A.M. Links: Putin Approves Bill To Make Crimea Part of Russia, Journalist Barred From McConnell Event, Astronomers Detect Signal From Beginning of Time
(World Economic Forum/wikimedia)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a draft bill that would make Crimea part of Russia. Speaking before Russia's parliament, Putin said that, "in people's heart of hearts, Crimea has always been part of Russia."
- A Kentucky reporter claims that Jesse Benton, who is running the Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) re-election campaign, barred him from a news conference and threatened him with police action if he asked a question. Benton claims that the event was private and that the reporter was not invited.
- Rep. Grace Meng (D-N.Y.) is the latest lawmaker to raise concerns about the almost 400 percent increase in State Department refusals of Israeli visa applications in the last few years.
- China claims that there is no evidence that any of the Chinese nationals on the missing Malaysia Airlines flight have connections to terrorism.
- United Nations human rights investigators have added names to their list of suspected war criminals linked to the ongoing civil war in Syria.
- There is talk of Nobel Prizes being handed out in the wake of the news that astronomers detected a signal from shortly after the birth of the universe which could provide direct evidence of the universe's accelerated expansion very shortly after the Big Bang.