Russia

A Malaysia Airlines jet carrying nearly 300 people crashed near the border between Russia and Ukraine, according to Reuters and Interfax. The airline company has confirmed that it has lost contact with the plane, a Boeing 777.

A friendly reminder: if you're on the beach and it looks like a storm is approaching, you should seek shelter. If not, Mother Nature might hurl chunks of ice at you. And she'll laugh.

Seeking to intensify pressure on Russia, President Barack Obama on Thursday expanded U.S. economic sanctions against Moscow, targeting 20 individuals inside and outside the government, as well as a Russian bank that provides them support.

In the most comprehensive sanctions against Russia since the end of the Cold War, President Barack Obama on Monday froze the U.S. assets of seven Russian officials, including top advisers to President Vladimir Putin, for their support of Crimea's vote to secede from Ukraine.

Just two weeks after Russian troops seized their peninsula, Crimeans voted Sunday to leave Ukraine and join Russia, overwhelmingly approving a referendum that sought to unite the strategically important Black Sea region with the country it was part of for some 250 years.

Russia on Saturday was reported to be reinforcing its military presence in Crimea as Moscow's foreign minister ruled out any dialogue with Ukraine's new authorities, whom he dismissed as puppets.

One by one, President Barack Obama's warnings to Russia are being brushed aside by President Vladimir Putin, who appears to be speeding up efforts to formally stake his claim to Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Lawmakers in Crimea called a March 16th referendum on whether to break away from Ukraine and join Russia instead, voting unanimously Thursday to declare their preference for doing so.

Accusing the West of encouraging an "unconstitutional coup" in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin said Tuesday that Moscow reserves the right to use all means to protect Russians there.

President Barack Obama says Russia is "on the wrong side of history" in Ukraine and its actions violate international law.