介绍:
Family members of passengers on missing Malaysian jet arrive in Kuala Lumpur
The first group of family members of the passengers on the missing Malaysia Airlines plane has arrived in Kuala Lumpur from Beijing.
The group of nine Chinese and three Indians were received by a joint working group of the Chinese government.
Meanwhile, the search for the missing jet is being expanded.
Malaysia's civil aviation chief Azharuddin Abdul Rahman.
"The area of search has been expanded in the South China sea, we have expanded to 100 kilometers radius of Igari."
The Chinese ministry of Transport is adding a number of new vessels to the search grid.
The US military is also sending an additional ship and a number of extra aircraft into the region to help locate the missing plane.
This comes as authorities in Vietnam expand their search for the missing plane to the east of the original search area, which is located to the south of Vietnam where the plane last had contact.
Chinese plane makes emergency landing over false alarm
A flight from Shanghai to Beijing was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Jinan on Monday after a fire alarm went off.
The fire alarm on the Airbus A-320 turned out to be a false alarm.
Authorities with Juneyao Airlines dispatched another plane to Jinan to pick up the passangers and allow them to finish their trip here to Beijing.
It's unclear at this point what may have triggered the alarm.
China to free deposit rates in coming one or two years
China's central bank governor says the country is very likely to ease its grip on banks' deposit rate in the coming one or two years.
Zhou Xiaochuan gave the timeline at a press conference on the sidelines of the National People's Congress meeting.
Premier Li Keqiang has said China is to establish a deposit insurance system this year, the last and most important step of interest rate liberalization.
Among the steps toward that goal, the central bank decided in July to scrap the floor limit for bank lending rates.
In December, it issued a guideline for piloting negotiable deposit certificates on the interbank market.
Ukraine: Yanukovych plans another statement
Ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is planning to make another official statement later on today in Russia.
Yanukovych was last seen at a news conference in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don late last month when he suggested he remains the legitimate president of Ukraine.
The scheduled statement comes ahead of Sunday's referendum in Crimea about whether the autonomous republic should join Russia.
In another development, NATO is to deploy reconnaissance planes in Poland and Romania to monitor the situation in Ukraine.
U.S. encouraging Japan to handle historical issues in helpful manner
The United States says it is encouraging Japan's leadership to handle historical issues in a way that contributes to better ties with its neighboring countries.
This comes after Japan's chief cabinet secretary announced his country will not revise the world-recognized statements issued by previous administrations concerning wartime atrocities and the issue of sex-slaves.
A US State Department spokesperson has called the move a "positive step".
El Salvador vote recount under way
A vote recount is under way in El Salvador, where the presidential election has been declared too close to call.
Preliminary results suggest left-wing candidate Salvador Sanchez Ceren has a lead of 0.2 percentage points over his conservative rival Norman Quijano.
The Supreme Electoral Tribunal is asking the candidates to refrain from claiming victory, which both had done on Sunday.
The poll reflects the deep political rift that still divides the Central American nation more than two decades after the end of its civil war.
Syria among 'most dangerous places on Earth' for children: UNICEF
The United Nations Children's Fund says Syria is now one of the most dangerous places on earth for children.
In a report, UNICEF says the number of children affected by the civil war in Syria has more than doubled over the past year, reaching some 5.5 million.
It adds the child casualty rates are the highest recorded in any recent conflict in the region.
UNICEF cites U.N. figures that at least 10,000 children have been killed in the three-year conflict but notes that the real number is probably higher.
New Zealanders to vote on changing national flag
New Zealanders will soon get to vote on whether to change their national flag, which many view as a relic from a colonial past.
Prime Minister John Key has announced plans to hold a referendum within three years.
The current flag depicts the Southern Cross star constellation and includes Britain's Union Jack in the top left corner.
Many complain it is too similar to Australia's flag and doesn't reflect New Zealand's independence from former colonizer Britain.
