Ukraine's Poroshenko: No good news yet on peace talks
Russia is imposing "unacceptable" conditions, President Poroshenko says, as Ukraine peace talks drag on in Minsk.
There is "no good news yet" from a marathon four-way peace summit in Minsk, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said, as Russia is imposing "unacceptable" conditions.
"Unfortunately there's no good news yet," Poroshenko told AFP news agency on Thursday of the talks involving the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany.
"There are conditions that I consider unacceptable," he said, declining to elaborate. "The (negotiations) process is ongoing," he said during a brief break after over 14 hours of talks in the Belarus capital.
Korean Air boss's daughter guilty of breaking aviation law in 'nut rage' case
Court sentences Cho Hyun-ah to a year in prison after she ordered a flight taxi-ing out in New York to return the gate over the way she was served nuts
A Seoul court has sentenced a former Korean Air executive to a year in prison after finding her guilty of violating aviation law.
The court said Cho Hyun-ah, also known as Heather Cho, was guilty of forcing a flight to change its route, the most serious of the charges she faced.
Cho, the daughter of Korean Air’s chairman, achieved worldwide notoriety after she ordered the chief flight attendant off a 5 December flight, forcing it to return to the gate at John F Kennedy airport in New York.
Reporters Without Borders: New threats against freedom of the press
Reporters Without Borders has published its 2015 press freedom index. Conditions for journalists and independent media have got worse in the majority of the 180 countries assessed.
The targeted suppression or manipulation of the media in conflict regions such as Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, and the Palestinian territories is one of the most significant reasons for the general worsening of worldwide press freedom, according to the 2015 index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF).
The organization said many countries cite the protection of national security interests to impose restrictions on press freedom. "Journalists become the preserve of the opposing parties when control over information is used as a strategic war aim as is the case currently in eastern Ukraine or Syria," said RSF spokesman Michael Rediske in Berlin.
Reef-eating crown-of-thorns starfish spurred on by rising sea temperatures
Peter Hannam
Environment Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald
Rising sea temperatures have been found by scientists to improve the survival rate of the coral-eating crown-of-thorn starfish in findings that are likely to stoke fears about the future of the Great Barrier Reef.
Coral cover on the reef has already shrunk by as much as half since 1985, with outbreaks of the prickly starfish blamed for about 42 per cent of the loss, or more than four times the impact of coral bleaching during that period.
Scientists from the Australian Institute of Marine Science studied how rising temperatures affect starfish larvae and found that a 2-degree increase improved their likely survival rate by 240 per cent, or more than tripling it.
China Must Abide by Sea Ruling, Philippine Justice Carpio Says
China must comply with any ruling on competing
territorial claims with the Philippines in the South China Sea even if it
refuses to participate in international arbitration over the dispute,
Philippines Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio said.
“It doesn’t matter if China doesn’t appear, if the tribunal finds that there is jurisdiction, the tribunal will proceed,” Carpio told Bloomberg Television in Singapore Thursday. “We don’t want anyone, any state to resort to armed force in settling this dispute.”
China has refused to participate in the case before the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague that the Philippines brought in January 2013. China rejects international mediation and has said the dispute can only be resolved through bilateral negotiations.
12 February 2015 Last updated at 02:15
Sao Paulo water crisis adds to Brazil business woes
Renato Soares has seen all sorts of problems in the 33 years he has been running a small laundry in a middle-class neighbourhood in Sao Paulo.
But with Brazil's biggest city facing potential water rationing, he thinks his biggest headache may be about to arrive.
"We have survived recession, hyperinflation, arbitrary changes in legislation and a complex bureaucracy and tax system," Mr Soares says.
"We were also robbed twice. So at this point I didn't think a day would come in which I would seriously think about closing my business.
"But how can I operate a launderette without water?"
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