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| Malaysian jet's disappearance among rarest of aviation disasters Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:34 PM PST By Niluksi Koswanage, Siva Govindasamy and Tim Hepher (Reuters) - The sudden disappearance of a Malaysia Airlines jetliner with 239 people aboard represents one of the rarest kinds of aviation disaster, and the mystery is compounded by uncertainty about which country's jurisdiction the plane came down in. But it has been more than 24 hours since the plane went missing and Malaysia Airlines said it was "fearing the worst". "Aircraft do not crash while en route like this," said Paul Hayes, Director of Safety at Flightglobal Ascend, a British-based aviation consultancy. "It is an extremely unusual event." Only one other recent disaster was similar: the loss of Air France Flight 447, which crashed in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009 en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris. Full Story | Top |
| U.S. sends team to investigate Malaysia Airlines crash Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:19 PM PST (Reuters) - The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Saturday it has dispatched a team to Asia to help investigate the crash of a Malaysia Airlines jet early Saturday that is presumed to have claimed 239 lives. The NTSB team is accompanied by technical advisers from the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration, the U.S. air safety regulator and Boeing Co, which made the 777-200ER jet that was lost while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. "Once the aircraft location is identified, International Civil Aviation Organization protocols will determine which country will lead the investigation," the NTSB said. Because of the travel time to Asia, the team departed from the United States on Saturday night so it could be in place to assist without delay, the NTSB said. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia probing two more passengers on missing flight: source Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:07 PM PST Malaysian authorities are investigating the identities of at least two other passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, in addition to two who were found to be using stolen passports, a security official said. Investigators were verifying the identities with the relevant embassies in Malaysia, said the official, who has knowledge of the investigation and declined to be identified. The passengers being checked had all bought their tickets through China Southern Airlines, the official said. Full Story | Top |
| Twenty employees of U.S. chipmaker among passengers on Malaysian flight Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:04 PM PST Twenty employees of U.S. chipmaker Freescale Semiconductor were passengers on a Malaysia Airlines flight presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast, according to a company statement on Saturday. The employees, among 239 people on the plane, included engineers and manufacturing staff, many of whom travel regularly between company facilities in Tianjin, China, and Kuala Lumpur, a company source said. None of Austin, Texas-based Freescale's most senior executives were on board Boeing Co's 777-200ER, which vanished from radar screens about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. Full Story | Top |
| China tests anti-smog drone aircraft Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:01 PM PST SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China tested a domestically-produced drone aircraft designed to disperse smog on Saturday, official media reported, in an important step for the country's domestic aviation industry. At the opening of an annual parliament meeting last week, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang said that China will "declare war on pollution. Almost all Chinese cities monitored for pollution last year failed to meet state standards. ... Full Story | Top |
| Malaysia Airlines says 'fearing the worst' for missing jet Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:17 PM PST Malaysia Airlines said on Sunday it now feared the worst for its missing plane carrying 239 people, more than a day after it went missing, and was working with a U.S. company that specializes in disaster recovery. "In fearing for the worst, a disaster recovery management specialist from Atlanta, USA will be assisting Malaysia Airlines in this crucial time," the airline said in a statement. Full Story | Top |
| Malaysian plane presumed crashed; questions over false IDs Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 05:07 PM PST  By Anuradha Raghu and Nguyen Phuong Linh KUALA LUMPUR/HO CHI MINH CITY (Reuters) - A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew was presumed to have crashed off the Vietnamese coast on Saturday, and European officials said two people on board were using false identities. There were no reports of bad weather and no sign of why the Boeing 777-200ER would have vanished from radar screens about an hour after it took off from Kuala Lumpur for Beijing. "We are not ruling out any possibilities," Malaysia Airlines CEO Ahmad Jauhari Yahya told a news conference. But the passenger manifest issued by the airline included the names of two Europeans - Austrian Christian Kozel and Italian Luigi Maraldi - who, according to their foreign ministries, were not in fact on the plane. Full Story | Top |
