A series of bombings in Baghdad and near the Iraqi capital killed at least 23 people today, officials said.
	The deadliest of the day's attacks came shortly before sunset, when a bomb exploded in a street in Baghdad's southeastern suburb of Jisr Diyala.
	Minutes later, a car bomb went off near the site of the first blast as people started gathering around it to help the victims.
	Police and hospital officials put the casualty toll in Jisr Diyala at up to eight killed and 20 wounded, including several students who had just come out of a nearby school after class.
	No group immediately claimed responsibility for the bombings but Iraq sees near-daily attacks, mostly by Sunni insurgents targeting the country's Shiite majority and security forces. The attacks are often claimed by the Islamic State group, which seized about a third of the country in a blitz last year, along with a swath of territory in neighbouring Syria.
	Earlier today, a parked car bomb went off in a commercial area in ...

Bombs in Iraq, including twin blasts on busy street, kill 23

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Oscar Pistorius' lawyers will challenge a judge's decision to allow an appeal against his negligent killing conviction by prosecutors, who want the Olympic runner convicted of murder.
	Lawyer Brian Webber said today in a statement that Pistorius' defense team has applied for permission to argue against Judge Thokozile Masipa's approval of the prosecution appeal.
	Masipa ruled in December that prosecutors could go to South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal over Pistorius' culpable homicide conviction for killing girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp in 2013.
	The double-amputee athlete is serving a five-year jail sentence for shooting Steenkamp, but he could be moved to house arrest in August.
	If the appeal court finds that Pistorius should have been found guilty of murder, as prosecutors contend, he faces a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

Pistorius lawyers to challenge appeal ruling

Yemen's Shiite rebels said today that President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled the rebel- controlled capital earlier this month, is "wanted for justice."
	The move escalated a crisis that threatens to split the Arab world's poorest country between the rebels, known as Houthis, who control the capital Sanaa and much of the north, and Hadi, who appears to be establishing a base in the once-independent south.
	The rebel-run state news agency SABA quoted the Houthis' Revolutionary Committee as saying that they are monitoring the "suspicious" activities of Hadi. It did not say whether a formal arrest warrant has been issued.
	The group says Hadi's "reckless and erratic actions harmed the Yemeni people, its security, stability, economy and life" and called on the international community to consider him a fugitive from justice.
	The group also warned state employees and even diplomatic missions against dealing with Hadi as president, saying they would be "held accountable."
	Hadi resigned 

Shiite rebels say Yemen President Hadi 'wanted for justice'

The head of Interpol says countries need to improve their information sharing in order to effectively combat the threat of so-called foreign fighters.
	Interpol's secretary-general Juergen Stock says an estimated 20,000 foreigners have joined extremists fighting in Syria and Iraq, including the Islamic State group.
	About 3,400 foreign fighters are believed to have come from Europe, and authorities there are concerned about the threat they pose when returning home.
	Stock told The Associated Press today that rather than relaxing data protection laws countries simply need to take full advantage of existing rules to share information about suspects, money flows and weapons.
	Speaking on the sidelines of an international police meeting in Berlin, Stock said Interpol plans to discuss the issue at a meeting with member states next month.

Interpol boss urges better data sharing on foreign fighters

French president Francois Hollande and Italian prime minister Matteo Renzi today signed an agreement for a long-standing rail project to ease transport of freight across the Alps.
	The agreement was signed at a summit in Paris.
	The project, which would connect the cities of Lyon in France and Turin in Italy, includes the construction of a 57-kilometre tunnel for an estimated cost over 8 billion euros (USD 7 billion).
	The line would not open before 2028.
	The European Union authorities promised to finance 40 per cent of the project.
	Ultimately the line could also be adapted for a high-speed passenger trains.

France and Italy launch a rail project across the Alps

Lithuania has decided to restore compulsory military service for young men as tensions in Ukraine continue to worry the small Baltic nation.
	After a meeting of military leaders and top government officials, President Dalia Grybauskaite said today the measure was necessary because of "growing aggression" in Ukraine.
	Military officials said Lithuania will reinstate national service for five years starting in September, when it will enlist some 3,000 men, ages 19 to 27. They will serve for nine months.
	Gen Jonas Vytautas, the defense chief, says a lack of soldiers posed a "real threat" to national security.
	Lithuania, like its Baltic neighbours Latvia and Estonia, was occupied for five decades by the Soviet Union before regaining independence in 1991. It abolished conscription in 2008, four years after joining NATO.

