In brief: Britain drops top income tax rate

London – Britain’s finance minister has cut the rate of income tax for the country’s wealthiest citizens, but imposed a raft of measures to prevent tax avoidance and a hefty new charge on expensive property sales in an attempt to spread the burden of austerity across the UK’s taxpayers.

In his annual budget statement Wednesday, George Osborne said he was cutting the top rate from 50 percent to 45 percent by April next year on annual incomes over $239,000. He argued the original higher rate did not yield as much as expected, partly because the rich were able to avoid the tax.

Osborne sought to deflect criticism that the coalition government was being soft on the wealthy by announcing a big increase in the level at which Britons start paying tax, to $14,500. There are doubts, however, whether the poorest will reap the full reward, given they may lose some benefits.

The 50 percent tax rate was introduced by the previous Labour government as part of austerity measures introduced in the wake of a banking crisis.

U.S.-North Korea relations cooling

Washington – The United States said Wednesday it is suspending efforts to recover remains of thousands of fallen service members in North Korea, the latest sign that a recent thaw in relations is over.

The U.S. was in the process of resuming the hunt for remains missing from the 1950-’53 Korean War that had been on hold since 2005, the only form of cooperation between the two militaries.

But North Korea announced plans last week to launch a satellite into space by rocket – a step the U.S. says would violate a U.N. ban. That knocked back recent progress in negotiations on the North’s nuclear program.

Fears of military coup grip Mali

Bamako, Mali – Soldiers on Wednesday stormed the state TV and radio station in Mali, as fears of a possible coup gripped the country in the wake of a military mutiny that spread from a garrison in the capital to thousands of miles away.

The sound of heavy weapons rang out, and trucks carrying soldiers were seen fanning out around the building housing the state broadcaster. Television screens went black across the landlocked nation for roughly seven hours, coming back a little before midnight.

The mutiny began Wednesday at a military camp in the capital, during a visit by Defense Minister Gen. Sadio Gassama.

In his speech to the troops, the minister failed to address the grievances of the rank-and-file soldiers, who are angry over what they say is the government’s mismanagement of a rebellion by Tuareg separatists.