Simferopol, March 30
The hands of a clock on the main railway station in Simferopol jumped from 10 pm to midnight on Saturday as Crimea switched to Moscow time, symbolicly finalising the region's incorporation into Russia.

Several hundred people gathered on the railway square for the ceremonial change of time, waving Russian national flags and chanting "Crimea! Russia!" after Moscow formally annexed the Black Sea region from Ukranie on March 21.

"I greet you with our return home," Crimea's new pro-Moscow Prime Minister Sergei Aksyonov told the crowd. "I am confident that all that we have done is to the benefit of Crimea and Crimeans," he exclaimed, extending his thanks to "our President Vladimir Putin" to noisy applause from the crowd.

Wrapped in Russian flags and some with tears of joy in their eyes, the people gathered in the provincial capital of Simferopol on Saturday sang Russia's national anthem when the clock moved to Moscow time. "This is my moment of happiness. We all dreamed of this but did not dare think it may come now," said Tatiana, a 35-year-old waitress dancing to the music played on the square.

Her colleague Inga said she was 11-years-old when the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, giving Ukraine independence and splitting Crimea from Moscow. "My heart was crying back then. But now it is rejoicing, we have returned home. We were born on Moscow time and we are back to it again," she said.

"I love the Ukrainian people but I do not recognise Ukraine as a country." Crimea has already introduced the Russian rouble as its official currency and started paying out pensions and state salaries in the unit since the region voted overwhelmingly in favour of joining Russia on March 16.

Kiev and the West have denounced Russia's annexation of Crimea, an impoverished region of 2 million people with a narrow ethnic Russian majority, as illegal and undermining peace in Europe. The United States and Europe curbed cooperation with Moscow and introduced sanctions on Russia as well as some of Putin's closest allies over the move but have refrained from harsh economic sanctions.

Kiev has ordered its troops in Crimea to retreat to the mainland, acknowledging defeat after Russian soldiers grabbed Ukrainian bases in the region one after another in a largely bloodless seizure. Scores of mid-level Russian officials are now in Simferopol helping the local authorities to bring Crimea's legal and tax regulations in line with the Russian ones, a process due to be finalised by the end of the year. Aksyonov and Crimea's new authorities hope Russia will now sponsor an economic upgrade of the region, a project likley to put additional pressure on the state coffers in Moscow that are already strained from a slowing economy. — Reuters

Bangkok, March 30
Thais voted today to elect the upper house of Parliament in a poll that could hold the key to the fate of the prime minister, who faces possible impeachment for negligence after months of street protests.

While the Senate is officially non-partisan, in reality the two main political camps are vying for control of the chamber in the absence of a functioning lower house following incomplete February polls.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has resisted massive pressure to step down despite months of street protests and a slew of legal moves against her, including over her alleged role in a rice subsidy scheme that could lead to an impeachment vote in the Senate.

Polls closed this afternoon, according to an election official, who said there was no repeat of the widespread disruption caused by anti-government protesters to a February 2 general election, which was also boycotted by the main opposition party.

That vote was voided by the Constitutional Court earlier this month. "Today's (Sunday's) election went smoothly... if the parties concerned create a stable political situation then an election can be successful," Election Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn told reporters. With Thailand's political crisis lurching towards its sixth month, the Senate polls have taken on fresh importance.

Experts say the elected portion, a narrow majority of the 150-seat chamber, could install many pro-government senators to help bolster the administration in the face of looming legal challenges. The other, unelected senators are appointed by institutions seen as allied to the anti-government establishment, such as the Constitutional Court and the EC.

Preliminary results are due later today but the official list of newly elected senators could take days to approve. — AFP

Beijing, March 30
Japan and North Korea today held the first formal government-level talks in more than a year following a shift in Pyongyang's handling of past abductions of Japanese citizens.

The two-day meeting in Beijing came after diplomats held informal talks on the sidelines of a humanitarian conference in the Chinese city of Shenyang between Red Cross officials from the two countries earlier this month.

"We would like to have serious and frank discussions over a broad range of outstanding issues for both sides," Junichi Ihara, head of the Japanese Foreign Ministry's Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, told Japan's NHK public broadcaster.

"We would like to make efforts so as to make progress towards solving those issues." Song Il-Ho, North Korea's ambassador for talks to normalise relations with Japan, replied: "I completely feel the same way," Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

At the North Korean embassy, the venue of the first day of the meeting, Song expressed hope that relations between the two countries will start moving "in a positive direction," Kyodo said.

Song also compared the resumption of governmental dialogue to the arrival of spring, "when icy rivers melt and water begins to flow," Kyodo reported.

The meeting comes amid recent mixed signals from Pyongyang over its willingness to re-engage in diplomacy with Tokyo.

Talks were suspended in late 2012 when Tokyo reiterated its demand that Pyongyang come clean on the abduction issue, which has long hampered efforts to improve ties in the absence of formal diplomatic relations. The talks were officially called off in December 2012 when Pyongyang launched a long-range missile. — AFP

Perth/Kuala Lumpur, March 30
Angry relatives of Chinese passengers aboard the Malaysian plane today demanded that Malaysia must apologise for hastily concluding that the jet had crashed in the Indian Ocean, as the hunt for debris failed to yield any leads despite sighting several objects.

(Above) Australian defense ship Ocean Shield lies docked at naval base HMAS Stirling as a Phoenix underwater mapping robot (left) is being fitted to her, in Perth on Sunday. The robot will help her in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 AP/PTI

Possible debris sightings by Chinese, Australian and New Zealand military planes did not find any solid clues in one the most baffling aviation mysteries, compounding the frustration of families who have been waiting for more than three weeks to get detailed and confirmed information on the 239 missing passengers aboard Flight MH370. The search for the Malaysia Airlines jet entered the 22nd day today with 10 aircraft and eight ships tasked to scour the Indian Ocean, after early sightings in the new search zone drew a blank.

