The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	AIDS community mourns as top experts feared dead in MH17 crash Melbourne/Amesterdam, July 18 The world of AIDS research was in shock on Friday after dozens of leading HIV experts were feared killed when a Malaysian plane was shot down over Ukraine, in a setback for the global campaign against the disease. Among them was Joep Lange, who researched the condition for more than 30 years and was considered a giant in the field, admired for his tireless advocacy for access to affordable AIDS drugs for HIV positive patients living in poor countries. "Global health and the AIDS response have lost one of their great leaders," Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and a former executive director of UNAIDS, told Reuters in London. "Joep Lange was one of the most creative AIDS researchers, a humanist, and tireless organiser, dedicated to his patients and to defeating AIDS in the poorest countries." The United Nations AIDS program, UNAIDS, said it feared "some of the finest academics, health-care workers and activists in the AIDS response may have perished" on the plane. "Professor Lange was a leading light in the field since the early days of HIV and worked unceasingly to widen access to antiretroviral medicines around the world," it said. As many as 100 people heading to the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne were on the doomed flight, Fairfax Media reported, including Lange, a former president of the International AIDS Society (IAS) which organises the event. "The UNAIDS family is in deep shock...The deaths of so many committed people working against HIV will be a great loss for the AIDS response," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS. The conference, due to start on Sunday, features former U.S. President Bill Clinton among its keynote speakers and is expecting around 12,000 participants. The IAS said it was still working with authorities to confirm the number of delegates on the flight and would go ahead with the conference as planned. Peers paid tribute to Lange, a Dutch professor of medicine at the Academic Medical Center at the University of Amsterdam. Lange pioneered access to key AIDS medicines in poor countries, including combination drugs to control HIV and antiretroviral medicines to prevent transmission of the virus from mothers to their babies. Robin Weiss, a professor of viral oncology at University College London, compared Lange to Jonathan Mann, a key figure in the early fight against HIV/AIDS who was killed along with his wife and fellow AIDS researcher Mary Lou Clements-Mann on a Swissair flight to Geneva in 1998. — Reuters MH17 crash: How it happened The plane A Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER carrying 283 passengers on Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur After leaving Amsterdam at 12:15 pm local time, the aircraft was due to land at Kuala Lumpur at 6:10 am local time The crash Malaysia Airlines said Ukrainian authorities notified them they lost contact with the plane when it was 30 km from the Tamak waypoint, about 50km from the Ukraine-Russia border The plane-tracking service FlightAware.com said the last reported position for MH17 was at 33,000 feet just west of Ukraine's border with Russia. The cause An adviser to Ukraine's interior minister said the plane was shot down with a missile, but gave no proof. In a counterclaim, a pro-Moscow separatist leader said he was certain it was Ukrainian troops who downed the airliner, but also offered no proof. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied his country's armed forces fired on any aerial targets Western defence experts say both Ukrainian and Russian armed forces possess SA-17 missile launchers capable of reaching an altitude of 20,000 metres. Pro-Moscow insurgents may have got their hands on one to two surface-to-air missiles The passengers There were 189 Dutch passengers among the 298 people on board the Malaysia Airlines flight. Among the people of other nationalities on board were 44 Malaysians (including 15 crew members), 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, nine British, four Belgians, four Germans, three Filipinos, one Canadian, and one New Zealander. The nationalities of four other passengers are yet to be verified.
