The wife of a New Zealander who was on board MH370 says she was "absolutely floored" when she heard another Malaysia Airlines flight had ended in tragedy.

The Kremlin said Mr Putin had informed President Obama of the disaster after learning of it just before a scheduled phone call between the two.

Airlines including Deutsche Lufthansa and KLM has said they will avoid flying over eastern Ukraine after the crash of a Malaysian Airlines jet.

Yvonne van Dongen gets a telling off about her improper tea drinking habits from her Basil Fawlty-esque guide in the Cameron Highlands.

Everything you need to know about Malaysian Airlines MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine.

A deleted social media post by a separatist militia leader has led to accusations that pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine are to blame for the Malaysia Airlines crash.

We have live updates from the investigation into the shooting down of Malaysia Airlines MH17.

Images of Malaysia Airlines MH17 which crashed over Ukraine.

Soviet-built BUK surface-to-air missile launcher believed to have brought down Air Malaysia flight at 33,000ft.

Opposition parties attacked the terms of reference of the sex case inquiry, released yesterday, for not specifically identifying the role of Mr McCully for scrutiny.

Police say they sought to remove the bail conditions for the Malaysian diplomat at the centre of a sex case — including an order to surrender his passport — because the conditions were not enforceable under diplomatic immunity.

Hone Harawira says he made a "big mistake" for earlier dismissing the sex assault case involving a Malaysian diplomat as a "big fuss about bugger all".

The woman at the centre of a diplomatic incident and the victim of an alleged attack says Foreign Minister Murray McCully should resign.

The Malaysian Government has given an assurance that the military warrant officer alleged to have committed burglary and sexual assault will be sent back to New Zealand.

Malaysian officials are silent over when diplomat Warrant Officer 2 Muhammad Rizalman Ismail will be returned to NZ to face burglary and sexual assault charges.

The return of a Malaysian diplomat to NZ to face a sex charge seems far from certain, as his doctors last night warned he may not be well enough to travel.

The more that emerges in the story we broke last Sunday the more disturbing it becomes that diplomatic immunity should be so badly handled.

The Malaysian diplomatic aide accused of burglary and intent to rape could be sent back to New Zealand without diplomatic immunity as early as Monday.

A Malaysian diplomat facing charges will be arrested at the border as soon as he arrives in the country and taken to the nearest court, police say.

Murray McCully says it was "good and proper process" for him to leave the case of a Malaysian diplomat accused of sex crimes to authorities for seven weeks.

Malaysia has done the right thing in its surprise announcement tonight that it will send a diplomat and warrant officer back to New Zealand to face sex charges.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs head John Allen offered to resign over his ministry's mishandling of the case of a Malaysian diplomat who left the country after an alleged attempt to rape a Wellington woman.

The Malaysian Government asked NZ to drop all charges and seal the court record of an official accused of sexual assault, documents released by NZ officials show.

British High Commissioner Vicki Treadell says Britain would not abuse diplomatic immunity because it is there for a good reason.

The Malaysian Government asked New Zealand to drop all charges against a diplomat accused of sexual assault, newly released documents show.

The possibility that missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 became a ghost plane has raised new questions in one of aviation's greatest mysteries.

Countries searching for the missing Malaysian plane have yet to agree on how to share costs, an Australian search leader said.

After a fruitless three-month hunt for flight MH370, Australian authorities have taken the first step towards handing over search operations to a private contractor.