News in Brief
MOSCOW (AP) — Russian police detained a drunken man who threatened the crew of a passenger plane flying Tuesday from a Siberian city to Moscow, forcing it to land shortly after take-off.
The Russian Investigative Committee said that the man told the Aeroflot crew that he was armed and demanded the diversion of the plane after it had taken off from the Siberian city of Surgut. The plane landed in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, about 230 kilometers (145 miles) to the west.
The plane stood on the runway in Khanty-Mansiysk for more than an hour before law enforcement officials went onboard. The airport was evacuated and the area cordoned off. Aeroflot said no one was hurt.
The investigators said the man has been identified as a Surgut resident who has a past conviction for property damage. He will now face charges of hijacking.
***
PARIS (Reuters) -- France’s conservative finance minister said capitalism could collapse if global inequality continues to rise.
In a speech marking the start of France’s presidency of the G7, Bruno Le Maire said the Group of Seven economic powers should consider setting a joint minimum corporate tax and tackle the power of giant multinational corporations.
"Capitalism must reinvent itself or it won’t survive the rise of inequalities across the world,” Le Maire said.
"We cannot always pay for more growth with ever greater inequalities. We have reached the end of this logic.”
Inequality is seen as a major reason for the rise of populist parties in rich countries and fed into the "yellow vest” street protests in France, fueled by accusations that President Emmanuel Macron is a "president of the rich” after he scrapped wealth tax during his first year in office.
Le Maire said governments had to pay heed to "the alert signal sent by those who say they are not benefiting from globalization.”
With China rising as a major source of financing for developing countries, Le Maire said he wanted the G7 to agree on international investment rules so countries do not become dominated by foreign economic powers.
Le Maire said the G7 would look at the growing gulf between the highest and lowest salaries, which is below the OECD average in France due to its relatively generous welfare system.
***
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- A nuclear-capable Tupolev-22M3 supersonic bomber crashed while trying to land in a snowstorm on Tuesday in Russia’s far north, the Defence Ministry said, saying the aircraft did not have any weapons on board.
Two of the plane’s four-man crew died in the crash and a third later died of his wounds in hospital, Russian news agencies reported. The fourth crew member survived.
The accident happened in Russia’s Murmansk region when the Soviet-era plane tried to land at an airbase near the city of Olenegorsk in a fierce snowstorm and amid high winds.
The plane broke up on the tarmac and caught fire.
The Defense Ministry said it was investigating all possibilities, including a technical fault.
***
PARIS (AP) — France’s national weather agency Meteo France said Tuesday that a large part of the country is on alert for dangerous levels of snow and ice and urged people to limit their movement.
The area includes 24 departments in northern and central France, and in the Paris area. Meteo France has issued an orange alert — the second-highest warning level — for snow and ice.
In Paris, about five centimeters (two inches) of snow fell on Tuesday and the Eiffel Tower has been closed as a precautionary measure. A major road in the Paris region, where 2,000 drivers were trapped for a night in February last year, was closed to traffic in the morning. The road reopened in the afternoon, but truck traffic will be banned on the route from 9 p.m. (2000 GMT; 3 p.m. EST).
"The situation is under control,” Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne said. "Drive safely and avoid hard braking.” The weather agency says the snow should last until Wednesday.
***
LONDON (Reuters) -- British opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn moved a step closer to paving the way for another referendum on European Union membership by trying to use parliament to grab control of Brexit from Prime Minister Theresa May.
With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.
***
PARIS (AP) — Paris police say several suspects are on the run after they robbed a bank on the Champs-Elysees in broad daylight.
According to French newspaper Le Parisien and broadcaster BFM TV, at least three armed men entered the branch of the Milleis bank on Tuesday morning.
The reports say the suspects tied up the employees and customers, and stayed several hours inside, during which they managed to open dozens of safe deposit boxes.
The prosecutor office did not provide details on how much the robbers made away with.
The bank, about 300 meters (900 feet) from the French presidential palace, is located in a neighborhood placed under high security measures.
The area was closed to the public with many police officers working on site Tuesday afternoon.
