Chinese Premier urges stepped up search effort for MH 370
China's premier is again urging international search crews to step up their efforts in the hunt for that missing Malaysia Airlines flight.
Those crews are now in a race against time, as the locator function on MH370s flight recorders is expected to lose power within days.
Premier Li Keqiang made the comments following a phonecall with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on Wednesday.
The two leaders agreed to continue efforts to find the missing plane.
A statement from the Chinese foreign ministry says the search is facing complications, but officials will not relax or give up.
Premier Li also thanked the Australian side for its efforts in the ongoing search.
After weeks of searching, no trace of flight MH370 has been recovered.
The Malaysian side has announced it is treating the disappearance as a criminal matter, though it adds all passengers onboard the plane have been cleared of suspician.
That leaves only the pilot, co-pilot, and cabin crew as possible suspects in this case.
Malaysia's prime minister has arrived in Perth, Australia to observe the search effort first hand.
The MH370 went missing on route to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur with 239 passengers and crew. 154 of them are Chinese.
4 Chinese workers killed in explosion in Ecuador: embassy
Four Chinese workers have died in Ecuador.
The Chinese embassy has confirmed the workers were killed in an explosion at a hydoelectric station that is currently under construction.
The remains of the victims were discovered following a five-hour search.
No other casualties have been reported.
The Sopladora hydropower station, one of the most important hydroelectric projects in Ecuador, is being built by Ge Zhou Ba group, a Chinese construction and engineering company based in Wuhan, capital of Hubei.
The cause of the explosion has not yet been determined.
Hasty presidential elections could destabilize situation in Ukraine: Yanukovych
Ukraine's ousted president is warning against holding a 'hasty' election, saying it could further destabalize the situation in his home country.
Viktor Yanukovych made the comment on Wednesday in an interview on Russian TV.
He questioned the legitimacy of planned presidential elections coming up in May and proposed holding a referendum on turning the country into a loosely knit federation before holding any other vote.
Yanukovych also told viewers that constitutional reform is the only way to deal with the feeling of discord across Ukrainian society.
Ukraine's parliament ousted Yanucovych on February 22nd. Early elections have been called for May 25th.
UN chief calls for more countries to join Arms Trade Treaty
The UN Secretary General is calling for more countries to join the Arms Trade Treaty.
Ban Ki-moon made the appeal on Wednesday, the first anniversary of the adoption of the treaty by the 193-member UN General Assembly.
However, the treaty has only been ratified by 31 member nations.
50 countries must sign the actual document before it can officially go into effect.
Ban says the treaty for the first time sets global standards for the transfer of weapons.
While marking the anniversary of the vote by the General Assembly, ban stated his deep concern that civilians continue to be killed or maimed in targeted or indiscriminate attacks with weapons that should never have been in the hands of the perpetrators.
Deadly bombings target Egyptian police outside Cairo University
The area around Cairo University in the Egyptian capital has once again been targeted for violence.
A newly-identified extremist group called Soldiers of Egypt has claimed responsibility for a series of explosions in the area on Wednesday.
The group released a statement saying its three bombs attacks are part of a retaliation campaign against "criminal security forces."
The group is believed to be among the supporters of ousted Islamist President Mohamed Morsi, forced from his brief tenure in office by mass street demonstrations.
Morsi is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, a group that was banned after his ouster by the military.
One of the explosions on Wednesday killed a security official and injured five other people.
Mortar attacks kill 12 in Syria/xinhua
Mortar attacks in Syria killed 12 people on Wednesday. At least 40 others have been wounded.
Media reports say the attacks happened in the capital, Damascus, and in a southern province.
The worst attack happened in a suburb south of Damascus. Eight people were killed and another 34 injured. Targets appeard to include a highway and a police hospital.
The intensified mortar shelling against government-controlled areas in Syria coincided with the fierce battle between government troops and armed militant groups in Damascus' eastern suburb of Jobar, a hideout for rebels against President Bashar al-Assad's administration.
The three-year Syria crisis has resulted in the deaths of more than 150,000 people. Millions have been displaced.
Increase in cancer unlikely following Fukushima exposure: UN report
A UN report states that cancer levels are likely to remain stable in the area around Japan's damaged Fukishima nuclear power plant.
The report from the UN Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation finds there should be no discernible change in future cancer rates and hereditary diseases as a result of the 2011 leak, caused by the twin earthquake-tsunami disaster.
Nevertheless, it notes there is a theoretical possibility that the risk of thyroid cancer among the group of children most exposed to radiation could increase, though the situation will have to be monitored.
Thyroid cancer is a rare disease among children, and their normal risk is very low.
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