23/07/2014 BBC World News

Hello. This is BBC World News.

a national day of mourning is being held in the Netherlands as the

country waits for its dead. As Israel's military operation

continues with more strikes, the UN Human Rights Commissioner

suggests Israel could be committing war crimes in Gaza -

and against children. And the 20th Commonwealth Games,

featuring more than 4,000 athletes from around the world -

begins in Glasgow today. The first bodies from the Malaysia

Airlines plane that crashed in eastern Ukraine are being flown to

the Netherlands - where a national day of mourning has been declared

for the 298 people who were killed. US intelligence officials say

the airliner was probably shot down They say there's no direct

evidence of Russian involvement. Well,

we're finding out more details Malaysia Airlines steward

Sanjid Singh Sandhu was not supposed He had swapped shifts with

a colleague to return home a day earlier

so that he could visit his parents. In an extraordinary twist of fate,

his wife, who is also a flight attendant, had been saved

from a similar fate when she switched shifts from Malaysian jet

MH370 which vanished en route from Fatima Dyczynski was a German

aerospace engineer. She was travelling to Australia

to begin an internship with IBM. She was the founder of a high-tech

start-up based in the Netherlands. Its website describes her

as 'brightly outspoken, ambitious This whole family has been lost.

They were returning from a holiday. Their eldest son was about to start

university. Today is a significant day because many of the bodies are

being taken out of Ukraine. They are being flown to the Netherlands were

a day of mourning is being held across the country. The Dutch king

and queen will be in nine to open with the relatives of some of the

298 people on board. From their Anna Holligan reports but first of all we

are going to bring you a few words from the Dutch government

representative who was in Kharkiv airport where there was a moving

speech. We have

a painful identification process to But, the Dutch government wants to

assure family members and all those concerned that we want

to do the identification as quickly as possible with full respect for

human dignity and the individual. A few words from a representative of

the Dutch government. Let's go to Anna Holligan who is in Eindhoven

for us. A serene, stable nation caught up

in somebody else's conflict. This shrine, growing everyday,

now marks the spot at Departures 3, the point

from which the dead departed. This started with just a couple

of bouquets on Thursday evening and as more and more people heard

about the disaster, just look Schiphol is an international hub

airport and hundreds of passengers pass through these doors every day

and many of them have been stopping off here to pay their respects to

the passengers who were on board that flight, passengers just

like them, many of them going away on holiday, and if you look down

here you can see the international The Netherlands is a calm, reserved

country but front-page images have moved emotions from shock and

sadness to fury and frustration, Since Thursday I've been thinking,

how horrible must have been the final moments of their lives when

they knew the plane was going down. Did they lock hands with

their loved ones? Did they hold their children

close to their hearts? Did they look each other

in the eyes one final time The bodies will be flown

into Eindhoven. Families will wait alongside

the Dutch king and queen. None of them will know

whether the coffins will contain The list of names of the 193 missing

Dutch victims was Some of the remains still lie

in eastern Ukraine. At this Dutch military facility just

outside the city of Hilversum they have been making preparations

for the arrival of the remains. Soon the eyes of the internationally

affected community will be on this Over the coming

days, weeks and perhaps even months the bodies of those passengers will

be driven through these gates to be Before they can finally be

reunited with their families. This is a small nation,

one that is not accustomed to such Anna Holligan in Eindhoven. We can

also see Dutch flags flying at half-mast on buildings and boats in

Amsterdam today. The country is observing a day of mourning for all

of the crash victims. Around 200 of the almost 300 people on board were

Dutch. So this is a huge tragedy for the nation. At the site itself the

people there have been absolutely shaken by what has happened. Our

correspondent Natalia Anteleva went to talk to some of the villagers in

eastern Ukraine who have also been holding memorial services for the

victims. We want to testify to the entire

world, he says, that we are not terrorists.

There is so many political disagreements here and so much

blame. Everyone is blaming the rebels, the government in Kiev,

Russia, the United States - but one thing that is very clear is that

villagers who are living around here are very traumatised about what

happened. That memorial service in eastern

Ukraine, the reporter Natalia Anteleva. We are going to leave that

news story and moved to our other news. Events in Gaza and Israel. In

the last half an hour or so we have learned that a foreign worker has

been killed by mortar fire from Gaza. Police say he was struck in

Israel where he was working. We don't have any more details but

we'll bring them as soon as we can. Unicef has told the BBC today that

children in Gaza are dying at a rate of more than one an hour. The UN

human rights Commissioner Navi Pillay has also told the

organisation's human rights Council that the action could amount to war

crimes. She said the disregard to the right to life is checking the

evident and the apparent targeting of children playing on a Gaza beach.

