Ukrainian authorities have formally notified jailed former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko that she is a suspect in the murder of a businessman and politician in 1996.

Russian investigators continue to probe the brazen daylight killing of star investigative journalist and fierce government critic Anna Politkovskaya, singling out her work as the most likely motive for the killing, news reports said.

An airliner careered off a rain-slicked runway, ploughed into adjacent garages and burst into flames in the Siberian city of Irkutsk early today.