News reports say an Asiana Airlines plane skidded off a runway after landing in western Japan and about 20 passengers received minor injuries.
	Japanese public broadcaster NHK said the accident today forced the closure of Hiroshima airport.
	It said the Airbus 320 plane was carrying 74 passengers and seven crewmembers from Seoul, South Korea. It said they were evacuated using escape chutes, and no was seriously injured.
	The cause of the accident was not immediately known. Reports said the airport informed fire officials that part of the aircraft touched the runway during the landing, causing some sparks.
	No other details were immediately available. An Asiana Airlines flight crashed two years ago as it approached San Francisco's airport in an accident that killed three teenagers and injured nearly 200 others.

Reports: Plane skids off runway in Japan; about 20 injured

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Prosecutors have charged a volunteer law enforcement officer in the death of a man who was fatally shot as he lay on the ground at the officer's feet.
	The sheriff's office has said Robert Bates, a 73-year-old insurance executive who was volunteering on an undercover operation in Oklahoma, mistakenly pulled out his handgun instead of his stun gun and shot the suspect as he struggled with deputies.
	Bates, who is white, was charged yesterday with second-degree manslaughter involving "culpable negligence" for the April 2 death of Eric Harris, 44, who was black. If convicted, he could face up to four years in prison.
	It was the latest fatal shooting by a police officer to draw national attention after months of investigations and protests of other deaths in Ferguson, Missouri, New York City, South Carolina and elsewhere.
	Many of the cases have stirred debate about the treatment of black men and boys by US law enforcement agencies. But at a news conference yesterday, Andre Harris, the ..

Reserve deputy charged with manslaughter in shooting death

Attacks in and around Baghdad killed at least 14 civilians today, as Iraqi security forces repelled an attack by the Islamic State group on the country's largest oil refinery, officials said.
	Seven people were killed when a car bomb exploded in a commercial area in the town of Mahmoudiyah, about 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of Baghdad, a police officer said.
	The car was parked in a mainly Shiite section of town near a bakery and went off as people were standing in line to buy bread.
	Another 13 civilians were wounded in the attack, he said.
	Hours later, another car bomb exploded in a parking lot outside Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital, killing four civilians and wounding 10, the official said.
	Three more civilians were killed and eight wounded when a bomb ripped through an outdoor market in Baghdad's northern Sabi al-Bor area, police added.
	Three medical officials confirmed the casualty figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to release ...

Attacks kill 14 civilians in and around Baghdad

Iran's foreign minister today called for a peace plan for war-torn Yemen that includes humanitarian aid, dialogue and the formation of a broad-based Yemeni government after a proposed cease-fire already rejected by Saudi Arabia.
	Saudi Arabia has been carrying out airstrikes in Yemen against the Houthi rebels who control the capital, Sanaa. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said no preconditions as to who would run Yemen can be imposed before dialogue begins with the country's different factions, because doing so "will prolong the disaster."
	During a visit to Madrid, Zarif did not address Saudi claims that Tehran has been giving the Houthis military support.
	Zarif also reiterated Iran's position that sanctions against his country must be removed when a final deal is reached on its nuclear programme.
	Iran and six powers, including the United States, reached a framework agreement earlier this month to curb Tehran's nuclear activities.
	Zarif said a first post-framework meeting on the deal 

Iran minister defines Yemen peace plan details

Eight people were killed today in an attack on a government office complex in the capital, according to police.
	Police have secured the ministry of higher education office complex, said Capt. Mohamed Hussein, a senior police officer.
	The attackers stormed the ministry of higher education after a suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle at the gate of the office complex, opening the way for gunmen to enter, said Hussein.
	The assault on the walled compound which also houses other government ministries is the latest attack by suspected Islamic extremists of al-Shabab who are maintaining a series of attacks in the capital on government targets and the African Union forces who are supporting the government.
	Smoke could be seen rising over the compound.
	Security forces rushed to the scene and ambulances ferried wounded victims to hospitals.