Lithuania restores compulsory military service

New York City's official booster Taylor Swift has donated USD 50,000 to the city's public schools.
	The city tourism bureau tapped Swift as "global welcome ambassador" last year even though critics noted she was a recent transplant to New York.
	Some also complained that her song "Welcome to New York" from the album "1989" was bland and lifeless.
	Swift responded by announcing last October that she would donate proceeds from the single to the city's schools.
	A spokeswoman for the city Department of Education said today that Swift has now given USD 50,000.
	Spokeswoman Devora Kaye says the department is "deeply appreciative of this kind gesture."
	It wasn't clear whether the USD 50,000 figure represented all the proceeds from the song.
	A representative for Swift didn't immediately return emails seeking comment.

Taylor Swift gives USD 50,000 in song proceeds to NYC schools

The European Union is moving to unblock a major legislative logjam holding up the exchange of air passenger information deemed vital to track foreign fighters who could become terrorists.
	The EU lawmaker responsible for pushing the process through the assembly tabled new proposals with strengthened privacy protection clauses today aimed at ending the impasse.
	British Conservative Timothy Kirkhope said his the revisions were in response to concerns that had been expressed.
	So-called Passenger Name Record agreements allow authorities to exchange information for security purposes about passengers collected by air carriers during flight reservation and check in.
	The EU has such agreements with the United States, Canada and Australia but a deal for sharing data among its own member countries has been blocked for four years.

EU moves on air passenger deal to track foreign fighters

The Middle East's biggest airline, Emirates, said today that it plans to resume flights to Baghdad after halting them last month when an incoming passenger plane came under fire.
	The carrier said it expects to restart passenger flights to the Iraqi capital six times a week on March 1.
	Emirates and several other regional airlines stopped flights to Baghdad after a flight operated by discount carrier FlyDubai was struck by gunfire as it came in to land.
	One person onboard was wounded in the shooting, which Iraqi authorities said they believed was unintentional.
	Emirates said its decision to resume flights "follows a comprehensive safety and security review" done in conjunction with civil aviation officials. It has continued to fly to the Iraqi cities of Irbil and Basra.
	FlyDubai said it resumed Baghdad flights on Sunday, following a February 12 decision by Emirati aviation authorities to lift a ban on Baghdad flights. The country's national airline, Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, .

Mideast's biggest airline Emirates to resume Baghdad flights

House Speaker John Boehner says Congress is sending President Barack Obama legislation to build the Keystone XL pipeline today.
	The White House is indicating Obama will quickly veto it in private over Republican lawmakers' urging that he sign it. It would be the third veto of Obama's presidency.
	Republicans may try to override Obama's veto, but have yet to show they can muster the two-thirds majority in both chambers that they would need.
	First proposed in 2008, the pipeline would connect Canada's tar sands to Gulf Coast refineries.
	The White House has said repeatedly it will wait to make its decision about whether to let the project go forward until after a State Department review.

Congress sends Keystone bill to Obama, who plans to veto it

Drugmaker Merck & Co has granted a free license allowing one of its HIV medicines to be made and sold inexpensively for use in young children in poor countries hard hit by the AIDS virus.
	The deal, announced today, lets any generic or brand name drug manufacturer make low-cost pediatric versions of Merck's raltegravir for sale in 92 low- and middle-income countries, according to the Medicines Patent Pool.
	The group, backed by the United Nations, works with brand-name drugmakers to find ways to make their HIV medicines still covered by patents available in developing countries for a fraction of the price charged in Europe or the US.
	Merck, based in Kenilworth, New Jersey, sells raltegravir under the brand name Isentress. In the US, it costs about USD 1,350 a month without insurance.
	The patent pool is now starting to line up manufacturers to produce raltegravir for poor countries, where the patent runs until about 2022.
	Based on prior licensing deals made by the group, the ...