	Intercepts ‘reveal’ rebels claiming responsibility Kuala Lumpur/Kiev, July 18 Ukraine's security agency has claimed that they have intercepted phone calls between Russian military officers and pro-Russian separatists with the rebels claiming responsibility for shooting down a Malaysian plane killing all 298 people on board, a media report said today. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 flight MH17 was blown up over Eastern Ukraine by a sophisticated BAK surface-to-air missile believed to be fired by pro-Russia rebels. One of the calls apparently was made at 4.40 pm Kiev time, or 20 minutes after the plane crash, by a separatist identified as Igor Bezler, to a separatist commander and Russian intelligence officer Vasili Geranin, the Kyiv Post reported. In the transcript released by Ukraine's security agency SBU, Bezler says: "We have just shot down a plane. It fell down beyond Yenakievo (Donetsk Oblast)." "The plane fell apart in the air. In the area of Petropavlovskaya mine. The first 200. We have found the first 200 - a civilian," Major says, referring to the codeword for a dead person, it said. The second intercepted signal was apparently between militants codenamed "Major" and "Greek" immediately upon inspection of the crash site. "It's 100% a passenger (civilian) aircraft," Major is recorded as saying, as he admitted to seeing no weapons on site. "Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper," according to the transcript. — PTI
	Netherlands is in deep mourning There were 189 Dutch passengers among the 298 people on board Amsterdam, July 18 The Dutch nation mourned 189 citizens lost in the Ukrainian air disaster in sorrow rather than anger on Friday, and Prime Minister Mark Rutte held back from pointing the figure of blame. In a country which values restraint and avoids public displays of strong emotion, politicians and media stuck largely to reflecting sombrely on those who died when the Malaysian jet came down on Thursday, including some noted citizens. "The whole of the Netherlands is in deep mourning," said Rutte. "This is one of the worst air disasters in Dutch history." More than half the 298 victims aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 heading from Amsterdam for Kuala Lumpur were Dutch, a loss keenly felt in a country of just 15 million people. While Dutch and world leaders demanded an international investigation into the crash over the conflict zone of eastern Ukraine, the nation steered clear of rapidly accusing any of the sides of shooting the jet down. Rutte also played down any expectations that the Netherlands would immediately be pushing for tougher European Union economic sanctions against Russia or the Ukrainian separatists. "If I bang my fist against the table now ... then I reduce the chances of the Netherlands and all those who support us getting the facts on the table," he told a news conference in The Hague. — Reuters
	Obama blames Russia for tragedy Washington, July 18 US President Barack Obama Friday said at the missile that took down a Malaysian jetliner was fired from an area in eastern Ukraine controlled by separatist rebels and blamed Russia for the tragedy. Addressing a press briefing in the White House, Obama called for an immediate ceasefire in Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists, seeking independence, have been fighting forces from Kiev. Among the dead were 189 Dutch, 44 Malaysians, 27 Australians, 12 Indonesians, nine Britons, four Belgians and Germans each, three Filipinos, a Canadian and a New Zealander. Though Malaysian Airlines said that the nationalities of four others are yet to be verified, Obama said that one of the victims was an American named Quinn Lucas Schansnan. Stating that Schansnan was definitely a US or dual citizen, he expressed his condolences to the bereaved family saying that "our thoughts and prayers are with his family for this terrible loss". Describing the incident as "outrageous", Obama said: "This was a global tragedy... An Asian airliner was destroyed in European skies filled with citizens from many countries, so there has to be a credible international investigation into what happened." Obama blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin saying that he could have averted the tragedy if he had wanted to. He held the Russians responsible for the horrific event saying that this would not have happened if the violence in eastern Ukraine was stopped. "We know that they (separatists in Ukraine) are heavily armed and they are trained. That is not an accident. That is happening because of Russian support," Obama said. — IANS
	Buk 9k37 missile system The weapon that shot down MH17 The Buk missile system is a family of self-propelled, medium-range surface-to-air missile systems developed by the Soviet Union and its successor state, the Russian Federation, and designed to fight cruise missiles, smart bombs, fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles. The first version of Buk adopted into service carried the GRAU designation 9K37 and was identified in the west with the NATO reporting name "Gadfly" as well as the US Department of Defense designation SA-11. Since its initial introduction into service, the Buk missile system has been continually upgraded and refined. With the integration of a new missile the Buk-M1-2 and Buk-M2 systems also received a new NATO reporting name Grizzly and a new DoD designation SA-17.