Somali police say 8 die in attack on government office

Syrian militants, including members of al-Qaida's local branch, attacked a government intelligence centre in the northern city of Aleppo, damaging much of the building by blowing up a tunnel under it, activists said today.
	The attack on the Air Force Intelligence headquarters began late last night and lasted until early today, said Aleppo-based activist Ahmad Hamed via Skype. He claimed the attack killed dozens of government troops.
	The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting killed 13 militants and killed and wounded more than 20 troops and pro-government gunmen. There was no immediate word from the government on the attack.
	Rebels and members of al-Qaida's Nusra Front have launched several past assaults on the Aleppo intelligence center, where dozens of detainees were once held. Activists say repeated attacks there forced the government move detainees elsewhere.
	Aleppo, Syria's largest city, became key battlefield after rebels launched an offensive ...

Syria rebels attack government intelligence center in Aleppo

An international human rights group says evidence "strongly suggests" that Syrian government forces used toxic chemicals in several barrel bomb attacks in northwestern Syria last month.
	Human Rights Watch quotes rescue workers as saying the attacks in Idlib province from March 16 to March 31 affected at least 206 people, including 20 civil defense workers. It said one attack killed six civilians, including three children.
	The group's report, released today, said people near the sites of three attacks exhibited symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic chemicals, and gas canisters were among the barrel bomb remnants. It said witnesses also described a strong chlorine smell.
	Chlorine was first introduced as a chemical weapon in World War I. Most nations banned its use in war in the Geneva Protocol of 1925.

Report: Evidence suggests Syrian troops used toxic chemicals

Defense lawyers are vowing to appeal the convictions of four former Blackwater security guards after a federal judge handed down lengthy prison terms for their roles in a 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.
	Attorneys identified several issues yesterday as likely forming the basis of an appeal, including vindictive prosecution and whether State Department contractors could be charged under a federal law that covers the overseas crimes of Defense Department civilian employees.
	The move comes after US District Judge Royce Lamberth sentenced former guard Nicholas Slatten to life in prison and three others to 30-year terms for their roles in the shootings that killed 14 Iraqi civilians and wounded 17 others in Baghdad's Nisoor Square.
	Slatten, who witnesses said was the first to fire shots in the melee, was sentenced to life after being convicted last October of first-degree murder. The three other guards Paul Slough, Evan Liberty and Dustin Heard were each sentenced to 30 years 

Ex-guards sentenced for Iraq shootings plan appeal

China is considering raising its notoriously low limits on damages for intellectual property violations and strengthening litigation on trade secret theft, a Shanghai city official said today.
	The comments by Lyu Guoqiang, commissioner of Shanghai's Intellectual Property Office, echo an action plan issued in December by the State Council, China's top administrative authority, which called for "increasing the application of criminal fines" as part of an effort to enhance criminal enforcement and judicial protection for intellectual property.
	Taken together, the moves suggest a deepening commitment to IP enforcement in China, which is trying to wean its economy from low-end manufacturing and seek growth from innovation instead.
	"Enhancing intellectual property protection is out of the intrinsic need of China's economic development and economic transformation," Lyu said.
	Patent awards are currently capped at 1 million yuan (USD 160,905), trademark violations at 3 million yuan and ...

Official says China may raise damages caps for IP violations

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said 2014 was marked by harrowing accounts of rape, sexual slavery and forced marriage being used by extremists including the Islamic State group and Boko Haram.
	In a report released yesterday, the UN chief expressed "grave concern" over sexual violence perpetrated by armed groups, including those promoting extremist ideologies in Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Nigeria, Mali, Libya and Yemen.
	"The confluence of crises wrought by violent extremism has revealed a shocking trend of sexual violence employed as a tactic of terror by radical groups," Ban said.
	The secretary-general said efforts "to degrade or destroy" the Islamic State group, Boko Haram, al-Shabab, Ansar Dine and al-Qaida affiliates "are an essential part of the fight against conflict-related sexual violence."
	The report focuses on 19 countries engulfed in conflict or trying to recover from fighting where sexual violence including rape, sexual slavery, forced prostitution and forced pregnancy ...

