WorldNews

[attach=full]19089[/attach] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, fresh from a sweeping election victory Wednesday, quickly came under pressure from Washington to step back from hardline campaign promises over the conflict with the Palestinians. As beaten rival Isaac Herzog ruled out forming a unity government, the White House gave a tepid acknowledgement of Netanyahu's victory, with President Barack Obama yet to call to congratulate him. After a close-fought campaign, Netanyahu's rightwing Likud party confounded expectations and won 30 of the 120 seats in parliament, against 24 for Herzog's centre-left Zionist Union. It was a victory Netanyahu himself described as "against all the odds", proving him once again to be Israel's master of political brinkmanship. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19088[/attach] Britain's Prince Charles and his wife Camilla mingled with gobsmacked young Americans on Wednesday as they hit some of Washington's top attractions on the first full day of a US tour. Bright sunlight but chilly temperatures prevailed as the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall inspected the Lincoln Memorial and Martin Luther King monument. Later they ventured out to Mount Vernon to look around George Washington's patrician home, which commands a grand view over the lower Potomac. Prince Charles also took time to inspect the National Archives' copy of the Magna Carta, signed eight centuries ago this year by his predecessor, England's King John. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19087[/attach] NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks rallied Thursday after the Federal Reserve signaled that it may move slowly to raise interest rates. Continue reading...

MIAMI (AP) — The Pentagon official in charge of war crimes proceedings at Guantanamo Bay has resigned after coming under fire for trying to force military judges to relocate to the U.S. Navy base in Cuba. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19078[/attach] Sierra Leone leader Ernest Bai Koroma began the search for a new deputy and potential successor on Wednesday after sacking his vice-president in a bid to end a political crisis engulfing the fragile nation. Samuel Sam-Sumana's dismissal comes almost two weeks after he was expelled from the governing All People's Congress (APC) and went into hiding, claiming he was in danger and asking for asylum in the United States. Koroma said he was relieving Sam-Sumana "of the duties and from the office of vice president of Sierra Leone with immediate effect". The president said he was in talks with his party to find a replacement for Sam-Sumana, his running mate in successful 2007 and 2012 presidential campaigns. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19077[/attach] Premier League strugglers Sunderland announced on Wednesday that winger Adam Johnson is to return to training following his arrest on suspicion of sexual activity with an under-age girl. The 27-year-old England international, arrested two weeks ago, had his bail extended by five weeks on Tuesday and does not need to report back to police until April 23. Sunderland suspended Johnson pending the outcome of the police investigation, but following consultation with players' union the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), he has been allowed to resume training. "The club has discussed the current position in detail with both the PFA and Adam's representatives," Sunderland said in a statement. Continue reading...

(Reuters) - Commercial navigation on the lower Ohio River near Cairo, Illinois, has resumed following a brief river closure early on Wednesday after a barge tow struck a highway bridge and its 12 corn barges broke free, the U.S. Coast Guard said. The Cairo highway bridge sustained only cosmetic damage and nine of the breakaway barges were undamaged, a Coast Guard spokesman said. High water has restricted shipping traffic on the lower Ohio River this month as melting snow and heavy rains swelled the major grain shipping waterway that links eastern Midwest farm areas with export terminals at the Gulf of Mexico. Several grain elevators along the Ohio River are unable to load barges because vessels do not have access to grain loading spouts. Continue reading...

An Egyptian policeman was charged on Wednesday with murdering a suspected Muslim Brotherhood member and two members of the security forces were charged with concealing evidence in the death of a protester, judicial and security sources said. Judicial actions against members of the security forces are rare in Egypt, where the police have reasserted powers eroded during and after the 2011 popular uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Critics say the police now act with impunity, an accusation the Interior Ministry denies. Judicial and security sources said a public prosecutor in Giza referred a police officer to court on a murder charge after he confessed to shooting dead a member of the outlawed Brotherhood last month in a hospital. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19076[/attach] FIFA's decision to hold the 2022 World Cup in winter takes some heat off Qatar but the Gulf state still faces major challenges in the next seven years. The treatment of migrant workers and just the question of whether the giant project can be delivered are worries for football leaders. Qatar said it was happy to have a tournament at any time. Longstanding concerns over conditions for migrant workers in Qatar will be raised at the Zurich meeting. Continue reading...

Iran's foreign ministry said on Wednesday it saw no difference between Israel's political parties and called them all aggressors, semi-official Mehr News Agency reported after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory. Netanyahu, whose Likud party unexpectedly won Israeli elections on Tuesday, warned U.S. President Barack Obama's administration this month that it was negotiating a "bad deal" with Iran over its nuclear program. Continue reading...

