WorldNews

[attach=full]18227[/attach] HAMPTON, Ga. (AP) — Jeff Gordon admired his latest retirement gift — a miniature race car for his two young children — and thanked the folks at Atlanta Motor Speedway for not going with the obvious choice. Continue reading...

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — England won the toss and chose to bat against Sri Lanka in a Pool A match Sunday which has become important for both teams' chances of making the quarterfinals of the Cricket World Cup. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18219[/attach] HOLYWOOD, Northern Ireland (AP) — Faced with soccer's "biggest decision ever," FIFA said on Saturday it would not be rushed into approving — or even testing — video technology to improve the accuracy of referees' decisions. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18218[/attach] MILAN (AP) — Femininity is getting a rethink in Milan. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18217[/attach] Yaoundé (AFP) - Several thousand people took to the streets of Cameroon's capital on Saturday to denounce Boko Haram's bloody insurgency and call for the killing of the group's leader Abubakar Shekau. Over the past seven months Cameroonian soldiers have been battling the Nigerian Islamists, which are now locked in a regional fight that also includes soldiers from Nigeria and Chad. Boko Haram's six-year insurgency, which has left 13,000 dead and forced over a million from their homes, has increasingly spilled over into neighbouring nations. Several ministers led the vocal, but peaceful march, which saw protestors waving the flags of Cameroon, Chad and Nigeria. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18216[/attach] PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) — Padraig Harrington is a 36-hole leader on the PGA Tour for the first time in nearly five years and he knows he has a long way to go. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18212[/attach] ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Greece won't seek a third bailout deal, the prime minister said Saturday, having succeeded in separating the loan agreement from the "disastrous" austerity conditions imposed with the willing cooperation of previous governments. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18211[/attach] BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Barcelona's 3-1 win at Granada from goals by Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi was overshadowed by little-known Alberto Bueno netting four goals in 16 minutes in Rayo Vallecano's victory on Saturday. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18210[/attach] FALUN, Sweden (AP) — Norway won the ski jump team event on Saturday to end Austria's streak of five straight victories at the world championships. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18209[/attach] By Loucoumane Coulibaly ABIDJAN (Reuters) - Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara's main coalition partner on Saturday formally endorsed a deal to support the incumbent's bid for re-election in polls later this year. The support of former president Henri Konan Bedie's Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI) eases Ouattara's path to a second five-year term in office, but the arrangement has angered prominent figures in the party. Of nearly 4,000 PDCI party militants who voted at a party congress on the motion not to field a candidate and instead back the president in polls expected in October, only six voted against it. In exchange for its support, the PDCI gained the post of prime minister, along with several other key government portfolios. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18208[/attach] Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, gunned down on Friday in a contract-style killing, gave an interview this month admitting he had feared for his life over his opposition to President Vladimir Putin. The Kremlin critic who courted public anger by opposing Russia's actions in Ukraine said he often discussed politics with his 86-year-old mother, Dina, who agreed with his views but feared he could suffer deadly consequences. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18202[/attach] President Vladimir Putin on Saturday vowed to bring the "vile" killers of Kremlin critic Boris Nemtsov to justice as Western leaders and Russia's opposition roundly condemned the drive-by shooting near the Kremlin walls. The 55-year-old former deputy premier who was a vocal critic of Putin, was shot in the back several times shortly before midnight Friday as he walked across a bridge a stone's throw from the Kremlin. The murder, investigators added, was the work of one or more gunmen who shot seven or eight times at the opposition figure who in the 1990s served as deputy premier under then president Boris Yeltsin. He "left his trace in Russia's history, in politics and public life," Putin said in the message to his 86-year-old mother, Dina Eidman. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18201[/attach] LONDON (AP) — Crystal Palace continued its rise under new manager Alan Pardew on Saturday when, reduced to 10 men, it won 3-1 at West Ham in the Premier League. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18200[/attach] CAIRO (AP) — An Egyptian court sentenced five leaders of the banned Muslim Brotherhood group to life in prison on Saturday over violence at their headquarters in 2013 and issued death sentences for four others. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18199[/attach] Iran on Saturday shrugged off a bid by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to abort a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers by lobbying opposition in a speech to the US Congress. "I believe this effort is fruitless and it should not be an impediment to an agreement," Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said at a joint press conference with his visiting Italian counterpart Paolo Gentiloni. Continue reading...

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazilian swimmer Joao Gomes Jr. has been banned for six months for a "doping rule violation" by swimming's world governing body FINA. Continue reading...

TOKYO (AP) — Algeria's 2014 World Cup coach Vahid Halilhodzic is set to be named coach of Japan. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18192[/attach] Indonesian President Joko Widodo has said his country's stance is "clear" on the pending executions of two Australian drug smugglers, despite the suggestion by Australia's prime minister that he is "carefully considering" his position. The executions by firing squad of Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, the Australian ringleaders of the so-called "Bali Nine" drug smuggling gang, are believed to be imminent. Their appeals for presidential clemency, typically the final chance of avoiding death, were recently rejected by Widodo, and a court this week dismissed a bid to challenge that decision. The looming sentences have dramatically heightened tensions between Australia and Indonesia, fraying ties that were only just recovering from a spying row. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18191[/attach] FALUN, Sweden (AP) — France led after the ski jump portion of the Nordic combined team sprint event Saturday at the Nordic skiing world championships. Continue reading...

Romania's coast guard rescued 70 migrants - mostly Syrians and Iraqis - packed on to a small fishing boat that was in danger of sinking as they attempted to make the crossing to Europe in stormy seas on Saturday. The boat, which was crammed with migrants including 20 women and seven children, was helped to safely dock at the port of Constanta, a coast guard spokesman told Reuters. About 500 migrants have arrived by sea to Romania since the middle of 2013, according to coast guard figures, as they flee war, poverty and human rights abuses in the Middle East and Africa. Romanian coast guard spokesman Marius Niculescu said the migrants rescued on Saturday were the first to have attempted to reach Romania by sea this year. Continue reading...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's Investigative Committee is pursuing several lines on inquiry following the murder of opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, including the possibility it was an attempt to destabilize the political situation, Interfax news agency said. It said the committee, which answers to President Vladimir Putin, also saw an attack by radical Islamists as a possibility in the case and that there could be links with events in Ukraine. (Reporting by Polina Devitt, Editing by Timothy Heritage) Continue reading...

BEIJING (AP) — A former Chinese vice governor known for his appetite for jade and arts was sentenced to 17 years in prison on corruption charges on Saturday, a Chinese court said. Continue reading...

BOSTON (AP) — The trial of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev can stay in Massachusetts, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. Continue reading...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexican authorities will use satellite tracking, drones, three naval bases and a fleet of small patrol boats to enforce a new gillnet fishing ban in the upper Sea of Cortes in a bid to save the critically endangered vaquita marina, the world's smallest porpoise. Continue reading...

[attach=full]18189[/attach] MEXICO CITY (AP) — Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, a former school teacher who became one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords as head of the Knights Templar cartel, was captured early Friday by federal police as he tried to sneak out of a house wearing a baseball cap and a scarf to hide his identity. Continue reading...