Rebels down Ukrainian jet ahead of talks

Rebels down Ukrainian jet ahead of talks
HK pro-government activists rally against Occupy protest
Pope pushes dialogue with Asian nations
North Korea threatens ‘merciless’ strike against US-South Korea drill
Remains of 22 MH17 crash victims to arrive in Malaysia on Friday – Wee Ka Siong
Trains carrying toxic chemicals collide in US, 2 dead

Posted: 17 Aug 2014 05:50 PM PDT

MiG-29 warplane blown out of the sky as Kiev and Moscow try to defuse tensions over fighting in region

DONETSK, Ukraine: Pro-Russian rebels yesterday shot down a Ukrainian fighter jet ahead of urgent talks between Kiev and Moscow's top diplomats to defuse tensions over fighting in the east of the ex-Soviet nation.

The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France headed for a meeting in Berlin, after Western leaders scrambled to dampen a firestorm over claims that Ukrainian forces had destroyed Russian military vehicles.

Ukraine's military told AFP its MiG-29 warplane was blown out of the sky as it carried out "an assignment to eliminate a large group of terrorists" in the strife-torn Lugansk region.

The pilot managed to parachute to safety, it said.

Kiev yesterday also accused Russia of sending more equipment, including rocket launchers, across the border into the restive east of the country.

Over the past 24 hours "a convoy of military equipment, including three Grad rocket launchers, have crossed into the territory of Ukraine" and continued on to Nizhniy Nagolchyk, a village in southern Lugansk region, one of the areas controlled by pro-Russian rebels, security spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a briefing.

Authorities in the main rebel city of Donetsk said shelling killed 10 civilians in 24 hours as government forces pressed on with an offensive to oust separatists after four months of fighting that has left over 2,100 people dead and pushed the region to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.

Germany meanwhile demanded that Moscow clarify boasts by a rebel leader in the besieged city that he had recently received hundreds of fighters trained in Russia to bolster the flagging rebellion.

Fresh weekend clashes will serve only to fray nerves further ahead of yesterday's meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin, and their French and German counterparts. "Flying to Berlin. The talks will not be easy. It is important to stop the flow of weapons and mercenaries from Russia," Klimkin wrote on Twitter Sunday.

French President Francois Hollande called for Ukraine to show "restraint and good judgement" in its military operations after Kiev's boasts that it had destroyed part of a small military convoy from Russia ramped up the stakes.

He also suggested the talks could pave the way for a face-to-face encounter between the Russian and Ukrainian heads of state.

Russia had dismissed the incursion claims as 'fantasies', but resisted the urge to strike back, as it again denied the persistent allegations from the West that it is arming the rebels.

Meanwhile, the fate of a mammoth Russian aid convoy parked up near Ukraine's border since Thursday remained uncertain despite both sides appearing to edge closer to a deal to let it across the volatile border.
The Red Cross told AFP its officials had arrived at an area where some 300 Russian trucks are waiting but that official inspections of the cargo were yet to begin.

The West and Kiev fear the convoy could be a 'Trojan horse' to help the rebels in eastern Ukraine, or provide Moscow with an excuse to send in the 20,000 troops that Nato says it has massed on the border.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said Russia and Ukraine agreed on procedures to check the cargo but "security guarantees" are still needed on how the vehicles could cross rebel-held territory.

Kiev recognised the "legality" of the humanitarian convoy in a statement published on the government web site, moving closer to giving the green light for the trucks to enter its territory.

Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko told US Vice President Joe Biden Saturday that the separatists had yet to grant safe passage for the aid.

Russia's foreign ministry has repeatedly demanded that Kiev cease fire in order for the aid to reach residents of blighted cities in eastern Ukraine who have been stuck for days without water or power.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called on Moscow to 'clarify' claims from a top separatist leader that troop reinforcements trained across the border had arrived to prop up the ailing insurgency.

Alexander Zakharchenko, 'prime minister' of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said in a video posted online Saturday that rebel forces had received 1,200 personnel "who have received four months of training on Russian territory" as well as 150 items of military hardware, including tanks. — AFP the east. — AFP

HK pro-government activists rally against Occupy protest

Posted: 17 Aug 2014 05:49 PM PDT

HONG KONG: Thousands protested in Hong Kong yesterday against plans by pro-democracy activists to paralyse the city centre with a mass sit-in unless China grants acceptable electoral reforms.

Public discontent in the semi-autonomous Chinese city is at its highest for years, with concern at perceived interference by Beijing and growing divisions over how Hong Kong's leader should be chosen in 2017 under the planned reforms.

