Other News

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. […]

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 […]

Mexico telecoms regulator reins in Slim and his empire

    (Reuters) – Mexico’s telecommunications watchdog on Friday slapped regulations on Carlos Slim’s telephone company America Movil and two of his financial and industrial companies, as it seeks to rein in the multi-billionaire and boost competition. Mexico is trying to open up its phone and TV industries following the passage last year of wide-ranging telecoms reform meant to claw back the vast market shares enjoyed by Mexico’s media players. America Movil controls about 80 […]

2014 Winter Paralympics underway in Sochi

The 2014 Winter Paralympics have begun in Sochi, Russia. Just one Ukraine athlete participated in the opening ceremony, amid simmering tensions over Crimea. After all 45 teams had taken part in the opening ceremony at the Fisht Stadium on Friday, the Games were officially opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin: “I declare the 2014 Winter Paralympic Games open,” he said. Ukraine was among those nations that participated in the opening ceremony, but warned it could […]

Ukraine Paralympic chief says will quit Games if Russia invades

(Reuters) – Ukraine’s Paralympic chief said on Friday his team would quit the Winter Paralympic Games if Russia invaded his home country, adding that he hoped the competition would be able to spread peace instead. Russia is holding the Games in the Black Sea resort of Sochi at a time when it is being criticized for its actions in Ukraine’s southern region of Crimea, where the West accuses Russia of seizing military and government institutions. […]

‘Everything is fine’, Pistorius told guard after shooting girlfriend

(Reuters) – Around 10 minutes after shooting dead his model girlfriend through a locked toilet door, South African track star Oscar Pistorius told a housing estate security guard “everything is fine”, his murder trial heard on Friday. Testifying on the fifth day of the trial at the Pretoria High Court, Pieter Baba, who was on guard duty the night Pistorius killed 29-year-old Reeva Steenkamp, said he received a call from the athlete at 3:21 a.m., […]

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 […]

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. […]

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 […]

Palace hopes tensions on Hacienda Luisita will not worsen

MANILA, March 7 (PNA) — As tensions in the disputed Hacienda Luisita in Tarlac continue to run high, Malacanang on Friday expressed hope that will not worsen. Reports showed that there have been bulldozing and fencing activities in the area which have gotten agrarian reform beneficiaries worried that there would be a repeat of the Hacienda Luisita massacre in 2004 where at least seven protesting farmers died in a clash with the police and military. […]