Europe's aviation safety agency will recommend today that airlines across the continent always have two people in the cockpit of a flying aircraft, according to Scandinavian authorities.
	Airlines and officials around the world are starting to impose the rule after details emerged that the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 had apparently locked himself in the cockpit and deliberated crashed the plane into the mountains below.
	Scandinavian Airlines group spokesman Henrik Edstrom told The Associated Press the carrier had received a draft of the recommendation from the European Aviation Safety Agency through Swedish transport authorities.
	Henrik Olars of the Swedish Transport Agency confirmed they got it from the Germany-based EASA.
	"We always follow the recommendations we get from the national authorities, which in turn got it from the European agency," Edstrom said.
	A draft recommendation was going around but had not been an approved yet, according to the Association of European .

European air authority to recommend 2 crew in cockpit

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Iraq's most revered Shiite cleric today called for unity among the country's forces battling the Islamic State group after most of the Iran-backed Shiite militias pulled out of the offensive in the militant-held city of Tikrit in protest over US airstrikes there.
	Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani's appeal came a day after the militias, which had been instrumental so far in the operation to recapture Saddam Hussein's hometown, announced their boycott of the Tikrit offensive.
	The US got involved in the operation and started providing airstrikes on Wednesday in support of the mission at the request of Iraq's government.
	Al-Sistani said that coordination between the military, Shiite militias and tribes is necessary for the success of the operation, according to his representative Ahmed al-Safi in the holy site of Karbala.
	It is up to the "high command of (the Iraqi) armed forces to adopt the proper and right decision," al-Sistani said.
	On the ground, the Iraqi troops pressed their push .

Iraqi Shiite cleric calls for unity after militia pullout

Thailand is facing bans on new international flights and increased inspections after the International Civil Aviation Organisation said there are significant concerns about the country's aviation safety.
	The ICAO's designation of Thailand as a "significant safety concern" has not been announced publicly by the UN agency but governments were informed last week.
	An official from South Korea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said today that the ICAO made the designation on March 20.
	The official said the ministry has yet to make a decision on new flights from Thailand-registered airlines. But he said it was highly unlikely they would be approved. He said flights currently operating between Thailand and South Korea will not be affected.
	A Japanese aviation official said Japan is withholding approval for new flights.

Thai airlines face scrutiny over safety, bans on new flights

Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies presented powerful members of the UN Security Council with suggested elements for a resolution that would impose an arms embargo on the Shiite rebels who have thrown Yemen into turmoil and caused its Western-backed president to flee.
	Diplomats said after a meeting Thursday evening with ambassadors from the United States, Britain and France that members of the Gulf Coordination Council want the resolution to be militarily enforceable under Chapter 7 of the UN Charter.
	The GCC members also presented the Security Council president with a letter explaining that their airstrikes targeting military installations held by the Houthi rebels are in response to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi's request this week for immediate aid as the rebels closed in.
	The current president of the Security Council, French Ambassador Francois Delattre, did not comment on his way out of the meeting. Another permanent council member, Russia, met with the Gulf members earlier .

Gulf states ask UN Security Council for Yemen arms embargo

Arab leaders meeting this weekend in this Egyptian Red Sea resort are moving closer than ever to creating a joint Arab military force, a sign of a new determination among Saudi Arabia, Egypt and their allies to intervene aggressively in regional hotspots, whether against Islamic militants or spreading Iranian power.
	Creation of such a force has been a longtime goal that has eluded Arab nations in the 65 years since they signed a rarely used joint defence pact. And there remains reluctance among some countries, particularly allies of Iran like Syria and Iraq a reflection of the divisions in the region.
	Foreign ministers gathered in Sharm el-Sheikh ahead of the summit, which begins tomorrow, agreed on a broad plan for the force. It came as Saudi Arabia and its allies opened a campaign of airstrikes in Yemen against Iranian-backed Shiite rebels who have taken over much of the country and forced its US- and Gulf-backed president to flee abroad.
	The Yemen campaign marked a major test of 