By Dan Williams JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Embarrassed at failing to predict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's election victory, Israeli pollsters said on Wednesday they were blindsided by reticent rightist voters and may have unwittingly prodded waverers to back the incumbent. Netanyahu's Likud won 30 of parliament's 120 seats in Tuesday's ballot, against 24 for the center-left Zionist Union - upsetting opinion surveys that as recently as Friday gave the challenger a four-seat lead. Exit polls also proved unreliable. Israel's top three television stations, airing first returns as voting booths closed, found the parties close or tied. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19074[/attach] VILA NOVA DE GAIA, Portugal (AP) — A rusting yellow production line dangles from the ceiling of the cavernous Valadares factory, the long racks of ceramic sinks and toilets whose manufacture once provided jobs for 1,500 people gathering dust in the dim light from high windows. Continue reading...

Tunisian security forces were surrounding two militants holed up inside the Bardo Museum that shares grounds with the country's parliament on Wednesday, an interior ministry spokesman said. He said security forces were still verifying local media reports that the militants had taken tourists hostage during an attack on the parliament building. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19073[/attach] MERIBEL, France (AP) — Lindsey Vonn won the World Cup downhill title for the seventh time after winning the last race in the discipline on Wednesday at the season-ending finals. Continue reading...

BERLIN (AP) — Hundreds of flights have been canceled in a strike by Lufthansa pilots at the German airline's short- and medium-haul operations — the latest in a string of walkouts. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19068[/attach] SREBRENICA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) — Prosecutors on Wednesday made Serbia's first arrests of people suspected of carrying out killings in the Srebrenica massacre, The Associated Press has learned. It is a milestone in healing the wounds of Europe's worst civilian slaughter since World War II. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19067[/attach] Violent protests broke out ahead of Wednesday's inauguration of the European Central Bank's new headquarters, with cars set on fire, windows smashed and stones thrown by anti-capitalist activists hours before a massive rally. Already seven police cars have been set alight and at least two officers have been injured, a police spokeswoman told AFP. Water cannons have been used to disperse groups of protesters near the security zone erected around the 185-metre (605-foot), 1.3-billion-euro ($1.4-billion) new skyscraper in the east of the city. A number of violent incidents had been reported around the city, centred around the new building itself, but also Frankfurt's venerable Alte Oper concert hall and the financial district, she said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19066[/attach] ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Australia opener Aaron Finch said one of his side's biggest strengths is that it doesn't fear failure, even as it prepares to play Pakistan in a tough World Cup quarterfinal on Friday and close in on a fifth title. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19065[/attach] SHCHASLYVE, Ukraine (AP) — The tormentors stuck scotch tape to his eyes and locked him in a dank room. For 11 days, Andrei Schekun said, they beat him, shocked him with electrodes and scalded him with burning metallic plates. Continue reading...

TEMECULA, California (AP) — Andy Fraser, who co-wrote the rousing rock anthem "All Right Now" when he was the teenage bassist for the British rock band Free, has died in California at age 62. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19059[/attach] MEXICO CITY (AP) — A Mexican station executive says the host of the country's top-rated national news radio program probably won't be re-instated. Continue reading...

AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) — Chinese boat Dongfeng Race Team led the Volvo Ocean Race fleet out of Auckland's harbor for the fifth leg to Brazil on Wednesday after Cyclone Pam delayed the start for three days. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19058[/attach] JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong undersea earthquake struck off eastern Indonesia on Wednesday, but there are no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19057[/attach] JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to fend off a strong challenge from the country's opposition leader in parliamentary elections Tuesday, emerging from an acrimonious campaign in a slightly better position to form Israel's next government. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19055[/attach] MOSCOW/ANKARA (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan discussed the "Turkish Stream" gas project during a phone call, the Kremlin said in a statement on Tuesday, as Moscow continues to push for its new undersea pipeline to Europe. Facing objections from the European Union, Russia in December abandoned its $40 billion South Stream project which would have passed under the Black Sea to Bulgaria and carried up to 63 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas annually to Europe. It has now pinned its hopes on Turkey, hoping to construct a "Turkish Stream" pipeline with the same capacity to an as-yet unbuilt hub on the Turkey-Greece border by the end of 2016. Turkish officials have said the plans are unlikely to progress as quickly as Russia would like, given Ankara's concerns about overdependence on Russian energy. Continue reading...