Top News Stories –

Google gets down with the kids –
Google reveals it is developing child-friendly versions of some of its products and is likely to include the Chrome browser and YouTube (which it bought for $1.65bn (£883m) in October 2006). The intention is to make the internet safer for under-12s.

Boris plays peacemaker –
London mayor Boris Johnson attempted to calm down an abusive passenger on a Malaysian Airlines flight from Kuala Lumpur to Heathrow but the crew had to handcuff the man and strap him to his seat. The man was arrested when the plane landed.
Boris Johnson

Pope dismissing head guard –
Colonel Daniel Anrig, the commander of the 110 Swiss Guards that protect the pontiff is losing his job when his commission ends at the end of January 2015. Although no official reason has been given, Pope Francis is apparently unhappy at the officer’s strict authoritarian style.

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Other News Stories –

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Somali Civil War
  • A suicide bomber attacks a United Nations convoy near Aden Adde International Airport killing six people. (AP) (BBC)

International relations

• Foreign ministers from members of NATO attend a summit in Belgium to discuss the 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant insurgency. (Xinhua)
• Transparency International issues its 2014 Corruption Perceptions Index with Denmark achieving the highest rating and North Korea and Somaliatied with the lowest ranking. (Reuters)

Law and crime

• Italian police arrest a mix of mafia gangsters, corrupt politicians, and one former terrorist in a corruption scandal exploiting migrants and gipsies.(Telegraph)

Politics and elections

• The Israeli parliament- the Knesset votes to dissolve the government and hold early election on March 17. (Haaretz)
• Less than three months after winning the general election, Prime Minister of Sweden Stefan Löfven calls a snap general election after parliament rejected his government’s budget proposal. (BBC)

Science and technology

• The Japanese space agency, JAXA, launches the space explorer Hayabusa 2 from the Tanegashima Space Center on a six-year roundtrip mission to the asteroid (162173) 1999 JU3 to collect rock samples. (AP)

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