Category Archives: Ukraine

Iran’s admission it shot down airliner is ‘important first step’, says Boris Johnson – live news

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Tehran says its military unintentionally shot down Ukraine International Airlines flight 752, killing all 176 people onboard

As Iranians protest over their government’s mishandling of the downing of Ukrainian International Airlines flight 752, in London Labour’s Jeremy Corbyn has addressed hundreds marching against the prospect of war with Iran.

The Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), which co-organised the demonstration with the Stop the War Coalition, is carrying photos of the protest on its Twitter feed.

Great to have @jeremycorbyn with us in Trafalgar Square calling for peace in the middle east and #NoWarOnIran! pic.twitter.com/ZiREqwadWO

Kate Hudson of @CNDuk and the legendary Tariq Ali speaking on #NoWarOnIran #NoWarWithIran platform pic.twitter.com/Veps8UjI0K

#NoWarOnIran protesters gathering in Trafalgar Square. Other protests taking place in Chesterfield, Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool and Bristol today. Many more are planned. Thank you to you all. Let's rebuild our movement, get the troops out of Iraq and stop a war on Iran. pic.twitter.com/js7rbwgBli

Thousands marching down Regent Street in Central London to say #NoWarOnIran pic.twitter.com/STPXScEG0K

And we're off! Marching to Trafalgar Square to say #NoWarOnIran! pic.twitter.com/QNAhy3kUAV

Following on from the previous report about domestic reaction to the Iranian mea culpa, reports are emerging on Twitter of protests in the street in Tehran over the government’s handling of the fiasco.

Protest at Tehran's Amir Kabir university, students shouting "Shameless" #Iranplanecrash https://t.co/FtdC1GeTqI

Another video from the protest at a university in the Iranian capital where students call for justice over #Iranplanecrash "Resignation is not enough. Prosecution is necessary." https://t.co/Z4FzVSX60W

Images from #Tehran today. People chanting “down with the liar” #UkrainePlainCrash https://t.co/eugROR45Bo

ساعت ۴ و ۵۰ دقیقه: جمعیت اولیه جلوی دانشگاه امیرکبیر.

نه خودمان مسلحیم نه #عموهایمان.
اویی که مسلح است شمایید، اویی که می‌کشد، اویی که دروغ میگوید، اویی که فریب میدهد، و اویی باز میکشد شمایید.

اینبار کمتر خون بریزید..#دروغ_سخت pic.twitter.com/AcmNDg07pR

pic.twitter.com/QPZndWyh9G

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Iran plane crash admission triggers international calls for full investigation

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Ukrainian president also calls for full admission of guilt, justice and compensation

Iran’s admission that it accidentally shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane has been met with international demands for a full investigation into the disaster, in which 176 people died during a period of soaring tensions between Tehran and Washington.

A statement carried on Iran’s official IRNA news agency on Saturday morning said the military had made an “unforgivable mistake” in targeting Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 shortly after it took off from Tehran’s international airport on Wednesday. It was followed by condolences from Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and an apology from the country’s president, Hassan Rouhani.

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Brinkmanship, nerves and 176 civilian deaths: the Iran air disaster

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There are suspicions in the west, denials in Tehran, grim echoes for Ukraine, and grief spread far and wide

It was still dark when Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 took off on Wednesday from Tehran’s Imam Khomeini airport. Onboard were 176 people. Most were returning home after holidays spent with families and friends in Iran. They were couples, newlyweds, students.

A mother and a daughter – Sahar Hagjjoo and her eight-year-old child Elsa – posed for a photograph together after taking their seats. A sweet one, with the pair relaxed, smiling, a little tired from the early start. Everyone on the plane would have known of the strained diplomatic circumstances swirling before them.

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A visual guide to the Iran plane crash

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Flight came down shortly after take off from airport in Tehran on 8 January

Ukraine International Airlines flight 752 took off at 6.12am on 8 January after nearly an hour’s delay at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000ft, according to flight-tracking data.

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Iran plane crash: Ukraine’s president calls on US and allies to share evidence – live

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy to discuss investigation with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo

The head of Iran’s Civil Aviation body has told reporters that authorities examining the contents of the Flight 752’s black box today at a laboratory at Tehran’s Mehrabad Airport.

The will attempt to assess whether it is possible to reconstruct and analyse the information inside the country, according to Iran’s IRNA news agency.

A British-Iranian woman jailed in Iran has had panic attacks since tensions between the country and the US escalated, her husband has said.

Richard Ratcliffe said the fallout from Donald Trump’s assassination of the Iranian general Qassem Suleimani was taking a toll on the mental health of his wife, Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe.

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Iran video appears to show missile striking Ukrainian plane – video

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A new video has emerged which appears to show the moment a Ukrainian passenger jet was shot down in Iran. Originally obtained by the New York Times, the phone footage shows a tiny spec suddenly exploding. The light disappears before the sound of impact can be heard just over 20 seconds later. All 176 people on board were killed. The plane crashed hours after Iran targeted US military assets in neighbouring Iraq. The US and other western allies believe the passenger jet was accidentally shot down by an Iranian missile

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What we know about the Iran plane crash that killed 176 people – video report

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Iran has admitted that its military unintentionally shot down the passenger jet that crashed shortly after takeoff from Tehran on Wednesday. Ukraine International Airlines Flight 752 went down minutes into its flight, killing all 176 people onboard.

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Catastrophic failure of Ukraine jet in Iran suggests missile strike

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Experts say debris fragments and sudden loss of fail-safe systems point to missile

To civil aviation professionals, including pilots, engineers and former crash investigators, there was something immediately puzzling about the crash of the Ukraine International Airlines passenger jet that fell burning out of the sky minutes after takeoff from Tehran.