147 children have been killed in Gaza over the past 16 days. They had

a right to life, just like children in any other country. Their killings

raise concerns about the respectful proportionality and proportions in

attack. -- respect for. Israeli children and parents and other

citizens also have a right to live without the constant fear that a

rocket fired from Gaza may land on their homes or their schools,

killing or injuring them. The US Secretary of State John Kerry

has arrived in Israel through the country's main international

airport - despite a 24-hour ban It was imposed after

a rocket fired from Gaza landed The Israeli Prime Minister,

Benjamin Netanyahu, had earlier asked Mr Kerry to lift

the ban, which had led to carriers from other countries have

implementing their own suspensions. The US Federal aviation authority

has introduced a 24-hour ban on flights after a rocket from Gaza

landed near Tel Aviv's airport. Our correspondent Bethany Bell is at Ben

Gurion Airport. The airport is open. We were told

there are a number of flights going in and out. We were told by an

airport spokesman a few minutes ago that there are 50% fewer flights

here at the moment. Among the airlines still flying in our British

airways, Royal Jordanian and the Israeli carrier. The mood among the

people we have been speaking to is fairly relaxed. People talking about

the annoyance they have been delayed but people here being -- have been

said they are not that concerned. The Israeli aviation authority says

Ben Gurion is safe for take-off and landing but there is a great deal of

concern among US air carriers and other European ones like Lufthansa,

because of this rocket which fell about a mile away from here

yesterday. Given what happened in Ukraine I think there is a sense of

a great deal of wishing to not take too many risks at the moment.

Bethany Bell at Ben Gurion Airport. Shimon Peres earlier criticised the

flight ban. I regret that airlines have suspended flights. The real

answer to the danger of flying is not to stop the flights but to stop

the rockets which are endangering the flights. If any understanding is

shown by the ones who fired the rockets it is endangering air

traffic. Shimon Peres. 18 Palestinians have been killed in

fighting today bringing the total number of casualties to almost 650,

more than 30 Israelis have also been killed so far. Our correspondent in

Gaza Yolande Knell gave me this update on the violence there.

Overnight the fighting continued into a 16th day, five people were

killed in the southern town of Khan Younis, as you mentioned, and we

also heard more shelling to the north-east of Gaza city this

morning. This is where Israel said it is targeting tunnels used by

Palestinian militants to launch cross-border raids into its

territory, and also to store the rockets that are launched into its

territory. But at the same time, perhaps, as some little signs of

encouragement and hope on the Palestinian side, particularly after

this meeting of the Palestine Liberation Organisation which is an

umbrella body for the Palestinian factions that met in Ramallah late

yesterday. And basically, it is headed by Palestinian President

Mahmoud 's. He and other members of the PLO came out afterwards backing

the central demands of Hamas for a cease-fire with Israel. It

strengthens the Palestinian position when it comes back to this Egyptian

efforts to mediate some kind of truce will stop what they are

supporting is the idea there should be the release of many of these

Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails and also an end to the very

tight border restrictions, the blockade of Gaza imposed by both

Israel and Egypt. And in particular they are looking to Cairo to reopen

the Rafah border crossing. At the moment we have not heard a reply

from the Hamas leadership to this suggestion and what the Palestinian

President Mahmoud Abbas is also saying, his Fatah faction, there

should be trees followed by five days of negotiation on these crucial

issues. Knell. There has been a response to Navi Pillay's words that

Israel might be committing war crimes from the Israeli ambassador

speaking at the human rights Council in Geneva. He said Israel had the

right to defend itself against attacks by Hamas, saying Hamas is

committing war crimes when it fires rockets and missiles

indiscriminately at Israeli towns and villages. It is launching

tunnels from Gaza into Israel, trying to attack villages and there

can be no moral symmetry, he says, between a terrorist aggressor and a

democracy defending itself. So, clearly the diplomacy has some way

to go. Stay with us on BBC Two, much more to come. The building that

appeared in a spy drama and why families were made to leave it. More

coming up. Nigeria's President Goodluck

Jonathan has had his first meeting with the parents of some of the 219

Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by The president has been criticised

for not doing enough to rescue the girls since they were taken

by Islamic militants in April. He sought to reassure them that

the government is working to secure 14 weeks after the girls were taken,

families and friends finally got the chance to meet Nigeria's president.

Mothers, fathers and some of the girls who escaped the kidnappers

came to the capital to find out what is being done to get them back.

Still full of grief and pain, but all eager to hear what Goodluck

Jonathan had to say. Afterwards, one father said he had been comforted by

the President's words. TRANSLATION: The president is going to make every

effort to bring the girls back. He has promised to sponsor the girls

after their rescue, to continue their education. That has given me

hope. Since April, when the girls were taken by militants from Boko

Haram, the Nigerian government has been accused of doing too little.

Critics say that the security forces are thinly spread, poorly armed and

badly motivated. Meanwhile, Boko Haram continues to attack

communities across the north of the country. The ongoing violence has

killed at least seven parents of the missing girls. Relatives say that

four more died from heart attacks or other illnesses. Northern Nigeria's

troubles appear to be getting worse, not better.

This is BBC World News. I'm Geeta Guru-Murthy.

The first bodies recovered from flight MH17 are being flown to

the Netherlands, where a national day of mourning is being held.

