WorldNews

By Kieran Guilbert LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Afghan women and girls uprooted by violence and living in camps in major cities are most vulnerable to abuse by male family members, who treat them like prisoners and sell them "like animals" into marriage, aid agencies said on Monday. Living in makeshift settlements, they face hunger and psychological trauma, and are denied access to education and healthcare, said a report by the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and The Liaison Office, an Afghanistan-based peace organization. Afghanistan continues to be beset by violence from the Taliban and other militants, which has left more than 800,000 people homeless within the country, according to NRC. More than half of the women and girls interviewed by NRC said they were not allowed by the men in their families to visit friends or other family members, while many said they were fearful of abusive husbands or drug-addicted fathers. Continue reading...

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian insurgents captured several government airmen after their helicopter crashed in a rebel-held area of northwestern Syria on Sunday, activists said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19291[/attach] The leaders of debt-wracked Greece and economic powerhouse Germany meet in Berlin Monday after weeks of bad feeling over Athens' debt woes, bitter wartime memories and an offensive hand gesture. German Chancellor Angela Merkel will receive Greece's radical left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, who has blamed her insistence on tough austerity for his country's "humanitarian crisis" of poverty and mass unemployment. Spain's economy minister Luis de Guindos turned the screw on Athens another notch Sunday by insisting that it will not receive any money until it implements all its proposed reforms. Merkel also insists that if cash-strapped Greece wants more bailout loans, of which Germany stumps up the biggest share, it must accept the bitter medicine of cuts and reforms. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19290[/attach] BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Luis Suarez scored the winning goal to give Barcelona a 2-1 win over title rival Real Madrid on Sunday in a back-and-forth "clasico" between the Spanish league's main title rivals. Continue reading...

MADRID (AP) — Two fledgling parties that have shaken up Spain's political scene made significant inroads in their first regional bids for power in Andalusia's election Sunday, suggesting they could threaten the nation's traditional two-party system in other votes due later this year. Continue reading...

Sierra Leone's main opposition party has called for an indefinite campaign of civil disobedience if the country's sacked vice president is not reinstated within a week, a party leader said on Sunday. Sulaiman Banja Tejan-Sie, Secretary General of the Sierra Leone People's Party, told Reuters that party members would embark on peaceful demonstrations, civil disobedience and strikes across the West African nation from March 30. He said the opposition party had instructed its lawyers to challenge the dismissal of Vice President Samuel Sam-Sumana in court, calling it unconstitutional. President Ernest Bai Koroma sacked Sam-Sumana last week saying he had abandoned his duties by requesting asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Freetown. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19278[/attach] Islamist rebels captured four crew members of a regime helicopter which crashed in Idlib province of northwest Syria on Sunday, while a fifth serviceman was killed, a monitor said. "A regime helicopter was forced to land in the region of Jabal al-Zawiya in the northwest, which is a bastion of (Al-Qaeda's Syrian affiliate) Al-Nusra Front," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP. Abdel Rahman said the Al-Nusra Front held two of the servicemen, including the helicopter's pilot. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19277[/attach] CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — A nightclub bouncer who reportedly became a terror group leader. A man who tweeted a photo of his young son clutching a severed head. A teenager who is believed to have turned suicide bomber, and others suspected of attempting to travel to Syria to join the Islamic State movement. All of them, Australian. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19276[/attach] ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Zach Johnson made the second albatross in two days at the Arnold Palmer Invitational by holing a 5-iron from 207 yards on the par-5 16th hole Sunday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19272[/attach] HULL, England (AP) — Loic Remy made an immediate impact after coming off the bench Sunday to ensure Chelsea avoided another setback in its pursuit of the Premier League title by clinching a 3-2 victory at Hull. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19271[/attach] WASHINGTON (AP) — Having the leader of Iran's elite Quds Force direct Iraqi forces battling the Islamic State group is complicating the U.S. mission against terrorism and contributing to destabilization in Iraq, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency said Sunday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19270[/attach] A moment of madness from Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and a two-goal burst from Juan Mata made it a day to savor for Manchester United. And as United's return to the Champions League moved a step closer, Chelsea maintained its pursuit of the Premier League title with a slender win at Hull on Sunday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19269[/attach] MILAN (AP) — Genoa goalkeeper Mattia Perin pulled out of the Italy squad with injury on Sunday and was replaced by Lazio's Federico Marchetti. Continue reading...

