Main news of March 8

A round up of what happened in the past 24 hours

 

WORLD

 

* Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi has called for joint efforts to promote a return to better relations with the United States, Xinhua reported

* According to unofficial results in the Iraqi parliamentary elections, Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, who heads the State of Law Coalition, is leading in the ballot count, the head of an independent Iraqi organization said

* The number of deaths from a 6.0-magnitude earthquake in eastern Turkey has climbed to at least 57, the mayor of the village of Kovancilar said on local television

* Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said he has no plans of replacing top government officials regardless of the decline in popularity of his leadership, according to surveys held by Japanese media

* The trial of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and 11 others for alleged tax fraud on film sales for his Mediaset media group was adjourned until April 12, an Italian news agency reported

* Top Czech officials discussed NATO’s request for reinforcement of the Czech military mission in Afghanistan, the CTK news agency reported

* A 19-year-old girl and nine-year-old boy have been shot dead by their father who then turned the gun on himself, a Dutch news portal reported

 

RUSSIA

 

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s European security initiative should be discussed in the OSCE framework, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said

* Russian President Dmitry Medvedev will meet on Tuesday with Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt to discuss economic ties and international issues

* Estonian President Toomas Henrik Ilves called for closer cooperation with Russia in combating illegal immigration to EU countries

 

BUSINESS

 

* Bulgaria is among the leading European countries in terms of the cost and quality of the outsourcing services the country offers, according to a report by two international real estate and global management consulting firms

* Of 700 Polish companies declared bankrupt last year over 600 might have been ‘frauds,’ a national daily reported