Merck grants free license for pediatric HIV drug

Islamic State militants have abducted at least 70 Christians, including women and children, after overrunning a string of villages in northeastern Syria, activists and relatives said today.
	The Sunni extremists, who follow a radical interpretation of Islam, have repeatedly targeted religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq since seizing control of large swaths of both countries. The group's fighters have ransacked churches, demolished Shiite and Sunni Muslim shrines, and enslaved women of the Yazidi community, a tiny sect IS considers heretical.
	The latest assault began before dawn yesterday, when the militants swept through the villages nestled along the banks of Khabur River near the town of Tal Tamr in Hassakeh province. The area is predominantly inhabited by Assyrians, an indigenous Christian people who trace their roots back to the ancient Mesopotamians.
	During the raids, the militants took between 70 and 100 Assyrians captive, said Nuri Kino, the head of the activist .

Activists: IS militants kidnap dozens of Christians in Syria

A former Kazakh diplomat who faced murder charges in Austria was found hanged in his cell in Vienna Tuesday in an apparent suicide, a prison official said.
	Rakhat Aliyev was found Tuesday morning in the bathroom of his cell in Vienna's Josefstadt jail, prison director Peter Prechtl told the Austria Press Agency.
	Aliyev, an estranged former son-in-law of Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev, was charged in December over the kidnapping and killing of two bank managers in Kazakhstan. His trial had been expected to start in March or April. Aliyev had said he was innocent.
	Aliyev, 52, was dismissed as Kazakh ambassador to Austria in 2007 after accusing Nazarbayev of totalitarianism. He was sentenced in absentia to 40 years in jail in 2008 on charges including attempting to overthrow the government.
	He also was convicted in Kazakhstan of kidnapping the two bankers, who authorities there said were abducted in early 2007 after becoming embroiled in a commercial dispute with Aliyev. In ...

Kazakh ex-diplomat found hanged in Austrian prison cell

British police are defending their actions as the search continues for three British teenage girls believed to have travelled to Turkey and to be heading to Syria to support extremists.
	The case has generated wide attention. Turkish officials have complained that British officials waited three days before seeking help in the case, losing valuable time.
	But the Metropolitan Police said today they notified Turkish officials one day after the girls went missing last week.
	"Once we established that the girls had travelled to Turkey, police made contact with the foreign liaison officer at the Turkish Embassy in London on Wednesday, 18 February," police said in a statement.
	The families of Shamima Begum, 15, Kadiza Sultana, 16, and Amira Abase, 15, have implored them to return home.

UK police defend actions in missing girls case

Cambodia abruptly deported a Spanish environmental activist for overstaying his visa after he refused an order from Prime Minister Hun Sen to leave the country, a government official said today.
	Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, who was a tireless anti-dam campaigner in Cambodia, was deported on a Monday night flight, said Gen. Khieu Sopheak, an Interior Ministry spokesman.
	"His visa had expired and he refused to leave Cambodia as ordered from the ministry, therefore we had no choice but to deport him," he said.
	Gonzalez-Davidson was a co-founder of non-governmental group called Mother Nature, which has vocally opposed the construction of a controversial hydropower dam in southwestern Cambodia's Koh Kong province. Cambodia has signed a deal to build the mega-dam with China's state-owned Sinohydro.
	In September, Gonzalez-Davidson led a protest that briefly blocked a government convoy from driving to the proposed site of the dam.
	The group says the dam would force hundreds of families from ..

Cambodia deports outspoken Spanish environmental activist

New Zealand will send a small number of troops to Iraq to help train local forces in their battle against the Islamic State group, Prime Minister John Key announced today.
	Key told lawmakers the country would deploy up to 143 military personnel, who would be based "behind the wire" and would train Iraqi security forces rather than being actively involved in combat missions.
	He said most of the troops would likely be based in the Taji military base north of Baghdad as part of a joint mission with Australia.
	He said the two-year deployment would begin about May and would be reviewed by the government after nine months.
	Key said the government had been considering options to expand upon the humanitarian assistance it was already providing.
	"New Zealand is a country that stands up for its values.
	We stand up for what is right," Key told lawmakers. "We have an obligation to support stability and the rule of law internationally. We do not shy away from taking our share of the burden ..

