South Korean officials say two people were killed and at least 42 were injured after a pileup involving about 100 vehicles in foggy weather on a bridge near the Incheon International Airport.
	Byeon Tae-u of the Incheon Fire and Safety Management Department said today that the number of the injured could increase as emergency workers are having trouble reaching all of the damaged cars on the 4,400-meter (14,400-foot) bridge on the highway from the airport to the capital Seoul.
	He says the accident occurred in a Seoul-bound lane and was likely aggravated by thick fog and icy road conditions.
	Kim Mun-won of the Incheon Jungbu Fire Station says that about 100 cars were involved in the pileup. It was not immediately known what started the pileup.

100-car pileup on South Korean bridge leaves 2 dead, 42 hurt

PTI Automatic

Apple says it will spend USD 850 million on a massive solar energy project that will generate enough power for the computer giant's new office campus, retail stores and its other California operations.
	The tech company will be the biggest single consumer of energy from the new solar farm, which is being constructed on 1,300 acres in rural Monterey County, south of the San Francisco Bay Area where Apple is headquartered.
	Apple CEO Tim Cook says Apple is concerned about the threat of climate change. He noted that the company's computer centers already are powered by various forms of renewable energy.
	Arizona-based First Solar Inc. Is building the facility and will sell additional energy from the farm to utility Pacific Gas & Electric.

Apple building big solar energy farm in California

Nigeria's Boko Haram Islamic extremists have abducted about 30 people including eight Cameroonian girls and killed seven hostages in two bus hijackings in Cameroon and Nigeria, Cameroon residents and a Nigerian intelligence officer said.
	Boko Haram, who kidnapped nearly 300 schoolgirls in Nigeria last year in an incident that ignited international outrage, have taken eight Cameroonian girls hostage, said Chetima Ahmidou, the principal of a school in the area. The girls range in age from 11 to 14 and come from the town of Koza, he said yesterday.
	The bus attack took place Sunday about 18 km from Cameroon's border with Nigeria. Seven other hostages were slain and their bodies scattered near the border, said Ahmidou, whose brother was the bus driver and was among those killed.
	Also Sunday, across the border in Nigeria, the Islamic extremists held up a bus in Akada-Banga village of Bama district and made off with about 20 people, including women and children, according to a security ...

Boko Haram abducts 30 people in Cameroon, Nigeria

Foreign fighters are streaming into Syria and Iraq in unprecedented numbers to join the Islamic State or other extremist groups, including at least 3,400 from Western nations among 20,000 from around the world, US intelligence officials say in an updated estimate of a top terrorism concern.
	Intelligence agencies now believe that as many as 150 Americans have tried and some have succeeded in reaching in the Syrian war zone, officials told the House Homeland Security Committee in testimony prepared for delivery on Wednesday. Some of those Americans were arrested en route, some died in the area and a small number are still fighting with extremists.
	The testimony and other data were obtained yesterday by The Associated Press.
	Nick Rasmussen, chief of the National Counterterrorism Center, said the rate of foreign fighter travel to Syria is without precedent, far exceeding the rate of foreigners who went to wage jihad in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Yemen or Somalia at any other point in 

20,000 foreign fighters flock to Syria, Iraq

A federal judge refused to release a US woman charged with aiding militant groups in Syria and Iraq, siding with prosecutors who described her as potentially dangerous and a flight risk.
	Mediha Medy Salkicevic and five other Bosnian immigrants are accused of sending money and equipment to groups the US has deemed terrorist organizations, including the Islamic State group and Nusra Front, an al-Qaida-affiliated rebel group.
	US Magistrate Judge Jeffrey Cole ruled that Salkicevic, a 34-year-old mother of four, must remain in custody. That means she won't be able to travel on her own to St. Louis, where the case is being handled, but will instead be escorted by US marshals.
	The judge said prosecutors met their burden of proof during a hearing Monday to show she could be dangerous and a flight risk, allegations her attorney denied.
	Salkicevic works as a cargo handler at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, which raises security concerns, prosecutor Angel Krull said during the ...