Arabs inch closer to old dream of joint Arab force

South Korea today urged North Korea to immediately release two of its citizens detained in the country over alleged espionage, the latest in a series of arrests in the North of foreign nationals.
	The North's state media said late yesterday that the two were detained last year for allegedly collecting confidential state information and attempting to spread "bourgeois lifestyle and culture" in the North at the order of South Korea's spy agency and the US It identified the men as Kim Kuk Gi and Choe Chun Gil and said the two acknowledged their acts during what was described as a news conference in Pyongyang.
	North Korea has occasionally detained South Koreans, Americans and other foreigners on accusations of spying in what analysts say are attempts to wrest outside concessions.
	Authorities in Pyongyang in the past staged news conferences, during which foreign detainees appeared before the media and made statements that they recant after their releases.
	Today, South Korea's ...

Seoul urges Pyongyang to release 2 South Korean detainees

US flight regulations make it unlikely that a single jetliner pilot could barricade himself or herself inside the cockpit like French prosecutors say the Germanwings co-pilot did before crashing his airliner into the French Alps, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology aviation analyst has said.
	MIT expert John Hansman yesterday said US safety procedures require two people in an airliner's cockpit at all times. If the pilot or co-pilot of an American carrier leaves the flight deck for any reason, a flight attendant goes in, he said.
	"The reason for that is in case the remaining pilot becomes incapacitated and couldn't open the door," he told The Associated Press.
	Hansman spoke after French prosecutors said Germanwings co-pilot Andreas Lubitz barricaded himself inside the cockpit of an Airbus jetliner on Tuesday and deliberately crashed it into a mountainside in France, killing all 150 people aboard.
	Airlines in Europe are not required to have two people in the cockpit at all ...

MIT expert: US rules make chances of cockpit takeover slim

A court in Maldives has sentenced a former defense minister to 11 years in prison for importing and possessing a firearm.
	A criminal court in Male, the capital island of this Indian Ocean archipelago state, has passed the sentence against Mohamed Nazim yesterday night.
	The same court earlier this month sentenced the country's former president to 13 years in prison after a disputed trial over the arrest of a senior judge while he was in power three years ago.
	Nazim was sacked from President Yameen Abdul Gayoom's cabinet in January after police raided his home and found a pistol and some bullets. Possession or import of firearms by private persons is illegal.
	Nazim's family and supporters say the charges were politically motivated because he was becoming popular within Gayoom's party.

Maldives jails ex-defense minister for 11 years

The US says it hopes that Thailand's leader, who took power in a military coup last year, wasn't serious when he made a threat to execute journalists.
	Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha made the apparently sarcastic comment to reporters in Bangkok Wednesday. He said that any media that cause "division" should be punished. He singled out several reporters and publications for insults.
	State Department spokesman Jeff Rathke yesterday said that the US was troubled by Prayuth's threat to journalists who do not report the "truth." He said such statements, even if not serious, contribute to an atmosphere in which freedoms could be suppressed.
	The coup and the Thai junta's crackdown on dissent has strained traditionally strong ties with the US Washington has suspended USD 4.7 million in military aid.

US 'troubled' by Thai leader's threat to execute journalists

The United Nations has more than doubled its estimate of Syrians who are living in besieged areas and risk death by starvation, dehydration and the lack of medical care to roughly 440,000.
	UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos announced the new number yesterday while briefing the Security Council on what she called the "breathtaking levels of savagery" that continue as Syria's civil war enters its fifth year.
	The Syrian American Medical Society this month released a report arguing that the UN's estimate of 212,000 people cut off from the outside world was far too low and that the UN was inadvertently underplaying the crisis.
	Amos told the council in her latest monthly update that by any measure, the situation in Syria has dramatically worsened since the council last year approved resolutions aimed at getting more aid to millions in need. She urged the council to act to hold the Syrian government and armed groups accountable for violations of the resolution, which demanded aid access. .

