WorldNews

[attach=full]20602[/attach] Finland's opposition Centre Party came out on top in Sunday's general election, far ahead of the parties in Prime Minister Alexander Stubb's left-right coalition, partial results showed. If the results were to be confirmed, Centre Party leader Juha Sipila, a 53-year-old IT millionaire and newcomer to politics, would become Finland's next prime minister. More than a third of the electorate cast their ballots in advance voting and with most of those counted, the Centre Party had 23.2 percent of votes. Public radio and television YLE projected that the Centre Party would have 51 out of 200 seats in parliament. Continue reading...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican security officials say they've captured the man accused of running the Juarez drug cartel following last year's arrest of Vicente Carrillo Fuentes. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20601[/attach] CAIRO (AP) — Islamic State militants in Libya shot and beheaded groups of captive Ethiopian Christians, a video purportedly from the extremists showed Sunday. The attack widens the circle of nations affected by the group's atrocities while showing its growth beyond a self-declared caliphate in Syria and Iraq. Continue reading...

European Council President Donald Tusk is considering calling a special summit of EU leaders on the refugee crisis around the Mediterranean and will take a decision after consultations, his spokesman said on Sunday. Tusk himself tweeted that he was talking to EU leaders, the European Commission and its foreign service on "how to alleviate (the) situation" after a fishing boat capsized overnight off the Libyan coast, killing as many as 700 migrants. After the consultations, the spokesman said, the former Polish prime minister who now chairs the Council of EU leaders would decide on a possible extraordinary summit. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20596[/attach] NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) — Turkish Cypriots are voting for a new leader for the breakaway north of Cyprus on Sunday in an unpredictable contest as talks to reunify the ethnically split island are expected to resume next month. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20595[/attach] BRINDISI, Italy (AP) — Top-ranked Serena Williams had to fight back from a set down and figure out how to deal with strong winds before overcoming Italy's Sara Errani 4-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 in a Fed Cup playoff Sunday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20594[/attach] STOCKHOLM (AP) — Cuba's efforts to sustain the critically endangered Cuban crocodile are getting a boost from Sweden, home to a pair of reptiles that Fidel Castro gave to a Soviet cosmonaut four decades ago. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20593[/attach] Gripping tightly with her hands, her feet searching for a foothold, Salwa Khashan edges along a sheer rock face in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, urged on by friends below. She and her fellow climbers are the first group of Palestinians to win climbing certificates after graduating from a three-day "Wadi Climbing" course just north of Ramallah. "It taught me a lot," said Khashan, who lives in Arab-dominated east Jerusalem, which Israel occupied with the rest of the West Bank in 1967. "Tim and I came to Palestine to develop a climbing community here," Harris said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20592[/attach] DORTMUND, Germany (AP) — Borussia Dortmund appointed Thomas Tuchel as coach from the end of the season on Sunday, handing the former Mainz coach a three-year contract effective from July 1. Continue reading...

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A senior commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard said Sunday that inspectors would be barred from military sites under any nuclear agreement with world powers. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20590[/attach] Burundi has charged 65 protestors with rebellion after they were arrested during clashes with police while calling for the president not to seek re-election, a prosecutor said. Tensions are high with opposition parties concerned at incumbent President Pierre Nkurunziza's expected bid for re-election in June despite the constitutional limit of two terms. Nkurunziza has not yet confirmed whether he intends to try stay in power, but his supporters say he has every right to do so. Police arrested scores of protestors on Friday, and on Saturday charged 65 of them with "participation in an insurrectionary movement", state prosecutor Arcade Nimubona said late Saturday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20589[/attach] Clashes between Shiite rebels and pro-president forces in southern Yemen overnight left 21 dead, on the fourth week of a Saudi-led air campaign against insurgents, medics and local sources said Sunday. Ten Huthi rebels and four members of the "popular committees" militia fighting on the side of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi were killed in pre-dawn clashes in the southwestern city of Taez, the sources said. The "popular committees" are fighting alongside the military's 35th armoured brigade which remains loyal to the exiled Hadi. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20588[/attach] The knives are already being sharpened for the leaders of political parties, several of whom could see their careers brought to a brutal end if they fail to deliver at the May 7 election. Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron, his Liberal Democrat deputy Nick Clegg, leader of the labour party Ed Miliband, Nigel Farage of the UK Independence Party -- all run the risk of being kicked out. "All four are fighting for their political life," said Steven Fielding, professor of political history at Nottingham University. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20587[/attach] The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) on Friday dropped cases against nine journalists facing trial for illegally paying police and other public officials for information, while another four were cleared in court. At the same time, the CPS issued new guidelines making clear that journalists should not always be prosecuted for paying for scoops. "It is simply obvious that there are circumstances in which it can be in the public interest for journalists to pay for information," a former head of the CPS, Ken Macdonald, told BBC radio on Saturday. A total of 29 journalists have been prosecuted under the £20-million (28-million-euro, $30-million) police investigation into illegal payments to officials, codenamed Operation Elveden. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20582[/attach] A replica of the 18th century ship that took a French general on his voyage to become a hero of the American war of independence set sail again Saturday, cheered off by thousands of well-wishers and President Francois Hollande. Thousands gathered to wish "bon voyage" to the painstakingly recreated tall ship Hermione, leaving from Ile d'Aix, in southwest France, for the east coast of the United States. The French and American flags were raised on the wooden frigate as it embarked on an Atlantic crossing retracing the voyage 235 years ago of General Lafayette, who won fame for rallying America's rebels fighting for independence from Britain. "The Hermione is a glorious page of our history... thus was sealed one of the finest alliances, a fraternal alliance," Hollande said ahead of the vessel's departure, followed by a rendition of the American national anthem, the "Star Spangled Banner". Continue reading...

