TOKYO (AP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to boost rebuilding efforts as the country marked the third anniversary Tuesday of a devastating earthquake and tsunami that left nearly 19,000 people dead, destroyed coastal communities and triggered a nuclear crisis.

LYON, France (AP) — Interpol has given two airlines direct access to its database of stolen passports in a test project intended to make it harder for criminals to misuse suspect documents, the police organization's leader said Tuesday.

Britain's economic growth quickened slightly in the three months to the end of February and is on course to recover its pre-recession peak over the course of this year, a leading economic research body estimated on Tuesday. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) said Britain's economy likely grew by 0.8 percent in the three months to the end of February, compared with 0.7 percent in the three months to the end of January. That implies Britain's economy is now only less than 1 percent below its pre-recession peak in January 2008, NIESR said - although that is still a worse situation than almost all of Britain's major economic peers. Britain's recovery to date has been driven by household spending and a revival in the property market, and the Bank of England wants to see more exports and business investment driving growth this year.