Daily Archives: July 22, 2014

Michael Diamond to represent Australia again. Photo: AP/Rebecca Blackwell.

Olympic shooter Michael Diamond to compete alongside four other Greek Australian athletes at the Commonwealth Games.

Olympic champion and multiple gold medallist Michael Diamond will be competing again, this time at the Commonwealth Games for Australia.

The Greek Australian shooter is one of the five Greek Australian athletes hoping to achieve career bests.

Melanie Panayiotou will be competing in the marathon, Katherine Katsanevakis will race in the 800 metres, Holly Takos will debut for the first time in cycling and Tom Pappas will fight in judo.

They join 412 athletes representing Australia in the largest contingent yet to head to a Commonwealth Games.

All eyes might be on Sally Pearson in the hurdles and James Magnussen in the pool, but many of these Greek Australians represent the new age of up and coming athletes.

Apart from Diamond, most of the Greeks will be having their debut at the Games. Melanie Panayiotou is hoping to do a couple better than her Melbourne marathon third place, while cyclist Holly Takos’ national third place will place her in good stead to take on some of the best in the Commonwealth.

For the Cyprus contingent, 51 athletes (30 men and 21 women) will take part in 17 different events, hoping for an even better result than their Delhi four gold, three silver and four bronze medals.

Some of the athletes expected to clinch a medal include weightlifter Demetris Minasides – who has served his drugs ban, shooter Georgios Achilleos, high jumper Leontia Kallenou, Apostolos Parellis (discus) and Nektaria Panagi (track).

Cyprus Olympic Committee (COC) Ouranios Ioannides said there was “belief” that the athletes can outshine their previous showings at the Commonwealth Games.

“We feel confident that we will secure three to five medals,” he said.

“All of our athletes have a chance of a podium finish. We all face a tough task in excelling at these Games but we have full faith in them and we believe that we showcase our homeland abroad.”

The Commonwealth Games get underway on July 23 in Glasgow and will finish on August 3.

source: Neos Kosmos

THE black box flight recorders from the doomed Malaysian Airways flight MH17 were finally handed over to Malaysia early today during several tense hours of negotiations with separatist leaders.

The breakthrough came after direct negotiations between Malaysia Prime Minister Najib Razak and was handed over on the 11th floor of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic’s administration building.

The two black boxes were handed over after hours of talks and one earlier aborted attempt. It is not clear why they were not passed over earlier.

“We have decided to hand the black boxes over to Malaysian experts,” the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Alexander Borodai, told journalists.

The Malaysian team of experts and representatives of the separatist group then signed a protocol before the bright orange boxes were handed over.

“On behalf of the Malaysian government I thank the government of the Donetsk Republic for handing us the two black boxes which are the property of Malaysia,” said a member of the Malaysian team. “We have not found the black boxes from flight MH370 (which disappeared over the Indian Ocean in March), so are happy to be able to recover these.

“I see that the black boxes are intact with only minor damage.” One of the boxes will contain all conversation in the cockpit and another all flight data.

The handover came hours after the UN Security Council voted unanimously to demand immediate international access to the crash site.

The flight recorders will provide the exact time the Boeing 777 came down, its speed and altitude, but it may not point to what catastrophic event caused it to break up midair although it is strongly suspected to have been a missile fired from an SU-11 mobile guided missile unit from Russia.

IN DEPTH: More stories on MH17

The United States said it would complete a report to support this theory in coming days. Today the head of the Malaysian delegation Colonel Mohammed Sakri, from the country’s National Security Council, told media that the recorders were “in good condition”.

Pro-Russian separatists also announced at a press conference a ceasefire within a 10km radius around the crash site to allow international investigators to safely access the vast area where the Malaysia Airlines flight was downed, killing 298 people on-board, including 28 Australians.

The separatist militia that had kept an armed presence at the site of downed jet since last week have today abandoned their posts as convoys of tanks and troops from both sides in the Ukrainian civil war prepared for fresh clashes.