UN report: 2014 saw extremists use of rape, sexual slavery

A court issued an injunction today ordering two nuclear reactors in western Japan to stay offline, rejecting regulators' safety approval for the facility ahead of their planned restart later this year.
	The Fukui District Court ordered the operator, Kansai Electric Power Co, not to restart the No 3 and No 4 reactors at the Takahama plant in Fukui prefecture, which is home to about a dozen reactors.
	The court criticized the Nuclear Regulation Authority's safety standards for being too lax even with stricter requirements imposed following the Fukushima crisis after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
	It said meeting the new standards does not guarantee the safety of the Takahama reactors.
	In the wake of the crisis, all 48 reactors in Japan were taken offline for safety checks. None have gone back online except for another two reactors in Fukui for a brief period in 2012 and 2013.
	A group of residents and their supporters requested the injunction, saying a massive earthquake ...

Japan court rejects bid to restart of 2 nuclear reactors

Australia's government said today it had completed preparations to send about 300 additional troops to Iraq and would deploy them over the coming weeks.
	The troops will work alongside about 100 New Zealand troops at the Taji base north of Baghdad. Australia's government said the combined force isn't being deployed in a combat role but rather to train Iraqi forces to fight the Islamic State group.
	The troops are part of an international coalition effort to defeat the group, which is also known as ISIS and Daesh. Australia already has 170 special forces troops in Baghdad advising and assisting Iraqi security forces. Another 400 Australian air force personnel are supporting air strikes against Islamic State targets from a base outside Dubai. New Zealand's deployment will represent its first in the current conflict.
	Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Defence Minister Kevin Andrews said in a statement the mission would be operational in May and was committed to two years with ...

Australia to deploy 300 additional troops to Iraq

An airport worker who fell asleep and found himself trapped in a plane's cargo hold forced a Los Angeles-bound Alaska Airlines flight to return to Seattle.
	Flight 448 had just taken off when the pilot and some first-class passengers heard banging from down below, the airline said.
	The captain immediately returned to Seattle-Tacoma International and declared an emergency for priority landing.
	After the plane landed a ramp agent came out from the front cargo hold, which Alaska said is pressurised and temperature-controlled.
	"Upon exiting, he told authorities he had fallen asleep," the airline said.
	The man, an employee of Alaska contractor Menzies Aviation, walked off the plane. He was initially checked by medics at the airport and found to be unhurt, airport spokesman Perry Cooper said.
	The man was also checked at a hospital and released, the airline said yesterday. After his release from the hospital, he passed a drug test, airline spokesman Bryan Zidar said.
	The airline did ...

Flight returns to Seattle after worker trapped in cargo hold

South Korea has lifted an overseas travel ban on a Japanese journalist charged with defaming the South Korean president, officials said today.
	Tatsuya Kato had been banned from leaving South Korea since last August while prosecutors investigated his article about rumors that President Park Geun-hye was absent for seven hours during a ferry disaster that left more than 300 people dead last year because she was with a man.
	Seoul prosecutors eventually indicted Kato, a former Seoul bureau chief of the conservative Sankei Shimbun newspaper, last October. The indictment raised questions about South Korea's media freedom.
	Seoul prosecutors' office said today that the Justice Ministry had accepted its request to lift the travel ban.
	A senior prosecutor said the decision was made after judges determined that Kato's report was inaccurate and that he had promised to attend the remaining sessions in his court case in Seoul. The prosecutor, speaking on condition of anonymity because the case .

South Korea lifts travel ban on Japanese journalist

Russia and Ukraine have agreed to call for the pullback of smaller caliber weapons from the front lines in eastern Ukraine as part of a fresh push to end the region's yearlong conflict.
	Foreign ministers from the two countries meeting with their French and German counterparts in Berlin also agreed to support international monitors and establish four working groups to address the most pressing issues faced by people in the embattled region, where Russian-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian government forces.
	The meeting took place yesterday amid fresh clashes in the Donetsk area and near the village of Shyrokyne, by the Azov Sea.
	German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who hosted the meeting, insisted afterward that the parties had no alternative but to abide by agreements forged in the Belarusian capital Minsk in February and September.
	"Everyone knows that we have a long path ahead of us," Steinmeier told reporters shortly after midnight. "But we're going to do ...

