Three sentenced to life for flight MH17 downing

 Yahoo – AFP, Danny KEMP, November 17, 2022 

A Dutch court on Thursday sentenced three men to life imprisonment over the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine in 2014, in the early stages of a war that eight years later would put the world on edge. 

Russians Igor Girkin and Sergei Dubinsky and Ukrainian Leonid Kharchenko were found guilty in absentia of murdering all 298 people on board and of bringing down the Boeing 777 with a Russian-supplied missile. A fourth man was acquitted. 

Moscow slammed the "scandalous" verdict as politically motivated, while Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky -- battling a full-scale Russian invasion after years of low-level fighting in the east -- praised it as "important". 

Relatives of MH17 victims blinked away tears as the verdicts were read out in a courtroom packed with families who had travelled from around the world for the end of the two-and-a-half-year trial. 

"The court calls the proven charges so severe that it holds that only the highest possible prison sentence would be appropriate," head judge Hendrik Steenhuis said.

 "Imposing these sentences cannot take away the pain and suffering, but there's hope that today clarity has been provided about who is to blame." 

But none of the suspects was at the high-security court on the outskirts of Schiphol Airport, where the doomed plane took off, after Russia refused to extradite them. 

'Justice has spoken'

The trial represents the end of a long search for justice for the victims of the disaster, who came from 10 countries, including 196 Dutch, 43 Malaysians and 38 Australians. 

"Justice has spoken. We wanted justice to be done and that happened, in a very well-balanced verdict," Piet Ploeg, chairman of the MH17 foundation, who lost his brother, sister-in-law and nephew, told AFP. 

"The role of Russia has been very clearly confirmed by the court." 

Flight MH17 from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur was cruising at 33,000 feet (10,000 metres) over war-torn eastern Ukraine when a BUK missile exploded near the cockpit on July 17, 2014, tearing the plane apart. 

The crash triggered global outrage and sanctions against Moscow, with Ukraine's famed sunflower fields littered with bodies and wreckage. Some victims, including children, were still strapped into their seats. 

Judges found Girkin, Dubinsky and Kharchenko could all be held responsible for the transport of the missile from a military base in Russia and deploying it to the launch site -- even if they did not pull the trigger. 

There was not enough evidence to show the involvement of Oleg Pulatov, the only suspect to have legal representation during the trial, they said. 

All the suspects were members of the Donetsk People's Republic, an armed group fighting Ukraine's government that judges ruled was directly controlled by Russia. 

'Ample evidence'

Girkin, 51, a former Russian spy who became the so-called defence minister of the DPR, was in regular contact with Moscow, particularly over the return of the missile after the tragedy, the court ruled.  

Kharchenko, 50, who allegedly led a separatist unit, received direct orders from Dubinsky, 60, who has also been tied to Russian intelligence, to escort the missile to the final launch site, the court ruled. 

The defendants had apparently intended to shoot down a Ukrainian military plane rather than a civilian jet but that did not affect their guilt, the judges said. 

Russia's continued denials that it controlled the DPR meanwhile meant the defendants could not claim immunity from prosecution as formal combatants, they added. 

The court ruled there was "ample evidence" to show the plane was brought down by the missile, and ruled out "alternative scenarios" suggested by the defence, including that it was shot down by a Ukrainian fighter jet. 

The BUK missile had been identified as coming from the 53rd Anti-Aircraft Missile Brigade from Kursk in Russia, prosecutors said. 

'Unprecedented pressure'

Moscow has denied all involvement in the crash, and on Thursday it accused the Dutch court of giving its verdict under "unprecedented pressure" from politicians and the media. 

The Russian foreign ministry said the trial could go down history as "one of the most scandalous in the history of legal proceedings with its extensive list of oddities, inconsistencies and dubious arguments of the prosecution". 

Ukraine's Zelensky said on Twitter that "holding the instigators to account is crucial too because a sense of impunity leads to new crimes". 

The United States welcomed the verdict as "an important moment in ongoing efforts to deliver justice for the 298 individuals who lost their lives". 

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the convictions were "not the end", while NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg they were an "important day for justice and accountability".

