The UN mission to Iraq says violence in the country claimed the lives of at least 1,100 Iraqis in February, including more than 600 civilians.
	In a statement today, the UN Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) said 611 civilians were among 1,103 people killed last month. The rest were members of the security forces.
	It said at least 2,280 people were wounded, including 1,353 civilians. Last month's death toll was at least 1,375. It said the most violent city was the capital Baghdad, with 329 civilians killed and 875 wounded.
	The UN numbers do not include the third of the country held by the Islamic State extremist group.
	According to UNAMI, last year was the deadliest in Iraq since 2006-2007, with a total of 12,282 people killed and 23,126 wounded.

UN: Iraq violence kills at least 1,100 in February

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A witness and a security officer say four people died when two women blew themselves up at a bus stop in a village in northeast Nigeria, the latest in a series of suicide bombings carried out by females and blamed on the Boko Haram Islamic extremist group.
	A witness said the two women appeared to be in their late 20s. He said the explosions yesterday came after a suspicious bus driver refused to transport them 35 kilometers (22 miles) from Ngamdu village to Damaturu, the capital of Yobe state. The witness spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of attack by the extremists.
	The use of girls and young women has raised fears that Boko Haram is using kidnap victims to carry out bombings.
	Boko Haram wants to enforce strict Shariah law across Nigeria.

Blasts from women suicide bombers kill 4 in north Nigeria

Chile's president went to a hospital to meet with a 14-year-old girl who shocked the country by going on YouTube to plead for the leader to let doctors euthanize her because she is tired of her struggle with cystic fibrosis.
	The government quickly said no after the video began spreading on social media Thursday.
	A government statement yesterday said President Michelle Bachelet talked with Valentina Maureira and her father for more than an hour at the Catholic University hospital in the capital.
	Officials did not release any information on what was said. But the government provided photographs of the visit, including one of Valentina taking a selfie with the president, who is also a pediatrician.
	Valentina grabbed attention after posting on YouTube a video that appeared to have been shot from a hospital bed.
	"I urgently request to speak to the president because I'm tired of living with this illness," said the teenager, whose older brother died at age 6 from the same disease.
	"I ..

Chile's president meets with ailing teen who asked to die

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says he will limit the number of US diplomats allowed to work in the socialist South American country and also will require US citizens to apply for visas if they want to visit.
	Maduro yesterday said that US meddling in the internal affairs of his country has forced him to adopt the series of restrictive measures.
	Relations between the two countries have been steadily deteriorating.
	Earlier this month, Maduro accused the US of working with local opposition groups to stage a coup that involved bombing the presidential palace.
	Washington has rejected the accusation as ludicrous.
	The two countries have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010.

Venezuela to limit US diplomat number, require tourist visas

The UN children's agency says it believes hundreds of children were abducted two weeks ago by an armed group in South Sudan that is believed to have ties with the country's military.
	UNICEF had previously said at least 89 boys, some as young as 13, were forcibly recruited in mid-February by an armed group near the town of Malakal, the capital of the oil-producing Unity state.
	UNICEF said in a statement today that it was "confident that the armed group which took the children ... Is aligned with" South Sudan's military.
	Jonathan Veitch, the UNICEF representative in South Sudan, said he feared the children "are going from the classroom to the front line."
	South Sudan's government has condemned the abductions, saying the military is investigating what happened.

UNICEF: Hundreds of South Sudanese boys believed abducted

Force India finally rolled out its new car for the upcoming Formula One season, with only two more days remaining to get it up to speed.
     Driver Nico Hulkenberg took the new car, the Mercedes-powered VJMO8, for its maiden drive during testing at the Barcelona-Catalunya circuit.
     While not as fast as the rest, the vehicle proved reliable as Hulkenberg broke it in with 77 laps in less than five hours. The German, however, did end up at the bottom of the timesheet over five seconds off Nico Rosberg's pace in his Mercedes.
     "It was a very good day, at least in terms of the running we managed to do," said Hulkenberg yesterday.
     "We were able to run reliably straight out of the box, and that is very encouraging."
     Force India missed the first preseason test in Jerez and was forced to use last year's car during the second test near Barcelona.
     Hulkenberg is scheduled to get another shift today, before Sergio Perez takes over on the final day of testing. The season ...

