News in Brief(07-03-2018)

Florida senate votes against arming teachers

FLORIDA, Mar 06: Florida's Republican-controlled Senate voted on Monday to generally exclude classroom teachers from a plan to allow school staff to carry firearms as part of a package of measures in response to a school shooting that took 17 lives last month. The amendment was designed in part to increase support from many parents, law enforcement officials and legislators in both parties who object to arming teachers, as well as from Governor Rick Scott, a Republican also on record as opposed to the idea. — Reuters

Japan navy appoints first female chief

TOKYO, Mar 06: The Japanese navy said Tuesday it had for the first time appointed a woman as commander of a unit that includes the country's biggest warship. Ryoko Azuma, 44, will command four warships making up a division with a total of 1,000 crew members. "This is the first time a woman was appointed for the job," a spokesman for the Maritime Self-Defence Force told the news agency. — AFP

Search team finds lost WW2 aircraft carrier after 76 yrs

SYDNEY, Mar 06: The wreck of a US aircraft carrier that was sunk during World War-II has been found off the coast of Australia. The USS Lexington was located at a depth of about 3km (2 miles) in the Coral Sea, about 800km off Australia's east coast. The ship was lost in the Battle of the Coral Sea from 4-8 May 1942. More than 200 crew members died in the fighting. The US Navy confirmed the ship had been discovered by a search team led by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. — BBC

NATO chief plans military academies for Iraqi forces

AMMAN, Mar 06: The secretary general of NATO says the alliance plans to step up training of Iraq's armed forces, including by setting up military academies. Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that the goal of training is to ensure that the extremist Islamic State group "is never able to come back in the way we have seen before." NATO is part of a global alliance that drove IS from large areas in Syria and Iraq. — AP

Sangma new CM of Meghalaya

NEW DELHI, Mar 06: Conrad Sangma was sworn-in on Tuesday as the Chief Minister of India's northeastern state of Meghalaya, officials said. The chief of regional National People's Party (NPP) was administered the oath of office and secrecy by Meghalaya Governor Ganga Prasad. "Today during a function held here Conrad Sangma was sworn in as the 12th Chief Minister of Meghalaya," a government official posted in Shillong city said. — Xinhua

2,055 Mongolians commit suicide in five years

ULAN BATOR, Mar 06: A total of 2,055 Mongolians committed suicide in 2012-2016, most of them were male, a recent survey showed. According to the survey on suicide by the General Prosecutor's Office of Mongolia, 84 per cent of the suicides were male. — Xinhua