The Russian Investigative Committee said that the man told the Aeroflot crew that he was armed and demanded the diversion of the plane after it had taken off from the Siberian city of Surgut. The plane landed in the city of Khanty-Mansiysk, about 230 kilometers (145 miles) to the west.
The plane stood on the runway in Khanty-Mansiysk for more than an hour before law enforcement officials went onboard. The airport was evacuated and the area cordoned off. Aeroflot said no one was hurt.
The investigators said the man has been identified as a Surgut resident who has a past conviction for property damage. He will now face charges of hijacking.
***
PARIS (Reuters) -- France’s conservative finance minister said capitalism could collapse if global inequality continues to rise.
In a speech marking the start of France’s presidency of the G7, Bruno Le Maire said the Group of Seven economic powers should consider setting a joint minimum corporate tax and tackle the power of giant multinational corporations.
"Capitalism must reinvent itself or it won’t survive the rise of inequalities across the world,” Le Maire said.
"We cannot always pay for more growth with ever greater inequalities. We have reached the end of this logic.”
Inequality is seen as a major reason for the rise of populist parties in rich countries and fed into the "yellow vest” street protests in France, fueled by accusations that President Emmanuel Macron is a "president of the rich” after he scrapped wealth tax during his first year in office.
Le Maire said governments had to pay heed to "the alert signal sent by those who say they are not benefiting from globalization.”
With China rising as a major source of financing for developing countries, Le Maire said he wanted the G7 to agree on international investment rules so countries do not become dominated by foreign economic powers.
Le Maire said the G7 would look at the growing gulf between the highest and lowest salaries, which is below the OECD average in France due to its relatively generous welfare system.
***
MOSCOW (Reuters) -- A nuclear-capable Tupolev-22M3 supersonic bomber crashed while trying to land in a snowstorm on Tuesday in Russia’s far north, the Defence Ministry said, saying the aircraft did not have any weapons on board.
Two of the plane’s four-man crew died in the crash and a third later died of his wounds in hospital, Russian news agencies reported. The fourth crew member survived.
The accident happened in Russia’s Murmansk region when the Soviet-era plane tried to land at an airbase near the city of Olenegorsk in a fierce snowstorm and amid high winds.
The plane broke up on the tarmac and caught fire.
The Defense Ministry said it was investigating all possibilities, including a technical fault.
***
PARIS (AP) — France’s national weather agency Meteo France said Tuesday that a large part of the country is on alert for dangerous levels of snow and ice and urged people to limit their movement.
The area includes 24 departments in northern and central France, and in the Paris area. Meteo France has issued an orange alert — the second-highest warning level — for snow and ice.
In Paris, about five centimeters (two inches) of snow fell on Tuesday and the Eiffel Tower has been closed as a precautionary measure. A major road in the Paris region, where 2,000 drivers were trapped for a night in February last year, was closed to traffic in the morning. The road reopened in the afternoon, but truck traffic will be banned on the route from 9 p.m. (2000 GMT; 3 p.m. EST).
"The situation is under control,” Transport Minister Elisabeth Borne said. "Drive safely and avoid hard braking.” The weather agency says the snow should last until Wednesday.
***
LONDON (Reuters) -- British opposition Labor Party leader Jeremy Corbyn moved a step closer to paving the way for another referendum on European Union membership by trying to use parliament to grab control of Brexit from Prime Minister Theresa May.
With the clock ticking down to March 29, the date set in law for Brexit, the United Kingdom is in the deepest political crisis in half a century as it grapples with how, or even whether, to exit the European project it joined in 1973.
***
PARIS (AP) — Paris police say several suspects are on the run after they robbed a bank on the Champs-Elysees in broad daylight.
According to French newspaper Le Parisien and broadcaster BFM TV, at least three armed men entered the branch of the Milleis bank on Tuesday morning.
The reports say the suspects tied up the employees and customers, and stayed several hours inside, during which they managed to open dozens of safe deposit boxes.
The prosecutor office did not provide details on how much the robbers made away with.
The bank, about 300 meters (900 feet) from the French presidential palace, is located in a neighborhood placed under high security measures.
The area was closed to the public with many police officers working on site Tuesday afternoon.