	Some carriers quit Ukraine airspace months ago Seoul, July 18 The Malaysian airliner apparently shot down over rebel-held eastern Ukraine was flying over airspace that a number of other Asian carriers abandoned months ago because of security concerns. South Korea's two main airlines, Korean Air and Asiana, as well as Australia's Qantas and Taiwan's China Airlines said they had all rerouted flights from as early as the beginning of March when Russian troops moved into Crimea. "We stopped flying over Ukraine because of safety concerns," Asiana spokeswoman Lee Hyo-Min said. Korean Air re-routed its flights 250 kilometres (160 miles) south of Ukraine from March 3 "due to the political unrest in the region", an official for the carrier told AFP. A Qantas spokeswoman said its London to Dubai service used to fly over Ukraine, but the route was changed "several months ago", while Taiwan's China Airlines diverted its flights from April 3. Quizzed as to why Malaysia Airlines had not taken similar precautions, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak said international air authorities had deemed the flight path secure. "The aircraft's flight route was declared safe by the International Civil Aviation Organisation. And (the) International Air Transportation Association has stated that the airspace the aircraft was traversing was not subject to restrictions," he said. — AFP
	Israel launches ground offensive in Gaza Gaza/Jerusalem, July 18 In a dramatic escalation of the 10-day conflict, Israel today launched its first ground offensive in five years in the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip with artillery and tanks, after airstrikes that have killed 265 Palestinians so far failed to stop the militants' rocket attacks on the Jewish state. Israeli forces backed by artillery and airstrikes launched the ground offensive last night with the army saying the objective is to strike a "significant blow to Hamas' terror infrastructure." Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the military was targeting the Hamas tunnel network, which it could not do "only from the air". Thousands of troops moved into parts of Gaza last night, supported by tanks and artillery fire. Hamas, which has controlled the densely populated coastal strip area since June 2007 after ousting rival Fatah in a bloody battle, warned that Israel would pay a "high price" for the ground incursion. "Following 10 days of Hamas attacks by land, air and sea, and after repeated rejections of offers to de-escalate the situation, the IDF has initiated a ground operation within the Gaza Strip," a statement from the Israeli army said. The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said the goal was to "establish a reality in which Israeli residents can live in safety and security without continuous indiscriminate terror." Israeli Army spokesman Gen Moti Almoz issued an appeal asking "the residents of Gaza to evacuate the areas in which the army is operating. This operation will be extended as much as necessary." Since midnight, 24 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire across Gaza, including three teenagers and a five-month-old baby, raising to 265 the number of Gazans killed since Israel launched its attacks on July 8. An Israeli soldier was killed in the northern Gaza Strip following a night of heavy fighting. At least 1,920 Palestinians have also been wounded. Israeli jets have struck over 2,000 targets in Gaza. In response, Palestinian militants fired more than 1,500 rockets since the fighting began, targeting all of Israel and killing one Israeli civilian and injuring four soldiers. There had been a five-hour humanitarian truce yesterday, but exchanges of fire resumed when it ended. — PTI
	Syrian army, Islamic State ‘clash’ near army airport Toll from gas field raid rises to 115: Monitor Beirut, July 18 Syrian soldiers clashed with Islamic State militants outside a government-controlled army airport on Friday, a British-based monitoring group said, part of a major escalation of fighting between the Al-Qaida offshoot and the military. The hardline Sunni militants have gained ground in Syria over the past five weeks, bolstered by equipment seized in a lightning offensive last month in neighbouring Iraq. On Thursday, the group seized the Sha'ar oilfield, east of the central city of Homs, in what the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said was one of its bloodiest clashes with President Bashar al-Assad's forces. On Friday, the death toll from the raid rose to 115, the Observatory said. The fate of 250 others was unknown, it said. A video posted online on Thursday, purportedly of the battle site, showed armed men pacing through a barren desert space speaking in Arabic and German as they reviewed what appeared to be more than 50 bodies, many with gunshot wounds to the head, chest and legs. Some of the bodies appeared to be young men. On Friday, fighting also broke out between Islamic State militants and government forces at the army airport in Deir al-Zor, one of the last major strategic locations in Deir al-Zor province not under the control of the Islamic State. The Syrian army responded to the militants' offensive by bombing areas around the airport, which supplies its forces in the east of the country, the Observatory said. There were no details of casualties. — Reuters