Carried by soldiers and draped in the national flag, coffins carrying Malaysian victims of Flight MH17 returned home yesterday to a country still searching for those onboard another doomed jet and a government battling the political fallout of both tragedies.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak says that the leader of the pro-Russian rebels has agreed to hand over both black boxes from Flight 17 to Malaysian investigators who are in Ukraine.

Malaysia’s prime minister has said the search for the missing airliner will not stop until answers are found, as his Australian counterpart called it “the most difficult in human history”.

Malaysia’s prime minister has arrived at the Australian air force base serving as a hub for the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370.

Several dozen Chinese relatives of passengers on Flight MH370 have demanded that Malaysia apologise for its handling of the search for the missing plane and for the prime minister’s statement saying it crashed in the southern Indian Ocean.

China demanded yesterday that Malaysia turn over the satellite data used to conclude that a Malaysia Airlines jetliner had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, killing 239.

Malaysia says it has narrowed the search area for a downed airliner by 80% in the southern Indian Ocean, while Australia said improved weather would allow the hunt for possible debris from the plane to resume.

China has demanded that Malaysia turn over satellite data it used to conclude that a passenger jet was lost in the southern Indian Ocean with no survivors during a flight to Beijing.

With the exact location of Flight 370 still unknown, profound questions remain about what brought down the aircraft and why.

Relatives shrieked and sobbed uncontrollably, men and women nearly collapsed, held up by loved ones, as their grief came pouring out after 17 days of waiting for definitive word on the fate of the missing Malaysia jetliner.

The missing Malaysian airliner was deliberately diverted and continued flying for more than six hours after losing contact with the ground, Malaysia’s leader said.

Malaysia’s governing coalition won national elections yesterday to extend its 56 years of unbroken rule.

About 45,000 people joined a massive opposition rally today in Malaysia’s largest city in a show of force ahead of key general elections due in months.

Malaysia’s leader has warned voters that their country risks economic collapse if the opposition wins national elections that must be held by mid-2013.

Muslim rebels and the Philippine government overcame decades of bitter hostilities and took their first tentative step towards ending one of Asia’s longest-running insurgencies today.

Police unleashed tear gas and chemical-laced water today at thousands of demonstrators who staged one of Malaysia’s largest street rallies in years, demanding fair rules for national elections expected soon.

British Prime Minister David Cameron arrived in Burma today in what is believed to be the first visit to the former colony by a British prime minister.

Police fired tear gas and detained hundreds of activists as more than 10,000 demonstrators massed across Malaysia’s largest city demanding electoral reforms in the country’s biggest political rally in years.

Malaysia’s prime minister urged a woman scheduled to be caned for drinking beer to appeal against the sentence.

Police broke up Malaysia’s biggest street protest in nearly two years today, firing tear gas and chemical-laced water at thousands of opposition supporters demanding an end to a law that allows detention without trial.

Riot police fired tear gas in a clash with at least 10,000 opposition supporters who marched in Malaysia’s main city today to protest at a law allowing detention without trial.

Malaysia’s new prime minister urged the local media to criticise the government “without fear,” but stopped short of saying if he would remove the annual licensing system that shackles publications.

Malaysia’s sixth prime minister will take over a weakened government within a week, burdened by pressure to fix the blunders that forced his predecessor to step down amid political and economic disquiet.

Malaysia’s Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak was formally declared the president of the ruling United Malays National Organisation party.

A Sudanese jet veered off a runway tonight and exploded into flames, killing about 100 people, Sudan’s state television reported.

News reports say Malaysia’s prime minister has accepted responsibility for his ruling coalition’s recent poor election results and will hand over power to his deputy after December.

AT least 42 people, including foreign tourists, were killed yesterday after being swept away by tidal waves on a Malaysian resort island and in other areas, government officials and police said.

Malaysia will not permit the United States to conduct air strikes and covert attacks against any terrorists, government leaders have said.