US first lady Michelle Obama and her Japanese counterpart Akie Abe announced plans today to deepen cooperation in helping girls in developing nations finish their educations.
	Michelle, who in her online travel journal described her trip as a "part of a journey that began decades ago, back when I was a little girl," is visiting Japan and Cambodia, who are among Asia's richest and poorest nations.
	As a major aid donor, Japan plans to cooperate with the community-based "Let Girls Learn" initiative recently announced by President Barack Obama and his wife. Today it announced plans to devote 42 billion yen (USD 340 million) over three years to supporting girls' empowerment and gender sensitive education.
	Japan and the US also agreed to focus more development assistance on supporting girls' education. The Japan Overseas Cooperation Volunteers will also cooperate with the Peace Corps, which is implementing the Let Girls Learn program.
	The program, led by the Peace Corps and other aid ...

US 1st lady visits Japan to showcase girls' education aid

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The US Army has begun destroying the nation's largest remaining stockpile of chemical weapons, using explosives to rip open a container of mustard agent inside a sealed chamber and then flooding it with another chemical to neutralise it.
	It was the first few pounds of 2,600 tons of mustard agent that will be destroyed at Pueblo Chemical Depot in southern Colorado, most of it contained in about 780,000 shells.
	"Everybody's really excited, but we're being cautious, making sure all the procedures are followed exactly," said Bruce Huenefeld, manager of the first destruction process to get underway at the depot yesterday.
	Mustard agent can maim or kill by damaging skin, the eyes and airways. It's being destroyed under a 1997 international treaty banning all chemical weapons. It will take four years to destroy the Pueblo stockpile.
	Another 523 tons of mustard and deadly nerve agents are stored at Blue Grass Army Depot in Kentucky. Blue Grass isn't expected to start destroying its ...

US begins destroying its largest cache of chemical weapons

Soldiers from Niger and Chad have retaken a Nigerian town from Boko Haram, another victory in a regional campaign to wrest back control of swaths of northeastern Nigeria from the Islamist militants.
	Damasak, just a few miles (kilometeres) over the border from Nigeria, was regained over the weekend, Col Michel Ledru, a spokesman for Niger's army, said yesterday.
	In the heavy fighting to take back the town, 228 militants were killed and one soldier from Niger died, Ledru said.
	An Associated Press photographer in the northeastern town said it was largely deserted yesterday, except for 2,000 troops from Niger and Chad and a handful of civilians. Four people, including an old man, came onto the street to wave at a convoy of troops as it passed.
	But there were still signs of the town's occupation by the militants. Walls were covered in their writings and the extremists' black and white flag still flew above some buildings. A Volkswagen Golf and Toyota Land Cruisers, riddled with ...

Troops from Chad, Niger retake Nigerian town from Boko Haram

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon responded to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory with a call for the new government to negotiate a final peace agreement that will create "a viable Palestinian state."
	UN spokesman Farhan Haq made clear today that the unusually pointed statement reflects the secretary-general's expectation and response to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's campaign comments opposing a two-state solution.
	He said Ban's call for the new government to create conditions for a negotiated peace deal includes halting "illegal settlement building."
	"The secretary-general firmly believes this is also the best and only way forward for Israel to remain a democratic state," Haq said.
	He said Ban welcomed the election results and expressed hopes "for the rapid establishment of a new government that reflects the will of all Israeli voters.

UN chief urges Israel peace deal with Palestinians for state

Japanese police are investigating phone calls threatening to kill US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy and another American envoy, authorities said today.
	Tokyo police are looking into calls to the US Embassy threatening Kennedy and similar ones targeting Alfred Magleby, the US consul general on the southern island of Okinawa, an Okinawa police official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to comment on an investigation by Tokyo authorities.
	Tokyo police declined to comment. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said the US government takes threats to American diplomats seriously.
	"We are working with the Japanese government to ensure the necessary measures are in place. We will not comment on the specific details of any threats or the steps we take to address them," she said.
	Earlier this month, the US ambassador to South Korea, Mark Lippert, was slashed in the face and wrist by an anti-US activist in Seoul and was hospitalised for several days.
	Kennedy has ...

Japan investigates death threats to US Ambassador Kennedy

Gunmen opened fire today at a major museum in Tunisia's capital, killing at least 20 people, mostly foreigners, in one of the worst terrorist attacks in this struggling North African democracy that depends heavily on tourism.
	Men with assault rifles fired at tourists climbing from buses in front of the National Bardo Museum in central Tunis near the country's parliament, sending dozens sprinting for safety.
	Two gunmen were killed, but Prime Minister Habib Essid said a manhunt was on for at two or three others.
	The identity of the attackers was not clear.
	Security forces immediately flooded the area, and Tunisia's parliament building, where deputies were debating the new anti-terrorism law, was evacuated.
	Dozens of tourists scrambled from the museum holding hands or linking arms as security forces pointed their guns toward an adjacent building. Many elderly people, apparently tourists, ran in panic to safety, including at least one couple carrying two children.
	Tunisia has been ..

Gunmen kill at least 20 at museum in Tunisian capital

Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, visited some of Washington's monuments and memorials today.
	The royal couple spent about 20 minutes touring the Martin Luther King Jr Memorial as well as the Lincoln Memorial. They paused briefly to read some of King's quotations about the civil rights movement that are engraved in stone.
	"Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that," read one quotation where the royal couple paused to see the slain civil rights leader's words from 1963.
	Prince Charles and Camilla were joined by two civil rights leaders for their tour of the King memorial, the Rev Jesse Jackson and Rep. John Lewis of Georgia. They also greeted students and teachers from a high school in Virginia who had gathered to watch the visit.
	Joan Darby, who brought her US history class from Virginia, to the King memorial said they were thrilled and surprised to meet Prince Charles, along with Lewis and Jackson.
	"To come .

Prince Charles, Camilla visit King memorial in Washington

The United Nations is announcing that Pope Francis will address the annual UN General Assembly of world leaders on September 25 during his first papal visit to the United States.
	The pope earlier agreed to address a joint meeting of Congress on his visit. That September 24 speech will mark the first time the head of the world's Roman Catholics will address Congress.
	Francis is also expected to have a White House meeting with President Barack Obama.
	The UN says the pope also will meet with Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon on his one-day visit to the world body.
	Today's statement welcomes the pope's visit as "an important part of a historic year in which the United Nations marks its 70th anniversary.

Pope Francis to address UN assembly of world leaders

Indonesia's vice president said today that the execution of 10 drug smugglers, nine of them foreigners, might not happen in the near future because some of them have legal appeals pending.
	Vice President Jusuf Kalla said the government has to be careful and await the decisions by the Supreme Court.
	Authorities had previously indicated the execution was imminent. Nine men are now jailed on a prison island where Indonesia conducts its executions, and final preparations for the firing squad to execute the group were done.
	The execution was adjourned since four of them filed judicial reviews and two challenged the president's rejection of clemency in the administrative court.
	The foreigners include three Nigerians, two Australians, four men from Brazil, France, Ghana and a Filipino woman.
	"Actually that (executions) should have been carried out weeks ago but some of them have filed judicial review to the court," Kalla told the private El Shinta radio station in an exclusive ...

Indonesia defers execution of 10 drug traffickers

Speaking to tens of thousands of supporters just outside the Kremlin walls, President Vladimir Putin has described Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula as a move to protect ethnic Russians and regain the nation's "historic roots."
	Addressing today's rally marking the anniversary of the annexation, Putin said Crimea lies at the "roots of our spirituality and statehood."
	Crimea's annexation and the subsequent Moscow-backed rebellion in eastern Ukraine prompted the West to impose economic and financial sanctions on Russia. Along with slumping oil prices, they have driven the Russian economy into a recession this year.
	But despite the economic downturn and a sharp devaluation of the ruble, Putin's popularity has remained strong at more than 80 per cent. He told the rally that Russia would overcome the "difficulties created from the outside.

Putin says Russia regained 'historic roots' in Crimea

Three children- ages 1, 5, and 12 - were stabbed to death and two other people were wounded in an attack in a Burmese community in North Carolina, police said today.
	The suspect, 18-year-old Eh Lar Doh Htoo, is charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill, and other charges are expected. Htoo knew the victims but they weren't related, New Bern police Lt. Ronda Allen said. A language barrier was affecting the investigation, she said.
	Police did not release the names of the victims or any possible motive.
	Htoo was expected to appear in court on Thursday. Police said they did not know whether Htoo had an attorney yet.
	About 11 PM yesterday, officers were called to a report of a person with a knife, Allen said. The officers entered the home and found the injured and two of the dead children. A third child died at a hospital, Allen said.
	The wounded were another juvenile and an adult, Allen said. They were treated and released from a hospital.
	New Bern is a ...

Police: 3 Burmese children stabbed US home; ages 1, 5, 12

The United Arab Emirates has recalled its ambassador to Sweden to protest comments made by Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom criticizing neighboring Saudi Arabia.
	The official UAE news agency, WAM, says Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash also summoned Sweden's Ambassador to the UAE Jan Thesleff on Wednesday and handed him a formal letter condemning the "abusive remarks" made about Saudi Arabia and its judicial system.
	Wallstrom had strongly criticised the women's rights situation in Saudi Arabia and the flogging in January of a Saudi blogger convicted of insulting Islam.
	The UAE move comes one week after Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Sweden. Relations between the two nations started to fray after a left-wing government took office in Stockholm in October.

UAE recalls envoy to Sweden over criticism of Saudi Arabia

A German court today banned Uber from offering its ridesharing service nationwide, adding to the company's troubles in Europe.
	Frankfurt state court spokesman Arne Hasse said the ruling banning the UberPop service from offering rides with drivers who don't have taxi permits was issued but it can be appealed.
	The ruling stems from a suit brought against Uber by a German taxi association, which was heard in Frankfurt because it is one of several German cities where Uber launched operations.
	The court issued an injunction banning Uber from operating last summer but lifted it a few weeks later, saying that while it considered Uber's practices illegal an emergency injunction wasn't justified.
	Uber also has hit trouble in the Netherlands, Spain and France, which has effectively banned its service.

German court bans Uber's ridesharing service

Attackers opened fire today at a major museum in Tunisia's capital, gunning down 17 tourists as dozens more sprinted to safety. At least 21 people in all were killed, including two gunmen, but some attackers may have escaped, authorities said.
	The attack on the famed National Bardo Museum in Tunis was the first on a tourist site in years in Tunisia, a shaky young democracy that has struggled to keep Islamic extremist violence at bay.
	It was not clear who the attackers were but security forces immediately flooded the area. Tunisia's parliament building, next to the museum, was evacuated.
	Private television Wataniya showed masked Tunisian security forces escorting dozens of tourists up nearby steps and away from the danger, as armed security forces pointed guns toward an adjacent building.
	Many elderly people, apparently tourists, ran in panic to safety, including at least one couple carrying two children.
	Tunisian Prime Minister Habib Essid said 21 people were killed: 17 tourists, 

Attack on Tunisian museum leaves 21 dead; manhunt for gunmen

Tunisia's prime minister says 21 people are dead after an attack on a major museum, including 17 foreign tourists, and that two or three of the attackers remain at large.
	Habib Essid told national television that the foreigners included tourists from Poland, Italy, Germany and Spain.
	He said that two of the attackers were killed in a gunfight with police today, and that security forces are hunting for two or three others believed to have been involved.
	The attack was the worst in years on a tourist site in Tunisia, which is struggling to solidify its young democracy and prevent violence by Islamic extremists.
	Seventeen foreigners were killed, as were a Tunisian security officer and a cleaning woman, the interior ministry spokesman said.

21 killed in Tunisia attack; 2-3 gunmen at large

France is limiting cash payments to 1,000 euros (USD 1,063) and requiring reporting for bank deposits of more than 10,000 euros (USD 10,635) in an effort to combat the financing of terrorism.
	Finance Minister Michel Sapin said Wednesday the idea wasn't to "forbid cash," but he said the system needs more traceability and that people need to be ready to change their habits in order to help prevent more terror attacks like the ones in January that left 20 people dead in Paris, including all three gunmen.
	Non-residents namely tourists with a shopping spree in mind can spend up to 10,000 euros (USD 10,635) in cash. Sapin also called on the rest of Europe to follow France's lead, saying "terrorism cannot be fought in just one country.

France scrutinizes cash economy for terror financing

The United Nations' human rights chief is voicing concern over the "rushed" trial that led to a terrorism conviction and 13-year jail term for the Maldives' former president.
	UN high commissioner for human rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein said today "flagrant irregularities" in the case against ex-President Mohamed Nasheed could be rectified during the appeals process. He urged authorities to allow international jurists to observe that process.
	The US and the European Union, among others, have raised concerns over the process that resulted in Nasheed's conviction Friday over a top judge's arrest three years ago. The court ruled the arrest was akin to abduction.
	Zeid said: "It is hard to see how such hasty proceedings ... Can be compatible with the authorities' obligations under international law to conduct a fair trial.

UN rights chief criticizes trial of Maldives ex-president

The main Western-backed Syrian opposition group has called on the United Nations to send a fact-finding mission to investigate an alleged poison gas attack on a rebel-held town.
	The Syrian National Coalition and activists inside Syria say the government carried out a chlorine gas attack on the town of Sarmin in northwestern Syria late yesterday, killing six people and leaving dozens more struggling to breathe. Syrian authorities denied the allegations.
	In a statement released late Tuesday, Coalition vice president Hisham Marwa called for an on-site UN investigation as soon as possible. He also demanded the Security Council enforce a recent resolution that condemns the use of toxic chemicals such as chlorine in Syria and threatens military action in case of violations.
	"The UN Security Council must take all necessary measures that ensure the enforcement of the resolution," Marwa said.
	The spokesman for the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, Peter Sawczak, said ...

Syrian opposition urges probe into alleged chlorine attack

Indonesia has called off the search for the remaining victims of the AirAsia plane crash in the Java Sea, an official said today.
	All 162 people aboard Airbus A320-200 died when it went down December 28 while flying from Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, to Singapore. So far, 106 bodies have been recovered, with the last three pulled out from the underwater wreckage last week. Some of the bodies have been found off Sulawesi island, about 1,000 kilometres east of the crash site.
	Tatang Zainudin, the operations director of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said the final retrieval operations ended last night.
	The main search and rescue operation had been called off March 3, but small-scale efforts continued for another two weeks at the request of the victims' families.
	Zainudin said the agency planned to take family members to scatter flowers at the crash site next week.
	Indonesian investigators said Flight 8501 plunged into the Java Sea shortly after the pilots asked 

Indonesia calls off search for remaining AirAsia victims

Thai authorities have arrested an Iranian man they say led one of the largest passport forgery networks in the country.
	Department of Special Investigation official Songsak Raksaksakul said police seized forgery equipment and 1,053 stolen passports from 64 countries, mostly in Europe, during the arrest on Sunday.
	He said today that Murel Gurat, 45, was apprehended at a house in seaside Chonburi province. Songsak said Gurat's network had been operating in Thailand for more than a decade and was connected to groups of Bangladeshi and Pakistani forgers.
	Thailand was in the spotlight as a hub for false document crimes last year after two of the passengers on vanished Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 were found to have boarded the plane using passports stolen in Thailand.

Thailand arrests Iranian accused of passport forgery crimes

Buddy Elias, the cousin of Anne Frank who committed his life to the memory of the victims of the Holocaust, has died in Basel, Switzerland, at age 89.
	A spokesman for the Anne Frank Fonds said today Elias died peacefully at home Monday, surrounded by his family.
	The organization said in a statement that Elias was born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1925, where he spent his early childhood years with his cousin Anne.
	Anne Frank became famous for a diary she kept while her family went into hiding from the Nazis in Amsterdam when she was 13. The Jewish teenager died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in March 1945.
	As president of the Anne Frank Fonds, Elias oversaw the continuing publication of Frank's diary and helped preserve her legacy.

AP

AP

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