Crimean parliament sets March 16 for referendum

The Crimean parliament Thursday approved a referendum to take place on March 16 to decide whether the autonomous region remains part of Ukraine or secedes to Russia. As the Kiev government protested this step, parliament in Moscow began debating a draft law for enabling foreign territories to be annexed to the Russian Federation. In Rome, EU, US and Russian foreign ministers are meeting to discuss demands for sanctions against Russia for invading Crimea. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will be meeting a second time after failing to find common ground at their first encounter in Paris Wednesday.