The UN human rights commissioner suggests Israel could be committing

war crimes in Gaza, as Israel's military operation

Back to our top story of the diplomatic repercussions

being discussed following the shooting down of the Malaysian

German politicians are now call for Moscow to be preventing from

hosting the next football World Cup in 2018, saying this would be more

Damian McGuiness is live for us in Berlin.

Is it actually Angela Merkel's supporters saying this? Because the

links between Germany and Russia are very strong. That's right. There are

deep trade and energy links between Germany and Russia. And what we have

seen today is some leading politicians in Germany saying that

they want to stop Russia holding the 2018 football World Cup, saying that

unless Moscow is more cooperative in solving the Ukraine crisis, it would

be outrageous to hold this international event there. But some

of the politicians are from different parties. Also, one of the

leaders of the Christian Democrats. It is across the board. There are

opposition -- there is opposition to the suggestion. The Foreign Minister

has said that it is too early to discuss such matters. But there is

suggestion that 60% of Germans would support the move. A lot of people

feel that economic sanctions are unpopular and will damage the German

economy but it might not necessarily be effective. This could be more a

way to get Moscow to be more cooperative. An emotive day to have

this discussion. We hear that the second flight with more coffins has

taken off from the airport in Ukraine. Those coffins being flown

back to the Netherlands. The question of how much to antagonise

the Russian bear, that has been discussed a lot in the last few

days. Given global pressures, not least in Iraq, Syria, Middle East

and Iran, how do you do business globally if Europe and the United

States cannot work with Russia long-term? Politicians everywhere

must have to look at that. It is about more than just football.

That's right. The debate has shown the debate -- how much of a turning

point the plane crash has been. Until last week, there was a feeling

in Germany that a lot of people here attempted to understand Moscow's

position. That patients with Moscow is evaporating because people are

very shocked by what has happened, not only the crash but they also

feel that Moscow has not done enough to ensure that the site itself is

accessible, so that an investigation can be thoroughly carried out. A lot

of people here who might have had sympathy for Moscow's edition say

that when it comes to Crimea, they no longer have that feeling. We saw

in your first report, pictures of EU leaders. Many people will say, the

economic crisis that Angela Merkel has brought Germany through, and

helped bring Europe through, has been paramount. Is she actually

going to risk that growth, that success by antagonising Russia? That

is the debate. It is very difficult to know which way she can go. On the

one side, she clearly does not want to jeopardise Germany's economic

growth. Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe. On the other

hand, there is growing pressure on the German government to take the

problems in Ukraine seriously. There is no call for military action in

Ukraine. There are very few calls for industry sanctions. Now it seems

that according to public opinion polls, the majority of Germans

favour some sort of economic sanction. This is quite new because

until recently sanctions were very unpopular here and business leaders

were lobbying fiercely, saying that they would really damage Germany's

economy. But since the plane crash, there is a glowing feeling --

growing feeling that if Germany suffers economic damage from

sanctions, there are still a number of people here prepared to take that

on the chin. Lots of countries, France and the UK not exempt from

the debate on what to do about Russia. For now, Damian, many

thanks. Venezuelan soldiers

and officials are in the process of removing more than

a thousand families from a 45-storey So far the eviction from the Tower

of David is proceeding peacefully. Over the years it developed

a notorious reputation for housing criminal gangs -

so much so it featured in the US TV But recently residents say it's

become a safe haven It is known as the vertical slum.

The tower of David sits in the heart of Caracas. It was support to the

Venezuela's answer to Wall Street but the banking centre failed to

materialise when funding ran out in 1994. Instead, 3000 squatters have

been living across the 45 floors. For almost a decade, the city's

purists have called this home. But this week, a mass action is

underway. These are the first of more than 1100 families to leave.

The government minister overseeing the programme says that it is not a

forced eviction and it is for their own group -- their own good. Anyone

can see the grave danger that this has presented. It is very risky.

Children, adults and Karzai have even fallen from the tower. Urgent

intervention is needed. Walls are missing, there are no lefts, and

water and power supplies are erratic. But it has become a

commune. Families are now being relocated to a town south of the

capital. Venezuela in soldiers and officials are assisting the process

of bull not everyone wants to go. TRANSLATION: I did not want to move

so far away. There are not any job opportunities there and I'll work

here in Caracas. I do not like this. It is all part of a flagship

policy called the great housing mission, initiated by Hugo Ch?vez

and intended to help the poor. Tatiana Livesey and is one of the

many excited about moving. She points out the damage from sewage

coming in. I hope that this week they find somewhere for me. Many

consider this a base for criminal gangs. Its reputation is so

notorious it featured in the US TV drama, Homeland. But with eviction

underway, what is thought to be the world's Hollister slum will soon

just be another empty building. -- Hollister slum.

After seven years of planning, the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games

The opening ceremony will feature thousands of athletes

from 71 Commonwealth nations and territories.

Here's a look at how the games came to be, and why.

The games begin very soon. And we will be there. Thanks are watching.