Britain's Prince William highlighted his interest in wildlife conservation on the final stop of his China tour today, feeding baskets of carrots to an elephant in the country's southwest.
	The second in line to the British throne visited an elephant sanctuary, where he met Ran Ran, a 13-year-old female elephant who was discovered in 2005 with a leg wound caused by an iron clamp trap.
	Handed carrots by the animal's keeper, William passed them to Ran Ran, who reached for more with her trunk even while her mouth was crammed full.
	The visit to Yunnan province, a tropical region bordering Myanmar and Laos that has been the focus of government efforts to stop poaching and reduce conflicts between people and elephants that eat their crops, was organised for William to learn how Asian elephants are surviving in the wild.
	There are about 250 wild Asian elephants in China, all in Yunnan, according to the province's forestry administration. The prince, who is patron and president of British ..

Prince William meets elephant on final day of China tour

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Singapore police say they are investigating reports of a man who allegedly cheated and overcharged unsuspecting passengers while posing as a driver for mobile app-based transportation company Uber.
	In accounts posted to Facebook, several people said a man in a Honda Airwave station wagon claiming to be an Uber driver picked them up on the roadside and charged two or three times the normal rate.
	One man recounted a March 1 incident on his Facebook page by saying the meter jumped 40 Singapore dollars (USD 29) in just three minutes, and that the total fare came to 97 Singapore dollars (USD 71), far higher than it should be. He said the driver then asked for cash payment and did not provide a receipt.
	Comments on the post claimed other victims who took rides from the same vehicle were charged up to 140 Singapore for rides that would otherwise cost about a third of the amount.
	Uber Singapore confirmed Monday that the driver's vehicle was not registered with them, and said it filed ...

Singapore police investigating man posing as Uber driver

More than 70 passengers aboard an Asiana Airlines flight that crashed in San Francisco two years ago have reached a settlement in their lawsuits against the airline, attorneys for the passengers and airline has said in a court filing.
	The settlement with 72 passengers who filed personal injury claims also includes Boeing Co, which made the airplane, and Air Cruisers Co, the New Jersey company that made its evacuation slides.
	The filing did not include the settlement's financial terms, and plaintiffs' attorney Frank Pitre said those details are confidential.
	This is the first set of lawsuits stemming from the crash to be resolved, he said. Dozens of additional cases involving more than 70 plaintiffs are still pending in federal court in Northern California.
	"This is the first positive step for these passengers to be able to get closure on a tragic, catastrophic crash and hopefully try to get their lives back together," Pitre said. "We're pleased we've been able to get this first ...

72 passengers reach settlements in Asiana crash

A US Justice Department investigation found sweeping patterns of racial bias within the Ferguson, Missouri, police department, with officers routinely discriminating against blacks by using excessive force, issuing petty citations and making baseless traffic stops, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the report.
	The report, which could be released as soon as today, marks the culmination of a months-long investigation into a police department that federal officials have described as troubled and that commanded national attention after one of its officers shot and killed an unarmed black man, 18-year-old Michael Brown, last summer.
	It chronicles discriminatory practices across the city's criminal justice system, detailing problems from initial encounters with patrol officers to treatment in the municipal court and jail.
	The full report could serve as a road map for significant changes by the department, if city officials accept its findings. The Justice Department ...

Officials: US report finds racial bias in Ferguson police

Iran's direct support for an Iraqi push to dislodge the Islamic State group from the northern city of Tikrit could turn out to be "a positive thing" if it does not inflame sectarian tensions, the top US general has said.
	The statement by Gen Martin Dempsey yesterday, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, reflected the delicate balance Washington is trying to strike between limiting Iranian influence and allowing Iraqi leaders to determine their own path to defeating the Islamic State.
	US officials have said Iraq did not ask the US to provide air support for the Tikrit offensive, even though the US-led military coalition has been conducting airstrikes in much of Iraq since August and has deployed hundreds of US soldiers to try to regenerate an Iraqi army that collapsed last June.
	Dempsey said Iran and its proxies have been operating inside Iraq since 2004, but the Tikrit campaign signals a new level of involvement.
	"This is the most overt conduct of Iranian support, in the form of 

Dempsey says Iranian hand in Iraq could turn out well

A Turkish Airlines jet landing in dense fog in the Nepalese capital today skidded off a slippery runway but there were no serious injuries, officials said.
	Officials at Kathmandu's Tribhuwan International Airport said the plane with 238 people on board was coming from Istanbul when the accident happened.
	They say passengers had bumps and bruises but no serious injuries.
	The runway was slippery after two days of rain and there was dense fog at the time. The plane was stuck in the grass and there was some damage to the front of the Airbus 330.
	The plane on a seven-hour flight circled for half hour over Nepal before it made a second attempt to land.
	The only international airport in Nepal remained closed today morning after the accident.