Judge won't release US woman accused in terrorism case

Angelina Jolie has opened an academic center billed as Britain's first to focus on women, peace and security.
	The Hollywood actress hopes the center at the London School of Economics will help boost the global campaign for women's rights. She said Tuesday "there is no stable future for a world in which crimes committed against women go unpunished."
	The university says the center will study the participation of women in conflict and on ending impunity for rape and sexual violence in war.
	Jolie, a UN special envoy, co-founded a campaign on preventing sexual violence with former British Foreign Secretary William Hague in 2012.

Jolie opens UK academic center studying women in conflict

The White House was ready to share with lawmakers its plan to seek authority for the use of military force against the Islamic State group, setting up the first war vote in Congress in 13 years.
	Presidential counsel Neil Eggleston arranged to meet with Senate Democrats as President Barack Obama is preparing to formally unveil his proposed authorization, a Democratic official revealed.
	The White House has not finalized the text of its proposal or made a final decision on when to summit it, as presidential aides continue to schedule private consultations with lawmakers to negotiate details, according to a person familiar with the outreach.
	The Democratic official said the release could come as early as Wednesday. Both officials spoke on a condition of anonymity without authorization to discuss negotiations on the record.
	The White House and proponents of a new authorization for use of military force argue that passage is important to show unity in the fight against militants who ...

Obama to send his new war powers request to Congress

The White House says US intelligence has not been able to determine how or when American Kayla Jean Mueller died while in Islamic State captivity.
	On Friday, the Islamic State claimed that the 26-year-old aid worker died in a Jordanian airstrike.
	But White House spokesman Josh Earnest says there was no evidence that civilians were in the target area ahead of the strike.
	Earnest says that Mueller's parents received a private message over the weekend from her Islamic State captors. He says it included additional information about her death that they shared with the intelligence community, which concluded she had been killed.

White House says no determination how or when Mueller died

A French court ordered a private clinic in Cannes to pay USD 450,000 each to two 20-year-old girls accidentally switched at birth part of a USD 2.1 million settlement with both their families.
	The clinic's lawyer, Sophie Chas, said she didn't immediately know whether an appeal would be lodged against Tuesday's decision by the court in Grasse.
	Chas said the court also ordered the Clinica Jourdan and an insurance company to pay USD 340,000 to each of three parents involved in the case and USD 68,000 each for three brothers and sisters involved.
	"I am perfectly satisfied (with the ruling) because responsibility within the medical chain was acknowledged," the lawyer for the victims, Gilbert Collard, said in a telephone interview.
	When Sophie Serrano gave birth in July 1994, her baby girl was put into an incubator at the clinic. A nurse's assistant accidentally handed that baby to the wrong mother, and the baby girl in the adjacent incubator was given to Serrano.
	Three years later, ...

French court: USD 2.1 million in switched baby case

Police say a Roman Catholic priest fell into a grave while praying at the burial of one of his parishioners in central-western Brazil.
	A police statement on Tuesday said the Rev. Alex Novais de Brito reported that as he was praying over the coffin at a cemetery near Brasilia, the ground suddenly gave way and he and three others at the funeral service fell into the grave.
	No one was seriously hurt.
	Police said they were investigating what caused the ground to give way during the service Saturday. They did not provide further information.
	The priest was not immediately available for comment but the G1 news portal quoted him as saying the incident "ruined the moment.

Brazil priest falls in grave while praying at burial

The US Senate's most senior lawmaker today said he will skip the Israeli prime minister's speech to Congress next month on Iran, calling the invitation by Republicans without White House consultation a "tawdry and high-handed stunt."
	Sen Patrick Leahy, a 42-year-veteran, joined a half dozen Democrats who have decided to boycott Benjamin Netanyahu's speech, which comes in middle of delicate negotiations involving the United States, Western powers and Iran over its nuclear program. Republican House Speaker John Boehner invited Netanyahu to address a joint meeting of Congress on March 3.
	"The unfortunate way that House leaders have unilaterally arranged this, and then heavily politicized it, has demolished the potential constructive value of this joint meeting," Leahy said in a statement.
	"They have orchestrated a tawdry and high-handed stunt that has embarrassed not only Israel but the Congress itself."
	Democrats have complained that the speech is an affront to President Barack ...

