Defense lawyers for a Russian charged with involvement in the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine in 2014 said Tuesday that the nearly six-year investigation into the deadly incident still has not produced a definitive picture of what happened and further investigations are needed. The claim came at the trial of three Russians and a Ukrainian charged with crimes including murder for their alleged involvement in what prosecutors say was a missile attack that blew the Amsterdam-to-Kuala Lumpur flight out of the sky, killing all 298 passengers and crew on board on July 17, 2014. In a move that could significantly delay the trial, Dutch lawyers representing Russian suspect Oleg Pulatov asked for clarifications and translations of evidence already produced by prosecutors and more investigations, including questioning more than 100 witnesses. Lawyer Sabine ten Doesschate said she and the defense team would have more requests for further investigations in the future after they have been able to travel to Russia to speak with Pulatov. She said lawyers have not been able to visit Pulatov because of coronavirus lockdown restrictions. <br/>
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American Airlines said Tuesday it expects to raise about $2b through a stock-and-notes offering in an effort to bolster its balance sheet to better deal with a slowdown in travel due to the COVID-19 crisis. The company plans to offer 74.1m shares of its common stock priced at $13.50 per share, representing a 15.6% discount to Friday’s close, the last trading day before the company announced its plan to secure $3.5b in new financing. American also said it would offer $1b in convertible senior notes with 6.5% coupon rate due 2025 in public offerings. The deal size increased from $1.5b in equity and convertible bonds as announced on Sunday. The carrier still plans to offer $1.5b in senior secured notes and intends to enter into a new $500m term loan facility due 2024.<br/>
The outbreak of COVID-19 and resulting travel restrictions has thrown up its fair share of anomalies in the world of aviation. Some unusual airlines flew into Australia for the first time, while a small airport in Alaska suddenly found itself becoming the world's busiest. The latest anomaly has put a new carrier at the top of the world's biggest airlines list. Qatar Airways is now the world's largest airline based on revenue passenger kilometres (RPK) flown. Not only did Qatar become the world's largest airline based on this measure in April, it accounted for an extraordinary 17.6% of all passenger kilometres worldwide for the month. Previously it wasn't even in the top 10. The airline has now flown 50m kilometres and 1.8m passengers on more than 15,000 flights during the crisis. Qatar Airways also became the only international carrier from the region to continue regular flights into Australia as other airlines grounded their fleets due to travel restrictions. Key rival Emirates suspended its Australian routes on March 25, resuming flights to some cities on May 21.<br/>