Putin recognizes Crimean independence
KIEV, Ukraine — Ignoring the toughest sanctions against Moscow since the end of the Cold War, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula as an “independent and sovereign country” on Monday, a bold challenge to Washington that escalates one of Europe’s worst security crises in years.
The brief decree posted on the Kremlin’s website came just hours after the United States and the European Union announced asset freezes and other sanctions against Russian and Ukrainian officials involved in the Crimean crisis. President Barack Obama warned that more would come if Russia didn’t stop interfering in Ukraine.
The West has struggled to find leverage to force Moscow off the Ukraine turmoil, of which Crimea is only a part, and analysts saw Monday’s sanctions as mostly ineffective.
Moscow showed no signs of flinching in the dispute that has riled Ukraine since Russian troops took effective control of the strategic Black Sea peninsula last month and supported the Sunday referendum that overwhelmingly called for annexation by Russia. Recognizing Crimea as independent would be an interim step in absorbing the region.
Crimea had been part of Russia since the 18th century, until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954 and the ethnic Russian population sees annexation as correcting a historic insult.
New uncertainty about missing Malaysian plane
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Officials revealed a new timeline Monday, which suggests the final voice transmission from the missing Malaysian flight that vanished March 8 may have occurred before any of its communications systems were disabled. The timeline adds more uncertainty to who might have been to blame.
The search for Flight 370, which vanished while flying from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people on board, has now been expanded deep into the northern and southern hemispheres. Australian vessels scoured the southern Indian Ocean and China offered 21 of its 39 satellites to help Malaysia in the unprecedented hunt.
With no wreckage found in one of the most puzzling aviation mysteries of all time, relatives of those on the Boeing 777 have been left in an agonizing limbo.
Investigators say the plane was deliberately diverted during its overnight flight and flew off-course for hours. They haven’t ruled out hijacking, sabotage or pilot suicide, and they are checking the backgrounds of the 227 passengers and 12 crew members, as well as the ground crew, to see if links to terrorists, personal problems or psychological issues could be factors.
Malaysian Defense Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said finding the plane was still the main focus, and he did not rule out that it might be discovered intact.
Venezuela government moves forces into protest plaza
CARACAS, Venezuela — On Monday, security forces took control of a Caracas plaza that has been at the heart of anti-government protests, which have shaken Venezuela for a month.
Clusters of National Guardsmen patrolled Plaza Altamira and the principal streets extending from it while dozens of green-vested workers swept up debris protesters used to block streets in the middle- and upper-class neighborhoods of eastern Caracas.
Another branch of the National Guard patrolled surrounding neighborhoods on motorcycles, and officials were making the takeover a public relations event. At least four Venezuelan government ministers were present giving interviews about the plaza’s “liberation.”
“We’re deployed since 3 a.m. in the entire municipality,” Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez Torres said in an interview with state television from the plaza. “We’re re-establishing the right of thousands of citizens of Chacao who have been forced to stay inside their homes by violent actions.”
It was not immediately clear if the crackdown by some 1,000 members various security forces would stifle the student-led protests in the capital or if it might shift them elsewhere.
Some student leaders vowed they would continue until the government meets their demands, the first of which is releasing those arrested during protests.
Paris takes drastic measures to fight toxic smog
PARIS — Paris imposed drastic measures Monday to combat its worst air pollution in years, banning around half of the city’s cars and trucks from the streets for a day in an attempt to reduce the toxic smog that shrouded the City of Light for more than a week.
Cars with even-numbered license plates were prohibited from driving in Paris and its suburbs, the first time this measure has been implemented since 1997. Around 700 police manned 179 control points around the region, handing out tickets to offenders. Taxis and commercial vehicles weren’t covered by the ban.
Police had ticketed nearly 4,000 people by midday, and 27 drivers had their cars impounded for refusing to cooperate with officers.
France has seen exceptionally warm, dry weather this month with little wind, trapping car pollution and fumes from seasonal farming activity in the air. France’s unusually high number of diesel vehicles is also contributing to the smog.
Environment Minister Philippe Martin said lower traffic and favorable weather patterns had an impact on pollution Monday, and that the alternate-plates measure would be lifted Tuesday.
All public transport has been free for four days straight to help deal with the pollution — but that too is set to end Tuesday.
Feds: 9/11 mastermind’s testimony should be barred
NEW YORK — Prosecutors on Monday tried to stop the self-described mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks from providing testimony at the terrorism trial of Osama bin Laden’s son-in-law.
The government submitted written arguments asking United States District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to exclude the words of Khalid Sheik Mohammed from Sulaiman Abu Ghaith’s trial.
Abu Ghaith is on trial on charges he conspired to kill Americans and aided al-Qaida as the terror group’s spokesman after Sept. 11. The 48-year-old onetime worship leader at a Kuwaiti mosque was brought to New York from Turkey last year.
Prosecutors said defense lawyers should be blocked from calling Mohammed as a witness through a live, closed-circuit video from Guantanamo Bay, where he is imprisoned.
They cite the late request — the defense began its presentation by calling two FBI agents as witnesses on Monday — and the fact that Mohammed has insisted he will not testify. The judge scheduled arguments on the issue for Tuesday morning.
The defense asked to use Mohammed as a witness after reviewing a 14-page statement Mohammed provided in response to 451 questions posed by Abu Ghaith’s lawyers.
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