Most senior US senator, to skip Netanyahu speech

Egyptian police have arrested 21 soccer fans in the wake of a deadly stampede outside a Cairo stadium and are accusing them of attacking policemen, damaging police cars and terrorizing the public, a prosecutor said.
	The prosecutor, Mohammed Seif, told the AP that none of the 21 had been formally charged with anything.
	Authorities say at least 19 people were killed Sunday night in Egypt's deadliest soccer-related violence since 2012, when police fired tear gas into a crowd of fans waiting in a fenced, narrow corridor to try to enter the stadium in eastern Cairo. Many of the dead suffocated or were trampled in the melee.
	Prosecutors said 22 died, but the government's health ministry said 19 died. Among the dead was a 14-year-old girl. No police officers were killed, although a police vehicle was set on fire.
	The disagreement over the death toll, which couldn't be reconciled Tuesday, reflects the confused, bitter disputes between police and civilian accounts of what ...

Egypt police arrest 21 soccer fans following deadly stampede

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is updating President Barack Obama about a new round of peace talks aimed at securing a cease-fire with pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
	Obama and Poroshenko spoke by phone on Tuesday, just as Obama is weighing sending lethal defensive assistance to Ukraine's military. On Monday, Obama discussed the issue at the White House with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who opposes sending lethal aid to Ukraine and is spearheading the peace talks in Minsk.
	The White House isn't saying whether Obama discussed lethal aid with Poroshenko. A White House statement describing the phone call says only that Obama committed to providing financial support for Ukraine.
	Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of fueling the rebellion in eastern Ukraine with troops and weapons.

Obama talks to Ukraine leader as US weighs lethal aid

Two US officials say the United States is closing its embassy in Yemen amid political deadlock and deteriorating security conditions after the takeover of the country by Shiite rebels.
	The officials said diplomats were being evacuated from the country on Tuesday and the embassy will suspend operations until conditions improve.
	 Yemen has been in crisis for months with Iran-linked Shiite Houthi rebels besieging the capital and then taking control. The US officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the closure publicly on the record.
	The US Embassy in Yemen is the third in an Arab country that has closed since the turmoil of the Arab spring began in December 2010. The other two were embassies in Damascus, Syria and Tripoli, Libya.

Officials: US closing embassy in Yemen due to unrest

Film clips have surfaced of a 1915 disaster that left 844 people dead when a ship headed to a company picnic capsized in the Chicago River.
	The first-known footage of the Eastland disaster was spotted by Jeff Nichols, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois at Chicago who was looking through seemingly unrelated material on World War I.
	Nichols, who has lived in Chicago for 20 years, said he found the clips in Dutch newsreels. Title cards describing what happened precede them.
	"It's as easily recognizable to someone who cares about Chicago history as the Titanic, so I knew what I had right away," Nichols told the Chicago Tribune (http://trib.In/1CdwO8M ). "I knew folks would go, 'Wow,' even if they had seen the clip before."
	The SS Eastland, which was carrying 2,500 people, turned onto its side while docked in the Chicago River in July 1915. It was one of five boats chartered that day to take Western Electric workers and their families and friends across Lake Michigan to a 

Footage of 1915 Chicago ship disaster that killed 844 found

SpaceX is taking another stab at launching an observatory into deep space and landing the booster that carries it up.
	The unmanned Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off at 1905 GMT from Cape Canaveral, Florida. It's the company's second attempt to launch the Deep Space Climate Observatory for NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and Air Force.
	Last-minute radar trouble halted Sunday's countdown. SpaceX skipped Monday because of rain.
	NASA says former Vice President Al Gore is returning for the launch. It was his idea in 1998 that led to this observatory.
	The spacecraft will fly to a point 1.6 million kilometers from Earth to monitor solar outbursts.
	In a ground-breaking experiment, SpaceX will fly its leftover booster to an ocean platform. Last month's test failed.

