Euronews: Final British forces leave Iraq
The last British forces left Iraq on Sunday after eight years.
Marines from the Royal Navy stayed on after the end of combat operations to help train Iraqi soldiers.
The last British combat troops left their southern base of Basra in April 2009.
Under former prime minister Tony Blair, Britain joined the US in the operation to remove Saddam Hussein in April 2003. A total of 179 British service personnel died during the campaign and an estimated 100,000 Iraqi civilians.
Detroit Free Press: Tornadoes batter central U.S., 24 confirmed killed in Missouri; alerts from Texas to Michigan
Tornadoes ripped through parts of the Midwest on Sunday, killing at least one person in Minneapolis and an unknown number of others in a Missouri town where a hospital was hit.
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In Minneapolis, city spokeswoman Sara Dietrich said the death was confirmed by the Hennepin County medical examiner. She had no other immediate details. Only two of the 29 people injured there were hurt critically.
In Wisconsin, a powerful storm caused significant damage in La Crosse, tearing roofs from homes and sending emergency responders to search damaged buildings for anyone trapped inside, officials said. La Crosse County sheriff's dispatcher Tim Vogel described the damage as "significant" but told The Associated Press there were no immediate reports of serious injuries.
Those storms followed a tornado Saturday night that swept through a small eastern Kansas town, killing one person and destroying at least 20 homes, as severe thunderstorms pelted the region with hail that some residents described as the size of baseballs, authorities said Sunday.
Guardian: Mitch Daniels announces he won't stand for Republican nomination
The reluctance of senior Republicans to take on Barack Obama in next year's White House race was underlined Sunday when Mitch Daniels, the governor of Indiana, announced he would not be standing.
Daniels had become the latest great hope of Republicans uninspired by the field so far.
Daniels was being promoted by the Republican establishment as a consensus candidate, a fresh face in the pack, serious, with a record in office that would stand him in good stead on the campaign trail.
Reuters: Two U.S. Troops Killed as Baghdad Hit by Bombs
A string of bombings killed at least 15 people and wounded 74 more across Baghdad on Sunday and two U.S. troops were killed in central Iraq, officials said.
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At least 11 Iraqi troops were killed when a bomber blew up his car among a group of soldiers investigating another car bomb outside a checkpoint on a main street in Taji, 20 km (12 miles) north of Baghdad, said the capital's security spokesman, Major-General Qassim al-Moussawi.
"Two vehicles exploded in Taji. The first was a parked car bomb. They were trying to defuse it, when another driver blew himself up," he said.
The two U.S. troops were killed on Sunday during operations in central Iraq, the U.S. military said in a statement with no further details of when or how they died.
The Australian: Putin decides to retake presidency
RUSSIAN Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has decided to run for the presidency next year, raising the possibility of a power struggle with his protege Dmitry Medvedev, the incumbent Kremlin leader, say highly placed sources.
The once-close relationship between Mr Putin, the tough-talking former KGB officer who has inspired a personality cult, and Mr Medvedev, a softly spoken Twitter enthusiast, has become increasingly fractious amid speculation in Moscow that the younger man wishes to stand again.
Insiders familiar with both leaders said Mr Putin, who served eight years as president before becoming Prime Minister three years ago, had begun to lose confidence in Mr Medvedev's loyalty.
Under the constitution, Mr Putin's move to reclaim the presidency could see him rule for two consecutive six-year terms until 2024, when he will be 72. If so, he would have served as prime minister or president for 24 years in all.
BBC: Iceland volcano: Grimsvotn eruption hits flights
Iceland has closed its main international airport and cancelled domestic flights after its most active volcano, Grimsvotn, began erupting.
A plume of smoke has risen 20km (12 miles) into the sky from the volcano.
But Iceland's Meteorological Office says the eruption should not cause widespread disruption to air traffic.
Last year, ash clouds from another Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajokul, led to the closure of a large section of European airspace.
Reuters: Saudi Arabia, UAE funded jihadi networks in Pakistan
Islamic charities from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates financed a network in U.S. ally Pakistan that recruited children as young as eight to wage holy war, a local newspaper reported on Sunday, citing Wikileaks.
A U.S. diplomatic cable published by WikiLeaks said financial support estimated at $100 million a year was making its way from those Gulf Arab states to a jihadist recruitment network in Pakistan's Punjab province, Dawn newspaper reported.
