MH17: Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down by 'large number of high-energy objects'

SIMON CALDER Tuesday 09 September 2014

MH17 was shot down: that is the blunt conclusion of the Dutch Safety Board investigation into the loss of the Malaysia Airlines jet that crashed on 17 July over eastern Ukraine with the loss of all 298 passengers and crew. 

The board’s preliminary report says the Boeing 777 jet “broke up in the air probably as the result of structural damage caused by a large number of high-energy objects that penetrated the aircraft from outside”. 

The aircraft was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was hit. There have been many claims that the plane was hit by a surface-to-air missile supplied by Russia to separatist rebels in Ukraine. But the report does not assign blame; in line with aviation convention, the aim of investigations is to improve safety in future, not apportion liability for past events.

The investigators say there are no indications that the crash was caused by a technical fault or by actions of the crew: “The cockpit voice recorder, the flight data recorder and data from air traffic control all suggest that flight MH17 proceeded as normal until 13:20:03 (UTC), after which it ended abruptly.”
Initially, responsibility for the investigation rested with Ukraine, but six days after the crash it transferred responsibility to the Dutch Safety Board; 193 of the 283 passengers were Dutch nationals.

The investigation has been hampered because the crash site is in a rebel-held area of eastern Ukraine. The Dutch Safety Board says: “The Dutch government believes that people investigating the causes of the crash will be at greater risk than forensic investigators, next of kin or journalists.”

Tjibbe Joustra, Chairman of the Dutch Safety Board said: “The MH17 crash has shocked the world and raised many questions. The Dutch Safety Board wishes to determine the cause of the crash, for the sake of the loved ones of the victims and for society at large.”

“The initial results of the investigation point towards an external cause of the MH17 crash. More research will be necessary to determine the cause with greater precision. The Safety Board believes that additional evidence will become available for investigation in the period ahead.”

The investigators intend to publish a full report within a year of the crash. 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/mh17-malaysia-airlines-plane-was-shot-down-by-large-number-of-highenergy-objects-9720176.html

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO- all 298 passengers and crew

   WHEN-17 July

   WHAT- MH17 was shot down

   WHY-not given

   WHERE- over eastern Ukraine

   HOW- by 'large number of high-energy objects'

Keywords：

1.      preliminary：初步

2.      aviation：航空

3.      liability：責任

4.      cockpit：座艙

5.      abruptly：突然

6.      hampered：阻礙

7.      forensic：法庭的

8.      kin：親屬

Anti-China Riots in Vietnam Leave at Least 21 Dead

Protests against China's territorial ambitions in the South China Sea have spread to central Vietnam, where more factories have been torched. Hundreds of ethnic Chinese have fled the country

·    Per Liljas  May 15, 2014

At least 21 people were killed as anti-China riots in southern Vietnam escalated and spread to the center of the country on Thursday.

A doctor in Ha Tinh province described five of the dead as Vietnamese workers and others as Chinese. He said they were among roughly 100 people sent to his hospital, Reuters reports. Over 600 Chinese have fled across the border to Cambodia.

The riots erupted following a large-scale demonstration on Tuesday to protest China’s May 1 deployment of an oil rig in waters claimed by both Beijing and Hanoi, triggering the most critical stand-off between the two countries in over three decades.

Rioters have torched and vandalized dozens of foreign-owned factories, mistaking them for Chinese enterprises. On Wednesday, they attacked a $20 billion Taiwanese-owned steel plant set to be the largest in Southeast Asia once it is completed in 2020.

About 600 people have been arrested for looting and inciting the crowd in Binh Duong province, where the riots started, state-run Thanh Nien newspaper quoted the local police chief as saying.

An editorial in the Beijing-friendly Global Times said that Vietnam had “cornered itself” and pointed out that demonstrators during similar outbursts of nationalist fervor in China — such as the anti-Japan demonstrations of 2012 — were more restrained. (However, Japanese automakers lost an estimated $250 million in output during the protests over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu islands.)

Vietnamese and Philippine hopes of a united regional stance in the face of Chinese assertiveness were meanwhile dashed as Southeast Asian leaders failed to agree on a joint statement during the ASEAN summit last weekend. Hanoi and Manila are the most embroiled in territorial conflicts with China in the South China Sea, but face opposition from neighboring countries with precious economic ties to Beijing.

The United States has called on both sides to show restraint, with White House spokesman Jay Carney telling a regular briefing that this kind of dispute needs “to be resolved through dialogue, not through intimidation.”

http://time.com/100492/vietnam-anti-china-riots-21-dead/

Structure of the Lead：

   WHO-21 people

   WHEN- Thursday

   WHAT-killed as anti-China riots

   WHY- not given

  WHERE- southern Vietnam

   HOW-not given

Keywords：

1.      escalate：逐步升級

2.      trigger：觸發

3.      stand-off：對峙

4.      vandalize：搞破壞

5.      looting：搶

6.      inciting：煽動

7.      fervor：熱情

8.      restrained：拘謹的

9.      assertiveness：獨斷

10.   embroiled：捲入

11.   intimidation：恐嚇