■ United Kingdom
Algerian tycoon arrested
British authorities arrested and released on bail exiled Algerian tycoon Abdelmoumen Rafik Khalifa on suspicion of money laundering, police said on Sunday. Khalifa, 40, is being tried in absentia in Algeria as the main defendant among 104 people on trial over the collapse of the country's largest private bank four years ago. Algeria is seeking his extradition from Britain. Khalifa, the former head and founder of the defunct Khalifa Bank, fled to London in 2003. The case centers on allegations that 3.2 billion Algerian dinars (US$47.6 million) in funds went missing from the bank's accounts.
■ Algeria
Militants attack checkpoint
Suspected Islamic militants attacked a police checkpoint with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns on Sunday, killing five officers and injuring three others, according to a newspaper report. The Kabylie region, east of the capital Algiers, has faced a recent upsurge of violence by a Salafist group that claims ties to al-Qaeda, including seven car bombings on Feb. 13. In Sunday's attack, assailants are said to have fired a grenade on a police sport utility vehicle at a key highway crossroads as officers were changing shifts, setting the vehicle ablaze, daily Liberte reported. A second SUV came under machine-gun fire.
■ Switzerland
Avalanches kill three
Avalanches killed three skiers in the Alps on Sunday following days of heavy snow, authorities said. All the accidents occurred away from prepared slopes and trails in widely separated parts of the country. None of the victims were identified. The deaths raised the avalanche death toll for this season to nine. The Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos said avalanche danger remains high, especially at higher elevations where wind has drifted snow.
■ Russia
Avalanche kills child
An avalanche at the nation's best-known ski resort killed a 10-year-old child on Sunday and trapped at least three other people, the Emergency Situations Ministry said. The avalanche took place at Krasnaya Polyana, one of the ski centers that is part of Russia's bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, in the Caucasus Mountains about 45km east of the Black Sea resort city of Sochi. Sergei Petrov, a spokesman for the emergency ministry's southern district, said the avalanche swept the four people off a chairlift. The resort is visited annually by Russian President Vladimir Putin for a skiing holiday.
■ United States
Teens arrested for video
Two Texas teenagers were arrested after police found a video of them showing two children how to smoke marijuana, authorities said. Fort Worth police found the video on Feb. 22, while investigating Demetris McCoy, 17, and Vanswan Polty, 18, in connection with some burglaries. In the video, the children are called "potheads" and a man can be seen placing a marijuana cigarette into a baby's mouth. In another part of the video a boy is seen smoking on his own.
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