Crimea Switches To Moscow Time, Finalizing Incorporation Into Russia

Posted: 03/29/2014 5:50 pm EDT Updated: 03/29/2014 5:59 pm EDT

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By Gabriela Baczynska

SIMFEROPOL, Crimea, March 30 (Reuters) - The hands of a clock on the mainrailway station in Simferopol jumped from 10 P.M. to midnight on Saturday as Crimea switched to Moscow time, symbolicly finalising the region's incorporation into Russia.

Several hundred people gathered on the railway square for the ceremonial change of time, waving Russian national flags and chanting "Crimea! Russia!" after Moscow formally annexed the Black Sea region from Ukranie on March 21.

"I greet you with our return home," Crimea's new pro-Moscow Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov told the crowd.

"I am confident that all that we have done is to the benefit of Crimea and Crimeans," he exclaimed, extending his thanks to "our President Vladimir Putin" to noisy applause from the crowd.

Wrapped in Russian flags and some with tears of joy in their eyes, the people gathered in the provincial capital of Simferopol on Saturday sang Russia's national anthem when the clock moved to Moscow time.

"This is my moment of happiness. We all dreamed of this but did not dare think it may come now," said Tatiana, a 35-year-old waitress dancing to the music played on the square.

Her colleague Inga said she was 11-years-old when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, giving Ukraine independence and splitting Crimea from Moscow.

"My heart was crying back then. But now it is rejoicing, we have returned home. We were born on Moscow time and we are back to it again," she said. "I love the Ukrainian people but I do not recognise Ukraine as a country."

Crimea has already introduced the Russian rouble as its official currency and started paying out pensions and state salaries in the unit since the region voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining Russia on March 16.

Kiev and the West have denounced Russia's annexation of Crimea, an impoverished region of 2 million people with a narrow ehtnic Russian majority, as illegal and undermining peace in Europe.

The United States and Europe curbed cooperation with Moscow and introduced sanctions on Russia as well as some of Putin's closest allies over the move but have refrained from harsh economic sanctions.

Kiev has ordered its troops in Crimea to retreat to the mainland, acknowledging defeat after Russian soldiers grabbed Ukrainian bases in the region one after another in a largely bloodless seizure.

Scores of mid-level Russian officials are now in Simferopol helping the local authorities to bring Crimea's legal and tax regulations in line with the Russian ones, a process due to be finalised by the end of the year.

Aksyonov and Crimea's new authorities hope Russia will now sponsor an economic upgrade of the region, a project likley to put additional pressure on the state coffers in Moscow that are already strained from a slowing economy. (Reporting by Gabriela Baczynska; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

UN Report: Global Warming Worsens Security Woes

  | by  SETH BORENSTEIN

YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — In an authoritative report due out Monday a United Nations climate panel for the first time is connecting hotter global temperatures to hotter global tempers. Top scientists are saying that climate change will complicate and worsen existing global security problems, such as civil wars, strife between nations and refugees.

They're not saying it will cause violence, but will be an added factor making things even more dangerous. Fights over resources, like water and energy, hunger and extreme weather will all go into the mix to destabilize the world a bit more, says the report by the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The summary of the report is being finalized this weekend by the panel in Yokohama.

That's a big change from seven years ago, the last time the IPCC addressed how warming affected Earth, said report lead author Chris Field of the CarnegieInstitution of Science in California. The summary that political leaders read in early 2007 didn't mention security issues will, he said, because of advances in research.

"There's enough smoke there that we really need to pay attention to this," said OhioUniversity security and environment professor Geoff Dabelko, one of the lead authors of the report's chapter on security and climate change.

For the past seven years, research in social science has found more links between climate and conflict, study authors say, with the full report referencing hundreds ofstudies on climate change and conflict.

The U.S. Defense Department earlier this month in its once-every-four-years strategic review, called climate change a "threat multiplier" to go with poverty, political instability and social tensions worldwide. Warming will trigger new problems but also provide countries new opportunities for resources and shipping routes in places such as the melting Arctic, the Pentagon report says.

After the climate panel's 2007 report, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon wrote that along with other causes, the conflict in the Darfur region of western Sudan "began as an ecological crisis, arising at least in part from climate change. " While the IPCC report this year downplays global warming's role in that particular strife, saying other issues were far more influential, the report's drafts do add that there is "justifiable common concern" that climate change increases the risk of fighting in similar circumstances.

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"Climate change will not directly cause conflict — but it will exacerbate issues of poor governance, resource inequality and social unrest," retired U.S. Navy Adm. David Titley, now a Pennsylvania State Universityprofessor of meteorology, wrote in an email. "The Arab Spring and Syria are two recent examples."

But Titley, who wasn't part of the IPCC report, says "if you are already living in a place affected by violent conflict — I suspect climate change becomes the least of your worries."

That illustrates the tricky calculus of climate and conflict, experts say. It's hard to point at violence and draw a direct climate link — to say how much blame goes to warming and how much is from more traditional factors like poverty and ethnic differences. Then looking into future is even more difficult.

