Two events are taking the attention of the world now – Russian action in Ukraine and beyond, and the search for flight MH370 – and as a result, the high level summit assembled in the Hague to discuss strengthening nuclear security is overshadowed to the point of obliteration.

The crisis in Ukraine has sad similarities to what occurred in Syria: in both situations Russia and the US (along with other western allies) supported different sides; civil war has been an outcome in Syria and is threatened in Ukraine; each country is or was a civilised land of historical, geopolitical and economic significance; and the two incumbent regimes  have inflicted great harm on their people. What has happened in Syria serves as a stark warning for the players involved in the potential collapse of Ukraine.

It is a sign of the advent of autumn when I am up before the birds, and it is half-dark still. So it was today, with rustling from the hedgerows as I woke sleepy blackbirds by putting out their food, as bats returning home swooped over my head and a late owl hooted in the oaks.

A week on from the bombing of the Boston Marathon and its violent aftermath, puzzling uncertainties, perhaps discrepancies, are becoming apparent about what happened and why.