planes. …read more Source: San Francisco...
Malaysia jet victims’ bodies arrive in Netherlands
The carefully choreographed, nearly silent ceremony contrasted sharply with the boom of shells and shattered glass in eastern Ukraine as pro-Russian rebels fought to hang onto territory and shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets. Boys going to visit their grandparents, a flight attendant hurrying to get home, a bouncer heading to see his sweetheart...