Force India finally rolls out new F1 car at 3rd test

Scandinavian Airlines says some 30 flights out of Copenhagen have been cancelled after members of a Danish cabin crew union walked out to protest the carrier's plan to move 147 employees to a domestic airline that SAS acquired last year.
	Group spokeswoman Trine Kromann-Mikkelsen says the strike was "illegal," adding SAS cancelled 60 flights yesterday when the walkout started.
	Kromann-Mikkelsen could not immediately confirm that dozens of SAS-operated flights to Copenhagen also were cancelled today.
	Only European flights were affected.
	According to the union, the staff transferred to Danish airline Cimber Air that SAS acquired in December will earn less.
	Facing stiff competition from budget airlines and high expenses, SAS embarked on a wide restructuring plan in November 2012.

Striking Danish cabin crew forces SAS to cancel 30 flights.

Thousands of Cameroonian youths marched through the capital today to show support for the military's battle against attacks by neighboring Nigeria's Islamic extremists.
	Boko Haram rebels have crossed over from Nigeria to attack towns in northern Cameroon. About 200 Cameroonian soldiers have been killed in the fighting, according to the demonstration's organizers, Cameroonian journalists who have reported on the fighting.
	The demonstrators marched through Yaounde's streets, carrying the flags of Cameroon and Chad, two of the African countries that have deployed troops to help the Nigerian army to fight Boko Haram.
	The march was a sign of solidarity for the millions of people suffering in Nigeria and neighboring countries as a result of Boko Haram's violence, Guibal Gatama, a journalist and the event's main organizer, told The Associated Press.
	"It was very important for Cameroonians to come out as a sign of solidarity for the 150,000 internally displaced people, for the 200,000 ...

Cameroonians demonstrate against attacks by Boko Haram

An Afghan official says the death toll from a massive avalanche in a valley near the capital Kabul is rising as rescue teams gain access to villages that have been buried beneath deep snow for days.
	Mohammad Aslam Syas, deputy chief of the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority, says 186 people have been confirmed dead in the hard-hit Panjshir Province, 100 kilometres (60 miles) northeast of Kabul.
	Machinery has been moved into the Panjshir Valley to help clear roads buried beneath at least 1 metre (3 feet) of snow since early this week. Syas says army helicopters today continued to distribute food and other essentials to villages cut off for days.
	Severe weather has affected at least 18 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. Nationwide, well over 200 people have died.

Afghan avalanche death toll rises amid rescue

Car bombs targeting a crowded market and Shiite militia checkpoints north of Iraq's capital killed 27 people today, authorities said, as the country's prime minister vowed to punish Islamic State militants who smashed ancient artifacts in a northern city.
	The first bombs exploded near the market in the town of Balad Ruz, 45 miles northeast of Baghdad, killing 11 people and wounding 50, police and hospital officials said.
	A suicide car bomber later attacked a checkpoint manned by Shiite militiamen near the city of Samarra, killing eight Shite fighters and wounding 15, authorities said.
	Samarra and surrounding areas have been under constant attacks by the Islamic State group, which holds about a third of Iraq and neighboring Syria in its self-declared caliphate.
	Clashes between Iraqi security forces and Islamic State militants followed the attack around Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad.
	A second suicide bomber attacked another Shiite militia checkpoint just south of Samarra, ...

Car bombs kill 27 people north of Iraq's capital, Baghdad

Britain's Prince William is spending the latter half of his four-day stay in Japan, starting today, in the country's tsunami-ravaged northeast, a visit certain to draw global attention to the stories of survival and continuing suffering in the region.
	The March 2011 earthquake and tsunami, which killed nearly 19,000 people, left swaths of the northeastern Japanese coastline destroyed. Four years later, tens of thousands of people are still living in temporary housing.
	Adding to the hardship is a nuclear catastrophe that has created a no-go zone around the Fukushima atomic plant.
	During his stay in Tokyo, which began Thursday, William visited with the cast of a samurai TV show, performed a good-luck sake-barrel-breaking ceremony at a shopping mall and had tea with Japan's crown prince. He is scheduled to leave for China on Sunday.
	Memories of William's mother, who died in 1997, are everywhere. The media in Japan, a culture that traditionally values male heirs, have been referring ..

