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A pro-Russian fighter guards the crash site. AP/Press Association Images

All 196 recovered bodies from MH17 crash site have been removed by rebels

The bodies have been taken to an unknown location.

Updated 10.51 am

SEPARATIST REBELS HAVE Separatist rebels have taken away all 196 bodies that workers recovered from the Malaysia Airlines crash site to an unknown location according to Ukraine’s emergency services.

Pro-Russian we yesterday seen putting bagged bodies onto trucks at the crash site Saturday in rebel-held eastern Ukraine and driving them away.

This morning AP journalists saw no bodies and no armed rebels at the crash site and emergency workers were searching the sprawling fields only for body parts.

Pro-Russian rebels who had been guarding the impact site also appeared to have left. Local emergency crews declined comment when contacted.

A top Ukrainian rebel leader had earlier said that the pro-Russian fighters will guarantee the safety of international monitors at the Malaysian jet’s crash site if Kiev agrees to a truce.

“We declare that we will guarantee the safety of international experts on the scene as soon as Kiev concludes a ceasefire agreement,” the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic’s deputy premier Andrei Purgin said in a statement.

He urged Kiev to “immediately conclude such an agreement” with the rebels.

Failure to do so would give the impression that the government is made up of “dangerous lunatics, bloodthirsty maniacs (who are) dangerous not only for the residents of Donbass but also for the world community”, Purgin warned.

Purgin’s statement came as the international community piled pressure on Russia to get the Moscow-backed rebels to grant investigators full access to the crash site of the Malaysian MH17 jet.

Malaysia Airlines has said meanwhile that it would offer full refunds to customers who want to cancel their tickets in the wake of the disaster, just months after the carrier suffered another blow when flight MH370 disappeared.

Passengers can change or cancel their tickets without financial penalty until Thursday for travel throughout the rest of the year, the struggling national airline said.

“In light of the MH17 incident, Malaysia Airlines will be waiving any change fees for passengers who wish to make changes to their itinerary to any MH destinations,” it said in a statement.

Australia Ukraine Plane Rob Griffith Rob Griffith

The move comes as Australians were Sunday remembering those killed on flight at church services, as stories emerged of parents losing children, and doctors, teachers and a nun among the dead.

Twenty-eight of the 298 people on the plane apparently shot down in eastern Ukraine on Thursday 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.

“You look at the faces of the dead and they’re your neighbours, they’re your friends, they could be your kids because let’s face it, we are a people who like to travel,” he told the ABC.

“My own daughters flew on MH17 some months ago on their way home from Europe. So this is a tragedy which touches us deeply.”

© – AFP 2014

Read: Rebels are ‘blocking investigators’ from MH17 crash site >

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    Mute John O'Neill
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    Nov 5th 2014, 12:54 PM

    “Chicks Dig Mo’s”! Very Australian or like something Mo himself would say. And why the bloody apostrophe in Mo’s???

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    Mute Michael Herron
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    Nov 5th 2014, 2:04 PM

    He is deliberately misundering the term to make a point. He points out that the “profit” of a charity is the money that gets directed entirely towards the cause.
    For profit companies often opt to take no profits out of the company, instead reinvesting with the goal of achieving the greatest profit in the long term. And their goals are clear.

    For a charity this might mean reinvesting in marketing or research or admin cost or whatever so that they can grow to the scale necessary to meet the need they hope to address. But the notion of charities reinvesting their proceeds is so taboo that it can prevent many well intetioned charities from achieve the scale they need to be effective.

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    Mute Chris Judge
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    Nov 5th 2014, 1:54 PM

    That seems like a pretty good turnover to me.

    If it was a ‘for-profit’ business, that would be a sweet profit margin

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    Mute Chris Judge
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    Nov 5th 2014, 1:57 PM

    Reply supposed to be to Declan O’Malley.

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    Mute Chris Judge
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    Nov 5th 2014, 2:24 PM

    ***to Eamon O’Malley…

    Not with it today.

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    Mute Richard Cynical
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    Nov 5th 2014, 3:33 PM

    Again is it a charity if the people running it our lining their own pockets

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    Mute Eamon O'Malley
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    Nov 5th 2014, 1:23 PM

    Hardly a surprising attitude when almost 25% of the total raised last year went to “running costs”. Only 60% raised went to irish cancer services

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    Mute Nicholas Murnane
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    Nov 5th 2014, 3:34 PM

    Where did you see this? Checked the site today….
    91.7% Allocated to Men’s Health Programs.
    1.8% Administration Costs.
    6.5% Fundraising Costs.
    http://ie.movember.com/about

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    Mute Eamon O'Malley
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    Nov 5th 2014, 4:39 PM

    Hi I got those figures from Sunday Business Post June 8th article “movembers irish costs are twice those of other markets”. I’d link to the article but it is behind a paywall. The breakdown for 2012 is 63% to irish cancer services, 10% Movember global action plan Ireland, 4%Movember global action plan research international, 23% campaign costs. The article mentions that 2013 campaign costs were almost 25% in Ireland – almost twice the international spend of 11.2. So there’s a big difference there between what they are saying in the website and those figures

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    Mute Richard Cynical
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    Nov 5th 2014, 5:28 PM

    100% of the money should go to cancer remember the website just takes a cut out of the donation movember is an idea not a way for the people who run the website to profit . I did it a while back did not use the website and gave all the money I raised to an actual charity

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    Mute Eamon O'Malley
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    Nov 5th 2014, 5:35 PM

    Just curious – and I really know I’m inviting opprobrium – but why the red thumbs to the previous posting? All I did was transcribe from a published article about Movember funding. No editorialising.

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    Mute Shane Crotty
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    Nov 6th 2014, 9:42 PM

    Isn’t the woman in the photo that actress that Tony Stark porked in Iron man 1?

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