The chief of the China Maritime Search and Rescue Center, He Jianzhong, said the international effort had not found any objects linked to the plane today, and that Chinese vessels would expand their search area. Some 29 family members from China arrived in Kuala Lumpur and held a news conference at their hotel, imploring officials to be more transparent. About 50 more family members joined those who had earlier flown to Malaysia, saying they hoped to get more information from officials.

“We want evidence, we want truth and we want our family," said Jiang Hui, the families' designated representative. The crowd chanted the same words. “We will stay until the final end," he said, adding that they would express their requirements in an appropriate and legal way. They also asked Malaysia to apologise for releasing confusing information and for announcing on March 24 that the plane had crashed without “direct evidence”.

Jiang said the families also call for a meeting with aircraft manufacturers and service providers such as Boeing and Rolls-Royce. Meanwhile, approximately 252,000 square kilometres were searched by nine aircraft from countries like the US, Australia, China.

“Eight ships were tasked in the MH370 search area with a merchant ship also transiting through the area. Aircraft in the search area have continued to report sightings of objects similar to those reported previously. Objects sighted by aircraft cannot be verified or discounted as being from MH370 until they are relocated and recovered by ships. Nothing has yet been verified as being from MH370,” Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) said. — PTI 

Mystery deepens

* Possible debris sightings by Chinese, Australian and New Zealand army planes have not found any concrete clues yet

* The search for the Malaysian plane entered the 22nd day on Sunday with 10 aircraft and eight ships tasked to scour the Indian Ocean

* Some 29 family members from China arrived in Kuala Lumpur and held a news conference at their hotel, imploring officials to be more transparent

* They asked Malaysia to apologise for releasing confusing information and for announcing on March 24 that the plane had crashed without “direct evidence”

New York, March 30
An American rapper has made racist comments about a Sikh man in a picture he posted on a website but withdrew it later after drawing flak for his remarks online.

Joe Budden, a member of the hip hop group Slaughterhouse, had last week posted a picture on his Instagram account showing an elderly Sikh standing in an airport security line. Budden’s accompanying caption read, “Not on my watch Homeboy!”, insinuating that he was a terrorist. Budden received flak for his racist comments with several people taking to micro-blogging site Twitter to express their anger, the Huffington Post reported.

Advocacy group Sikh Coalition voiced appreciation for those “who (respectfully) spoke up and called Joe Budden out on his racist comments.” Reacting to the caption on the photo, a Twitter user Fateh Singh wrote, “Racism and ignorance at its finest.” Another user said Budden “fails to understand that ‘stereotypical terrorist’ jokes have gotten innocent Sikhs killed, post 9/11, purely of ignorance”. Arsalan Iftikhar tweeted “Posting a picture of Indian Sikh man insinuating he’s a terrorist is not cool.”

A user Jaskaran Dhanoa urged Budden to take a serious look at his actions, telling him that “you are a human just like everyone else. Same blood runs in our veins. Your ancestors know about racism.” — PTI 

San Francisco, March 30
Apple and Samsung will return to federal court in the heart of Silicon Valley tomorrow for a new round in their seemingly perpetual patent war. The case concerns smartphone and tablet patents and is just the latest in a long-running feud between the two tech giants, who are battling for supremacy in a multi-billion-dollar market.

"The parties tried hard to accuse each other's latest and greatest products, but US patent litigation is slow, which is why this 2014 trial will be about 2012 and pre-2012 products," intellectual property analyst Florian Mueller said in a post at website fosspatents.com.

The rivals will face off once again before District Court Judge Lucy Koh in the California city of San Jose.

Koh presided over a trial last year that ended with a jury declaring Samsung owed Apple more that a billion dollars in damages for infringing patents with some older model Android-powered devices.

The damages award was later trimmed to $929 million and is being appealed. If this new trial goes in Apple's favor, it could result in an even bigger award since it involves better-selling Samsung devices built with Google-backed Android software.

This time California-based Apple is taking aim at Samsung's flagship Galaxy line crafted to challenge the iPhone in the high-performance end of the market.

"Both in the United States and globally, Apple and Samsung have established themselves as fierce competitors in the smartphone market and fierce adversaries in the courtroom," Koh said during rulings on injunctions, testimony and other matters ahead of trial.

Under pressure from Koh, the chiefs of Apple and Samsung engaged in mediation to see if the dispute could be settled out of court, but talks failed.

However, the companies expressed a willingness to keep talking, raising the slim possibility trial could be avoided. Jury selection is to commence tomorrow. Koh is allowing each side 25 hours to present evidence to make its case to jurors.

Apple filed the suit against the South Korean consumer electronics behemoth in February 2012 as "one action in a worldwide constellation of litigation between the two companies," the judge said in a ruling.

Patents at issue in the case involve unlocking touch-screens with gestures; automatically correcting words being typed; retrieving data sought by users, and performing actions on found data such as making a call after coming up with a phone number. — AFP

Long feud

* The case pertains to smartphone and tablet patents and is just the latest in a long-running feud between the two tech giants, who are battling for supremacy in a multi-billion-dollar market

* The parties tried hard to accuse each other's latest and greatest products, but US patent litigation is slow, which is why this 2014 trial will be about 2012 and pre-2012 products, intellectual property analyst Florian Mueller said

* The rivals will face off once again before District Court Judge Lucy Koh in the California city of San Jose.