Turkish jetliner skids off on runway, passengers safe

A woman who threw a shoe at Hillary Rodham Clinton during a speech the former secretary of state made in Las Vegas last April has been sentenced to one year of federal supervision in her home state of Arizona, her defense attorney said.
	Alison Michelle Ernst, 37, of Phoenix, also was sentenced Monday to undergo mental health treatment at the discretion of probation officials, said William Carrico, the deputy federal public defender who handled her case.
	US District Court Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr told Ernst to have no contact with Clinton or anyone protected by the Secret Service.
	Ernst served six months in federal custody last year after throwing the shoe, raising her arms and walking to the back of a convention center ballroom at the Mandalay Bay resort where she was arrested.
	"She didn't mean harm," Carrico said of his client, who he said has a history of mental illness and attention-getting incidents. "I think she wants to draw attention to herself."
	Prosecutor Kathryn 

Woman who threw shoe at Hillary Clinton to stay in Arizona

The United States has pushed back against Venezuela's demand for a dramatic cut in the American diplomatic mission in Caracas.
	On Monday, Venezuela gave the US two weeks to come up with a plan to slash the size of its embassy from around 100 diplomats to 17. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro had said over the weekend that he would seek parity between the number of US diplomats in his country and Venezuelans in the United States.
	"They have 100 functionaries here. We have 17 there," he said.
	Yesterday, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said Venezuela was wrong about the number of diplomats it has working in the US.
	"The numbers the Venezuelan government has offered regarding the size of its mission in the United States dramatically understates the number of Venezuelan diplomats," she said.
	In addition to its embassy in Washington, Venezuela has eight consulates in the United States. A roster of Venezuelan Embassy staff on the State Department website lists 19 diplomats in .

US pushes back on Venezuela's order to slash embassy staff

A 14-year-old Jamaican girl has been chopped to death in the yard of her family's home as she got ready for school.
	Authorities say Kayalicia Simpson was killed yesterday in the eastern parish of St Thomas. The teenager had apparently left the house shortly before dawn to use an outdoor bathroom when she was attacked. Some local media say she was beheaded with a cutlass, but police did not comment.
	Youth Minister Lisa Hanna said there could be "no justification for such unspeakable savagery" against a child. She says grief counseling will be provided to students at the slain girl's school.
	Hanna is calling on residents to share any information they may have with investigators.
	There have been no arrests by investigators in Jamaica, where homicides often go unsolved.

Jamaica girl chopped to death by attacker at her home

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution today creating a system to impose sanctions on those blocking peace in South Sudan, hoping it will press rival leaders into ending a conflict that has killed tens of thousands in the world's newest country.
	The resolution drafted by the United States says an arms embargo is possible if the warring sides can't stick to a peace deal. Talks between the government and rebels continue this week in Ethiopia, with a Thursday deadline to reach a decisive peace agreement.
	"Those who frustrate peace must begin to pay the price," US Ambassador Samantha Power said.
	The resolution doesn't explicitly name South Sudan President Salva Kiir or rebel leader Riek Machar as possible targets for sanctions that would include an asset freeze and travel ban, but it says people affected could include "leaders of any entity."
	Multiple cease-fires in South Sudan have failed during more than a year of fighting that has had ethnic overtones. Two million 

UN Security Council OKs sanctions regime for South Sudan

The Food and Drug Administration is warning doctors against the overuse of estosterone-boosting drugs for men, saying the popular treatments have not been established as safe or effective for treating common signs of aging like low libido and fatigue.
	The agency says drugmakers must clarify that their drugs, currently taken by millions of US men, are only approved to treat low testosterone levels caused by disease or injury, not normal aging. Additionally, the FDA warned that the drugs may increase the risk of heart attack, stroke and other cardiovascular problems.
	Drugmakers must add information about that potential risk to their warning labels and conduct a long-term study to examine the issue, the FDA said.
	The federal rebuke follows years of industry marketing for new pills, patches, gels and injections that promise relief from low testosterone or "Low-T." Promotions from AbbVie, Eli Lilly & Co. And others link the condition to a variety of ailments common to aging men, ...