The November 2008 dispatch by Bryan Hunt, the then principal officer at the U.S. consulate in Lahore, was based on discussions with local government and non-governmental sources during trips to Punjab, Pakistan's most populous province.
It said those sources claimed that financial aid from Saudi and United Arab Emirates was coming from "missionary" and "Islamic charitable" organizations ostensibly with the direct support of those countries' governments.
Guardian: Barack Obama agrees to form joint national security body with UK
Barack Obama will announce during his first state visit to Britain this week that the White House is to open up its highly secretive national security council to Downing Street in a move that appears to show the US still values the transatlantic "special relationship".
A joint National Security Strategy Board will be established to ensure that senior officials on both sides of the Atlantic confront long-term challenges rather than just hold emergency talks from the "situation room" in the White House and the Cobra room in the Cabinet Office.
Obama will arrive in London on Tuesday from Dublin on the second leg of a European tour that will also take him to Warsaw and the G8 summit in Deauville in France on Thursday and Friday. The president, who will stay at Buckingham Palace with his wife, Michelle, will hold separate meetings with David Cameron and Ed Miliband.
New York Times: Greens Surpass Merkel Party in Local German Vote
A coalition of Social Democrats and Greens was swept back into power in elections Sunday in the north German city-state of Bremen, dealing a humiliating blow to Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative Christian Democratic Union party by pushing the party into third place behind the Greens, according to preliminary results.
It is the first time in any regional elections that the Greens have overtaken the Christian Democrats.
ABC: Spain's Ruling Socialists Crushed in Polls
Spain's ruling Socialists suffered a crushing defeat to conservatives in municipal and regional elections Sunday, losing even historic strongholds against a backdrop of economic crisis and unprecedented street sit-ins by Spaniards furious with what they see as selfish and corrupt politicians.
With more than 90 percent of the municipal votes counted, the opposition Popular Party had an advantage of 10 percentage points and more than two million votes — compared to less than a point and 150,000 votes in the last such vote in 2007.
A sea of jubilant supporters waving blue and white Popular Party flags gathered outside party headquarters as the final votes were counted. Partial or complete results showed that the party also won virtually all of the 13 regional government that were up for grabs.
The results put the Popular Party in an even stronger position to win general elections due in about a year.
CNN: Sudan's military takes control of oil-rich region
Sudan's military has taken control of the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei, the country's foreign ministry said Sunday.
A spokesman for the military wing of the movement that governs Southern Sudan confirmed that Sudan's military controlled the area.
"Abyei has been under attack by the Sudanese armed forces from air and ground," said Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) spokesman Philip Aguer.
Southern Sudan in January voted to split from the north, and is expected to officially become an independent nation in July.
CBS: NYC bans smoking in public outdoor spaces
New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, a former smoker, pushed for the law that aims to drastically reduce, if not eliminate exposure to second hand smoke.
"I feel like everywhere I go, people are outside smoking because they can't be inside. And I have to steer my stroller out of the way of second hand smoke," said Shari Dorfman.
New York City health officials are also hoping to discourage a new generation from picking up the habit, sending the message that it is no longer acceptable to light up in family friendly places. The Big Apple is not alone.
Thirty-five states across the country have laws banning smoking indoors. But to date, less than 3 percent of cities across the country have outdoor smoking bans.
Bangor Daily News: Garland lawmaker barred from State House after gun incident was exhibiting “erratic behavior”
Maine’s House speaker took steps Sunday to bar a Garland legislator from the State House after the first-term Republican was arrested Saturday for allegedly pointing a gun at a man in the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot.
Rep. Frederick L. Wintle, whose “erratic behavior” was brought to the attention of Capital Police last week, was arrested at gunpoint Saturday after he allegedly pulled a .22-caliber pistol from his waistband and pointed it at Michael Seamans of Sidney, a newspaper photographer for the Morning Sentinel in Waterville, outside the coffee shop on Kennedy Memorial Drive.
Wintle was arrested and charged with carrying a concealed weapon and with a felony charge of criminal threatening with a dangerous weapon, Deputy Chief Charles Rumsey of the Waterville Police Department said Saturday. Wintle was taken to the Kennebec County Jail where bail was set at $3,500 cash. He had not posted bail as of Sunday and is scheduled to make his initial appearance on the charges at 1 p.m. Monday, May 23, at Augusta Superior Court.