WorldNews

[attach=full]19641[/attach] Thousands of US and South Korean troops, backed by helicopters and jet fighters, staged a massive, amphibious landing drill on Monday -- the centrepiece of an annual military exercise condemned by North Korea. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19640[/attach] Barack Obama will make a long-awaited return to Kenya this July, visiting his father's homeland for the first time since becoming US president, the White House announced Monday. During the much-delayed visit, Obama will attend a summit to encourage entrepreneurship and meet the country's controversial leader Uhuru Kenyatta. Obama's late father was from a small village near the shores of Lake Victoria. He met Obama's white American mother in Hawaii, where they had a son before divorcing. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19639[/attach] ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan named Azhar Ali as captain for limited-overs cricket on Monday after ignoring the middle-order batsman for the Cricket World Cup, where it was eliminated in the quarterfinal. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19638[/attach] An American healthcare worker who contracted the dangerous Ebola virus while working in Sierra Leone has improved and is now listed in fair condition, hospital officials said Monday. The man, whose identity has not been revealed, "has improved from serious to fair condition," said a statement from the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center. In a statement released on Thursday, PIH co-founder Paul Farmer said that the man had, "in the opinion of some of the best doctors and nurses in the world, turned the corner," after his condition improved from critical to serious. The patient was evacuated from Sierra Leone on March 14 and brought to the NIH's Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland just outside Washington for treatment. Continue reading...

LONDON (AP) — Britain's Prince William has started his new job — working as air ambulance helicopter pilot. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19633[/attach] LONDON (AP) — British Prime Minister David Cameron paid a courtesy call on Queen Elizabeth II, then launched a most uncourteous attack on his main political rival, as campaigning formally began Monday in the most unpredictable U.K. election in decades. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19632[/attach] SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Hundreds of Kashmiris in both India and Pakistan moved to higher ground Monday as rain-swollen rivers swamped parts of the disputed Himalayan region placed under an emergency flood alert just six months after some 600 people died in flooding that left the region in shambles. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19631[/attach] The Germanwings flight started like any other, the conversation in the cockpit normal, with co-pilot Andreas Lubitz offering no indication of the horror he would allegedly inflict. This is how Flight 4U 9525, which investigators believe Lubitz deliberately steered into a French mountainside, unfolded according to French prosecutors and Germany's Bild newspaper. There was nothing abnormal," French prosecutor Brice Robin told reporters on Thursday. - According to excerpts published by Bild on Sunday, during the conversation the captain said he didn't have time to go to the toilet before leaving Barcelona and Lubitz offered to take over at any time. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19630[/attach] MANILA, Philippines (AP) — A monthlong Philippine offensive against hard-line Muslim rebels ended Monday after 139 insurgents were killed, 12 others were captured and bomb-making strongholds were seized by troops, the military chief said. Continue reading...

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia's government Monday proposed two new laws that would reintroduce indefinite detention without trial and allow the seizure of passports of anyone suspected of supporting terror acts in an attempt to curb militant activities. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19621[/attach] PARIS (AP) — France's far-right National Front leader Marine Le Pen says she was satisfied with her party's performance in local council elections, though it won just 62 of the 4,108 seats at stake. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19620[/attach] New Zealand may have been thrashed by Australia in the World Cup final but they dominate the International Cricket Council's team of the tournament released Monday with Brendon McCullum named captain. "McCullum was chosen as the captain following his aggressive, innovative and inspirational leadership during the 44-day tournament that was the cornerstone of his team’s progression to the final," the ICC said in a statement. The other New Zealanders in the line up are Corey Anderson, Trent Boult, Martin Guptill, and Daniel Vettori. Continue reading...

SOHAG, Egypt (AP) — A senior Egyptian security official says 14 people have been killed and seven injured in a car crash involving three vehicles in the southern province of Sohag. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19619[/attach] Baghdad (AFP) - United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Baghdad on Monday for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi and other top officials. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19618[/attach] HONG KONG (AP) — Asian stock markets were mostly higher Monday as investors digested Fed chief Janet Yellen's comments signaling U.S. interest rates were expected to rise sometime this year but when they did they would do so gradually. Chinese stocks soared on hopes for more economic stimulus measures. Continue reading...

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Los Angeles Clippers have signed guard Lester Hudson to a 10-day contract. Continue reading...