Pro-democracy campaigners from the Occupy Central group have pledged to mobilise protesters to block roads in the Central financial district later this year if authorities reject the public's right to nominate candidates for the chief executive post.

But the movement has been strongly criticised by Beijing and city officials as illegal, radical and potentially violent.

Organisers of Sunday's rally, the Alliance for Peace and Democracy, say the silent majority of the city's seven million residents do not support the Occupy movement.

"We want to let the world know that we want peace, we want democracy, but please, do not threaten us, do not try to turn this place into a place of violence," alliance co-founder Robert Chow told AFP.

Organisers said more than 120,000 people had signed up to indicate they would attend the rally.

Thousands wearing red clothes and waving Chinese flags filled the starting point in Victoria Park when a march began shortly after .30pm (0530 GMT).

"I am here to oppose Occupy, as simple as that. It is a bad thing for young people," a 70-year-old retired chef, who only gave his surname Wong, told AFP.

"I don't know how to give a view on democracy, it's high-level politics. I just know if there is no peace there is no prosperity," a 40-year-old construction worker surnamed Kwok told AFP, while holding a Chinese flag.

But some participants in the afternoon march, attended by several groups with ties to different Chinese provinces, were unsure why they were there.

"I come here to play, to buy things" a participant identified as a tourist by Cable Television news said when asked why she was attending the rally. She was promptly led away by a man who refused to answer questions.

An 18-year-old Shenzhen resident who had arrived in the city that morning told AFP he "was not very sure" why he was taking part, and only attended because his friend had asked him to. — AFP

Pope pushes dialogue with Asian nations

Posted: 17 Aug 2014 05:47 PM PDT

HAEMI, South Korea: Pope Francis yesterday championed a 'creative' Catholicism in Asia that reflects the region's diversity, and urged countries like China and North Korea to respond by fostering a proper dialogue with the Vatican.

In a speech to Catholic bishops from 22 Asian countries, the pope said the Church had no choice but to adapt when communicating its message across a region of dramatic contrasts.

"On this vast continent, which is home to a great variety of cultures, the Church is called to be versatile and creative," he told the bishops at a martyrs' shrine some 150 kilometres south of Seoul on the penultimate day of a visit to South Korea.

It is the first papal visit for 15 years to Asia – a region the Vatican sees as having enormous growth potential to offset dwindling numbers in the United States and Europe.

But nearly a dozen Asian countries have no formal ties with the Holy See, including China –the great elephant in the Vatican's Asian room – which bars its Catholics from recognising the pope's authority.

In a 'spirit of openness', Francis appealed for a fresh start based on mutual respect and cooperation.

"I honestly hope that those countries of your continent with whom the Holy See does not enjoy a full relationship, may not hesitate to further a dialogue for the benefit of all," he told the bishops.

Chinese Catholics number 5.7 million according to official data, and 12 million according to independent sources. They are divided between an official Church dependent on Communist authorities and an "underground" Church loyal to the Vatican.

Beijing and the Vatican have been at loggerheads since China severed ties with the Holy See in 1951.
In March last year, China warned the newly elected Francis against interfering in China's internal affairs, "including under the pretext of religion".

The pope had offered his blessings in a message to China's President Xi Xinping as his plane flew over China on its way to South Korea last week.

But the message never got through, a failure Vatican officials put down to technical issues.

An even more impenetrable country is North Korea, which carried out a series of short range-rocket launches into the sea just as the pope arrived in Seoul for his five-day visit.

Francis will focus on North Korea when he holds a special Korean "peace and reconciliation" mass in Seoul before his departure Monday.

Other Asian countries with no diplomatic ties with the Vatican are Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Bhutan, Brunei, Laos, Myanmar, Oman and Vietnam.

South Korea has a thriving and fast-growing Catholic community, but across the region as a whole, Catholics account for only 3.2 percent of the population.

In his speech to the Asian bishops, Francis acknowledged that the communities they tended to were a 'small flock' in a 'vast expanse of land', but encouraged them to find a way to shrink the cultural and social differences they encountered.

"There can be no authentic dialogue unless we are capable of opening our minds and hearts, in empathy and sincere receptivity, to those with whom we speak," he said.

In a message that will resonate in South Korea, where consumer technology is a powerful force, the pope also warned of a growing 'superficiality', especially among young people.

There is a "tendency to toy with the latest fads, gadgets and distractions, rather than attending to the things that really matter", he said.

