Memorial services have been held in Australia to honor those killed on Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine.
Twenty-eight of the 298 people on the plane apparently shot down in eastern Ukraine on July 17 were Australians, while eight more were permanent residents of the country.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott, who attended a Catholic mass in Sydney, spoke of the nation's anguish, saying there would hardly be any Australians who hadn't been emotionally touched by the tragedy.
In Melbourne, a special mass was held for the HIV/AIDS experts and campaigners who had boarded the Malaysia Airlines flight as they made their way to that city for an international AIDS conference.