SAUCIER, Miss. (AP) — David Frost survived a one-stroke penalty on the par-3 17th and won the Mississippi Gulf Resort Classic on Sunday when Tom Lehman missed a 4-foot birdie putt on the last hole. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19616[/attach] MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Denny Hamlin just needed a visit to Martinsville Speedway to get his racing team back on track. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19615[/attach] Two Saudi police officers were wounded in a drive-by shooting in Riyadh Sunday, a spokesman said, days after the Kingdom strengthened security measures as it leads air strikes on Yemen. "A security patrol was carrying out its duties in Riyadh when it came under fire from an unknown vehicle" in an attack that "left two policemen wounded," the spokesman said in a statement published on the official SPA news agency. The attack comes just days after Saudi Arabia's Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef ordered that security measures be strengthened along borders and across the kingdom, as Riyadh leads air strikes against Iran-backed Shiite rebels in neighbouring Yemen. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19614[/attach] Sierra Leoneans were once again allowed to leave their homes Sunday evening after the government announced the end of a three-day nationwide lockdown aimed at preventing a resurgence of the deadly Ebola virus. During the curfew period -- which was ordered by President Ernest Bai Koroma and ran from 0600 GMT on Friday until 1800 GMT Sunday -- some 26,000 volunteers went door-to-door to check for sick people and raise awareness about the disease. Officials at the National Ebola Response Centre (NERC) said locals had overwhelmingly complied with the lockdown, the second time in six months the country's six million residents were told to stay indoors over Ebola concerns. "The campaign went well and we are pleased over the level of compliance," the head of NERC's Situation Room, Obi Sesay, told AFP. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19606[/attach] Nine-time world champion Valentino Rossi, on a Yamaha, won a spectacular Grand Prix of Qatar on Sunday as he withstood a furious onslaught from fellow Italian Andrea Dovizioso over the final laps to take the opening race of the season. A see-saw battle saw the the lead change hands numerous times before the 36-year-old Rossi opened up a slight gap on the final two laps and held off the charging Dovizioso on his Ducati, who was looking for his first win in MotoGP. It was a stunning 109th victory for the iconic Rossi and his 197th podium as Italy swept the board with Andrea Iannone, also on a Ducati, coming home third. It was a first time Italy took the top three places since the Japanese MotoGP in 2006. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19605[/attach] ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Boko Haram fighters attacked poll stations in northeast Nigeria and a governor demanded elections be canceled in an oil-rich southern state Sunday as the count started for a presidential election too close to call. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19604[/attach] Saudi-led warplanes bombed Yemen's main international airport and a renegade troop base in the capital Sunday, as Arab leaders vowed to pummel Iranian-backed rebels until they surrender. Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi has urged his Arab allies to keep bombing until the Huthi Shiite rebels are defeated, branding them Iran's "puppet". His Foreign Minister Riyadh Yassin said there could be "no negotiations and dialogue" with the rebels "until the legitimate government has control over all Yemeni lands". Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said at a regional summit in Egypt the offensive would last until the rebels "surrender" their weapons and withdraw from areas they seized. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19603[/attach] An indefinite lockdown was ordered on three areas in northeast Nigeria on Sunday after troops battled scores of Boko Haram fighters outside the Bauchi state capital, Bauchi city, the authorities said. The fighting took place as Nigeria held a second day of voting in its general election after technology failures hampered polling on Saturday. A spokesman for the Bauchi state governor said an indefinite, round-the-clock curfew had been imposed on three areas because of the fighting. "The state government has put a 24-hour curfew in Bauchi, Kirfi and Alkaleri local governments as a result of the security breach by Boko Haram," Danlami Baban-Takko said. Continue reading...

[attach=full]19602[/attach] A prominent Afghan MP escaped a suicide attack Sunday that killed three people including a child and left seven others wounded, officials said, just days after Washington announced it would slow the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan. President Barack Obama last Tuesday reversed plans to withdraw around 5,000 US troops from Afghanistan this year, an overture to the country's new reform-minded leader, President Ashraf Ghani. The Taliban, waging a deadly insurgency since they were ousted from power in late 2001, warned that the announcement would damage any prospects of peace talks as they vowed to continue fighting. The suicide bomber detonated himself on Sunday evening as Gul Pacha Majidi, a lawmaker from eastern Paktia province, was leaving a meeting of Afghan elders in central Kabul. Continue reading...