"If you think it's hard to predict rainfall in one spot 100 years from now, it's even harder to predict social stability," said Jeff Severinghaus, a climate scientist at the Scripps Institution for Oceanography who isn't part of this climate panel. "Obviously that's going to be controversial. The most important thing is that it's going to be talked about."

Severinghaus and other scientists say this will be one of the more contentious issues as the panel representing more than 100 nations meets here and edits word-by-word a 30-page summary of the multi-volume report for political leaders. Observers said the closed door meeting went through the security and climate section Sunday, in the hurried last hours of editing.

There's an entire 63-page chapter on security problems, but most leaders will read the handful of paragraphs summarizing that and that's where there may be some issues, he says.

The chapter on national security says there is "robust evidence" that "human security will be progressively threatened as climate changes." It says it can destabilize the world in multiple ways by making it harder for people to make a living, increasing mass migrations, and making it harder for countries to keep control of their populations.

The migration issue is big because as refugees flee storms and other climate problems, that adds to security issues, the report and scientists say

While some climate scientists, environmental groups and politicians see the conflict-climate link as logical and clear, others emphasize nuances in research.

The social science literature has shown an indirect link, especially with making poverty worse, which will add to destabilization, but it is not the same as saying there would be climate wars, said University of Exeter's Neil Adger, one of the study's lead authors. It's not exactly the four horsemen of the apocalypse, he adds.

Joshua Goldstein, an international relations professor and expert on conflict at theUniversity of Massachusetts, sees that link, but says it is probably weaker than people think. It's not as a big a problem as other impacts from climate change, like those on ecosystems, weather disasters and economic costs, he says.

Poverty is the issue when it comes to security problems — and policies to fight climate change increase poverty, says David Kreutzer at the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington.

But environmental groups such as the Environmental Justice Foundation are issuing reports that dovetail with what the IPCC is saying.

Titley, the retired admiral, holds out hope that if nations deal with climate change jointly, it can bring peace instead of war to battling regions.

Posted: 03/30/2014 9:33 am EDT Updated: 03/30/2014 9:59 am EDT

Egypte: peine capitale pour 529 Frères musulmans

par Sami Boukhelifa

Le journaliste australien de la chaîne al-Jazira, Peter Greste, lors du procès au Caire, le 24 mars 2014.REUTERS/Al Youm Al Saabi Newspaper

C’est une première dans l’histoire de l’Egypte moderne : 529 Egyptiens ont été condamnés à mort ce lundi 24 mars, un chiffre impressionnant. Tous sont accusés d'avoir participé à l'une des manifestations ayant suivi la destitution du président islamiste Mohammed Morsi l’été dernier. Seuls 153 des 529 condamnés

Le vol MH370 s'est abîmé en mer

Pas de survivants

Des sanglots et des cris témoignant d'une souffrance inconsolable résonnaient lundi soir dans un hôtel de Pékin, où les familles des passagers chinois du vol MH370 ont appris que leurs proches étaient morts. Certains se répandaient en d'irrépressibles sanglots et gémissements alors qu'ils quittaient la salle de bal de l'hôtel, où leur a été annoncé que le vol de Malaysia Airlines, disparu depuis le 8 mars, s'était abîmé dans le sud de l'océan Indien, selon de nouvelles données satellitaires. Des aide-soignants portant des brancards se précipitaient dans les couloirs de l'hôtel Lido, où beaucoup des familles des 153

Crimée: après le blocus, les forces pro-russes lancent la conquête

par RFI

Mercredi 19 mars, des miliciens pro-russes brandissent le drapeau russe sur le toit du quartier général de la Marine ukrainienne à Sébastopol.

Les jours se suivent et le processus d’intégration de la Crimée à la Fédération de Russe se poursuit inexorablement. L’annexion a été validée par la Cour constitutionnelle russe ce mercredi matin. Pendant ce temps, les pro-russes ont commencé à prendre d'assaut plusieurs installations de l'armée ukrainienne.

What If Missing Malaysia Plane Is Never Found?

 

  | by  KRISTEN GELINEAU and NICK PERRY

Posted: 03/18/2014 9:36 pm EDT Updated: 03/18/2014 9:59 pm EDT

 

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WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — The plane must be somewhere. But the same can be said for Amelia Earhart's.

Ten days after Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappeared with 239 people aboard, an exhaustive international search has produced no sign of the Boeing 777, raising an unsettling question: What if the airplane is never found?

Global Economics Russia Sanctions Could Put Germany Inc. on the Front Lines of Trade War

By Carol Matlack  March 18, 2014

---

Photograph by Markus Schreiber/AP Photo
Chancellor Merkel listening to debate about the Ukrainian crisis at the Bundestag in Berlin
(Corrects think tank's name in fourth paragraph.)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel hasn’t minced words. Unless Vladimir Putin steps back from Ukraine, she’s prepared to back European sanctions that would cause “massive economic and political harm” to Russia. What about the harm Germany would suffer if the showdown escalates into economic warfare?

