介绍:
Ukraine leader says anti-terror operation under way
Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov has announced that operations have begun to rein in pro-Russian protesters who have occupied government buildings in a number of eastern cities.
He told parliament that the operations began in the north of the Donetsk region Monday night, stressing they will be carried out gradually with caution and responsibility.
Turchynov had given pro-Russian protesters until early Monday to disarm or face what he called a "full-scale anti-terrorist operation".
But the deadline passed with no sign that it was heeded.
Jordan's envoy to Libya kidnapped
Jordan's ambassador to Libya has been kidnapped by a group of masked gunmen who attacked his car and shot his driver.
Libya's foreign ministry says the driver survived the attack and was in hospital.
The ambassador, Fawaz al-Itan, was leaving his house in Tripoli when the attack took place.
Kidnappings have become commonplace in Libya and abductors frequently target foreign officials.
Since the start of the year, five Egyptian diplomats, a Tunisian official and a South Korean trade official have been abducted.
Bomb explosion on Cairo bridge wounds 2 policemen
Egypt's official news agency says a bomb blast on a bridge over the Nile River in central Cairo has wounded two policemen.
MENA says the device went off during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, targeting a traffic police booth on the bridge.
The Egyptian capital has seen increasing violence and attacks since the military ousted former Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last July.
Boston marks marathon bombing anniversary
The US city of Boston is marking the anniversary of the deadly bombing at last year's marathon.
Vice-President Joe Biden and Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick are due to attend a memorial event.
Three people including a Chinese student were killed and some 264 injured when two bombs exploded near the finish line at last year's race.
Bombing suspect Dzokhar Tsarnaev is due to stand trial in November.
This year's Boston Marathon is due to take place on the 21st of April.
Bluefin covers 30 percent of planned search area with no findings
Search teams for the missing Malaysian plane say a robotic submersible has found no sign of the aircraft during its first search which was cut short.
The Bluefin-21 only completed six hours of search out of the planned 16 hours as it exceeded its maximum depth limit of 4,500 meters.
Its built-in safety feature then returned it to the surface.
U.S. Navy Captain Mark Matthews says the Bluefin-21 had covered 30 percent of the 40 square kilometers of search area, without any discovery.
The underwater vehicle will be redeployed later today.
Sydney to get another airport
Australia has approved the construction of a second international airport in Sydney at the cost of 2.4 billion US dollars.
The new facility will be located at Badgerys Creek, in western Sydney.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott.
"Badgerys Creek will be Sydney's second airport. It will be an airport for western Sydney. The planning and design work will start immediately, and my expectation is that construction will begin in 2016. This is a long overdue decision."
The green light from Abbott's government comes nearly 70 years after the idea was first debated.
Based on early estimates, the first flights in and out of the new airport are not expected until the mid-2020s.
China detains 160 in Shanghai healthcare scam
Chinese authorities have detained 160 members of a criminal gang in Shanghai after the group swindled patients by luring them to fake medical clinics and selling them over-priced drugs.
Police say the gang cheated over 500 victims out of 1.7 million yuan or more than 273,000 US dollars.
Drugs were sold by unqualified doctors at prices often inflated over 10 times the real value.
Over 600 Shanghai police launched a sting operation early this month, after seven months of investigation.
Baidu launches mobile payment platform
China's leading search engine Baidu has formally launched its mobile payment platform "Baidu Wallet".
It follows the release of similar products from major rivals, including Tencent's mobile application Wechat Payment last August and Alibaba's Alipay Wallet in January 2013.
Baidu Wallet provides money transfer, payment and wealth management services.
It comes as the three leading Chinese Internet firms are speeding up development of their mobile Internet business.
China Film takes 1st stake in Hollywood movies
China's state-owned film distributor is making its first investment in Hollywood movies by taking a stake in two productions by the California-based Legendary Entertainment.
The American firm's Chinese unit says China Film will make an "eight-figure equity investment" in two upcoming films, "Seventh Son" and "Warcraft".
The exact amount of the investment was not specified.
The projects are the first since Legendary and China Film teamed up about a year ago to produce global blockbusters.
