The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a resolution that would have established an international tribunal for the purpose of prosecuting persons responsible for crimes connected with the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on 17 July 2014 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, following use of the veto by the Russian Federation, a permanent member.

The draft resolution, presented by the Minister for Transport of Malaysia on behalf of the Joint Investigation Team (Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Netherlands and Ukraine), received 11 affirmative votes, three abstentions (Angola, China and Venezuela) and one negative vote (Russian Federation). Had it passed, the Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, would have adopted the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and demanded that all States and other actors refrain from acts of violence against civilian aircraft. It would have called on all States and actors in the region to accord full cooperation in the conduct of the international investigation of the incident, as required by resolution 2166 (2014). By other terms, the Council would have requested the Joint Investigation Team to continue to keep the Council fully and regularly informed of progress, and urged the earliest possible finalization of the international technical investigation into the cause of the crash, and the criminal investigation.

The meeting, attended by five Government ministers, as well as representatives of several countries whose nationals had perished on the flight, began with a moment of silence in tribute to the victims. Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, an Isis spokesman, defined the Islamic state’s territory as running from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala north-east of Baghdad, a vast stretch of land straddling the border that is already largely under Isis control. He also said that with the establishment of the caliphate, the group was changing its name to the Islamic State, dropping the mention of Iraq and the Levant. Through his campaign, Mr Modi had vowed to reboot the economy and deliver efficient governance -he said today “development for all” would be his mission. With its allies, the BJP now has over 300 of the 543 parliamentary seats. The stunning numbers provide incontrovertible evidence of the “Modi wave” that the BJP name-dropped for months. The twin headline to Mr Modi’s phenomenal win is the colossal defeat that he has enforced upon the incumbent Congress. Headed by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the party has crashed to its worst performance with less than 50 seats after 10 years in power.

The multinational search effort for the aircraft is the largest and most expensive in aviation history. The search began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the aircraft’s signal was last detected on secondary surveillance radar, and was soon extended to the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea. Analysis of satellite communications between the aircraft and Inmarsat’s satellite communications network concluded that the flight continued until at least 08:19 and flew south into the southern Indian Ocean, although the precise location cannot be determined. Australia took charge of the search on 17 March when the search moved to the southern Indian Ocean. On 24 March, the Malaysian government noted that the final location determined by the satellite communication is far from any possible landing sites, and concluded that “Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”

—Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief

The UN Security Council has failed to adopt a resolution that would have established an international tribunal for the purpose of prosecuting persons responsible for crimes connected with the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 on 17 July 2014 in Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine, following use of the veto by the Russian Federation, a permanent member.

The draft resolution, presented by the Minister for Transport of Malaysia on behalf of the Joint Investigation Team (Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, Netherlands and Ukraine), received 11 affirmative votes, three abstentions (Angola, China and Venezuela) and one negative vote (Russian Federation). Had it passed, the Council, under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, would have adopted the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and demanded that all States and other actors refrain from acts of violence against civilian aircraft. It would have called on all States and actors in the region to accord full cooperation in the conduct of the international investigation of the incident, as required by resolution 2166 (2014). By other terms, the Council would have requested the Joint Investigation Team to continue to keep the Council fully and regularly informed of progress, and urged the earliest possible finalization of the international technical investigation into the cause of the crash, and the criminal investigation.

The meeting, attended by five Government ministers, as well as representatives of several countries whose nationals had perished on the flight, began with a moment of silence in tribute to the victims. Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, an Isis spokesman, defined the Islamic state’s territory as running from northern Syria to the Iraqi province of Diyala north-east of Baghdad, a vast stretch of land straddling the border that is already largely under Isis control. He also said that with the establishment of the caliphate, the group was changing its name to the Islamic State, dropping the mention of Iraq and the Levant. Through his campaign, Mr Modi had vowed to reboot the economy and deliver efficient governance -he said today “development for all” would be his mission. With its allies, the BJP now has over 300 of the 543 parliamentary seats. The stunning numbers provide incontrovertible evidence of the “Modi wave” that the BJP name-dropped for months. The twin headline to Mr Modi’s phenomenal win is the colossal defeat that he has enforced upon the incumbent Congress. Headed by Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, the party has crashed to its worst performance with less than 50 seats after 10 years in power.

The multinational search effort for the aircraft is the largest and most expensive in aviation history. The search began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the aircraft’s signal was last detected on secondary surveillance radar, and was soon extended to the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea. Analysis of satellite communications between the aircraft and Inmarsat’s satellite communications network concluded that the flight continued until at least 08:19 and flew south into the southern Indian Ocean, although the precise location cannot be determined. Australia took charge of the search on 17 March when the search moved to the southern Indian Ocean. On 24 March, the Malaysian government noted that the final location determined by the satellite communication is far from any possible landing sites, and concluded that “Flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.”

—Prashant Tewari, Editor-in-Chief