The leader of Yemen's powerful Houthi movement vowed on Sunday to pursue Islamist militants behind suicide attacks anywhere and said the country was in danger of descending into Libya-style turmoil. In a live televised speech, Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said his decision to mobilize his fighters amid accelerating violence in recent days was aimed against Islamic State, which claimed responsibility for bombings that killed more than 130 in the capital Sanaa on Friday, and against al Qaeda. Violence has been spreading across Yemen since last year when the Iran-allied Houthis seized Sanaa and advanced into Sunni Muslim areas, leading to clashes with local tribes and al Qaeda and energizing a southern separatist movement. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19264[/attach] The head of a powerful Shiite militia on Sunday criticised "weaklings" in the Iraqi army who want US-led air strikes to support the massive operation to retake Tikrit from jihadists. The remarks by Hadi al-Ameri point to a possible divide between the Iraqi army and allied paramilitaries known as "Popular Mobilisation" units, which are dominated by Shiite militia forces, over the now-stalled Tikrit drive. "Some of the weaklings in the army... say we need the Americans, while we say we do not need the Americans," Ameri told journalists at Camp Ashraf, north of Baghdad, when asked about US-led air support for Tikrit. Army Staff Lieutenant General Abdulwahab al-Saadi, a top commander in Salaheddin province, of which Tikrit is the capital, told AFP that he had requested such strikes against the Islamic State jihadist group and that they were needed. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19263[/attach] TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — About 300 university students gathered outside Taiwan's legislative house Sunday evening, kicking off a scheduled 31-hour demonstration to mark the anniversary of a movement that occupied the island's parliament. Continue reading...

By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The momentum of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been blunted and the extremist group is not "on the march" as it was previously, CIA Director John Brennan said on Sunday. "Clearly ISIS's momenutm inside of Iraq and Syria has been blunted, and it has been stopped. So they are not on the march as they were several months ago," Brennan said on "Fox News Sunday," using an acronym for the group that has seized large areas of Iraq and Syria. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19262[/attach] Former Everton and Manchester United manager David Moyes believes the dismal performances of Premier League clubs in Europe this season has exposed a decline in standards in the English top-flight. The 51-year-old is in a good position to judge the relative merits of the Premier League and its' European counterparts after taking charge at Spanish side Real Sociedad in November. The Scot is trying to rebuild his tarnished reputation following his sacking by United last season after less than a year in charge at Old Trafford, but he has kept a close eye on the travails of England's teams in continental competition this term. After Liverpool failed to make it out of the group stages of the Champions League, Arsenal, Manchester City and Chelsea all bowed out in the last 16. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan said on Sunday he believed Russian President Vladimir Putin was increasingly unhappy with the economic sanctions and other costs of the Ukrainian conflict. "I don't believe he's happy with the situation," Brennan said on "Fox News Sunday." "I think there are signs that the discomfort that is associated with this is becoming more uncomfortable," he said. (Reporting by Andy Sullivan; Editing by Frances Kerry) Continue reading...

[attach=full]19257[/attach] BERLIN (AP) — It was 1943 and the Nazis were deporting Greece's Jews to death camps in Poland. Hitler's genocidal accountants reserved a chilling twist: The Jews had to pay their train fare. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19256[/attach] ADEN, Yemen (AP) — Shiite rebels backed by supporters of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh seized Yemen's third largest city of Taiz and its airport on Sunday, security and military officials said, as thousands took to the streets in protest. Continue reading...

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan woman who was beaten to death by a mob was buried in Kabul on Sunday, her coffin carried aloft by women's rights activists. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19255[/attach] Voting began on Sunday in the first round of French local elections where the anti-immigration National Front (FN) hopes to come top and consolidate leader Marine Le Pen's bid for the presidency in 2017. Opinion polls suggest voters are unexcited about the election for councillors with limited powers in the "departements", one stratum of France's complex local administration which President Francois Hollande has in any case promised to overhaul. The FN, which wants a return to the French franc and a referendum on capital punishment, surfed a wave of disenchantment with established politicians to emerge top in last year's European Parliament elections and won control of a dozen city halls in a separate ballot. Continue reading...

SYDNEY (AP) — Center Dylan Walker scored two tries as defending champion South Sydney beat the Wests Tigers 20-6, the Rabbitohs' third consecutive win to start the National Rugby League season. Continue reading...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — South Africa batsman David Miller has a talent for deadpan humor. Continue reading...