UN more than doubles its count of besieged in Syria: 440,000

The United States has dropped 60,000 copies of a graphic leaflet near the northern Syrian city of Raqqah that depict potential Islamic State recruits being fed into a meat grinder.
	The leaflets are part of an information campaign to discourage people from joining the extremist group.
	Army Col. Steve Warren released a copy of the leaflet Thursday in response to media requests.
	The drawing shows seven young men standing in line under a sign that says Daesh Recruiting Office. Daesh is the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
	A man with a monster face is beckoning the first man in line, who looks frightened. A second man is turning the grinder. Two legs are protruding from the feeder tube, and blood is coming out the grinder's other end.

US drops graphic leaflet to possible Islamic State recruits

Airlines around the world on Thursday began requiring two crew members to always be present in the cockpit, after details emerged that the co-pilot of Germanwings Flight 9525 had apparently locked himself in the cockpit and deliberated crashed the plane into the mountains below.
	Leading European budget airlines Norwegian Air Shuttle and EasyJet, along with Air Canada, say they will now require a minimum of two crew members in the cockpit while a plane is in the air.
	Following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, U.S. airlines revamped their policies regarding staffing in the cockpit.
	Whenever the door is open, flight attendants create a barrier between the cockpit and passengers. Typically, that is done with a beverage cart but some jets are outfitted with a mesh wire barricade. If a pilot leaves to use the bathroom, one of the flight attendants takes his or her seat in the cockpit.
	Some European airlines, like Finnair, operated under similar procedures. But many did not prior to 

Airlines to require 2 crew members in cockpit at all times

Two passenger trains collided north of Thailand's capital late today, injuring more than 20 people, authorities said.
	It was not immediately clear what caused the wreck in the central province of Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok. The State Railway of Thailand posted a statement on their Facebook page saying a northern-bound train crashed into the rear of another train.
	Police Col. Nateepat Thammaratsophon put the number of injuries at 22. He described most of the injuries as minor but said two people were in critical condition one of the train's drivers and a mechanic.
	Most of the remaining passengers were able to leave the site on another train provided by the state railroad company, Nateepat said, adding that soldiers and state officials helped transport other people from the site as well.
	Nateepat said both trains had departed Bangkok and were headed north when one rear-ended the other in Ayutthaya's Phachee district. "We are still investigation the cause of the collision," he .

Trains collide in Thailand, over 20 injured

Beefed up by new weapons from China, Russia and the Czech Republic, and strengthened by training from foreign advisers, Nigeria's military is forcing Boko Haram extremists from a string of northeastern towns as the country's prepares for elections the insurgents are threatening to disrupt.
	The military offensive caused a six-week postponement of critical presidential elections now being held Saturday, a delay that should allow voting by some of the more than 1.5 million people forced from their homes by the Islamic uprising.
	But many refugees are reluctant to return home, doubting whether Nigeria's military can maintain control over territory it recaptured from the insurgents.
	In just two months, Nigeria's military with help from troops from Chad, Niger and Cameroon has reclaimed about 30 towns and "liberated" the northeastern states of Adamawa and Yobe, leaving only 3 of 27 local government areas in Borno state under the sway of Boko Haram, according to the government spokesman on 

Nigeria's military pushes extremists ahead of elections

The United States is considering letting Tehran run hundreds of centrifuges at a once-secret, fortified underground bunker in exchange for limits on centrifuge work and research and development at other sites, officials said.
	The trade-off would allow Iran to run several hundred of the devices at its Fordo facility, although the Iranians would not be allowed to do work that could lead to an atomic bomb and the site would be subject to international inspections, according to Western officials familiar with details of negotiations now underway.
	 In return, Iran would be required to scale back the number of centrifuges it runs at its Natanz facility and accept other restrictions on nuclear-related work.
	Instead of uranium, which can be enriched to be the fissile core of a nuclear weapon, any centrifuges permitted at Fordo would be fed elements such as zinc, xenon or germanium for separating out isotopes used in medicine, industry or science, the officials said.
	The number of ...

Iran may run centrifuges at fortified site

Several members of Pope Francis' sex abuse advisory board are expressing concern and incredulity over his decision to appoint a Chilean bishop to a diocese despite allegations that he covered up for Chile's most notorious pedophile.
	In interviews and emails with The Associated Press, the experts have questioned Francis' pledge to hold bishops accountable and keep children safe, given the record of Bishop Juan Barros in the case of the Rev. Fernando Karadima.
	The five members spoke to the AP in their personal and professional capacity and stressed that they were not speaking on behalf of the commission, which Francis formed in late 2013 and named Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley to head.
	"I am very worried," said commission member Dr. Catherine Bonnet, a French child psychiatrist.

Pope's sex abuse commission alarmed by bishop appointment

The UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution today that cuts the UN peacekeeping force in Congo by 2,000, a far smaller reduction than what Congo President Joseph Kabila has wanted.
	The resolution defies Kabila's wish that the UN's largest peacekeeping force shrink by at least 7,000.
	The vote comes amid weeks of tension after the UN backed out of a planned joint operation with Congo's military against a rebel group, saying the two Congolese generals in charge have been involved in "massive human rights violations."
	Last week, Congo Foreign Minister Raymond Tshibanda told the Security Council that the time has come for Congo to "assume full responsibility" for its own security, indicating that his country wants the peacekeepers to leave. The top UN envoy to Congo, Martin Kobler, warned that making the peacekeeping mission leave Congo too early would be disastrous.
	The resolution extends the USD 1.3 billion, 21,000-strong peacekeeping force for a year and says its exit .

UN approves cutting Congo peacekeeping force by 2,000

Egyptian security and military officials say Saudi Arabia and Egypt will lead a ground operation in Yemen against Shiite rebels and their allies after a campaign of airstrikes to weaken them.
	Three senior officials tell The Associated Press that forces would enter by land from Saudi Arabia and by sea from the Red Sea and Arabian Sea. They said that other nations will also be involved.
	They would not specify troop numbers or say when the operation would start, only that it would be after airstrikes weaken the rebels and allied forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
	They say the offensive aims to push the rebels into negotiations on power sharing. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the press.

Egypt officials: Ground operation planned in Yemen

It's a baby boom for the owner of a pet lioness in central Pakistan.
	The African lioness named Queen has given birth to five healthy cubs. Lions normally have litters of two or three cubs.
	Owner Malik Fazal Abbas said he has had 4-year-old Queen since she was 2 months old. She mated with a male lion that Abbas also keeps at his home in the city of Multan.
	Abbas, who is a cotton and mango grower, says he has a license from the Pakistani Wildlife Department to keep lions as pets.
	There are other cases of wildlife kept as pets in Pakistan. The tiger is a symbol of the ruling party of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and some supporters keep tigers that they bring out during election campaigns.

Lioness kept as pet in Pakistan gives birth to 5 cubs

Heavy fighting raged around the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria today as rebels pressed their offensive against the government stronghold.
	An array of armed opposition groups have advanced through the outskirts of Idlib, the provincial capital and home to some 165,000 people, since launching their campaign Tuesday.
	Rebels have long controlled most of the surrounding towns and countryside, but President Bashar Assad's forces have maintained their hold on the city.
	The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the rebels have seized at least 17 checkpoints and military outposts from pro-Assad troops. It said at least 11 government fighters and 17 rebels have been killed over the past 24 hours.
	The offensive is being led by several groups, including al-Qaida's branch in Syria, known as the Nusra Front, as well as the ultra-conservative Ahrar al-Sham and Jund al-Aqsa groups.
	A photograph posted today on a Twitter account run by the Nusra Front's Idlib unit showed ...

Heavy fighting rages around Syrian city of Idlib

Nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran entered a critical phase today with US Secretary of State John Kerry meeting his Iranian counterpart less than a week away from an end-of-month deadline to secure the outline of a deal.
	With the clock ticking, Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and their teams huddled today in the Swiss resort town of Lausanne on Lake Geneva trying to overcome still significant gaps after nearly two years of negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and Germany.
	The top diplomats from Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia are expected to join the talks if the US and Iran are close to an agreement.
	US officials say the March 31 deadline is achievable but remains uncertain. En route to Switzerland with Kerry yesterday, one official said the American side "can see a path forward to get to agreement" by the end of March as the last round of talks produced more progress than many ..

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