News Headlines - 24 February 2015

▽BBC News - Islamic State 'abducts dozens of Christians in Syria'

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that at least 90 men, women and children were seized in a series of dawn raids near the town of Tal Tamr.

▽Turkey criticises UK over three schoolgirls who flew to Istanbul | The Guardian

Turkey has criticised Britain ​for taking too long to inform it about the three London schoolgirls who travelled to ​Istanbul last week, possibly en route to join Islamist militants in Syria.

▽Alaska Becomes 3rd State With Legal Marijuana - ABC News

Making Alaska the third state to legalize recreational marijuana was the goal of a coalition including libertarians, rugged individualists and small-government Republicans who prize the privacy rights enshrined in the state's constitution.

▽A-bomb manga 'Barefoot Gen' published in Arabic in Egypt | The Japan Times

An Arabic version of “Hadashi no Gen” (“Barefoot Gen”), the noted manga series about the 1945 atomic bombing of Hiroshima, has recently been published in Egypt, the Japan Foundation said.

▽Japan Post privatisation moves closer | The Guardian

Plans to float part of Japan Post’s business, which were announced in December, represent the culmination of a lengthy process with much at stake politically. The holding company, one of the world’s largest financial bodies, and two of its four subsidiaries – tasked with banking and insurance – will be opened to investors.