#MH17 | Round-up of Day 1 Updates from 6pm till 12MN:
[12midnight] CNN reports on President Barack Obama’s press conference where he expresses outrage and says that one of its citizens was on board the plane.
“We stand shoulder to shoulder in grief with the Dutch people,” he says.
[11pm] PM Najib announced that the national flag would be flown at half-mast beginning tonight until Monday. Emergency sitting over MH17 in the Parliament shall be convened next Wednesday.
[10.40pm] Ukraine’s emergency services have found two black boxes at the crash site of a Malaysian airliner, Interfax-Ukraine quoted an adviser to the governor of eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region as saying.
[10.30pm] CNN is now carrying live from UN where the Security Council has called for an emergency session to vote on Britain's call for a "full, thorough and independent investigation" into the MH17 crash.
Britains ambassador to the council Mark Lyall Grant calls on Russia to use its "influence" to ensure unfettered access to the crash site.
[10pm] According to a New Straits Times tweet, PM Najib Razak says he just had a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
[10pm] “What a tragedy!” its website said. “Up to 27 Australians were among 298 people on board a Malaysia Airlines passenger jet which was shot down over Ukraine with the loss of all on board. Is it another sign to consider life insurance? #PrayForMH17.”
[8.20pm] MAS releases latest figures. The new breakdown on passengers is – Netherlands (189), Malaysia (44), Australia (27), Indonesia (12), United Kingdom (9), Germany (four), Belgium (four), Philippines (three), Canada (one) and New Zealand (one).
Four passengers remain unidentified.
[7.25pm] The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) is sending 10 imams to Ukraine to help with religious guidance and funeral rites over the crash of a Malaysia Airlines (MAS) aircraft there yesterday.
[7.18pm] A Dutch senator is among those who perished on board Flight MH17.
[6.20pm] PM Najib Abdul Razak will hold a special address on the MH17 tragedy at 8.10pm, Bernama reports. PM Najib postponed the address to 11pm later.
Bernama also reports that a special investigation team of will be departing to Kiev, Ukraine at 8pm, to conduct thorough investigation into the air crash.
[6pm] AFP reports that a family member of an American passenger on MH370, which went missing on March 8 as it flew over the south Indian Ocean, has claimed the latest air disaster to have befallen MAS is no coincidence.
Read more here: http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/269126
