Nepal: A plane carrying 71 people from Bangladesh swerved erratically and flew dangerously low before crashing and erupting in flames as it landed in Kathmandu, Nepal's capital, killing at least 50 people. A top airport official said the pilot of US-Bangla Airlines flight BS211 did not follow landing instructions from the control tower and approached the airport's one runway from the wrong direction. "The airplane was not properly aligned with the runway. The tower repeatedly asked if the pilot was okay and the reply was 'yes,"' said Raj Kumar Chetri, the airport's general manager. But a recording of the conversations between the pilot and air traffic controllers indicated confusion over which direction the plane should land. In the recording, posted by the air traffic monitoring website liveatc.net, conversation veers repeatedly about whether the pilot should land on the airport's single runway from the south or the north. Just before landing the pilot asks "Are we cleared to land?" Moments later, the controller tells the pilot: "I say again, turn!" Seconds later, the controller orders firetrucks on to the runway.
Antarctica: A group of American scientists stranded on an ice-bound island off the northeastern tip of the Antarctic Peninsula have been rescued by an Argentine icebreaker. The four scientists and a support staff member, who were conducting research at Joinville Island, were airlifted by helicopter to the Almirante Irizar icebreaker. Argentina's Foreign Ministry said that the US icebreaker Laurence M Gould was unable to carry out the evacuation because the ice barrier was too dense on the Weddell Sea in front of the island that is south of the Argentine mainland. The US Antarctic Programme then requested assistance from Argentina. Argentina's armed forces said that the five are in good health and will be transferred to the US vessel when weather conditions improve.
Syria: Parallel offensives waged by Turkey and the Syrian Government on two separate towns in Syria pushed residents into overcrowded shelters for safety as others tried to flee the advancing forces by road. Residents and displaced families in the besieged town of Douma in the rebel-held Damascus suburbs of eastern Ghouta were sleeping in shops and in the streets as basements in the town filled up beyond capacity, said Haitham Bakkar, a local resident. Thousands of people were fleeing the northwestern town of Afrin as Turkish troops and Turkey-backed opposition fighters moved closer to completely encircling it. Turkish troops have destroyed water and power stations that supply Afrin, making it difficult for people to stay there.
United States: The Metropolitan Opera fired music director emeritus James Levine after an investigation found evidence of sexual abuse and harassment. Levine was suspended by the Met in December pending the investigation. The Met says that its investigation found Levine "engaged in sexually abusive and harassing conduct towards vulnerable artists in the early stages of their careers." The 74-year-old Levine had been a towering figure in the company's history, ruling over its repertoire, orchestra and singers as music or artistic director from 1976 until he stepped down under pressure two years ago. The Met says claims its management or board had covered up information of Levine's conduct were unsubstantiated.
France: French couturier Hubert de Givenchy, a pioneer of ready-to-wear who designed Audrey Hepburn's little black dress in Breakfast at Tiffany's, has died at the age of 91. The house of Givenchy paid homage to its founder in a statement as "a major personality of the world of French haute couture and a gentleman who symbolised Parisian chic and elegance for more than half a century. He revolutionised international fashion with the timelessly stylish looks he created for Audrey Hepburn, his great friend and muse for over 40 years. His work remains as relevant today as it was then." Along with Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and mentor Cristobal Balenciaga, Givenchy was part of the elite cadre of Paris-based designers who redefined fashion in the wake of World War II.
Mexico: Prosecutors say they have arrested a man who allegedly played a decisive role in the disappearance of 43 college students in 2014. The Attorney-General's office says the suspect probably belonged to the Guerreros Unidos drug cartel. Prosecutors have said that corrupt police in the state of Guerrero handed the students over to cartel members, who killed them and incinerated their bodies in a big fire at a trash dump. The suspect was identified as Erick Sandoval Rodriguez. The Attorney General's office said he faces organised crime and kidnapping charges. He is one of about 132 people arrested so far in the case. Only one of the missing students has been matched through DNA testing to the charred remains, and experts doubt all could have been burned.