The three major crash sites of the aircraft were left open to the public late yesterday with militia troops pulling out totally leaving the blackened wreckage and personal belongings of its passengers out in the elements. No international investigator or observer was there to secure and preserve the crime site yesterday.

One rebel driving away said there was nothing left to guard as far as they were concerned and the team of international aviation experts, including three Australians could do what they like.

But that may be difficult with the region set to fall into a full-scale war.

About the same time and not realising the pullout, the UN Security Council formally condemned the downing of the passenger plane in the rebel held territory and demanded that armed groups allow “safe, secure, full and unrestricted access” to the crash site despite there being no rebels left there to prevent them.

The 15-member council unanimously adopted an Australian-drafted resolution demanding those responsible “be held to account and that all states cooperate fully with efforts to establish accountability.”

“We owe it to the victims and their families to determine what happened and who was responsible,” said Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, who travelled to New York to negotiate the UN resolution. Australia lost 28 citizens in the crash.

In eastern Ukraine, at the very moment a train with four refrigerated carriages carrying the bodies of more than 200 of the victims from the downed MH17, Ukraine air force jets shot over the train station and fired missiles at a locally revered World War II memorial known as Savur Mogilo.

The move signalled the fragile ceasefire that had been held between government troops and the separatist rebels during the international outrage over the airline being shot down by the separatist was over.

Late yesterday News Corp Australia watched as columns of tanks and Armoured Personnel Carries many flying the Russian flag drove at high speed away from the self-proclaimed capital of the Donestsk People’s Republic.

That came as Ukrainian tanks were being dug in by the highway 40kms away from Donetsk with just the tank muzzles visible above the roadside. Earlier yesterday one Ukraine tank stormed into the city in a violent clash which left four civilians dead and 12 injured.

Shelling of the city that once had one million residents continued intermittently throughout the day. Later the nearby town of Grasnagorovka was being bombed.

The bodies of those from the flight were taken by train from Torez train station 15km from the crash site to the eastern city of Kharkiv that is under control of the Ukrainian capital Kiev. From there they are expected to be flown to Amsterdam to be forensically identified.

The militia agreed to release the bodies but earlier today were also supposed to hand over the aircraft’s Black Boxes flight recorders but changed their minds. It was handed over to Malaysian officials eventually at about 1.20am local time (1.20am).

Aviation experts have already said there was no guarantee the flight recorder could add anything to the most likely theory that of a ground to air missile from a Russian made launcher system downing the jet last Thursday.

Source: theaustralian.com.au

Dutch forensic experts inspect the bodies of MH17 victims stored on a train in Ukraine. Photo: Getty Images

Bodies recovered from the MH17 crash site will be transferred to Amsterdam as soon as pro-Russian separatists agree to their transfer out of rebel territory, the Ukraine prime minister says.

An emotional Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a press conference in Kiev that the “key priority” was to recover the bodies, and to “unfold to the entire world the truth” of what had destroyed the plane and killed its passengers.

His comments came as reports began to filter through of renewed fighting about 60 kilometres from the crash site. Government forces are believed to be trying to retake the city Donetsk from pro-Russian rebels.

Reuters reported on Monday night that three people had been killed.

Earlier on Monday, three members of a Dutch disaster victims Identification team arrived in Donetsk, hoping to check the remains of some of the victims of the plane crash. A team of Malaysian officials was also due to arrive on Monday.

Artillery fire sent plumes of smoke skywards, as minibuses brought dozens of rebels to the area in the centre of the city and people fled.

“It is dangerous near the railway station!” the Donetsk city council said on its website, asking residents in the area to stay indoors.

Donetsk is about 60 kilometres from the Torez train station, where the bodies of MH17 victims are being stored in refrigerated wagons. The Dutch forensic experts examined the bodies on Monday.

‘‘I think the storage of the bodies is [of] good quality,’’ Peter Van Vliet, the forensic expert leading the Dutch team, said after examining the corpses.

