International

China “very worried” about missing Malaysian plane, says China’s Foreign Minister

  (Reuters) — China is very worried over a Beijing-bound passenger plane that has lost contact with air traffic control, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Saturday (March 8). A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew lost contact with air traffic controllers early on Saturday en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, the airline said in a statement. China’s state television CCTV said 160 Chinese nationals were onboard the flight. China has launched an emergency mechanism after Malaysian flight carrying 160 Chinese […]

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Ukraine standoff intensifies; Russia says sanctions will ‘boomerang’

(Reuters) – Russia said any U.S. sanctions imposed on Moscow over the crisis in Ukraine will boomerang back on the United States and that Crimea has the right to self-determination as armed men tried to seize another Ukrainian military base on the peninsula. In a telephone conversation with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned against “hasty and reckless steps” that could harm Russian-American relations, the foreign ministry said on Friday. […]

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No signal picked up from missing Malaysia Airlines plane – Vietnam official

(Reuters) – No signal had been picked up from a Malaysia Airlines Boeing B777-200 aircraft flight carrying 239 passengers and crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, a Vietnamese rescue official said on Saturday. “We have been seeking but no signal from the plane yet,” Pham Hien, director of a Vietnam maritime search and rescue coordination center in Vung Tau, told Reuters by telephone. Vietnamese and Chinese media had reported that a signal from the plane […]

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In Ukraine, nationalists gain influence – and scrutiny

(Reuters) – When protest leaders in Ukraine helped oust a president widely seen as corrupt, they became heroes of the barricades. But as they take places in the country’s new government, some are facing uncomfortable questions about their own values and associations, not least alleged links to neo-fascist extremists. Russia’s president Vladimir Putin claims Ukraine has fallen into the hands of far-right fascist groups, and some Western experts have also raised concerns about the influence […]

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Suspected Russian spyware Turla targets Europe, United States

(Reuters) – A sophisticated piece of spyware has been quietly infecting hundreds of government computers across Europe and the United States in one of the most complex cyber espionage programs uncovered to date. Several security researchers and Western intelligence officers say they believe the malware, widely known as Turla, is the work of the Russian government and linked to the same software used to launch a massive breach on the U.S. military uncovered in 2008. […]

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Malaysian Airlines plane with 239 people on board disappears on the way to Beijing

(Reuters) – A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing went missing over the South China Sea on Saturday, prompting China to send ships to scour the water for possible wreckage. The airline, speaking several hours after the plane had been due to land in the Chinese capital, said it was still too early to say whether the aircraft had crashed. It said there had been no distress […]

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EU and US start Russia sanctions, call Crimea referendum illegal

The EU and US have both announced preliminary steps against Russia over the situation in Crimea. Chancellor Angela Merkel said EU economic sanctions could follow within days unless Russia changes tack. The European Union announced that it would suspend talks with Russia on visa matters after a hastily-convened leaders’ summit to address the Crimean crisis on Thursday afternoon. The European Council statement also announced the postponement of ongoing negotiations, started in 2008, seeking a more […]

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Two dead in Venezuela violence as protests drag on

By Girish Gupta CARACAS Thu Mar 6, 2014 6:28pm EST (Reuters) – A Venezuelan soldier and a motorcyclist died in a confused melee sparked by the opposition’s barricading of a Caracas street, officials said on Thursday, boosting the death toll from nearly a month of violence to 20. Demonstrators have for weeks staged rallies and set up barricades to demand the resignation of President Nicolas Maduro, leading to clashes with security forces and government supporters. […]

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Crimea votes to join Russia, Obama orders sanctions

BY ALISSA DE CARBONNEL AND LUKE BAKER (Reuters) – Crimea’s parliament voted to join Russia on Thursday and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum in 10 days’ time in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian region that drew a sharp riposte from U.S. President Barack Obama. Obama ordered sanctions on those responsible for Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, including bans on travel to the United States and freezing of their U.S. assets. He […]

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Ukrainian prime minister says Crimea referendum ‘illegitimate’

Ukraine’s prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, has called Crimea’s planned referendum to join the Russia Federation “illegitimate.” The Black Sea peninsula remains an “integral” part of Ukraine, he said.   In a press conference in Brussels on Thursday, Ukrainian premier Yatsenyuk urged Moscow to withdraw its troops to their barracks in Crimea and to end its support for separatism on the peninsula. “We urge the Russian government to pull back its military into barracks, not to […]

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One-Third Of Syria’s Chemical Weapons Removed Or Destroyed

(Reuters) — The special coordinator overseeing the elimination of chemical weapons in Syria said on Wednesday that Syria will accelerate the removal of chemical weapons to meet the overall deadline for the program at the end of June. Sigrid Kaag, head of the Joint Mission of the United Nations (UN) and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons, made the remarks to journalists at the UN headquarters after she briefed to the Security Council behind closed doors. “There has been an acceleration and […]

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