UN satellite analysis tracks Ukraine cultural damage

 Yahoo – AFP, October 26, 2022 

The United Nations is using before-and-after satellite imagery to monitor the cultural destruction inflicted by Russia's war in Ukraine, announcing Wednesday it will launch its tracking platform publicly within days. 

The UN's culture agency UNESCO said it had verified damage to 207 cultural sites in Ukraine since the Russian invasion on February 24. 

They include 88 religious sites, 15 museums, 76 buildings of historical and or artistic interest, 18 monuments and 10 libraries. 

"Our conclusion is it's bad, and it may continue to get even worse," UNESCO's cultural and emergencies director Krista Pikkat told reporters at a briefing in Geneva. 

So far in the war, none of the seven world heritage sites have been damaged. 

UNESCO -- the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization -- has joined forces with the UN Satellite Centre UNOSAT. 

Based on reports on the ground, UNESCO sends a list of potentially damaged sites to UNOSAT. It then asks for satellite images from commercial suppliers and a small team of experts studies the difference in before-and-after pictures. 

The team matches up the images and is then able to give a time window in which the damage took place. 

It does not attribute blame for the damage. 

"This is a kind of pilot experiment to see how we can usefully compile this information, and possibly in the long term, the ambition would be to widen the scope beyond Ukraine and take the tool to a global level so we can really have a kind of real-time, interactive tool for our experts," said Pikkat. 

UNESCO is also working with museums and collections in Ukraine to try to combat against the threat of looting -- a common problem in war. 

UNESCO has been discussing with Kyiv about possibly removing cultural heritage items from the country for the duration of the war, but Pikkat acknowledged that it was a "difficult call", with the first move being to evacuate collections to safer parts of Ukraine.

EU approves end of combustion engine sales by 2035

Rfi – AFP, 29 June 2022 

EU approves plan for a complete shift to electric engines in the European
Union from 2035 RONNY HARTMANN AFP/File

 Luxembourg (AFP) – The European Union approved a plan to end the sale of vehicles with combustion engines by 2035 in Europe, the 27-member bloc announced early Wednesday, in a bid to reduce CO2 emissions to zero. 

The measure, first proposed in July 2021, will mean a de facto halt to sales of petrol and diesel cars as well as light commercial vehicles and a complete shift to electric engines in the European Union from 2035. 

The plan is intended to help achieve the continent's climate objectives, in particular, carbon neutrality by 2050. 

At the request of countries including Germany and Italy, the EU-27 also agreed to consider a future green light for the use of alternative technologies such as synthetic fuels or plug-in hybrids. 

While approval would be tied to achieving the complete elimination of greenhouse gas emissions, the technologies have been contested by environmental NGOs. 

Environment ministers meeting in Luxembourg also approved a five-year extension of the exemption from CO2 obligations granted to so-called "niche" manufacturers, or those producing fewer than 10,000 vehicles per year, until the end of 2035. 

The clause, sometimes referred to as the "Ferrari amendment", will benefit luxury brands in particular. 

These measures must now be negotiated with members of the European Parliament. 

"This is a big challenge for our automotive industry," acknowledged French Minister of Ecological Transition Agnes Pannier-Runacher, who chaired Tuesday night's meeting. 

But she said it was a "necessity" in the face of competition from China and the United States, which have bet heavily on electric vehicles seen as the future of the industry. 

These decisions will "allow a planned and accompanied transition", the minister said. 

Openness to synthetic fuels

Europe's automotive industry, which is already investing heavily in the move to electric vehicles, fears the social impact of a too-rapid transition. 

"The overwhelming majority of car manufacturers have chosen electric cars," said Frans Timmermans, the EU Commission Vice President in charge of the European Green Deal, at a press conference. 

He affirmed the EU body's willingness to be open-minded to other technologies -- like synthetic fuels, which are also referred to as e-fuels. 

"We are technology neutral. What we want are zero-emission cars," he explained. 

"At the moment, e-fuels do not seem a realistic solution, but if manufacturers can prove otherwise in the future, we will be open." 

The technology of synthetic fuels, currently under study, consists of producing fuel from CO2 from industrial activities using low-carbon electricity, in a circular economy approach. 