[attach=full]20581[/attach] BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Lionel Messi set up Luis Suarez's first-minute opener then notched his 400th goal for Barcelona in stoppage time to give the Spanish league leaders a hard-fought 2-0 win over Valencia on Saturday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20580[/attach] MILAN (AP) — Runaway leader Juventus took another important step towards the Serie A title as it eased to a 2-0 win over second-place Lazio on Saturday. Continue reading...

Torrential rain triggered flooding on the streets of Houston and sent spectators fleeing from a circus south of the Texas city, officials said on Saturday, as the storm system headed east toward Louisiana and neighboring states. The heavy rainfall followed a front that built up along the Gulf Coast, causing moisture to accumulate along it, said Mark Paquette, a meteorologist with AccuWeather.com. Two tornadoes were spotted in rural Yuma County in northeastern Colorado at about 1:30 p.m. local time, according to the weather service. There were no reports of damage, the Yuma County Sheriff's Office said. Continue reading...

It is Greece and not Europe which will be hurt by any problems stemming from the Greek financial situation, because Europe has built buffers to protect itself, French Finance Minister Michel Sapin said on Saturday. So Europe is much stronger. Europe has sheltered itself from turbulence. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20577[/attach] PARIS (AP) — Paris Saint-Germain showed it can cope with injuries and without top scorer Zlatan Ibrahimovic as it won 3-1 at Nice on Saturday to pressure Lyon in the close-fought French title race. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20576[/attach] SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — Former three-time boxing champion Wilfredo Gomez will not face any charges after police detained him Saturday while investigating allegations of domestic violence, authorities said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20575[/attach] LONDON (AP) — While rarely ruthless, Chelsea is easing to the English Premier League title. With a 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Saturday, Chelsea surged 10 points clear of Arsenal. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20574[/attach] The UN envoy trying to broker a peace agreement in Libya on Saturday condemned another outbreak of violence and repeated calls for an immediate end to hostilities. A UN Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) statement said Bernardino Leon "strongly condemned the renewed outbreak of violence in different neighbourhoods of the Libyan capital that caused many casualties and endangered the lives of civilians". Continue reading...

[attach=full]20573[/attach] LONDON (AP) — Eden Hazard propelled Chelsea closer to its first English Premier League title in five years on Saturday by clinching a 1-0 victory over Manchester United that established a 10-point lead. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20569[/attach] Saudi Arabia, which is leading a bombing campaign against Shiite rebels in Yemen, pledged Saturday to cover the entire $274 million in humanitarian aid sought by the United Nations for conflict-torn Yemen. Fighting and air strikes in Yemen over the past two days have left 130 people dead, according to medics, military and tribal sources. Overnight, 52 people were killed, including at least 27 people who died in the southwestern city of Taez from air strikes and in clashes between loyalists and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels. The kingdom "stands with its Yemeni brothers" and hopes for "the restoration of security and stability", the state Saudi Press Agency said. Continue reading...