Tag: world

A powerful 7.6 magnitude earthquake has rocked northern Chile, just over 24 hours after an 8.2 tremor killed six people, destroyed 2,600 houses and led to mass evacuations. A tsunami alert in Chile and Peru was again issued, but was…

Nato foreign ministers have agreed to suspend all practical civilian and military co-operation with Russia. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region was the gravest threat to European security for a generation. There could be…

The US ambassador to India has resigned and will return to the United States after less than two years, the embassy said in a statement on Monday. Nancy Powell’s move comes following a diplomatic row that strained relations between the…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a “partial withdrawal” of troops from the border with Ukraine, the German government has said. Mr Putin informed Chancellor Angela Merkel of the move in a telephone conversation, according to her office. Thousands of…

A court in Pakistan has charged former military ruler Pervez Musharraf with treason, the first army chief to face such a prosecution. Mr Musharraf is accused of unlawfully suspending the constitution and instituting emergency rule in 2007. He pleaded not…

Relatives of Chinese passengers from the missing Malaysian plane have vented their anger at government officials, after arriving in Kuala Lumpur. Chanting “Tell us the truth”, they said they wanted the Malaysian prime minister to apologise for what they regard…

Insurgents are attacking the headquarters of the Afghan election commission in Kabul, a week before the presidential election, police say. Gunmen have entered a nearby building and are firing at the election commission with automatic weapons. The attack comes a…

Russian President Vladimir Putin called US President Barack Obama on Friday to discuss a US diplomatic proposal for Ukraine, the White House said, adding that Obama told him that Russia must pull back its troops and not move deeper into…

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 has moved to a new part of the Indian Ocean due to a “credible lead”, Australia says. The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (Amsa) said the search would now focus on an area…

Police in Myanmar’s Rakhine state have fired warning shots in an attempt to disperse crowds gathered outside offices of international aid workers.

A Thai satellite has detected some 300 objects in an area of the southern Indian Ocean being searched for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. The image was taken by the Thaichote satellite on 24 March, a day after images from…

Men in North Korea are now required to get the same haircut as their leader Kim Jong-un, it is reported. The state-sanctioned guidelines were introduced in the capital Pyongyang about two weeks ago, media reports say. It is now being…

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott says authorities are “throwing everything we have” at the search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370. He was speaking as weather conditions in the southern Indian Ocean improved, allowing the search to resume. The Australian Maritime…

North Korea has test-fired two medium-range ballistic missiles, just hours after the US, South Korea and Japan met in the Netherlands for talks. It is the first launch of a Nodong missile since 2009 and marks a step up from the…

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has held talks with his Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsia, for the first time since Russia’s move into Crimea triggered a diplomatic crisis. Mr Lavrov says Russia is unfazed by the prospect of being expelled from the…

Inmarsat, a British satellite telecommunications provider and the UK Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) have concluded that the missing Malaysian Airlines flight went down in the southern Indian Ocean near Perth “with no possible landing sites”. Almost 16 days after…

Russian troops have seized control of a Crimean naval base at Feodosia, the third such attack in 48 hours, Ukrainian officials have told the BBC. Defence spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said the Russians attacked the base from two directions using armoured…

Australia is investigating two objects seen on satellite images that could potentially be linked to the missing Malaysia Airlines plane, officials say. Planes and ships from Australia, New Zealand and the US were heading to the area 2,500km (1,550 miles)…

European Union leaders are due to meet in Brussels to discuss further targeted sanctions in response to Russian moves to annex Crimea. It comes as UN chief Ban Ki-moon visits Russian leaders in Moscow to urge a diplomatic solution to…

Pro-Russian activists, some of them armed, have stormed the headquarters of the Ukrainian navy in the Crimean city of Sevastopol. Russian flags have been seen flying from buildings and several Ukrainian servicemen were seen leaving the base. It comes a…

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree recognising Crimea as a sovereign state, paving the way for it to be absorbed into Russia. The decree said it had taken into account Sunday’s referendum in Crimea, in which officials said…

Crimea is voting on whether to rejoin Russia or stay with Ukraine but with more autonomy.  The referendum has been condemned as “illegal” by Kiev and the West but is backed by Moscow. Since the fall of Ukraine’s pro-Moscow President…

The US has sent surveillance teams to the Indian Ocean to help search for the missing Malaysian plane, after claims emerged that it may have flown for longer than investigators had thought. Unnamed officials said the plane sent signals to…

A man travelling on a stolen passport on a missing Malaysian jet was a young Iranian who is not believed to have terrorist links, Malaysian police say. It is thought the 19-year-old was travelling to Germany where he was hoping…

Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said officials had not ruled out hijacking as a cause of the plane’s disappearance. He said all reported sightings of debris from the plane in the seas south of Vietnam were unconfirmed. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 vanished…

Radar signals show a Malaysia Airlines plane that has been missing for more than 24 hours may have turned back, Malaysian officials have said. Rescue teams looking for the plane have now widened their search area. Investigators are also checking CCTV…

The US has warned Russia that any moves to annex Crimea would close the door to diplomacy. US Secretary of State John Kerry told Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that Crimea is part of Ukraine and Moscow should avoid military escalation.…

Malaysia Airlines says it has lost contact with a plane travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, with 239 people on board. The airline said in a statement that flight MH370 disappeared at 02:40 local time on Saturday (18:40 GMT on…