From our news desk. Ukraine investigating French visit to Crimea last week:
Ukraine has launched investigations into a recent visit by French lawmakers to annexed Crimea.
The probes were revealed by Ukrainian lawmaker Heorhiy Lohvinskiy, who on July 30 posted an official letter online from the Prosecutor General's office signed by Deputy Prosecutor-General Anatoliy Matios.
The letter says the investigations were launched into "the illegal entering and exiting of Ukraine's temporarily occupied territory" by French lawmakers.
On July 23, ten deputies from the French National Assembly visited Crimea, which was forcibly seized by Russia from Ukraine in March 2014 and then hurriedly annexed by the Kremlin after an illegal referendum.
The French lawmakers said ahead of their visit that their goal was to "understand how the population lives" and "counter the disinformation of European media" about Russia's internationally unrecognized annexation.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he was "shocked" by the visit -- the first there by Western dignitaries since Russia annexed the peninsula.
Fabius also condemned the delegation's visit as a breach of international law.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called the trip "irresponsible" and said it may impose entry bans on the French lawmakers.
More on Julie Bishop's condemnation of the MH17 veto:
Good morning. A fair bit of news from overnight.
-- Savchenko trial is due to open in Russia today
-- Russia has been criticized for its MH17 veto
-- IMF lauds Ukraine for its reforms
-- Ukraine charges Russian major with terrorism
This ends our live blogging for July 29. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
"ICAO" is presumably International Civil Aviation Organization, a UN agency. Wikipedia says:
Most air accident investigations are carried out by an agency of a country that is associated in some way with the accident. For example, the Air Accidents Investigation Branch conducts accident investigations on behalf of the British Government. ICAO has conducted three investigations involving air disasters, of which two were passenger airliners shot down while in international flight over hostile territory.
1. Libyan Arab Airlines Flight 114 which was shot down on 21 February 1973 by Israeli F-4 jets over the Sinai Peninsula during a period of tension that led to the Arab-Israeli Yom Kippur War killing 108 people.
2. Korean Air Lines Flight 007, which was shot down on 1 September 1983 by a Soviet Su-15 interceptor near Moneron Island just west of Sakhalin Island during a period of heightened Cold War tension killing all 269 people on board including U.S. Congressman Larry McDonald.[26]
3. UTA Flight 772, which was destroyed by a bomb on 19 September 1989 above the Sahara Desert in Niger, en route from N'Djamena, Chad, to Paris, France. The explosion caused the aircraft to break up, killing all 156 passengers and 15 crew members, including the wife of U.S. Ambassador Robert L. Pugh. Investigators determined that a bomb placed in the cargo hold by Chadian rebels backed by Libya was responsible for the explosion. A French court convicted in absentia six Libyans of planning and implementing the attack.[27]