Russia, Ukraine agree on withdrawal of smaller caliber arms

The Obama administration lobbied lawmakers today to persuade them not to pass any legislation that could hamper prospects for negotiating a final deal with Iran to curb its nuclear program.
	A Senate panel is set to vote tomorrow on a bill that would give Congress a say on a potential deal aimed at keeping Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon. On the House side, Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said today he will bring the bill to the floor after the Senate acts on legislation giving Congress the power to review any deal.
	The Republican told reporters he spoke with Sen. Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, earlier in the day. McCarthy said he told Corker that if the Senate approves the bill, the House will vote on it.
	Republicans and Democrats maintain that Congress should have a say on an international deal with Tehran to curb its nuclear program and have lined up behind legislation. The White House has pushed back, threatening a ...

Obama officials lobby against Iran nuclear legislation

Artist Romero Britto is suing Apple Inc and a design firm in Miami federal court for allegedly misusing his color-splashed images and distinctive style in marketing campaigns.
	The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages from Cupertino, California-based Apple and the design duo Craig Redman of New York and Karl Maier of London, whose company is called Craig & Karl.
	Britto's lawsuit, filed on behalf of his Miami Beach- based company Britto Central Inc, makes a number of claims, including copyright infringement and unfair competition. It also asks a judge to halt the alleged misuse of Britto's images.
	Apple's "Start Something New" marketing campaign was cited in the lawsuit as one recent example of misuse of Britto art. Officials at Apple and Craig & Karl did not immediately respond today to emails seeking comment.

Artist Britto sues Apple, design firm over use of art, style

The Pentagon says that while Islamic State militants have lost control of up to 6,500 square miles (16,800 sq kilometers) in Iraq, they have gained a bit of ground in Syria since last August.
	Army Col Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, says the front lines of the territory held by the Islamic State group have been pushed further south and west in Iraq.
	But the militants still control land stretching from west and south of Sinjar down through Mosul and across Bayji.
	A new map released by the Pentagon today shows that US and coalition forces regained territory near Tikrit, Sinjar Mountain and Mosul Dam.
	Warren says while militants were driven out of Kobani, in Syria, they have maintained influence across the country and gained ground around Homs and Damascus.

Pentagon: Islamic State loses ground in Iraq, gains in Syria

US House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy said today the lower chamber will act after the Senate on legislation giving Congress the power to review an emerging Iran nuclear deal.
	McCarthy said he told Republican Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, that if the Senate approves the bill, the House will vote on it.
	"It's my intention to bring it to the floor of the House and move it," McCarthy, the No. 2 Republican lawmaker in the House, said at a news conference as Congress was returning from a two-week spring break.
	Republicans and Democrats maintain that Congress should have a say on an international deal with Tehran to curb its nuclear program and have lined up behind legislation. The White House has pushed back, threatening a presidential veto while warning that the bill could scuttle the delicate talks involving the United States, Iran and five world powers.
	Secretary of State John Kerry was meeting with members of the House late today to discuss ..

Top House lawmaker backs bill on Congress role in Iran deal

An Israeli soldier has been indicted on spying charges for relaying classified military information to extremist West Bank settlers suspected of involvement in attacks on Palestinians.
	The Shin Bet, Israel's internal intelligence agency, said today that the 25-year-old man, a resident of the same hardline West Bank settlement of Bat Ayin, acted out of "ideological" reasons and was arrested last month.
	A statement says authorities became suspicious after troops were attacked while raiding Bat Ayin to arrest activists believed to have set fire to a mosque in a nearby Palestinian village. It says the activists knew of the operation ahead of time.
	The Shin Bet said it views the intelligence leaks severely and that the man's actions had put people's lives in danger.

Israeli soldier indicted for passing secrets to settlers

Marco Rubio, the young Florida senator who has been a favorite of the conservative tea party movement, today took on Hillary Rodham Clinton in his first words as a presidential candidate.
	Rubio, 43, told top donors he is running for the Republican nomination because the 2016 race for the White House should be about the future, not the past. A Cuban- American serving his first term as senator, Rubio also said he feels "uniquely qualified" to pitch his Republican Party as one that will defend the American Dream.
	Rubio's presidential announcement comes a day after Clinton announced her bid for the Democratic nomination and as the former secretary of state is traveling to early voting state Iowa on her first trip as a candidate.
	That's likely to rob some attention from Rubio's splash into the race. But Rubio saw an opportunity to cast the presidential contest as one between a fresh face representing a new generation of leadership and a long-familiar figure harking back to the 1990s ...

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