Like the oil industry, the automotive sector has high hopes for these new fuels, which would extend the use of internal combustion engines now threatened by the emergence of completely electric vehicles. 

But environmental organisations object to the use of this technology in cars, as it is considered both expensive and energy-consuming. 

The synthetic-fuelled engines also emit as much nitrogen oxide (NOx) as their fossil fuel equivalents, they say. 

Cars are the main mode of transport for Europeans and account for just under 15 percent of total CO2 emissions in the EU. It is also one of the main gases responsible for global warming.

In response to manufacturers' concerns about insufficient consumer demand for 100 percent electric cars, the Commission has recommended a major expansion of charging stations. 

"Along the main roads in Europe, there must be charging points every 60 kilometres (37 miles)," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last year. 

Manufacturers regularly complain about the lack of such infrastructure, especially in southern and eastern European countries.

Elon Musk hands over first 'made in Germany' Teslas

Yahoo – AFP, Florian CAZERES, March 22, 2022

Elon Musk tweeted "Danke Deutschland!" (Thank you, Germany) after inaugurating
Tesla's first production site in Europe (AFP/Patrick Pleul)

Tesla CEO Elon Musk danced for joy at the inauguration of his "gigafactory" electric car plant near Berlin on Tuesday, shrugging off two years of bureaucracy and delays to watch customers drive off with the first Model Y vehicles made in Europe. 

"Danke Deutschland!" (Thank you, Germany) Musk tweeted after the red ribbon ceremony, where he joined workers in applauding the first 30 drivers to get behind the wheel of their new cars. 

The US billionaire even broke into a little dance during the handovers, reviving memories of the slightly awkward jig he did at a launch event in Shanghai in 2020 that lit up the internet. 

The factory opening caps an arduous two-year approval and construction process that saw Tesla run into a series of administrative and legal hurdles, including complaints from locals about the site's environmental impact. 

Having started construction at its own risk, Tesla finally won the formal go-ahead from regional authorities to begin production earlier this month. 

The "gigafactory" in Gruenheide, in Germany's eastern state of Brandenburg, is Tesla's first production site in Europe and local officials are hoping it will help the region position itself as a hub for electric vehicle production. 

The Californian company aims eventually to employ some 12,000 workers at the site who will churn out around 500,000 Model Y cars annually, the firm's all-electric, compact SUVs. 

"We are extremely confident that the world can transition to a sustainable energy future with the combination of solar, wind, plus battery storage and electric vehicles," Musk said in a speech at the ceremony. 

"I really want to assure everyone that you can have hope in the future, you should have hope in the future," he added. 

'New era' 

Tesla's arrival is expected to jolt Germany's flagship car industry, setting the stage for fierce competition with rivals Volkswagen, BMW and Mercedes-Benz as they pivot from traditional engines to cleaner electric vehicles. 

"The new era in the auto industry has now arrived in Germany," said analyst Ferdinand Dudenhoeffer from the Center for Automotive Research. 

Tesla's focus on Europe comes as the continent grapples with sky-high energy costs that have sent petrol prices soaring, prompting some drivers to take a closer look at electric alternatives. 

The "Giga Berlin-Brandenburg" is "one of the biggest strategic endeavours for Tesla over the last decade and should further vault its market share within Europe over the coming years as more consumers aggressively head down the EV path," analysts at investment firm Wedbush said. 

But Tesla has not been spared the pain from shortages of key materials and supply chain disruptions, linked in part to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, that are also plaguing other carmakers. 

Musk tweeted last week that the company was seeing "significant recent inflation pressure" in raw materials and logistics. 

Away from Russian oil 

Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who attended Tuesday's inauguration along with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said it was "a special day for Germany's mobility transformation". 

In a nod to efforts to reduce reliance on Russian energy, Habeck said electric cars took Germany "one step further away from oil imports". 

He also called for more "Tesla speed" in other infrastructure projects, including the expansion of renewable energies. 

Although Musk was frequently frustrated by the red tape that slowed down his Gruenheide plans, by German standards the factory was up and running in record time. 

The inauguration was not universally welcomed, however, with environmental campaigners protesting near the site. 

Among their demands was a call for better and free public transport instead of "yet more cars", said spokeswoman Lou Winters from the Sand in the Gears environmental group.