Workers from the Ukranian Emergencies Ministry transfer the bodies of MH17 victims on to a truck on Monday. Photo: Getty Images

The expert, speaking as 50 armed insurgents looked on, said his team would head to the main crash site about 15 kilometres away.

The investigators were accompanied by a team of international monitors from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) who have been visiting the impact site over the past few days.

In the Netherlands, Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the priority is to move the bodies to Kiev-controlled territory.

‘‘The first aim is to get the trains out and let them go to Ukrainian-controlled territory, preferably Kharkiv,’’ Mr Rutte said, referring to a city about 300 kilometres away, which has remained firmly in Kiev’s hands.

‘‘The separatists have said that international observers must be present when the train leaves … the Dutch experts are international observers … they can fulfil that role.

“We want our people back.’’

The pro-Western authorities in Kiev accuse the rebels of shooting down the Malaysia Airlines plane on Thursday and  killing all 298 people on board. The separatists deny they are to blame.

Malaysia Airlines said on Monday night it will make an initial payment of $US5000 ($A5410) as a goodwill gesture to families of passengers aboard flight MH17.

The airline said it was also providing families with hotel accommodation, meals and transport assistance, in addition to counselling.

Negotiations are still under way to give the train carrying the bodies of victims safe passage out of separatist-controlled territory east of Donetsk.

Mr Yatsenyuk said, through an interpreter, that so far the separatists had not allowed the train to move.

“Motivated and led by Russia, the terrorists do not allow us to evacuate all the bodies and to abandon the station of Torez in order to bring them to the designated place,” he said.

He added in English: “These bloody guerrillas do not allow the train to leave the area. We expect that the train will leave the area as soon as possible.”

Crash investigation and forensic work would be transferred to a Dutch-led international team, including Australian experts, he said, pledging that the investigation would be “all-embracing, full-fledge and transparent”.

“Ukraine is ready to transfer the co-ordinating role on the investigation of this terrible tragedy to our western partners,” he said.

“The Netherlands can head this process in a clear co-ordination with the Ukrainian structures and the entire international community.”

The ultimate destination of the bodies was therefore up to that international team.

Mr Yatseniuk said the autopsies and other forensic work on the bodies would take place outside Ukraine.

“We are ready to transfer all bodies directly to Amsterdam as one of the best well-equipped forensic laboratories is located in Amsterdam,” he said.

“The key priority for us is to recover the bodies, to collect all evidence of this crime… We facilitated a route how to deliver these bodies to any destination which is needed including Kiev or Amsterdam. In Amsterdam we can get the perfect forensic expertise as our Dutch partners can provide well-equipped facilities.

“There is not indication of any kind of military activity or counter-terrorist operation at the area of crash site. We do understand our responsibility. Because the key priority is to collect all evidence and to have thorough investigation.”

Mr Yatesnyuk said there was “no doubt” that the plane was shot down by missile launch experts trained in Russia.

“This is why this terrible international tragedy, this international crime against humanity has to be investigated by the international commission and I emphasise once more we are ready to for the Netherlands to take up the management of the investigation and co-ordination as a country that suffered most of all, involving all the international community.”

“Those who committed this international crime, those responsible will be held accountable and together with the entire international community we will bring to justice everyone responsible. Including the country which is behind this scene but supplied illegal weapons, provided the financial support, trained these bastards and supported and even orchestrated this kind of despicable crime.

The search and rescue operations on Sunday involved 810 people, including 335 Ukraine emergency services workers in 35 units – 20 of whom were divers searching a local lake.

The search area has expanded to about 120 square kilometres, the government said.

Three Australian embassy representatives had touched down in Kharkiv, and will be part of a 31-strong team of international experts on its way to the crash site.

The downing of the airliner has intensified calls for the fighting to end in eastern Ukraine.

Sergei Kavtaradze, an official of the rebels’ self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said there were at least four tanks and armoured vehicles trying to break through into the city.

A spokesman for Ukraine’s military operations in eastern Ukraine said the operation was in an “active phase” but could not comment on reports of troops entering Donetsk because he did not want to give away the Ukrainian strategy.

source: smh.com.au