| North Korean-flagged tanker loads oil at seized Libyan port: officials Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 01:55 PM PST A North Korean-flagged tanker has started loading oil at a Libyan port seized by rebels in the east of the country, port and oil officials said on Saturday. The Libyan government threatened earlier on Saturday to bomb the vessel if it tried to ship the cargo out of Es Sider port. The rebels want to sell the oil to bypass the government and get a greater share of the country's oil wealth. "The loading has started," a port worker told Reuters. Full Story | Top |
| Libya threatens to bomb North Korean tanker if it ships oil from rebel port Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 01:54 PM PST  By Ulf Laessing and Feras Bosalum TRIPOLI (Reuters) - Libya threatened on Saturday to bomb a North Korean-flagged tanker if it tried to ship oil from a rebel-controlled port, in a major escalation of a standoff over the country's petroleum wealth. The oil dispute is just one facet of the deepening turmoil in the North African OPEC member, where the government is struggling to control militias who helped topple Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 but kept their weapons and now challenge state authority. A local television station controlled by protesters showed footage of pro-autonomy rebels holding a lengthy ceremony and slaughtering a camel to celebrate their first oil shipment. The station said the ceremony took place in Es Sider. Full Story | Top |
| Mickey Mouse and armed men: surreal scenes on Kiev protest square Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 01:30 PM PST By Timothy Heritage KIEV (Reuters) - Two weeks after Ukraine's president was overthrown, the cradle of the uprising is a surreal place as children play alongside diehard protesters still dressed in combat gear. Dozens of people were killed last month defending the barricades and fortified tent camp in Kiev's Independence Square, some of them shot by snipers in bloody clashes. Their main goal was achieved when President Viktor Yanukovich fell, but hundreds of grizzled protesters are still on the square. Full Story | Top |
| Warning shots fired to turn monitors back from Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 12:45 PM PST By Peter Graff and Andrew Osborn KIEV/SEVASTOPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - Shots were fired in Crimea to warn off an unarmed international team of monitors and at a Ukrainian observation plane, as the standoff between occupying Russian forces and besieged Ukrainian troops intensified. Russia's seizure of the Black Sea peninsula, which began 10 days ago, has so far been bloodless, but its forces have become increasingly aggressive towards Ukrainian troops, who are trapped in bases and have offered no resistance. President Vladimir Putin declared a week ago that Russia had the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russian citizens, and his parliament has voted to change the law to make it easier to annex territory inhabited by Russian speakers. Tempers have grown hotter in the last two days, since the region's pro-Moscow leadership declared it part of Russia and announced a March 16 referendum to confirm it. Full Story | Top |
| Pope names top economists, finance experts to Vatican body Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 12:44 PM PST  Pope Francis named top laymen from the worlds of finance and economics on Saturday to a new Vatican Council for the Economy, intended to improve scrutiny of the Holy See's scandal-plagued accounts. The creation of the 15-member council is a major step in bringing lay people into the Vatican, and reflects a drive by Francis to make changes to an establishment often seen as murky and secretive. The seven non-religious figures in the council include Maltese economist Joseph Zahra, former director of the Central Bank of Malta, and France's Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, chairman of mergers and acquisitions advisory firm INCIPIT and former head of the European Fund and Asset Management Association. Spanish University of Madrid economist Enrique Llano Cueto, German former McKinsey & Company partner Jochen Messemer, and Italian University of Messina Business Administration professor Francesco Vermiglio were also named members. Full Story | Top |
| Kerry urges Russia to exercise utmost restraint in Ukraine's Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 12:19 PM PST By Arshad Mohammed and Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON/KEY LARGO, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry warned Russia on Saturday that any steps to annex Ukraine's Crimea region would close the door to diplomacy, a U.S. State Department official said. Kerry's latest telephone call with his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, came as the standoff between occupying Russian forces and besieged Ukrainian troops intensified in Crimea. "He made clear that continued military escalation and provocation in Crimea or elsewhere in Ukraine, along with steps to annex Crimea to Russia would close any available space for diplomacy, and he urged utmost restraint," the official said. Full Story | Top |
