WorldNews

AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — The key hole Sunday in the final round of the Masters. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20318[/attach] By Linda Sieg TOKYO (Reuters) - Candidates backed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling bloc won two key governor elections on Sunday, setting the stage for him to push on with divisive policies to boost defense and restart nuclear reactors shut after the 2011 Fukushima disaster. Incumbents backed by Abe's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and smaller coalition partner Komeito defeated opposition rivals in the northern prefecture of Hokkaido and in Oita in the south. Hokkaido and Oita were the only two governor races to pit candidates backed by Abe's camp against major opposition parties including the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which was ousted by Abe's camp in 2012 after a troubled three-year reign. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20317[/attach] AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Jordan Spieth tapped in his final putt to cap off a record performance and bent over in relief. He just as easily could have been taking a bow. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20316[/attach] The long European wait for another Masters winner goes on following Justin Rose's near miss at Augusta National. The Englishman, already a major champion with his 2013 US Open triumph, was handily placed overnight alone in second with four shots separating him from leader Jordan Spieth, a 21-year-old American who previously had played just four competitive rounds at the fabled Georgia layout. "Obviously, there's two ways to look at it," Rose said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20315[/attach] Mexican troops arrested a top drug trafficker in the beach resort of Cancun who is wanted for running huge shipments of cocaine through Central America and to the United States, the government said on Sunday. Cesar Gastelum was detained by federal police and military troops in the early hours of Saturday as he cruised the strip of hotels and nightclubs lining the beach of Cancun in a truck, said national security spokesman Monte Alejandro Rubido. In December, the U.S. Treasury said Gastelum moved a "prolific" amount of cocaine through Guatemala and Honduras for the Sinaloa Cartel and that he is a major distributor of the drug in Central America. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20310[/attach] LONDON (AP) — An American classic directed by a Belgian and a musical about a very English rock band were the big winners at Britain's Olivier theater awards Sunday — but it was an 89-year old theatrical Dame who brought the house down. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20309[/attach] SAO PAULO (AP) — Nationwide demonstrations calling for the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff swept Brazil for the second day in less than a month, though turnout at Sunday's protests appeared down, prompting questions about the future of the movement. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — The current wave of corporate takeovers and mergers is set to grow as the appetite for deals among global executives hits a five-year high in the wake of the strong dollar and low oil prices, a survey found Monday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20308[/attach] BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — With three teams in the final eight of the Champions League, Spain is again home to the top contenders for Europe's biggest prize as the quarterfinals start this week. Continue reading...

HELSINKI (AP) — World military spending was largely unchanged in 2014 as lower spending in the United States and Western Europe was matched by increases elsewhere, prompted by conflicts in the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa, an arms watchdog said Monday. Continue reading...

Opposition supporters in Gabon rampaged through the streets of the capital Libreville, burning cars and setting fire to the embassy of Benin, following the death on Sunday of a senior opposition figure, according to a Reuters witness. "The embassy of Benin was completely burned," said the witness, adding that some opposition supporters claimed that Andre Mba Obame, who died in neighboring Cameroon following a prolonged illness, had been poisoned by the government. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20303[/attach] CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Sania Mirza has become the first woman from India to reach the top of the WTA rankings. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20302[/attach] Riyadh on Sunday demanded Tehran stop backing Shiite rebels in Yemen but insisted it is "not at war with Iran", as Saudi-led warplanes launched fresh strikes on rebel forces. In the third week of the air strikes mounted by Saudi Arabia and its allies, the International Organization for Migration said it flew a first plane-load of 143 foreigners out of Yemen. Saudi Arabia heads a coalition of nine Arab countries which since March 26 has carried out air strikes against the Huthi Shiite rebels who overran Sanaa in September. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20301[/attach] By Julia Payne and Anamesere Igboeroteonwu LAGOS/ONITSHA, Nigeria (Reuters) - The party of Nigeria's president-elect Muhammadu Buhari has retained the Lagos state governorship, the electoral commission said on Sunday, consolidating his administration's power by giving it control of the commercial capital. While voting was extended in several other states due to violence or voting irregularities, the result in Lagos means it will be the first time since the end of military rule in 1999 that the governor of that key state and the president will be from the same party. Observers said turnout was low in the vote to elect 29 governors and all state assemblies, compared with the presidential vote last month that was considered the freest and fairest yet and paved the way for Nigeria's first democratic transfer of power, with Buhari beating President Goodluck Jonathan by a landslide. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20300[/attach] Kurdish militia made headway on Sunday into Syria's northern Raqa province, where the extremist Islamic State group has set up its de facto capital, Kurdish officials and a monitor said. The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) "took over a large cement factory and three villages" northwest of the town of Ain Issa, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said the YPG had fought "fierce clashes" against IS jihadists in the past 48 hours and were now in control of a total of villages in the area. At least six IS fighters had been killed in Sunday's clashes, bringing to 20 the death toll for the extremist group during the past two days, Abdel Rahman told AFP. Continue reading...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-led forces targeted Islamic State militants in Syria with three air strikes from Saturday to Sunday morning, and also conducted 10 air strikes in Iraq, the U.S. military said. All strikes in Syria were near Kobani, while the Iraq strikes hit near Bayji, Mosul, Ramadi and Sinjar, it said in a statement. (Reporting by Lisa Lambert; Editing by Robin Pomeroy) Continue reading...

