Russia vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution on Wednesday that sought to set up a special tribunal to try those responsible for shooting down flight MH17 over Ukraine.

Eleven of the 15 members of the Security Council voted in favor of the resolution, which had been drafted by Australia, Belgium, Malaysia, the Netherlands and Ukraine.

Embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on Tuesday replaced his deputy premier and sacked his attorney general amid a growing scandal that  threatens his hold on office.

Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin, who has been critical of Najib's handling of the scandal involving state-owned development company 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), was replaced, Najib said in a televised address.

Thailand on Friday said it would indict 72 people including a senior army officer over human trafficking after the plight of desperate Myanmar and Bangladesh migrants stranded at sea triggered an international outcry over the grim trade.

The move comes after vast people-smuggling networks unraveled in May when thousands of migrants were abandoned in open waters and jungle camps by traffickers following a Thai crackdown, a crisis that eventually forced a Southeast Asia-wide response.

Russia said Monday it has introduced an alternative U.N.resolution opposed to creating a tribunal that would prosecute those responsible for the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over rebel-held east Ukraine.

The Netherlands, whose citizens made up the majority of the 298 people killed in the July 2014 disaster, is working with Malaysia and other countries to create an international tribunal.

Relatives of victims of flight MH17 that was shot down over Ukraine a year ago joined emotional memorials on Friday as calls mounted for a U.N.-backed tribunal to prosecute those responsible for the tragedy.

All 298 passengers and crew -- the majority Dutch -- died on July 17 last year when the Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777, on a flight from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur, was downed over rebel-held east Ukraine during heavy fighting between Kiev's armed forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Myanmar's navy has discovered over a hundred migrants stranded for weeks on a southern island, state media said Tuesday, in the wake of a regional boat crisis earlier this year.

The group of 102 men were picked up by Myanmar's navy off the coast of the country's southernmost Tanintharyi region, according to a report by the Global New Light of Myanmar.

U.S. prosecutors have tried to link a prominent businessman in the State of Iowa to a scheme in which four defendants are charged with using his shipping company facilities to smuggle weapons to Lebanon.

Bill Aossey Jr. had been in contact with the suspects, one of whom is a close friend, and is shown on surveillance video briefly going into one of the containers after it was packed, prosecutors in Cedar Rapids argued Monday.

Families of those killed when Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 was shot down over Ukraine last year demanded justice Saturday at an emotional memorial ceremony ahead of the first anniversary of the disaster.

The sombre memorial service at Kuala Lumpur International Airport was attended by Prime Minister Najib Razak, and relatives of those who died used the opportunity to air their continued frustrations over the handling of the tragedy.

Russia said Thursday it will oppose a draft U.N. resolution circulated by Malaysia on establishing an international tribunal to prosecute those behind the downing of Flight MH17 over Ukraine.

Deputy U.N. Ambassador Petr Iliichev confirmed Moscow's opposition to the plan, saying: "It's not a good time and it's counterproductive."

Malaysia on Wednesday circulated a draft U.N. resolution on establishing an international tribunal that it said would guarantee an independent trial for those behind the downing of flight MH17 over Ukraine.

Malaysia told the Security Council last week that it was ready to move ahead with the proposed tribunal despite resistance from Russia, which has said the move is premature.