Germany: German prosecutors say they have been notified that a former guard dubbed the "accountant of Auschwitz" has died. Hannover prosecutor Kathrin Soefker says a lawyer informed her office that Oskar Groening died at the weekend in a hospital. Soefker says the office is awaiting an official death certificate. Groening, 96, was convicted in Lueneburg in 2015 as an accessory to the murder of 300,000 Jews. All of his appeals were rejected and he was due to begin a four-year prison term soon.
Slovakia: Anti-government protesters in Slovakia are planning to hold more rallies over the slaying of an investigative journalist even though a cabinet minister has resigned. Interior Minister Robert Kalinak quit after tens of thousands of protesters across Slovakia demanded a thorough investigation into the shooting deaths of Jan Kuciak and Martina Kusnirova. The protests included calls for Slovakia's whole government to step down, with a particular focus on Kalinak and the head of the national police force. Kuciak's last, unfinished story was about the activities of the Italian Mafia in Slovakia and alleged ties to people close to Prime Minister Robert Fico. Ficos' Smer-Social Democracy party is allegedly also linked to other corruption scandals.
Australia: The family of Melbourne woman whose decomposing body was found in her bathtub eight months after she was allegedly murdered will make a public appeal to help catch those who killed her. The body of 40-year-old Sarah Gatt was discovered in a Kensington unit on January 3 this year, with police saying she died between April 20-24 2017. Forensic evidence indicates a violent assault took place and investigators believe efforts were made to conceal the mother of four's fate and fool people into thinking she was still alive. Three men and two women were questioned in January about the death but weren't charged and remain persons of interest. None of Gatt's children were living at the property.
Italy: Former Italian Premier Matteo Renzi formally resigned as leader of the Democratic Party following its crushing election defeat, with the interim leader maintaining the party line of refusing a kingmaker role in a new Italian Government. No party or coalition won enough votes to govern alone in the March 4 parliamentary vote, setting the stage for arduous talks to see if either the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement or the centre-right coalition led by the anti-immigrant League can form a stable government. Maurizio Martina, the outgoing Agriculture Minister who was named as the Democratic Party's interim leader, said the League and the 5-Stars "don't have any alibis now," and should "take their responsibility" to form a government.
Britain: A monster story set in Baghdad is among 13 contenders for the Man Booker International Prize for Fiction. The long list of finalists announced today includes Iraqi writer Ahmed Saadawi's Frankenstein in Baghdad, which depicts real and imaginary horrors after the US-led invasion of Iraq. South Korea's Han Kang, who won in 2016 for "The Vegetarian," is nominated again for "The White Book." Novels from Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Austria, Hungary, Argentina and Taiwan are also on the list. The prize is a counterpart to the prestigious Man Booker Prize and is open to books published in any language that have been translated into English.
Japan: The Finance Ministry acknowledged that it doctored documents in a widening scandal linked to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's wife that has rattled his Government and caused its support ratings to slide. Abe quickly apologised on behalf of ministry officials but did not mention his wife or her suspected role in the scandal. "People are looking critically at the developments, and I take it seriously," he said, promising to pursue a thorough investigation into what caused the problem. The altered documents relate to the 2016 sale of state land to school operator Moritomo Gakuen in Osaka at one-seventh of the appraised value with the alleged involvement of first lady Akie Abe, who supported the school's ultra-nationalistic education policy.
Science: Scientists say they have found intriguing evidence that women also migrated long distances across medieval Europe, not just men. The discovery of unusually shaped female skulls at burial sites in Germany's Bavaria prompted the researchers to take a closer look at their origin. A genetic analysis showed the women travelled from what is now Romania, Bulgaria and northern Greece at a time when the continent was being reshaped by the collapse of the Roman Empire. The women's skulls were elongated because of binding that was done when they were infants. The newcomers had dark hair and skin and appear to have integrated with the mostly blond and fair local population at the time. The study is in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.