New Zealand to send troops to Iraq to train local forces

Caught between its own defiant campaign pledges and pressure from creditors, Greece's left-wing government will deliver a list of reforms today to debt inspectors for final approval of extended rescue loans, officials said.
	Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras was already facing dissent within his left-wing Syriza party over claims it is backtracking on its recent election-winning promises to ease budget cuts for the recession-battered Greeks.
	Two officials linked to the government said the list will be sent to Brussels early today and be reviewed at a teleconference of the 19 eurozone finance ministers later in the day.
	They spoke on condition of anonymity either because he wasn't authorised to make comments or because of the sensitivity of the negotiations.
	Greece and bailout creditors have been in a standoff since Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras' left-wing Syriza party won general elections last month on a pledge to tear up bailout agreements and seek a massive write off of bailout ...

Greece readies new list of bailout reforms

A leaked 2012 cable purportedly sent by Israel's Mossad spy agency appears to take a less alarmist view of Iran's nuclear program than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presented at the UN weeks earlier.
	In the UN speech, Netanyahu said Iran was proceeding rapidly and could have the infrastructure in place to build a nuclear bomb in a year or so.
	In the leaked document, published yesterday by The Guardian and Al-Jazeera, the Mossad purportedly says that Iran "is not performing the activity necessary to produce weapons."
	The document's authenticity couldn't be verified. An Israeli official said there was "no discrepancy" between the two assessments. He spoke anonymously as he was not authorized to discuss the issue.
	Netanyahu plans to address the US Congress on Iran next month.

Report: Mossad was less alarmed than Israel premier on Iran

Honda Motor Co hurt by falling sales and embroiled in a crisis over defective air bags is replacing its CEO.
	The Japanese automaker said today that Takanobu Ito, its president and chief executive officer since 2009, will step aside in June and be succeeded by longtime executive Takahiro Hachigo.
	The unexpected decision follows the recalls of more 6.2 million Honda vehicles in the US and millions of others elsewhere equipped with air bags made by Japan's Takata Corp.
	The air bags have inflators that can explode, expelling shards of metal and plastic. At least six deaths and 64 injuries have been linked to the problem worldwide.
	At a press conference today, the 61-year-old Ito said it was his own decision to step down. He has been at Honda since 1978, when he joined the company as a chassis engineer.
	"I believe Honda needs to become one strong team in order to overcome challenges and the team requires a new, youthful leadership," Ito said, according to a transcript provided by ...

Honda to replace its CEO amid air bag crisis, sales drop

Heavy clashes raged in northeastern Syria today as Kurdish fighters and Islamic State militants battled for control of a string of villages near the Iraqi and Turkish borders.
	The Kurds have long been one of the most effective foes of the Islamic State group, a reputation they burnished in recent months by repelling a months-long IS assault against the town of Kobani on the Turkish frontier.
	The US-led coalition carried out hundreds of airstrikes that helped the Kurds break the IS siege in January.
	Today's fighting focused in Hassakeh province in the extreme northeast of Syria, where IS militants took at least one village near the small town of Tal Tamr, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees activist collective said. Tal Tamr is some 85 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of the provincial capital of Qamishli.
	The SANA state news agency said the extremists attacked seven villages in all, forcing hundreds of people to flee.
	The IS .

Heavy clashes between Kurds and IS in northeastern Syria

The Supreme Court seemed divided today over whether a woman can challenge the government's refusal to issue a visa to her husband from Afghanistan.
	The justices heard arguments in the case of Fauzia Din, a naturalised US citizen who sued the government after the visa petition she filed for her spouse was rejected in 2009.
	Her husband, Kanishka Berashk, had worked as a low-level clerk for the Afghan government when it was controlled by the Taliban and continued working for the government after Taliban rule ended in 2001.
	But the US embassy in Pakistan offered no specific explanation for its decision other than to cite to a law allowing exclusion based on "terrorist activities."
	His wife argues that she deserves to know the specific reason for the denial based on her marital rights under the Constitution.
	Deputy Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler told the justices that a decades-old legal doctrine gives the government broad power to deny visas and that non-citizens have no ...

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