| Central Europeans want U.S. gas to cut dependence on Russia Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 12:02 PM PST By Jan Lopatka PRAGUE (Reuters) - Four central European countries have asked the U.S. Congress to make it easier for them to import natural gas from the United States and reduce their dependence on supplies from Russia, the Czech Foreign Ministry said on Saturday. The Visegrad 4 group including Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia is looking to diversify supplies to eliminate the danger Russia could use its control of gas and oil flows to exert political pressure on the former Soviet satellite states. Supplies were briefly disrupted in 2009 during a dispute between Russia and Ukraine, through which much of the Russian gas is piped, and central Europeans fear they could be under threat again due to an escalation of tensions between Russia and the West over Russia's seizure of Crimea. Full Story | Top |
| Red Cross worker killed in Central African Republic Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 11:27 AM PST A Red Cross worker was killed on Saturday in the north of the Central African Republic, amid escalating religious violence that peacekeepers have been powerless to stop. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said in a statement armed men entered the Catholic mission in the northern town of Ndele, where four of its staff were based, and killed one of them, a Central African man. The attack came after warnings last week that humanitarian workers were at risk in the former French colony and calls from senior U.N. officials for the international community to deploy more troops. "We are outraged by this killing," said Georgios Georgantas, head of the ICRC delegation in the country. Full Story | Top |
| Obama reassures Baltic leaders on NATO defense amid Ukraine tensions Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 11:26 AM PST WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama, speaking to Baltic leaders on Saturday amid rising tensions in Ukraine, told them that the United States supports them and is committed to its NATO defense commitments, the White House said. "The President reaffirmed the United States' unwavering commitment to our collective defense commitments under the North Atlantic Treaty and our enduring support for the security and democracy of our Baltic allies," the White House said in a statement about the telephone call Obama held. ... Full Story | Top |
| Timeline: Political crisis in Ukraine and Russia's occupation of Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 11:25 AM PST KIEV (Reuters) - Here is a timeline of the fall of Ukraine's government and Russia's subsequent incursion into Ukraine's Crimea region. The crisis began in November when Ukraine's then president, Viktor Yanukovich, under Russian pressure, turned his back on a trade deal with the EU and accepted a $15 billion bailout from Moscow. That prompted three months of street protests, leading to the overthrow of Yanukovich on February 22. Moscow denounced the events as an illegitimate coup and refused to recognize the new Ukrainian authorities. ... Full Story | Top |
| Mother of Italian listed on Malaysia plane says passport stolen Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 10:48 AM PST  The mother of an Italian falsely listed as a passenger on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight said her son's passport had been lost, presumed stolen, in Phuket in 2013. "He lost his passport in Thailand, and he reported it to the authorities... Maybe the one who stole it came to a bad end, we don't know, they have to investigate," Renata Lucchi, the mother of 37-year-old Luigi Maraldi, told Reuters. An Austrian man falsely listed as a passenger had also had his passport stolen. Full Story | Top |
| Iraqi women protest against proposed Islamic law in Iraq Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 10:37 AM PST  By Suadad al-Salhy BAGHDAD (Reuters) - About two dozen Iraqi women demonstrated on Saturday in Baghdad against a draft law approved by the Iraqi cabinet that would permit the marriage of nine-year-old girls and automatically give child custody to fathers. The group's protest was on International Women's Day and a week after the cabinet voted for the legislation, based on Shi'ite Islamic jurisprudence, allowing clergy to preside over marriages, divorces and inheritances. "On this day of women, women of Iraq are in mourning," the protesters shouted. "We believe that this is a crime against humanity," said Hanaa Eduar, a prominent Iraqi human rights activist. Full Story | Top |
| Syria government forces take village near Lebanese border Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:46 AM PST  By Alexander Dziadosz BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian government forces seized a village in the central Homs province on Saturday, state media and a monitoring group said, as part of a push for control of areas along the Lebanese border. The village of al-Zara, west of the city of Homs, fell after "heavy clashes" between government and rebel forces, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, although the number of casualties was not immediately clear. In a statement on state news agency SANA, Syria's armed forces said they had established complete control over the village and killed and captured a "large number of terrorists", using state media's customary term for rebels fighting to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad. The victory gave government forces control over a route connecting central Syria to the Mediterranean coast and which had been used as "a primary route for terrorist groups coming from Lebanese territory to neighboring areas to carry out criminal operations", it said. Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine border guards patrol plane comes under fire Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:42 AM PST KIEV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian border patrol plane came under fire while flying at about 1,000 meters (3000 feet) near the administrative border with Russian-occupied Crimea on Saturday, the border guards said. No one was hurt when gunmen opened fire on the unarmed aircraft, a spokesman said. The Diamond light aircraft was flying three crew on an observation mission, the spokesman said. Russian forces took control of Crimea last week. Pro-Moscow separatists have declared the region part of Russia and plan a referendum for March 16 to confirm it. ... Full Story | Top |
| Lebanese march against domestic violence in rare non-partisan protest Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:21 AM PST  By Stephen Kalin BEIRUT (Reuters) - A few thousand protesters took to the streets of Beirut on Saturday to demand that politicians approve Lebanon's first law against domestic violence in a non-partisan display rarely seen in Lebanon's highly politicized climate. Organizers harnessed popular outrage over the deaths of two Lebanese women in suspected domestic violence cases which struck a nerve in a country where regular car bombs and rocket attacks have desensitized many to violence. Lebanon, known for its nightclubs, stylish boutiques and liberal social norms, offers women freedoms denied to many in the Arab world, but campaigners say one woman a month is killed by domestic violence in the country of 4 million. Many Lebanese took to social media following the deaths last month of Manal Assi and Cristelle Abou Chakra to condemn a seven-month delay in passing the domestic violence law, held up by political disagreements and backlog of bills linked to the Syrian civil war. Full Story | Top |
| Gulf airlines defend female cabin crew policies Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:15 AM PST  Qatar Airways and Emirates Airline have defended their policies on pregnancy and marriage for cabin crew after the Qatar carrier came under fire over its working conditions. The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is running a campaign against Qatar Airways over its monitoring of staff and rules preventing women from becoming pregnant and getting married. It has called on women across the globe to speak out against the airline on Saturday, International Women's Day. "The treatment of workers at Qatar Airways goes further than cultural differences. Full Story | Top |
| Far-right leader to run for president in Ukraine Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:08 AM PST By Pavel Polityuk KIEV (Reuters) - Ukrainian far-right leader Dmytro Yarosh said on Saturday he would run for president and launched a scathing attack on the new government, two weeks after he helped bring it to power through street protests. Yarosh's ultra-nationalist views make him a rank outsider in the May 25 election, but his remarks signaled a growing split with other leaders of the protest movement that toppled Moscow-backed Viktor Yanukovich as president on Feb 22. The outspoken leader of the Right Sector paramilitary movement, which wears black combat gear and ski masks, announced his presidential campaign despite being wanted by Russia on charges of incitement to terrorism. "I am running for president," Yarosh told a news conference, confirming a decision by Right Sector's leadership body. Full Story | Top |
| Two Yemeni soldiers, four militants killed in south: ministry Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:06 AM PST At least two Yemeni soldiers and four militants were killed in a clash on Saturday when al Qaeda fighters tried to attack a military compound in southern Yemen, the Defence Ministry said. The clash occurred when al Qaeda militants approached the compound in Lawdar town with suicide belts, hand grenades and explosive devices, the ministry said on its website. It later quoted a military source as saying four "terrorists" had been killed, one of whom had Saudi nationality and went by the name "Abu Musab". Yemen is home to one of al Qaeda's most lethal franchises, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Full Story | Top |
| Al Qaeda-linked militants in Lebanon apologize for civilian deaths Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 09:03 AM PST  A Sunni Lebanese militant group linked to al Qaeda has apologized for the civilian casualties of a suicide bombing last month and said its fight was against Iran and its ally Hezbollah, not Shi'ites in general. The Abdullah Azzam Brigades took credit for a February 19 attack on Shi'ite Iran's cultural center in Beirut that killed eight people in an area where support for the Shi'ite political and military movement Hezbollah runs strong. "The Abdullah Azzam Brigades' operations do not target Shi'ites in general, or any other sect, and we always stress to our martyrdom-seekers to be cautious and abort an operation if they think it could kill others than those targeted," it said. Lebanon has been increasingly hit by violence linked to the war in its much larger neighbor Syria, which has killed over 140,000 people over the last three years and forced millions to flee their homes, including nearly 1 million into Lebanon. Full Story | Top |
