The second black box has been found:
Emergency workers at the scene of a Malaysian jetliner crash in eastern Ukraine have found the plane’s second black box – a device carrying data that can help determine what happened during the flight’s final moments.
Pro-Russian separatist fighters who control the crash site say they recovered one black box on July 17 and had sent it to Moscow.
Rescue workers, police, and off-duty coal miners on July 18 found the second black box while searching the area in eastern Ukraine where the jetliner crashed a day earlier, killing all 298 aboard.
Pro-Russian separatists vowed on July 18 that international investigators would be given access to the crash site. But it was not immediately clear what would happen to the second black box.
Ukraine’s government has accused pro-Russian separatists of shooting down the plane.
The separatists and Russian President Vladimir Putin are blaming Ukraine.
We had this last night, but here is audio with English subtitles of the alleged discussions between separatists and between separatists and a Russian military official over the downing of the plane.
Some decent analysis here. Joshua Keating argues in Slate that rather than being an Archduke Ferdinand moment, the downing of the plane might actually change very little.
Any smoking-gun evidence tying separatist rebels to the crash or the separatists to Russia will be spun and denied. The rebels will deny they shot down the planem and the Russian government—as it has continually—will deny that it is supporting the rebels.
There will be pressure on the U.S. to respond forcefully against Russia, but new sanctions were announced just yesterday. The high number of European casualties on the plane may spur calls for the EU to step up its sluggish response, but those measures were also already in the works.
Just a reminder of what Putin said last night after the crash:
Good graphic from the WSJ:
Good morning, starting the live blog for another day. Here is our wrap from our news desk with all the latest on the crash of the Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine.