The European Union police agency launched a new team today to crack down on the organized crime gangs that smuggle tens of thousands of migrants across the Mediterranean from North Africa to Europe.
	The new team based at Europol's headquarters in The Hague will analyze and share intelligence gathered by the EU border agency Frontex, Interpol and EU member police forces to identify and track smuggling networks.
	In an example of the work the team will do, Europol announced it had helped Greek authorities who arrested 16 suspected human traffickers last week.
	The suspects are accused of arranging travel for 350 migrants, mostly Syrians, who paid up to 9,000 euros (USD 9,500) each to get from Turkey to the Greek islands and then onward to mainland Europe using forged travel documents.
	"By establishing a permanent network of operational officers ... I expect that we'll be doing those kinds of operations more often on a bigger scale so we can have a bigger overall impact on reducing ...

EU police group launches team to tackle migrant smugglers

PTI Automatic

Officials say separate attacks in and outside the capital, Baghdad, have killed at least nine people.
	Police say the deadliest of today's attacks took place in the town of Tarmiyah when three suicide bombers tried to attack a military headquarters, killing at least four soldiers and wounding 14 others.
	The town is about 50 kilometers north of Baghdad.
	They added that a bomb went off in an outdoor market in Baghdad's northern Shaab neighborhood, killing three civilians and wounding 11 others.
	And two policemen were killed and five wounded when a bomb struck their patrol in Youssifiyah, 20 kilometers south of Baghdad.
	Medical officials confirmed causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to release the information.

Iraq: Separate attacks kill at least 9 people

Syrian activists and opposition members today claimed that government helicopters carried out a chlorine gas attack on a northern town overnight, killing six people, an accusation that was promptly dismissed by a military official.
	Two activist groups, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees said the attack late last night targeted the town of Sarmin in northwestern Idlib province.
	They said that apart from killing six, dozens of people suffered from breathing difficulties in the gas attack. The two groups collect their data from a network of activists on the ground.
	A military official in the capital, Damascus, denied the claim and blamed rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad for the attack.
	An opposition official in the area of Sarmin said there were two attacks, the first targeting rebels that injured 20 people, mostly men, while the second hit a residential area. He said Waref Mohammed Taleb, his wife, mother and ..

Activists say Syrian troops attacked town with chlorine

Thai officials acknowledged today that a key witness in the 2010 shooting deaths of anti-government protesters, allegedly by soldiers, who went missing last week has been detained by authorities for suspected involvement in a recent grenade attack in the capital.
	Nattatida Meewangpla was taken into custody for questioning by soldiers and police before she was handed over to Bangkok authorities, Thai junta spokesman Col. Winthai Suvaree said. A day earlier, Winthai had denied allegations that authorities had detained her.
	"She was taken by an investigation team for questioning, in order to find out more about the case and to prevent further attacks," Winthai told The Associated Press.
	"Yesterday I couldn't locate her. Sometimes these procedures are kept as a secret because it can affect the authorities' work on security matters."
	Nattatida's lawyer, Winyat Chatmontree, said Nattatida was taken away March 11 by a group of men believed to be military officers. She was among at least .

Missing woman held by Thai army over alleged role in attack

A former police officer alleges that British detectives were ordered to drop an investigation into sexual abuse allegations against the late lawmaker Cyril Smith.
	The BBC's "Newsnight" programme says the officer told them that Smith was arrested in the early 1980s during an investigation into child-sex parties. He said that Smith was released within hours and officers were ordered to hand over their notebooks and video footage.
	After Smith died in 2010, prosecutors revealed that several men had accused the lawmaker of abusing them as teens. They said Smith was never charged, but should have been.
	The new claim, aired late yesterday, adds to allegations that a toxic mix of sexual abuse, power and silence scarred the lives of British children for decades. The government has ordered a public investigation.

Ex-UK policeman: Detectives told to drop lawmaker sex probe

The Hong Kong government today gave final approval for a third runway at the Asian financial center's airport, aiming to meet surging growth in passengers and air cargo.
	Officials said the project will begin next year and cost 141.5 billion Hong Kong dollars (USD 18.2 billion).
	About 650 hectares of land will be reclaimed from the sea for the runway and a new passenger building. Construction is expected to be completed by 2023.
	Hong Kong International Airport expects to reach maximum capacity under its current layout by 2022 at the latest.
	Strong growth in China has been a key driver of Hong Kong airport traffic. Most of the visitors to the specially administered Chinese region come from mainland China, which is one of the fastest growing air travel markets.
	For the rest of the world, Hong Kong is also a gateway to China. Last year, the airport handled 63.4 million passengers and 4.4 million metric tons of cargo, both records.
	The airport predicts that the third runway will ...

Hong Kong airport gets green light for $18B third runway

Activists say the Syrian air force has carried out a chlorine gas attack on a northern town, killing six people.
	A military official immediately denied the claims and blamed the rebels fighting to topple President Bashar Assad.
	The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees today said that the attack targeted the town of Samrin the previous night.
	The two activist groups say it also injured dozens.
	An opposition official in the area says there were two attacks, the first targeting rebels while the second hit a residential area.
	He says the six killed were members of the same family, including three children. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to reporters.

Activist say Syrian troops attacked town with chlorine

The death toll in a weekend ferry accident off Myanmar's northwestern coast has increased to 59 as more bodies were recovered, state-run media reported today.
	The Myanma Ahlin newspaper said that rescuers pulled 23 more bodies out from inside the ship in about 30 meters (90 feet) of water, but that the number of survivors increased to 169 from 167.
	The crowded government-run double-decker ferry was carrying more than 225 passengers when it left the coastal town of Kyaukphyu. The ferry had travelled about 80 kilometers north near Myebon in Rakhine state Friday night when it hit rough seas and capsized after taking on water.
	Boat accidents due to overcrowding and bad weather are common in Myanmar's river deltas and coastal regions. People rely on boat transport because of the lower cost and the inaccessibility of many areas by road.

Myanmar ferry accident death toll climbs to 59

Britain's Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, are set to arrive in Washington and will visit cultural and educational sites over the next three days.
	The British Embassy says the royal couple is scheduled to arrive today evening at Andrews Air Force Base and will be greeted with a reception at the British ambassador's residence.
	On Wednesday, Prince Charles and Camilla are scheduled to visit George Washington's historic Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. Prince Charles will also visit the National Archives, and Camilla will visit the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington.
	On Thursday, the royal couple visits the Armed Forces Retirement Home, which also is the site of President Abraham Lincoln's summer cottage. They will also meet President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden at the White House.

Prince Charles, Camilla to visit DC-area cultural sites

The Philippine government said today that four Filipino nurses reported to have been kidnapped from a Libyan hospital by militants from an Islamic State group affiliate were actually taken to a safe place by a friend and were not abducted.
	The Philippine Embassy in Tripoli got in touch with one of the nurses, who said they were all safe, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said.
	An official of a militia battling the Islamic State group affiliate had reported the kidnappings in the Libyan city of Sirte yesterday.
	Jose, however, said "a local friend who was concerned for their safety" had actually taken the nurses from their accommodation to a "safer place."
	"Our embassy in Tripoli verified this information and the four Filipinos were not actually kidnapped," Jose told reporters. "They were actually taken from their accommodation to a safer place, and our charge d'affaires from our embassy has actually talked to one of them and they said they are safe."
	An official 

Philippines: 4 Filipino nurses in Libya safe, not kidnapped

Robert Durst could not explain away the similarities between his handwriting and a letter he said "only the killer could have written" that alerted police to his friend's shooting 15 years ago.
	Confronted with new evidence by the makers of a documentary about his life, the troubled millionaire blinked, burped oddly, pulled his ear and briefly put his head in his hands before denying he was the killer.
	Then he stepped away from the tense interview and went to the bathroom, still wearing the live microphone that recorded what he said next.
	"There it is. You're caught!" Durst whispered to himself before running the tap water. "What the hell did I do? Killed them all, of course."
	That moment didn't just make for a captivating finale to a six-part documentary on the eccentric life of an heir to a New York real estate fortune.
	It also may have given police and prosecutors the evidence they needed to close the long-cold case of a mobster's daughter. Susan Berman was felled by a bullet ..

Millionaire Robert Durst faces murder charge after broadcast

The top UN envoy in Afghanistan says recent reports indicate the Islamic State group has established a foothold in Afghanistan, a view echoed by Russia which urged the Security Council to stop the extremists' expansion.
	Nicholas Haysom told the council yesterday the UN mission's assessment is that the Islamic State hasn't stuck "firm roots" in Afghanistan, but it has the potential "to offer an alternative flagpole to which otherwise isolated insurgent splinter groups can rally."
	Russia's Deputy UN Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said Moscow is worried about the rise of the terrorist threat in Afghanistan, especially in the formerly quiet north bordering countries that are its friends and allies.
	At yesterday's meeting, the Security Council voted unanimously to extend the mandate of the UN mission in Afghanistan until March 17, 2016.

UN and Russia worry that Islamic State is in Afghanistan

Police say they suspect a group of Fulani herdsmen shot and killed 45 people in the latest clash between mainly Muslim herders and predominantly Christian farmers in central Nigeria.
	Survivors put the death toll at nearer 100. Farmer Orji Dooga said he counted 95 bodies from Sunday's attack on the village Egba in Benue state.
	Assistant Superintendent Austin Ezeani said Monday that most victims were children, women and elderly people.
	Thousands have been killed over the years in ongoing land disputes between the two groups. Human Rights Watch has blamed the government for not prosecuting perpetrators and allowing the cycle of violence to continue as aggrieved victims launch revenge attacks.
	The Islamic extremist group Boko Haram has invoked this lack of justice as an excuse for its attacks on Christians.

Dozens killed in ethno-religious clash in central Nigeria

Authorities say a 4.6-magnitude earthquake has shaken eastern Romania, and was felt in the capital.
	There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
	The National Earth Physics Institute director Constantin Ionescu said the quake occurred today at 5:49 pm local time in the region of Vrancea, some 140 kilometres northeast of Bucharest.
	It was the strongest earthquake to hit Bucharest this year. In March 1977 a temblor with a magnitude of 7.2 hit eastern Romania, killing more than 1,500 and demolishing large parts of the capital.

Earthquake measuring 4.6 hits eastern Romania

A court in Ecuador has convicted a first cousin of President Rafael Correa in the embezzlement of USD 800,000 from a state-run lender while he ran the country's central bank.
	The three-judge tribunal convicted Pedro Delgado in a decision announced Monday. Correa's judicial secretary said Ecuador would seek the extradition of Delgado, who was believed living in Miami.
	Correa named Delgado central bank director in November 2011. A month later, the state-owned Cofiec bank granted a fraudulent USD 800,000 loan to Gaston Duzac, an Argentine associate of Delgado.
	Also convicted and still at large are Duzac and the bank's then-president, an in-law of Delgado. All face up to eight years in prison.
	Delgado resigned as central bank president in late 2012 after journalists discovered that he falsified his university degree.

Cousin of Ecuador's president convicted of embezzlement

The Obama administration is abandoning plans to cut the number of US forces in Afghanistan to 5,500 by year's end, bowing to military leaders who want to keep more troops there, including many into the 2016 fighting season, US officials say.
	While no final decision on numbers has been made, the officials said the administration is poised to slow withdrawal plans and probably will allow many of the 9,800 American troops to remain well into next year.
	There also are discussions about keeping a steady number of counterterrorism troops into 2015, including options under which some would remain in the country or be nearby beyond 2016.
	Currently, about 2,000 US troops are conducting counterterrorism missions, and military leaders have argued that they will need to continue pursuing the remnants of al-Qaida and to monitor Islamic State militants looking to recruit in Afghanistan.
	Officials say President Barack Obama probably will use a Washington visit by Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ...

Officials: US to keep more troops in Afghanistan into 2016

An English teacher from rural Maine won the USD 1 million Global Teacher Prize on Sunday after 42 years of work as an innovator and pioneer in teaching literature.
	Nancie Atwell plans to donate the full amount to the Center for Teaching and Learning which she founded in 1990 in Edgecomb, Maine as a nonprofit demonstration school created for the purpose of developing and disseminating teaching methods. The school says 97 per cent of its graduates have gone on to university.
	Atwell said that winning the award is a valedictory for her life's work, but that her true validation comes from the responses of students.
	"I really find that I'm validated every day just by the experiences I have with children in the classroom," she told The Associated Press after receiving the award.
	Atwell was selected from a pool of 1,300 applicants from 127 countries.
	The top 10 finalists, which included two other teachers from the US and others from Afghanistan, India, Haiti, Cambodia, Malaysia, Kenya, ..

Maine teacher wins USD 1 million Global Teacher Prize in Dubai

Massive protests calling for the impeachment of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff have narrowed her options to fend off political and economic crises and will mean more turbulence for the nation in the months to come, but her ouster remains highly unlikely, analysts said today.
	Polls showed the Rousseff government's popularity had already been cut in half before Sunday's protests, compared to when she won re-election in October, and the sheer size of the challenge facing her was splashed across front pages of newspapers today with photos of the surprisingly huge crowds seeking her removal.
	Anger over a sprawling corruption scheme sparked Sunday's marches in more than 150 cities.
	Federal prosecutors say they've uncovered Brazil's biggest graft case yet in a kickback scheme at state-run oil company Petrobras, with at least USD 800 million paid by construction and engineering firms in bribes to politically appointed former executives at the oil company, all in exchange for winning ...

Brazil leader facing turbulence, but ouster unlikely

A spokeswoman for Austrian Airlines says the carrier has aborted a flight to the northern Iraqi city of Irbil and canceled another over security concerns.
	Kurdish fighters are battling IS extremists in the region. Sandra Bijelic says Monday's flight was canceled "to be on the safe side" after the decision to turn around Sunday's flight in Turkish airspace and return to Vienna. She gives no further details.

Security fears: Austrian flight to northern Iraq aborted

Authorities in Bahrain arrested a young man today who was trying to smuggle in bomb-making materials from Iraq, police said.
	The suspect, a minor carrying the materials in a suitcase, was arrested during a routine security search at the border post on the causeway which links the Gulf island nation to Saudi Arabia, according to a Bahraini police statement published by the official Bahrain News Agency.
	The statement, which did not reveal the boy's age or name, said that he told authorities a relative who lives in Iraq gave him the suitcase to take to Bahrain. The agency report said the boy's relative in Iraq, who also was not named, is wanted by Bahraini authorities on terrorism-related charges.
	Bahrain has faced four years of unrest following widespread anti-government protests led by the country's Shiite majority against its ruling Sunni monarchy.
	Young protesters routinely clash with riot police. A number of small bombs mainly targeting security forces have killed and wounded ...

Bahrain arrests young boy smuggling bomb-making materials

An Asiana plane with 259 passengers aboard returned to Hong Kong today after finding a wrong passenger was aboard the aircraft, airline officials said.
	The plane was bound for Incheon, South Korea, when it had left Hong Kong earlier today. But it began flying back to Hong Kong when it was above Taiwan, Asiana Airlines officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity because their company was still checking details of the incident.
	The passenger, believed to be a South Korean, was supposed to take a Jeju Air plane from Hong Kong to Incheon but that it wasn't known how he got on a wrong plane, according to Asiana Airlines.
	The Jeju Air plane was to leave Hong Kong 40 minutes later than the Asiana plane, Asiana officials said.
	They said police would question the passenger at Hong Kong's airport.
	An Asiana plane crash-landed at the San Francisco airport in 2013, killing three passengers and injuring nearly 200 people.

AP

AP

Page 2288 - Ap/pti Reuters