MALAYSIA – A Malaysian budget airline has given in to mounting pressure and apologised after it used photos of women’s buttocks to promote discounted flights. Firefly, a subsidiary of Malaysia Airlines, faced a backlash from the public, including women’s rights groups, for objectifying women in adverts that appeared online and in national newspapers last week. The images, which were posted on Facebook and emailed to subscribers, showed the lower half of women’s bodies, in pencil skirts, with flight discounts printed on their backsides.  Firefly was heavily criticized after the ads were published last week. One was posted on Facebook under the headline ‘Come grab it real fast,’ with accompanying image that suggested a woman had sat in wet paint on a bench.(Daily Mail)…[+]

TURKEY – Turkey’s air force hit Kurdish rebel targets in northern Iraq Monday, hours after a car-bombing that killed 37 people in the Turkish capital, the state-run Anadolu news agency said.

Anadolu Agency says nine F-16s and two F-4 jets raided 18 positions of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK in the northern Iraq, including the Qandil mountains where the group’s leadership is based. Police meanwhile carried out raids in the southern city of Adana, detaining suspected rebels of the outlawed PKK, the agency reported. The private Dogan news agency said at least 36 suspects were taken into custody.

(CBS News). (Reuters)…[+]

ITALY – A massive avalanche struck Saturday morning in the Italian Alps, sweeping away and burying a large group of people — killing at least six of them, state news reported.

The snow and ice began crashing down Monte Nevoso, or Snowy Mountain, around 11:15 a.m. (5:15 a.m. ET), according to Italy’s official ANSA news agency. At the time, more than a dozen people were at more than 3,000 meters (9,840 feet) altitude, on their way to the summit of the second-highest mountain in Vedrette di Ries, a mountain group not far from Italy’s border with Austria near Val Pusteria (or Puster Valley). Some managed to dig themselves out from snow, with ANSA reporting one wounded and eight people total rescued. But at least six — five locals from Val Pusteria and an Austrian citizen — did not survive.(CNN/photo: kron4.com)…[+]

JAMAICA – The People’s National Party’s (PNP), Derick Kellier has retained his hold on the South St James seat following an intense four days of a magisterial recount here. Kellier won by 61 votes following the recount. Kellier obtained 6,278 votes in comparison to 6,217 votes for the Jamaica Labour Party’s (JLP) Homer Davis.

The continuation of the magisterial recount on Saturday went on despite an attempt by Davis’ legal team to halt its completion until the Supreme Court gave a ruling on an injunction they had filed. The matter was heard in Kingston and was dismissed by the judge. News came late Friday afternoon that presiding Resident Magistrate, Ann Marie Lawrence Granger was served with Supreme Court documents.

(Jamaica Observer/photo: jis.gov.jm)…[+]

BRAZIL –  Protesters, many draped in the Brazilian national flag, poured into the streets of Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro on Sunday at the start of mass demonstrations seeking to bring down President Dilma Rousseff.

More than a million people were expected to turn out across the nation, which will host the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro this August. Rousseff, struggling to hold on to power in the face of a massive corruption scandal and the worst recession in decades, urged demonstrators remain to peaceful. “I am appealing for there not to be violence,” Rousseff told Brazilian media late Saturday. “I think all people have a right to be on the streets. However, no one has a right to be violent. No one.”

(Jamaica Observer/photo: themalaysianoutsider.com)…[+]

HAVANA — Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez (R) and EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini attend a joint press conference in Havana, capital of Cuba, March 11, 2016. The European Union and Cuba signed an agreement on Friday to normalize relations 13 years after the unilateral suspension of ties by the EU. (Xinhua/Liu Bin)…[+]

SAO PAULO — Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Back) reacts after leaving the Lula Institute at Ipiranga neighborhood, southern Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 11, 2016. Prosecutors in the Brazilian state of Sao Paulo requested Thursday that former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva be arrested to allow for more time to investigate suspected charges of money laundering and bearing false witness.
(Xinhua/Daniel Teixeira/AGENCIA ESTADO)…[+]

TRIPOLI — Saadi Gaddafi, son of Libya’s former leader Muammar Gaddafi, waits for a trial at a courthouse in Tripoli, Libya, March 13, 2016. Saadi faced charges of killing and repressing demonstrators during the 2011 uprising that toppled the Gaddafi regime. (Xinhua/Hamza Turkia)…[+]

USA –A convicted felon known more for his criminally good looks than for his crimes is looking forward to becoming a model and actor now that he is free from behind bars. Jeremy Meeks of California became known as the ‘Hot Felon’ after his baby-blue eyes, razor-sharp cheekbones and chiseled jaw line first caught the public’s attention when his mug shot was posted on the Stockton Police Department’s Facebook page in 2014. Despite being behind bars for possession of a firearm, the 30-year-old was signed by talent agency, White Cross Management last year under Jim Jordan. He was released from prison earlier this month. (Daily Mail)…[+]

SWITZERLAND – Sexual transmission of the Zika virus is more common than previously thought, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). After an emergency committee meeting on Tuesday, the UN health agency also said there was increasing evidence of links between Zika and various birth defects. Zika is most commonly spread by mosquitoes but several countries have reported cases of sexual transmission.

The WHO last month said the outbreak constitutes a global emergency. WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said “reports and investigations in several countries strongly suggest that sexual transmission of the virus is more common than previously assumed”. She called the development “alarming”. Dr Chan also said that microcephaly – a birth defect strongly linked to the Zika outbreak in Brazil – was just one of several conditions that the WHO had linked to the virus. Another is Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). Nine countries have now reported an increase in cases of GBS, a rare condition that can cause temporary paralysis and death.(BBC)…[+]