At least 154 Dutch citizens have been killed in the Malaysian passenger crash in the eastern part of Ukraine on Thursday, the airlines’ European head said.

Simon Smits, the Vice Minister for Foreign Trade from the Kingdom of the Netherlands and a Dutch trade delegation of 5 high level business representatives concluded a successful Sri Lanka visit. Right from the outset of the trade mission, the Vice-Minister emphasized that  - after a 40 year focus on development cooperation - this mission is the start in a long term heightened trade relationship between the two countries, giving credibility to the Dutch Embassy’s motto: Sri Lanka – The Netherlands, Old Friends – New Trends.

Even as the whole world is coping with the Malaysian airline MH 17 tragedy, news reports suggest that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flight was on the same flight path as that of MH 17. PM Modi, who returned on late Thursday night after attending the BRICS Summit in Brazil, left Frankfurt two hours before the Malaysian plane was shot down.

The swearing-in ceremony of President Bashar al-Assad was held Wednesday and followed by an inauguration speech, in which Assad outlined the features of his third seven-year-term in office, basically continuing to fight terrorism, support national reconciliation and embark on reconstruction process.