| Libya says will bomb North Korea-flagged tanker if it ignores orders Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:44 AM PST Libya will bomb a North Korea-flagged oil tanker trying to load crude at an eastern port controlled by armed protesters if the vessel fails to follow orders from the navy, Prime Minister Ali Zeidan said on Saturday. "The tanker will be bombed if it doesn't follow orders when leaving (the port). Full Story | Top |
| Ukraine's ambassador in Moscow meets Russian deputy minister Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:40 AM PST  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Ukraine's ambassador to Russia and a deputy Russian foreign minister held a "frank" meeting on Saturday, Moscow said, without giving details of any discussion of Russian-occupied Crimea. Envoy Vladimir Yelchenko met deputy minister Grigory Karasin, the Russian foreign ministry said, and "issues of Russo-Ukrainian relations were discussed in a frank atmosphere". Russia has denounced the overthrow of Ukrainian President President Viktor Yanukovich in mass protests last month as a coup, and declared the country's interim leadership illegitimate. ... Full Story | Top |
| Israel brings arms ship to dock, hopes to shame Iran Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:18 AM PST  A ship seized by the Israeli navy on suspicion of smuggling arms from Iran to the Gaza Strip docked on Saturday in Israel, which planned to put the cargo on display in hope of denting Tehran's rapprochement with the West. Israel said it found dozens of advanced Syrian-made rockets hidden on board in Iran and destined for the ship's next port in Sudan, from where they would have been trucked through Egypt to Gaza. Iran and Gaza's Islamist Hamas rulers, both hostile to the Jewish state, rejected the Israeli findings as fabrications. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been dismayed at world powers' nuclear diplomacy with Iran since Tehran installed the relatively pragmatic Hassan Rouhani as president last year, voiced hope they would now rethink the outreach. Full Story | Top |
| Two Europeans listed on missing Malaysia flight were not on board Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:14 AM PST Two men from Austria and Italy, listed among the passengers on a missing Malaysia Airlines flight, were not in fact on board, officials in both European countries said on Saturday, and at least one of them had had his passport stolen. A passenger manifest issued by Malaysia Airlines after its plane went missing off the Vietnamese coast with 227 passengers and 12 crew included the names of Christian Kozel, 30, from Austria, and Luigi Maraldi, 37, from Italy. But a foreign ministry spokesman in Vienna said the Austrian national was safe at home. That was the passenger list from Malaysia Airlines. Full Story | Top |
| No Italian on missing Malaysia Airlines plane, though listed Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 08:06 AM PST No Italian was on board a missing Malaysia Airlines plane, the Rome Foreign Ministry said on Saturday, despite an Italian citizen being included on the passenger list. The passenger list provided by the company includes Luigi Maraldi, 37, an Italian citizen. Police referred questions about whether Maraldi's passport had been registered as lost or stolen in Thailand to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which they said was responsible for thefts abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs referred the question to the Interior Ministry, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Full Story | Top |
| Russia may suspend arms inspection deal with US: reports Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:36 AM PST Russia may suspend nuclear arms inspections agreed in a treaty with the United States in reaction to Western sanctions over Ukraine, Russian news agencies on Saturday quoted an unnamed defense ministry source as saying. The pact is the linchpin of the nuclear arms control regime between the former Cold War foes and the main product of the 2010 "reset", a period of warmer ties that have since chilled. The source said the ministry was studying the possibility of suspending on-site inspections agreed in the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) between Moscow and Washington. The United States suspended military cooperation such as joint exercises and port visits with Russia on Monday as Washington sought ways to punish Moscow for its intervention in Ukraine. Full Story | Top |
| Austrian not on Malaysia plane, passport stolen: Foreign Ministry Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:27 AM PST An Austrian reported to have been aboard the Malaysia Airlines plane missing off the Vietnamese coast is safe at home and his passport was stolen, a Foreign Ministry spokesman in Vienna said on Saturday. "Our embassy got the information that there was an Austrian on board. That was the passenger list from Malaysia Airlines. Our system came back with a note that this is a stolen passport," he said. Full Story | Top |
