Drunken militants interfere with the investigation into the crash of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 in Ukraine – Prime Minister Abbott labels the plane crash “a crime” – Israel says it has located so-called “terrorist tunnels” in Gaza, but the number of refugees skyrockets – And a lot more in your CareerSpot World News Briefs:

Pro-Russian militants have taken control of the scene where most of the wreckage of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 came crashing to earth in eastern Ukraine, and they’re preventing a team of international investigators from gaining full access to the site.  Michael Bociurkiw of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said despite being assured by a rebel commander his team would have access; instead, Bociurkiw said, “A visibly intoxicated armed guard fired his rifle in the air when one of the observers walked out of the prescribed area.”

The flight crashed on Thursday, killing 298 people including 28 Australians.  Both US President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Tony Abbott came down hard on Russia’s apparent involvement in the surface-to-air missile strike to downed the Boeing 777-200.  The American President called the crash an “outrage of unspeakable proportions”, and called for an immediate ceasefire in the area so that a “credible international investigation” can be conducted (see above).  Obama clarified that the plane blasted out of the sky by a missile fired from rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine.  The downing of MH17 was “not an accident, it was a crime,” said Tony Abbott, “and criminals should not be allowed to get away with what they’ve done.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten says Australia should consider banning Russian President Vladimir Putin from the upcoming G20 summit in Brisbane, because of his government’s “reckless and stupid” actions leading up to the MH17 disaster.  “For an outside nation to have supplied these Ukrainian rebels with this weaponry of war and murder is a very, very reckless and stupid act,” he told reporters in Melbourne. 

A London-based reporter quit the Kremlin-run RT news network.  “I resigned from RT today.  I have huge respect for many in the team, but I’m for the truth,” wrote Sara Firth on her social media account.  Firth had complained about having to “spread lies” for the Kremlin, and claimed that immediately after MH17 crashed reporters were told to blame Ukraine.  She also said it wasn’t a very nice place to work.  Washington-based reporter Liz Wahl publicly quit RT in March after Russia invaded and annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

The United Nations says the number of internal refugees in Gaza has nearly doubled since Israel launched a ground invasion to find Hamas rocket positions and tunnels – now more than 40,000 people being protected in 34 UN shelters.  296 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in the past 10 days.  The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) says it has found a number of tunnels that were allegedly used to gain access to Israeli territory, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has warned of a “significant expansion” of the offensive.

An appeals court in Milan overturned former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s conviction for paying for sex with an underage prostitute at his infamous “Bunga Bunga” parties.  Berlusconi’s lawyer said it “goes beyond our rosiest expectations”.  Prosecutors can take the case up one more rung to the Court of Cassation.  Berlusconi is still convicted of tax fraud and is performing service.

Parents in Bangalore, India have stopped sending their children to a school at which two staff members raped a six-year old girl.  Police have yet to make arrests in the case, which is the latest manifestation of India’s horrible problem with rampant sex assaults and the authorities’ need to be kicked in the pants in order to get anything done about it.  Parents say the school staff at first tried to cover up the crime, which they learned about in the newspapers.

Suspected Boko Haram militants attacked Damboa town in northeastern Nigeria, and it doesn’t look good.  The death toll is 18, but is expected to rise.  Boko Haram’s scorched earth modus operandi has been to go into these remote towns, kill hundreds of people, and destroy buildings.  Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Parliament has adjourned for a two month vacation – without approving President Goodluck Jonathan’s request to seek US$1 Billion in financing for military operations against Boko Haram.

And now, Arturo The Sad Polar Bear:

Nearly 200,000 people have signed a petition to move a distressed Polar Bear from a zoo in Mendoza, Argentina to a facility in Canada.  Arturo was nicknamed “the world’s saddest animal” for good reason:  He’s 29 year old, which is pretty advanced for a Polar Bear; he lives alone in an outdated concrete enclosure in a city where temperatures can reach 40C; and he has displayed signs of severe depression and neurosis ever since his mate died two years ago. 

“You can see he is going crazy,” said Professor Maria Fernanda Arentsen of Universite de Saint-Boniface in Manitoba, Canada.  “He has been filmed rocking back and forth in a way that signals distress.  It breaks my heart to see it.  I’m from Mendoza.  I know how hot summer is.  There is no way for him to escape the heat.  He looks so sad.  He looks in pain.”

It’s not just tree-hugging animal lovers from PETA who are concerned for Arturo.  Even Newt Gingrich, the conservative former US House Speaker from the 1990s and current CNN commentator, got involved.

You can sign the petition, and increase pressure on Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and the Mendoza Zoo to do the right thing and send Arturo back to Canada for his twilight days.