Prince William evokes Diana memories on Japan tsunami trip

A series of car bombs today ripped through a crowded marketplace and Shiite militia's checkpoint, killing a total of 19 people in separate attacks north of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, officials said.
	Police said the first attack took place this morning when a car bomb exploded near a busy market in the town of Balad Ruz. Minutes later, a second car bomb went off, targeting people who gathered to inspect the site of the first blast. Balad Ruz is 70 kilometers northeast of Baghdad.
	Police and hospital officials said 11 people were killed and 50 wounded.
	Later on, a suicide bomber drove his explosive-laden car into a checkpoint manned by Shiite militiamen who are fighting Islamic State militants near the city of Samarra, killing eight Shite fighters and wounding 15 others.
	Samarra and the surrounding areas have been under constant attacks by the Islamic State group, which captured large swaths of western and northern Iraq last summer.
	Police said clashes erupted between Iraqi ...

Bombings kill 19 people in Iraq

China's Shaolin Temple, historically known for its martial arts traditions but which recently has gained a reputation for aggressive commercialization, is planning to build a USD 297 million complex in Australia that would include a temple, a hotel, a kung fu academy and a golf course.
	The Shoalhaven City Council in New South Wales state said earlier this month that Shaolin Temple Foundation Australia, the developer, had finalized a land purchase at Comberton Grange for what will be known as Shaolin Village.
	Mayor Joanna Gash said today that the city council and the state government had both approved the concept plan for the project, which is to include a temple sanctuary with resident monks, a live-in kung fu academy, a 500-bed four-star hotel and a 27-hole golf course. Planning officials have rejected a residential component, but the developer hopes to restore it, according to media reports.
	"We would like to see it happen as soon as possible," Gash said in a phone interview ...

China's famed Shaolin temple plans big project in Australia

The trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev can stay in Massachusetts, a federal appeals court ruled.
	A three-judge panel of the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said any high-profile case would receive significant media attention but that knowledge of such case "does not equate to disqualifying prejudice."
	"Distinguishing between the two is at the heart of the jury selection process," the panel wrote.
	Tsarnaev's lawyers argued that intense media coverage of the case and the large number of people personally affected by the deadly attack made it impossible for him to find a fair and impartial jury in Massachusetts.
	Prosecutors insisted that Judge George O'Toole Jr.'s individual questioning of prospective jurors has successfully weeded out people with strong opinions on Tsarnaev's guilt.
	In its 2-1 ruling, the appeals court found that the defense did not meet the standards necessary to have the trial moved.
	It said it was not clear and indisputable that ...

US appeals court: Marathon bombing trial can stay in Boston

Police in the German city of Bremen are warning of a potential danger from Islamic extremists there and say they are stepping up security measures.
	A police statement said that officials received tips about activities of potentially dangerous Islamic extremists from a German federal authority yesterday evening.
	Today's statement said that police in the northwestern city are responding "with coordinated and adapted security measures."
	Police gave no further details of the nature of the potential threat.
	The warning comes amid heightened concern in Europe about terrorism following attacks this year in Paris and Copenhagen.
	In mid-February, police in the northern German city of Braunschweig canceled a Carnival street parade over fears of a terrorist attack.

Police in German city warn of potential extremist threat

Police in Myanmar have arrested a photojournalist who posted a satirical message on Facebook that mocked a historic battle and the country's leader.
	Police confirmed today that Aung Nay Myo was detained on a charge of violating the 1950 Emergency Provision Act. If found guilty, he could face a maximum seven years in prison.
	His post satirised the 1971 battle between government troops and communist fighters and wrote that it was directed by President Thein Sein.
	The government often uses the draconian law to persecute dissidents and political activists.
	At least nine journalists and several publishers and media owners are serving prison sentences from two to seven years and nearly a dozen others are facing charges, undermining modest advances in media freedoms in Myanmar following a half-century military rule.