"In a culture which glorifies the ephemeral, and offers so many avenues of avoidance and escape, this can present a serious pastoral problem," he added.

On Sunday, the pope baptised the father of one of hundreds of high school students killed in the Sewol ferry disaster in April. — AFP

North Korea threatens ‘merciless’ strike against US-South Korea drill

Posted: 17 Aug 2014 05:45 PM PDT

SEOUL: North Korea warned yesterday of a possible 'merciless' pre-emptive strike as it blasted an upcoming joint US-South Korean military exercise as a rehearsal for nuclear war.

South Korea vowed to go ahead from Monday with the annual Ulchi Freedom Guardian drill, which is aimed at testing readiness to combat any North Korean invasion.

Although largely played out on computers, the exercise involves tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops.

In a statement carried Sunday by the official Korean Central News Agency, the North's military accused Washington and Seoul of planning a 'dangerous' rehearsal for nuclear war.

"We declare once again that we will mercilessly open the strongest… pre-emptive strike of our own style any time at our discretion," it said.

North Korean soldiers were ready to "turn the strongholds of aggression into a sea of fire and ashes", the statement said.

"Our troops will strongly retaliate against any provocations from North Korea," the South's joint chiefs of staff warned in a statement.

Tensions have been high on the Korean peninsula following an extended series of North Korean missile and rocket tests in recent months.

UN resolutions bar the North from any launches using ballistic missile technology.

The nuclear-armed communist country has defended the tests as a legitimate exercise in self-defence.

Seoul had proposed holding high-level talks with Pyongyang to discuss family reunions for those separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and other issues of 'mutual interest'.

But there has been no official response from Pyongyang. — AFP

Remains of 22 MH17 crash victims to arrive in Malaysia on Friday – Wee Ka Siong

Posted: 17 Aug 2014 05:15 PM PDT

THE HAGUE: The remains of 22 Malaysia Airlines (MAS) flight MH17 crash victims would be flown home from the Netherlands on Thursday and arrive in Malaysia Friday morning, said Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong.

He said the remains would be in 18 caskets and four receptacles containing ashes. The remains included that of a non-Malaysian citizen.

Wee said the documentation process for the 22 victims was expected to be completed this Tuesday, including ensuring that all the remains went through the handling process and received the approval of the Dutch government before being allowed to be flown back to Malaysia.

"Until Saturday (yesterday), the process for 18 coffins containing the victims' remains were completed while the process for the ashes in the receptacles is expected to be over this Tuesday.

"We plan to fly back the remains or ashes of the 22 victims this Thursday afternoon and expected to reach (Malaysia) on Friday," he told reporters after meeting with Malaysian students, here, Sunday.

"We will try to bring back the remains of the other victims soon, depending on the handling process and approval from the Netherlands government," he said.

Wee had late Saturday, said the Dutch authorities had identified the remains of two more of the MH17 crash victims, bringing the number of Malaysian victims verified so far to 26.

On Aug 14, Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the remains of 24 Malaysian victims – 14 passengers and 10 crew members – had been identified by the Dutch authorities.

He also said that the remains of 16 victims including a non-Malaysian citizen, would be flown home on a special flight and expected to arrive at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at 10am this Friday.

The date (Aug 22) was also announced as a day of national mourning and an official ceremony to receive the remains would he held at the Bunga Raya Complex, KLIA.

The MAS plane on flight MH17 carrying 298 people including 15 crew members was on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, believed to be shot at by a missile. — BERNAMA

Trains carrying toxic chemicals collide in US, 2 dead

Posted: 17 Aug 2014 05:13 PM PDT

WASHINGTON: Two freight trains transporting toxic chemicals smashed into each other in the US state of Arkansas early Sunday (Aug 17), killing two people and injuring two others, police said.

The dead and injured were all believed to be crew members, the statement said.

"As a precautionary measure a large number of Hoxie residents have been evacuated," police said, naming the town of around 3,000 in northeastern Arkansas where the collision took place at around 3:00 am (0700 GMT).

"A fire involving one of the train engines was reported still burning at daybreak, however it is not believed to be threatening any of the toxic cargo," the statement added.

Highways leading into Hoxie were closed by state police, it added.

Both trains were from the Union Pacific Railroad. Police said the company had confirmed to them the cargo on both trains was toxic chemicals.

The company said investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were headed to the scene, and said federal regulations therefore blocked it from making public statements.

The NTSB said it would give further updates after its investigators arrived later Sunday. – AFP

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