| EU's Ashton visits Iran for first time; nuclear issue on agenda Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 07:22 AM PST  European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton arrived in Tehran on Saturday to discuss issues including Iran's disputed nuclear program, before another round of talks between Iran and world powers, Iranian media reported. During Ashton's two-day visit, her first to Iran and the first by an EU foreign policy chief since 2008, bilateral, regional and international issues will be discussed, the semi-official Fars news agency reported. Full Story | Top |
| Warning shots fired as OSCE mission turned away from Crimea Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:47 AM PST Warning shots were fired when an unarmed OSCE military observer mission was turned back while trying to cross into Ukraine's Crimea region on Saturday, the European security body said. An OSCE spokeswoman said in an e-mail that the mission was withdrawing to the nearest big city, Kherson, to decide on its next steps. The mission has been invited by Ukraine's government, but the Russian separatist authorities in Crimea say they have not given it permission to enter the region. Russian forces seized control of the region last week and President Vladimir Putin declared that Moscow has the right to invade Ukraine to protect Russians there. Full Story | Top |
| Russia won't switch off gas supply to Europe: Oettinger in magazine Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:38 AM PST European Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger does not expect Russia to switch off gas supplies to Europe over the Ukraine crisis, he told German magazine Wirtschaftswoche in an interview published on Saturday. "I don't believe it would be in Russia's interests," Oettinger was quoted as saying. Russian gas export giant Gazprom issued a thinly veiled warning on Friday that it could stop shipping gas to Ukraine over unpaid bills. Full Story | Top |
| Vietnam says oil slicks seen as it searches for Malaysia plane Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:33 AM PST  Vietnamese rescue planes have spotted large oil slicks and a column of smoke off its coastline, but it was not clear if they were connected to a missing Malaysia Airlines carrier, a transportation ministry official said on Saturday. The Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200ER plane carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew went missing off the Vietnamese coast early on Saturday as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing and was presumed to have crashed. "Vietnam rescue airplanes saw two oil spills and one smoke column in the area around 150 miles west of Tho Chu island, but we can't confirm it's from that Malaysia plane," Pham Quy Tieu, vice minister of transportation, told Reuters by telephone. The oil spills are about 15km long. Full Story | Top |
| Italy's Renzi plans 10 billion euro cut to income tax: report Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:31 AM PST  The Italian government of Matteo Renzi will propose a 10 billion euro cut to income tax, daily newspaper La Repubblica reported on Saturday, without giving a source for the information. But the 39-year-old must tread carefully to pursue growth without breaking European Union spending rules. The European Commission put Italy on its watch list last week due to its high public debt and weak competitiveness, meaning it will monitor reforms and could impose fines if they are not implemented. Renzi had previously promised a 10 billion euro cut to the tax wedge, the difference between what an employer pays and what a worker takes home, but had not clearly stated whether the reduction would come from income tax, social contributions or a regional tax on productive activities. Full Story | Top |
| Large Russian troop convoy moves to base near Simferopol: witnesses Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:18 AM PST SIMFEROPOL, Ukraine (Reuters) - A convoy of hundreds of Russian soldiers in about 50 troop trucks drove into a base near Crimea's capital Simferopol on Saturday, a Reuters reporting team in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian province said. The convoy was accompanied by 8 armored vehicles, two ambulances, petrol tankers and other hardware. Russia says its only troops in Crimea are those normally stationed there with its Black Sea Fleet, an assertion Washington calls "(President Vladimir) Putin's fiction". Kiev says there are 30,000 Russians in Crimea. ... Full Story | Top |
| Ukrainian authorities suffer new cyber attacks Saturday, Mar 08, 2014 06:13 AM PST Ukraine's top security body said on Saturday that it and the national news agency had been hit by cyber attacks, the latest suffered by state organizations since the start of the crisis over Crimea. The Ukrainian authorities said last week the country's telecommunications system had come under cyber attack, with equipment installed in Russian-controlled Crimea used to interfere with the mobile phones of members of parliament. "There was a massive DoS-attack on communication channels of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, which was apparently aimed at hindering a response to the challenges faced by our state," the Security and Defence Council said. Full Story | Top |
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