SpaceX tries again to launch observatory, land rocket at sea

A relentless storm that dumped deep snow on parts of the US Northeast was finally expected to wind down today but not before bringing the Boston-area public transit system to its knees and forcing some communities to consider tossing piles of snow into the ocean to help relieve clogged streets.
	Massachusetts Gov Charlie Baker gave another day off to non-emergency state workers in the hardest hit areas and the schools remained closed for another day.
	To make matters worse, forecasters said more snow was possible on Thursday.
	Boston-area subways, trolleys and commuter rail trains ground to yesterday evening and were scheduled to remain idle today.
	Hundreds of flights were cancelled at New England airports. Officials at Boston's Logan International Airport said they hoped normal passenger service would resume by midday today.
	A 60-year-old man who had just finished work at a supermarket bakery died after being struck in a parking lot by a private snow plowing truck.
	Massachusetts ..

US Northeast digs out from latest winter storm

The Dutch government has released dozens of documents about the aftermath of the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, but much of the information has been redacted.
	One of the Dutch broadcasters that requested the information be made public, RTL News, said Tuesday it would protest about the number of redactions and take the government to court if necessary to compel it to reveal more details.
	RTL's deputy editor, Pieter Klein, says on the broadcaster's website "we want the relevant facts so that a serious reconstruction can be made of the Cabinet's performance" after the crash.
	Flight 17 crashed in eastern Ukraine on July 17, killing all 298 people on board. Dutch crash investigators and police are probing the cause, which is believed to be a surface-to-air missile strike.

Dutch government releases MH17 documents, many redacted

The failure of Costa Concordia's captain to promptly order an evacuation of the cruise ship was the sole reason 32 people died, prosecutors said in their final arguments in court.
	A verdict in the 19-month-old trial is expected this week for Francesco Schettino, accused of causing the Jan. 13, 2012 shipwreck near the Italian island of Giglio, manslaughter and abandoning ship before all 4,200 aboard were evacuated.
	Prosecutor Alessandro Leopizzi contended there would have been time for everyone to survive had Schettino quickly ordered evacuation after the Concordia smashed into a reef when he steered too close to the tiny island near Tuscany.
	Instead, it was "each man for himself," Leopizzi said of the chaotic, delayed evacuation.
	Schettino's defense has argued equipment problems complicated evacuation, and that he wanted to steer the Concordia closer to port.
	His lawyers seek acquittal for manslaughter and abandoning ship. Schettino has said the reef wasn't on his nautical ...

Prosecutors: Concordia ship captain should have saved all

Cheaper, better robots will replace human workers in the world's factories at a faster pace over the next decade, pushing manufacturing labor costs down 16 percent, a report said.
	The Boston Consulting Group predicts that investment in industrial robots will grow 10 percent a year in the world's 25-biggest export nations through 2025, up from 2 percent to 3 percent a year now. The investment will pay off in lower costs and increased efficiency.
	Robots will cut labor costs by 33 percent in South Korea, 25 percent in Japan, 24 percent in Canada and 22 percent in the United States and Taiwan. Only 10 percent of jobs that can be automated have already been taken by robots. By 2025, the machines will have more than 23 percent, Boston Consulting forecasts.
	Robots are getting cheaper. The cost of owning and operating a robotic spot welder, for instance, has tumbled from USD 182,000 in 2005 to USD 133,000 last year, and will drop to USD 103,000 by 2025, Boston Consulting says.
	And the new 

Robots replacing human factory workers at faster pace

Disgraced former International Monetary Fund boss Dominique Strauss-Kahn told a French court today that he was unaware that women who participated in orgies at luxury hotels in Paris and Washington DC were prostitutes.
	The 65-year-old and 13 co-defendants are on trial in this northern French city, accused of aggravated pimping in connection with a sex ring centered on the Hotel Carlton in Lille.
	In his first testimony since the trial began February 2, Strauss-Kahn reaffirmed his long-standing defence that he did not know of the "prostitutional character" of the women who took part in his orgies.
	Strauss-Kahn's arrival at the courthouse was disrupted by three topless protesters from the provocative group Femen, who were detained by police.
	Strauss-Kahn's chances of becoming French president were ruined over a separate sex scandal in New York.
	The economist, known widely as DSK, faces up to 10 years in prison and a 1.5 million-euro (USD 1.7 million) fine if convicted.
	Strauss-Kahn 

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