Conversation on forums, and in a risk assessment that was rapidly produced by the organisations OpsGroup, pointed to the sudden and catastrophic nature of the event, including the loss of both communications and tracking systems.

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Iran plane crash: drone collision and terrorism being explored

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Ukraine investigators also cite engine failure and Russian missile among possible causes

A senior Ukrainian security official has said his country’s investigators will explore a range of possible reasons why one of its passenger jets crashed in Iran, including a drone collision, a terrorist bomb and a missile attack, but did not rule out a technical fault was to blame.

Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s national security council, cited unconfirmed reports circulating on social media that debris from a Russian-made missile had been found at the site, on the outskirts of Tehran, where the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 crashed on Wednesday, killing all 176 passengers and staff onboard.

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Iran says it will not give black box from crashed airliner to Boeing

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Leaders of Ukraine and Canada vow to find cause of crash that killed dozens of their citizens

Iran’s aviation authority has said it will not hand over flight recorders from the Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737-800 plane that crashed moments after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 176 passengers and crew onboard, either to the aircraft’s manufacturer or US aviation authorities.

The statement was issued on Wednesday as the leaders of Ukraine and Canada, from which dozens of citizens died, vowed to identify the cause of the crash amid contradictory statements and swirling speculation.

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Ukraine passenger plane crashes in Iran, killing 176 people – video report

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A passenger plane bound for Kyiv has crashed close to Tehran's main international airport, killing 176 people. Video circulated by Iranian news agencies appears to show the Boeing 737-800 bursting into flame minutes after takeoff and plummeting to earth. There was no early indication the crash was linked to Iran's Wednesday morning missile strikes on bases in Iraq hosting US and coalition troops

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Iran plane crash: footage appears to show burning wreckage – video

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Footage released by Iran Press TV appears to show burning wreckage from moments after a Ukrainian passenger jet crashed near Tehran.
The Ukrainian airliner, which had 176 people onboard, crashed soon after taking off from Tehran's Imam Khomeini airport. Iran's Red Crescent said there was no chance of finding survivors

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Iran crash: Ukraine Boeing with 176 onboard comes down near Tehran

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Iranians, Canadians, Ukrainians, Swedes, Afghans, Germans and three Britons killed in crash, reports say

A passenger plane carrying 176 people bound for the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, has crashed a few minutes after taking off from Tehran’s main international airport.

Iran’s Red Crescent has said there was no chance of finding survivors, and Pir Hossein Kulivand, an Iranian emergency official, later told state TV all those on board were killed in the crash.

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Water-related violence rises globally in past decade

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Water shortages and extreme weather contribute to tension in Middle East and India

Violence associated with water has surged in the past decade driven by attacks on civilian water systems in Syria’s civil war and increasing disputes over supplies in India, according to a comprehensive database of conflicts linked to the vital resource.

Recorded incidents of water-related violence have more than doubled in the past 10 years compared with previous decades, the statistics maintained by the California-based Pacific Institute thinktank show.

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Ukraine and Russia-backed separatists exchange 200 prisoners

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Five riot police suspected of killings among those handed to separatists, provoking outrage

Ukrainian authorities and Russia-backed separatists in the war-torn east of Ukraine have exchanged 200 prisoners, swapping detained fighters for civilians and service personnel held captive in some cases for years.

The exchange provoked outrage in government-held Ukraine after Kyiv handed over to separatists five riot police suspected of killing protesters during a pro-western uprising in 2014 as part of the swap.

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Trump condemned for tweets pointing to name of Ukraine whistleblower

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President posted link to article that identifies official – then sent a further tweet containing the name

Donald Trump has retweeted material that publicly names the purported whistleblower whose complaint about the US president’s dealings with Ukraine led to his impeachment.

The president on Friday night sent a retweet from one of his supporters containing the alleged name of the individual. Trump drew the attention of his 68 million Twitter followers to the post which, along with publicising the name, inaccurately claimed that the whistleblower “committed perjury by making false statements” and is being protected by Adam Schiff, chairman of the House intelligence committee. There is no evidence to support these assertions.

Earlier, on Thursday, Trump had also retweeted a post by his re-election campaign’s “war room” that linked to an article by the conservative Washington Examiner news website. The article, published on 3 December, has the name of the alleged whistleblower in its headline.

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Ukraine aid blocked soon after Trump’s phone call with Zelenskiy, emails show

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Trump acted about 90 minutes after the ‘do us a favor’ phone call behind the scenes to freeze aid from the Pentagon

As Republicans and Democrats continue to squabble on the terms of Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, newly-released government emails show that it took only about 90 minutes after Donald Trump’s infamous July telephone call to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy for White House officials to order the Pentagon to freeze military funding for Ukraine.

Related: Republican rush to defend Trump reveals a party in thrall to its leader

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Impeachment: Trump faces up to history as House prepares to vote

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As the president rages, Democrats in the House get ready to vote against him

No volume of howling by Donald Trump could prevent the shadow of history from falling over his White House on Wednesday, as the House of Representatives prepared to approve articles of impeachment against a president for only the third time.

Related: More than 700 historians call for Trump to be impeached as key vote looms

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Surgeon and musician held over Ukraine journalist’s murder

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Killing of Pavel Sheremet in 2016 car bombing was attempt to destabilise country, say officials

Ukrainian police have detained five people, including a paediatric surgeon and a rock musician, over a 2016 car bomb attack that killed the investigative journalist Pavel Sheremet.

Senior law enforcement officials said the motive for killing 44-year-old Pavel Sheremet was to destabilise the country but declined to say who might have ordered the murder.

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