New Search Area May Be Opened In Indian Ocean For Missing Malaysia Airlines Plane, White House Says

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WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - A new search area may be opened in the Indian Ocean as authorities try to determine what happened to a missing Malaysian airliner, the White House said on Thursday.

Missing Barcelona Girl Found In Amazon Jungle Seven Months After Disappearance

The Huffington Post UK  |  Posted: 13/03/2014 11:18 GMT  |  Updated: 13/03/2014 11:20 GMT

 

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World News, Barcelona, Bolivia, Child Abuse, UK NEWS, UK News

A nine-year-old girl who went missing seven months ago has reportedly been rescued from captivity deep in Bolivia's Amazon rainforest.

Malaysia Airlines Missing Plane: Search Confused By False Leads (VIDEO/LIVEBLOG)

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  This Jockey Doesn't Think Horses Dying In Races Is a Big Deal

  | by  CHRIS BRUMMITT and EILEEN NG

Posted: 03/12/2014 1:43 am EDT Updated: 03/13/2014 4:59 am EDT

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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — More than four days after a Malaysian jetliner went missing en route to Beijing, authorities acknowledged Wednesday they didn't know which direction the plane carrying 239 passengers was heading when it disappeared, vastly complicating efforts to find it.

Amid intensifying confusion and occasionally contradictory statements, the country's civil aviation authorities and the military both said the plane may have turned back from its last known position between Malaysian and Vietnam, possibly as far as the Strait of Malacca, a busy shipping lane on the western side of Malaysia.

How it might have done this without being clearly detected remains a mystery, raising questions over whether its electrical systems, including transponders allowing it to be spotted by radar, were either knocked out or turned off. If it did manage to fly on, it would challenge earlier theories that the plane may have suffered a catastrophic incident, initially thought reasonable because it didn't send out any distress signals.

Authorities have not ruled out any possible cause, including mechanical failure, pilot error, sabotage or terrorism in the disappearance of the plane. Both the Boeing 777 and Malaysia Airlines have excellent safety records. Until wreckage or debris is found and examined, it will be very hard say with any level of certainty what happened.

The search for the missing aircraft was begun from the spot it was last reported to be over the ocean between Malaysia and Vietnam. But they have also said search operations were ongoing in the Strait of Malacca. Scores of planes and aircraft have been scouring waters in both locations.

The country's air force chief, Gen. Rodzali Daud, released a statement denying remarks attributed to him in a local media report saying that military radar had managed to track the aircraft turning back from its original course, crossing the country and making it to the Malacca strait to the west of Malaysia. The Associated Press contacted a high-level military official, who confirmed the remarks.

Rodzali referred to a statement he said he made March 9 in which he said the air force has "not ruled out the possibility of an air turn back" and said search and rescue efforts had been expanded to the waters around Penang Island, in the northern section of the strait.

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It is possible that the radar readings are not definitive or subject to interpretation, especially if a plane is malfunctioning.

"There is a possibility of an air turn back. We are still investigating and looking at the radar readings," the country's civilian aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman said Wednesday.

The Strait of Malacca that separates Malaysia from Indonesia's Sumatra Island is some 400 kilometers (250 miles) from where the plane was last known to have made contact with ground control officials over the Gulf of Thailand at a height of 35,000 feet (almost 11,000 meters) early Saturday.

Adding to the confusion, Indonesia air force Col. Umar Fathur said the country had received official information from Malaysian authorities that the plane was above the South China Sea, about 10 nautical miles from Kota Bharu, Malaysia, when it turned back toward the strait and then disappeared. That would place its last confirmed position closer to Malaysia than has previously been publicly disclosed.

Fathur said Malaysian authorities have determined four blocks to be searched in the strait, which Indonesia was assisting in.

Vietnam continued to search for the plane on land and sea. In its area of responsibility, some 22 aircraft and 31 ships from several countries were involved, according to Lt. Gen. Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of staff of Vietnamese People's Army.

Malaysian police chief Khalid Abu Bakar, who has been ordered to look at possible criminal aspects in the disappearance of the plane, said hijacking, sabotage and issues related to the pilots' psychological health were being considered.

An Australian TV station reported that the first officer on the missing plane, Fariq Abdul Hamid, had invited two women into the cockpit during a flight two years ago. One of the women, Jonti Roos, described the encounter on Australia's "A Current Affair."

Roos said she and a friend were allowed to stay in the cockpit during the entire one-hour flight on Dec. 14, 2011, from Phuket, Thailand, to Kuala Lumpur. She said the arrangement did not seem unusual to the plane's crew.

"Throughout the entire flight, they were talking to us and they were actually smoking throughout the flight," said Roos, who didn't immediately reply to a message sent to her via Facebook. The second pilot on the 2011 flight was not identified

Malaysia Airlines said they took the allegations seriously.