FDA warning: men's testosterone drugs overused

Federal agents raided more than a dozen homes today in a crackdown on an industry that helps wealthy, pregnant Chinese women travel to the US to give birth to American babies.
	The crackdown on three alleged maternity tourism rings may be the biggest yet by federal homeland security agents who say that, while women may travel to the United States while pregnant, they cannot lie about the purpose of their trip when applying for a visa.
	Birth tourism has been reported from a range of countries, but authorities say the most recent cases in California have catered to wealthy Chinese amid a boom in tourism from mainland China. It is unclear how many women travel to the United States for maternity tourism.
	Shortly after sunrise today, federal agents swarmed an upscale apartment complex in the Orange County city of Irvine where authorities say a birth tourism business charged pregnant women USD 50,000 for lodging, food and transportation.
	Investigators said women were coached to lie about 

Agents target industry helping Chinese women have US babies

Oklahoma would become the first US state to allow the execution of death row inmates using nitrogen gas under a bill overwhelmingly approved today by the House of Representatives.
	The bill now heads to the Senate, where a similar measure passed a committee earlier this year with bipartisan support. Executions in Oklahoma are on hold while the US Supreme Court reviews the state's lethal injection method.
	The investigation centers on whether the sedative midazolam properly renders an inmate unconscious before the second and third drugs are administered.
	Oklahoma officials concede midazolam is not the preferred drug for executions, but death penalty states have been forced to explore alternatives as manufacturers of more effective drugs refuse to sell them for use in lethal injections.
	Republican Rep. Mike Christian said numerous studies have been conducted on nitrogen hypoxia, which is similar to what pilots at high altitudes can encounter when oxygen supplies diminish. He described 

Nitrogen gas executions approved by Oklahoma House

The approval rating for Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has plunged to its lowest level since she took office last year as a bank loan scandal involving her son chips away at her popularity.
	A poll released today says Bachelet's approval rating fell five percentage points to 39 percent in February from 44 percent in January.
	The survey was carried out by local polling firm Gfk Adimark, which polled 1, 097 people between Feb. 2 and Feb. 25. It has an error margin of three percentage points.
	A prosecutor is investigating whether Bachelet's son, Sebastian Davalos, and his wife got privileged access to a $10 million loan to buy land they later sold for about $15 million. The loan was approved a day after Bachelet was elected president in December 2013.

Popularity of Chile's Bachelet damaged by loan scandal

Some 370 girls may have suffered sexual exploitation in Oxfordshire in the last 16 years, according to a damning indictment of failings by police and social workers published today.
	The serious case review was a haunting echo to an investigation last year in Rotherham in northwest England, which produced a larger catalog of abuse and failures by authorities to act on information that might have prevented further abuse.
	Though the serious case review found no wilful professional misconduct by organisations, it cited a "worrying lack of curiosity and follow through."
	The release of the report came as Prime Minister David Cameron warned of sexual abuse on an "industrial scale" in Britain and accused people and organisations of "walking on by" when faced with abuse.
	Cameron deemed sexual exploitation a "national threat," on par with organised crime, and said he was considering measures to make public officials accountable if they fail protect children from sexual exploitation.
	The ...

UK proposals make officials accountable in sex abuse cases

David Petraeus, the former CIA director and top Army general whose affair with his biographer brought down what many considered a bright political future, has agreed to plead guilty to mishandling classified materials.
	The plea agreement which carries a possible sentence of up to a year in prison represents a stunning fall for the retired four-star Army general who led American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan and was perhaps the most admired military leader of his generation.
	Petraeus, 62, agreed to plead guilty to one count of unauthorized removal and retention of material. The case was filed in federal court in Charlotte, the hometown of Paula Broadwell, the general's biographer and former mistress.
	Under the plea agreement, prosecutors recommended two years of probation and no prison time. But the judge who hears the plea is not bound by that recommendation. No immediate date was set for Petraeus to enter the plea.
	Prosecutors said that while Broadwell was writing her book, ...