Myanmar journalist arrested for satirical post

President Barack Obama has said that the world has made "extraordinary strides in driving back Ebola" because of the efforts of the US, Liberia and other partners but both he and Liberia's leader said more must be done to combat the disease.
	Addressing reporters before an Oval Office meeting with Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf yesterday, Obama said reported Ebola cases in West Africa, the region hit hardest by the outbreak, are down 95 per cent from the peak of the crisis that panicked the world last year.
	The deadly virus has killed more than 9,600 people and infected nearly 24,000 others in the hardest-hit countries of Liberia, Sierra Leone and Guinea, according to latest figures from the World Health Organization.
	Several Americans, including hospital workers in the US and American aid workers overseas, contracted Ebola but recovered after treatment.
	Obama said the outbreak produced a level of death and destruction not often seen in modern history. He praised ...

Obama, Liberian President Sirleaf discuss Ebola recovery

Somali pirates have released four Thai sailors who were held hostage for nearly five years, the longest period of captivity of hostages held by Somali pirates, a UN official said today.
	The four released on Wednesday were sailors of the MV Prantalay 12 vessel, a Taiwanese flagged fishing vessel seized by Somali pirates on April 18 2010, said the UN Special Representative for Somalia Nicholas Kay.
	The ship was used by the pirates as a base before it eventually capsized in July 2011 and the remaining crew members were taken ashore, said Kay.
	Six members of the original crew of 24 succumbed to illness and 14 crew members from Myanmar were released to the Puntland Maritime Police authorities and repatriated in May 2011, Kay said in a statement.
	The mission to recover the hostages was conducted by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), funded by the Contact Group for Piracy off the Coast of Somalia's Trust Fund, Kay said.
	"I am grateful to see the longest held hostages .

Somali pirates release 4 Thai sailors held nearly 5 years

Afghan forces today routed the Taliban from a large swath of a key southern province that has long been an important insurgent stronghold, in their first major solo operation since international combat forces pulled out of the country, an American general and a senior Afghan police officer said.
	The operation, which began February 10, succeeded in clearing insurgents out of Sangin district in Helmand province, said Maj Gen Kurt Fuller, deputy chief of staff for US and NATO operations in Afghanistan.
	The area has long been an important Taliban stronghold and a major poppy-producing region but today, Afghan forces "secured Sangin and the whole district has been cleared," Fuller told The Associated Press.
	Fuller said the Afghan forces ran into "four strong points that the Taliban just didn't want to give up and it took them a while" to seize those, including a school that had been booby-trapped with explosives.
	The Taliban have had intermittent control of large parts of Helmand and ..

Afghan troops push Taliban from key southern district

Warsaw city councilors have banned a 1945 monument of Polish-Soviet World War II brotherhood in arms from being returned to its place in a city square.
	The move, a reversal of their own previous decision, comes as ties between Warsaw and Moscow are strained over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
	The councilors voted 51-2 late yesterday to keep the massive bronze-and-stone monument, generally referred to as the "four sleeping men," in a city storeroom. It was temporarily taken there in 2011 to allow for the construction of a subway line in the area.
	The councilors decided in 2011 that it would return to the Vilnius Square in the city's Praga district. But local residents protested, saying it was an unwanted remnant of the gone-by communist system and of its forced friendship with Moscow. Some councilors asked for a vote repeat, which was held yesterday.
	A spokeswoman for the Russian Embassy, Valeria Perzhinskaya, told The Associated Press that the embassy is waiting to hear back ...

Soviet army monument banned from returning to Warsaw square

A powerful undersea earthquake shook parts of south-central Indonesia today, but no major damage or tsunami were expected because of its depth.
	The US Geological Service said the temblor had a preliminary magnitude of 7.0 and hit the Flores Sea, about 132 kilometres north of Nebe.
	It said it was centred at a depth of 547 kilometres.
	Officials said there was little chance of major damage or a destructive tsunami. Shallower quakes generally cause more shaking of the Earth's surface and greater damage.
	Indonesia is prone to earthquakes due to its location on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
	In December 2004, a massive magnitude-9.1 earthquake off Sumatra island triggered a tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

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