1. Netanyahu draws rebuke from Obama

    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the United States on March 2 that it was negotiating a bad deal with Iran that could spark a “nuclear nightmare,” drawing a rebuke* from President Barack Obama and exposing a deepening U.S.-Israeli rift*.

    Netanyahu made his case against Obama’s Iran diplomacy in a speech to U.S. Congress that aligned* himself with the president’s Republican foes.

    2. Ex-CIA chief admits leaks to mistress

    Former CIA Director David Petraeus, whose career was destroyed by an affair with his biographer, has agreed to plead guilty to charges he gave her classified material* — including information on war strategy and identities of covert* operatives — while she was working on the book.

    The plea agreement carries a possible sentence of up to a year in prison and represents another blow to the reputation of the retired four-star army general.

    Petraeus, 62, will plead guilty to a misdemeanor* count of unauthorized removal and retention* of classified material.

    3. 72 passengers reach settlements

    More than 70 passengers aboard an Asiana Airlines flight that crashed in San Francisco, the United States, two years ago have reached a settlement in their lawsuits against the airline, attorneys for the passengers and airline said in a court filing on March 2.

    The settlement with 72 passengers who filed personal injury claims also includes Boeing Co., which made the airplane, and Air Cruisers Co., the New Jersey company that made its evacuation* slides.

    This is the first set of lawsuits stemming from the crash to be resolved. Dozens of additional cases involving more than 70 plaintiffs* are still pending in federal court in Northern California.

    The July 6, 2013 crash of Asiana Flight 214 killed three Chinese teens and left nearly 200 people injured.

    4. Suspected ‘maternity hotels’ raided Federal agents raided about 20 Southern California locations on March 2 suspected of involvement in “maternity* tourism” schemes* providing travel, lodging and medical care to pregnant foreign women seeking to give birth in the United States.

    Authorities say the so-called maternity hotels targeted in the sweep catered largely to wealthy women from China who paid US$15,000 to US$80,000 in hopes of obtaining U.S. citizenship for their children.

    5. U.S. ambassador to S. Korea attacked

    U.S. Ambassador to South Korea Mark Lippert underwent two-and-a-half hours of surgery after he was slashed* in the face by a Korean nationalist in an attack at a forum held in Seoul on March 4 to discuss Korean reunification*.

    Lippert, 42, was bleeding from wounds to his face and wrist but was able to walk after the attack. Doctors said his condition was stable after a “very successful” surgery that required 80 stitches* in his face.

    The assailant was caught and identified by police as 55-year-old Kim Ki-jong. In 2010, Kim tried to attack the Japanese ambassador to Seoul by throwing a piece of concrete and was given a suspended jail term, according to police.

    6. More held over Nemtsov assassination

    Russian police arrested another two men over the killing of opposition activist Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down in the center of Moscow, state media reported on Monday, bringing the number held to four.

    Albert Barakhoyev, secretary of the Security Council of Russian Republic of Ingushetia, told state news agency RIA Novosti that the pair had been taken into custody* over the assassination* of the 55-year-old former prime minister.

    Both of the men, arrested in Ingushetia, are from neighboring Chechnya in the volatile northern Caucasus.

    (SD-Agencies)