Rebel News - Independent News and Analysis

Ukraine's newly appointed Prime Minister Mykola Azarov has promised to push through a realistic budget and to meet Kiev's obligations to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

Ahead of his appointment, Azarov, who is a former finance minister, had said that Ukraine's economy was in a dire situation.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner claims that the UN Security Council (UNSC) is drafting new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

According to Kouchner, the UNSC is working on drafting economic sanctions to restrict Iranian banks abroad and insurance of shipments to and from Iran but has yet to reached an agreement yet, Reuters reported on Thursday.

Greek police have clashed with protesters on the streets of Athens as strikes against government's austerity measures paralyze the city.

Violence erupted on Thursday in the capital with riot police firing tear gas at hooded youths, who hurled firebombs and vandalized stores near parliament, AFP reported.

Greek Police have fired teargas to disperse a small group of protesters outside parliament, as the cash-strapped country was hit with a fresh general strike.

Thursday's clashes broke out in Athens between police and around 30 protesters demonstrating against the government's unpopular austerity measures, a package passed into law last Friday.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi has taken a swipe at the country's opposition for preventing his People of Freedom party (PDL) from regional elections.

The Italian prime minister, who is also enmeshed with bribery charges, accused the members of the center-left opposition party of barring his party's candidates from registering in Rome electoral offices, calling for a pro-government demonstration on March 21 in Rome.

Moscow has once again hit out at Washington's plans for stationing a missile system in Eastern Europe.

Russia cannot allow US plans to deploy elements of its missile system in Europe to threaten the effectiveness of its nuclear deterrent, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday.

Traffic police in Moscow have been accused of making a road block using the cars of passing motorists in an attempt to stop a speeding vehicle. The story came to light after a man claiming to be a witness posted his account of the story on the internet. rt's Sarah Firth has the details.

The European Parliament backs the findings of a UN investigation that highlights Israel's war crimes in Gaza during the December 2008-January 2009 incursion into the costal region.

On Wednesday, European Parliament passed a resolution calling on the European Union to "demand the implementation of the Goldstone report's recommendations."

The identities of three asylum seekers, who died after they jumped from a high-rise block of flats in Glasgow, have still not been disclosed by the Scottish police. The bodies of the victims - thought to be from either Russia or Kosovo - were found at the bottom of a 31-storey high-rise on Sunday. With more we are now joined by our UK correspondent Laura Emmett.

Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has strongly condemned a move by the Italian judiciary to detain two Iranian nationals.

"Italy's latest movement to detain the two Iranians, especially the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) journalist is immature and politically-motivated," Mottaki told reporters at Tehran's Mehrabad International Airport after his return from Afghanistan on Wednesday evening.