[attach=full]20294[/attach] ROUBAIX, France (AP) — John Degenkolb achieved a rare double Sunday as he outsprinted his rivals in the Roubaix Velodrome to win the Queen of Classics after triumphing in Milan-San Remo earlier this year. Continue reading...

KATOWICE, Poland (AP) — Eighth-seeded Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia beat third-seeded Camila Giorgi of Italy 6-4, 6-3 Sunday in the final of the Katowice Open to clinch her first WTA title. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20293[/attach] Secretary of State John Kerry will this week defend an emerging deal intended to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions, urging skeptical US lawmakers not to put up obstacles that could scupper the tough negotiations. "I'll lay out the facts," Kerry told CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday when asked about a different narrative emerging from Iranian leaders about the outlines of a deal agreed in Lausanne, Switzerland earlier this month. The Lausanne framework marked a major breakthrough in a 12-year standoff between Iran and the West, which disputes Tehran's denial that it is seeking to acquire nuclear bomb. Global powers must resolve a series of difficult technical issues by a June 30 deadline for a final deal, including the steps for lifting global sanctions imposed on Iran, and lingering questions over the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program. Continue reading...

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's embattled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi has appointed Khaled Bahah, his former prime minister, as vice-president. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20291[/attach] VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Francis on Sunday honored the 100th anniversary of the slaughter of Armenians by calling it "the first genocide of the 20th century" and urging the international community to recognize it as such, a politically explosive declaration that will certainly anger Turkey. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20290[/attach] A 13-year-old boy was attacked and killed by a shark Sunday off the French Indian Ocean island of La Reunion, authorities said, the seventh such deadly attack since 2011. It was the 16th shark attack on the island since 2011 and the seventh loss of life. Continue reading...

MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Two Chinese men were stabbed to death and another was injured in violence among crew members of a cargo ship that radioed Filipino authorities for medical help, Philippine police said Sunday. Continue reading...

Hunters on the Mediterranean island of Malta have won a referendum to let them continue to hunt migrating birds in spring, a centuries-old tradition not allowed anywhere else in the European Union. The referendum on Saturday was called by environmentalists who wanted to end an EU exception that allows hunters to shoot turtle doves and quail for 20 days between April and May, a time when the birds fly north to breed after wintering in Africa. Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, who had backed the hunters, said on Sunday they had won about 51 percent of the vote. Malta is the only country in the EU that allows the hunting of turtle dove and quail during spring as the birds head north to breed. Continue reading...

[attach=full]20289[/attach] JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At first it seems like a fluke — a 2-year-old playing with the knobs and buttons of a sophisticated music system. Yet, the tiny boy is in control of the big beat of the bass-heavy house music. He is South Africa's youngest disc jockey, DJ AJ. Continue reading...