Wikinews Shorts: February 27, 2014

A compilation of brief news reports for Thursday, February 27, 2014 .

Asiana Airlines fined US$500K for not helping families after crash

Smoke billows from the wreckage after the crash last year.
Image: Jkhoo.

South Korea-based Asiana Airlines was fined US$500,000 on Tuesday by the United States Department of Transportation for failing to provide support for victims' families after Asiana Airlines Flight 214 crashed at San Francisco airport in July 2013. Foreign airlines are to abide by a federal law called the "family assistance plan". The law states an airline must promptly assist and provide a toll-free number for calls from the passengers' families. It took the airline five days to contact the 291 families of the passengers aboard.

Of 307 on board, three Chinese teens died and over 200 people were injured. The jet hit a seawall on approach, tearing the rear of the plane off, and throwing three flight attendants onto the runway.

Sources

• Jeff Black. "U.S. Fines Asiana Airlines $500K for Not Helping Victims' Families" — NBC News, February 25, 2014
• "Asiana Airlines penalized $500K for not assisting families after crash" — CBS News, February 25, 2014

---

US prepares to withdrawal troops from Afghanistan

United States President Barack Obama has ordered the Pentagon to make plans to pull all the nation's troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2014. The Obama administration notified Afghan president Hamid Karzai that it would prefer to keep a residual military presence in Afghanistan for training and counterterrorism missions, but Karzai is refusing to sign the agreement for some US forces to remain. Once NATO ends hostilities in November, a contingency plan for a full departure will begin.

US-Afghan relations have worsened over the past few months. Obama told Karzai the US will move forward with additional contingency planning if the bilateral agreement to maintain a US presence is not signed.

Sources

• Karen DeYoung. "Defense ministers say NATO is prepared to withdraw all troops from Afghanistan" — Washington Post, February 26, 2014
• Spencer Ackerman and Dan Roberts. "Obama orders Pentagon to prepare for full troop withdrawal from Afghanistan" — The Guardian, February 26, 2014

---

Killers of UK soldier sentenced

File:Drummer Lee Rigby - Cropped.jpg

Drummer Lee Rigby, from an official portrait.
Image: UK Ministry of Defence.
(Image missing from Commons: image; log)

After an attack in the London streets last year on British soldier Lee Rigby, two men were sentenced on Wednesday. The leader of the attack, Michael Adebolajo, was sentenced to life behind bars. Michael Adebowale was given a life sentence, but with the possibility of parole after serving a minimum of 45 years. In court, the two Islamic converts indicated the killing was for Allah.

Bystanders watched Adebolajo and Adebowale hit Rigby with a car then butcher him with a meat cleaver and knives. The attack was recorded on closed-circuit TV and by bystanders. Both men were convicted of murder in December 2013.

Sources

• Laura Smith-Spark. Claudia Rebaza and Jason Hanna. "UK soldier's killers sentenced" — CNN, February 26, 2014
• Henry Chu. "Killers of British soldier in London sentenced, one to life in prison" — Los Angeles Times, February 26, 2014