Ex-CIA chief admits mishandling classified information

EU-Russian relations took a further dip today when the European Union strongly condemned Moscow for banning Polish and Latvian lawmakers from entering the country to attend the funeral of slain Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov.
	European Parliament President Martin Schulz called the bans a "high affront" and said he will intervene with Russian authorities "in the strongest terms and demand an official explanation."
	Moscow said it denied entry to Polish senate Speaker Bogdan Borusewicz and Latvian European lawmaker Sandra Kalniete because they were on a list of officials barred from visiting the country in retaliation for the EU sanctions against Russia.
	Latvia, which holds the rotating EU presidency, joined the criticism, arguing in a statement that the move to deny Kalniete entry "flies in the face of basic principles of humanity."
	The EU foreign policy service was especially irked since the "justification in this particular case implies that she would represent a threat to the ...

EU condemns Russia over Nemtsov funeral bans

Avalanches have cut off at least three districts in a remote part of northern Afghanistan, the head of a disaster relief agency said today, a week after nearly 200 people died when snow buried their homes in a valley near the capital Kabul.
	Severe weather conditions in Takhar province in the last 24 hours have cut road access to the districts, said Daim Kakar, the general director of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority.
	Authorities were attempting to reach villages to deliver emergency supplies, including food, blankets and tea. "Bulldozers are being brought in to clear the roads of snow so that the deliveries can be made," Kakar said.
	Across Afghanistan, 320 people have been killed and 187 injured since severe rain and snow swept across 20 provinces early last week, he said.
	In Panjshir province, 100 kilometers northeast of Kabul, a total of 196 people died in a huge avalanche early last week, according to acting Gov. Abdul Rahman Kabiri.
	Authorities have been 

Afghan avalanches cut off 3 northern districts

Michelle Obama will promote educating girls around the world during a mid-March visit to US ally Japan, and to Cambodia, a place where the government's record on human rights gave her husband pause during a reluctant visit a couple of years ago.
	Obama will visit Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan, from March 18-20 and end the trip with a March 21-22 stop in Siem Reap in northwestern Cambodia, the White House said today.
	Cambodia is an interesting choice for the first lady. President Barack Obama became the first US president to visit Cambodia in late 2012 after his re-election.
	White House officials insisted at the time that Obama was only going because Cambodia was the host for two annual regional summits he has made a point of attending. Obama appeared visibly unhappy during the brief visit.
	The Cambodian government has been led since 1985 by Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has a reputation for ruthlessness and a low tolerance for opposition. The southeast Asian nation also has problems with ...

US first lady plans mid-March visit to Japan, Cambodia

An Afghan official says at least eight people, including civilians and soldiers, were killed when a vehicle packed with explosives was remotely detonated in the country's south.
	Omar Zwak, spokesman for the governor of Helmand province, says five civilians, two soldiers and a policeman were killed in today's attack in the Sangin district.
	Nine others, including four civilians, four soldiers and a policeman, were wounded in the blast.
	Helmand has been the scene of heavy fighting in a number of poppy-producing districts including Sangin since the army launched a major operation against Taliban strongholds last month.
	No one claimed responsibility for today's attack. Taliban fighters are expected to step up attacks as the traditional spring fighting season approaches.

Afghan car bomb kills 8, including civilians

Human waste left by climbers on Mount Everest has become a problem that is causing pollution and threatening to spread disease on the world's highest peak, the chief of Nepal's mountaineering association said today.
	The more than 700 climbers and guides who spend nearly two months on Everest's slopes each climbing season leave large amounts of feces and urine, and the issue has not been addressed, Ang Tshering told reporters.
	He said Nepal's government needs to get the climbers to dispose of the waste properly so the mountain remains pristine.
	Hundreds of foreign climbers attempt to scale Everest during Nepal's mountaineering season, which began this week and runs through May. Last year's season was canceled after 16 local guides were killed in an avalanche in April.
	Climbers spend weeks acclimatizing around the four camps set up between the base camp at 5,300 meters (17,380 feet) and the 8,850-meter-high (29,035-foot-high) summit. The camps have tents and some essential equipment 

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