Venezuela: Nicolas Maduro Elected President

Venezuelan electoral officials say voters have chosen Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor Nicolas Maduro as their new president in a tightly-fought contest.

His challenger, Henrique Capriles, declared that he would not accept the results and called for a full recount.

Mr Maduro campaigned on a promise to carry on the late president's self-styled socialist revolution, while his rival claimed the late president's regime has put Venezuela on the road to ruin.

Officials say Mr Maduro beat two-time challenger Mr Capriles by just 300,000 votes. The margin was 50.8% to 49.1%.

Addressing a crowd from the presidential palace, Mr Maduro called his victory further proof that Mr Chavez "continues to be invincible, that he continues to win battles".

He said that Mr Capriles had called him before the results were announced to suggest a "pact" but he had refused.

At the opposition candidate's headquarters, people hung their heads quietly as the results were announced.

Henrique Capriles demands a recount

Mr Capriles emerged later, saying his campaign's tally of votes came up with "a result that is different from the results announced today".

"It is the government that has been defeated. The biggest loser today is you. The people don't love you," he said directly addressing Mr Maduro.

Turnout was 78%, down from just over 80% in the October election that Mr Chavez won by a margin of almost 11 points.

National Electoral Council president Tibisay Lucena told a news conference: "These are the irreversible results that the people have decided."

In a hint of discontent within Chavista ranks, National Assembly president Diosdado Cabello, who many consider Mr Maduro's main rival, expressed dismay at the tight outcome.

He tweeted: "The results oblige us to make a profound self-criticism. It's contradictory that the poor sectors of the population vote for their longtime exploiters."

Maduro supporters celebrate his victory

Mr Maduro, a foreign minister to Mr Chavez, rode a wave of grief for the late leader, who ruled Venezuela for 14 years with a socialist revolution that made him popular among the poor while alienating others critical of the weak economy.

Mr Maduro has vowed to continue the oil-funded policies that cut poverty by almost half to 29% through popular health, education and food programmes.

But he also inherits a litany of problems left behind by his mentor: South America's highest murder rate, with 16,000 people killed last year, chronic food shortages, high inflation and recurring power cuts.

Opinion polls had given Mr Maduro leads of 10 to 20 points during the campaign, but Mr Capriles energised the opposition and closed the gap.

"This is a very important victory for the future of the country. This is the legacy of our comandante, who is no longer here. But he left us Maduro and he will defend his project," said one Maduro supporter, Rafael Perez Camarero.

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Iraq Bombings: Up To 31 Killed In 18 Blasts

Terrorists set off 18 bombs around Iraq, killing up to 31 and injuring hundreds, as they attempted to derail elections.

The blasts came during morning rush hour on Monday amid tightened security ahead of the country's first polls since the US troop withdrawal in December 2011.

Reports varied as to the number killed with some putting the figure at 19. Almost 200 people were said to have been injured.

Analysts said the blasts raised questions about the credibility of the April 20 vote, which is seen as a key test of Iraq's stability and its security forces' capabilities.

A total of 14 election hopefuls have already been murdered in other pre-election violence.

Officials said 18 car bombs exploded on Monday morning. Baghdad was hit along with the northern cities of Kirkuk, Tuz Khurmatu and Tikrit, the central city of Samarra, and Hilla and Nasiriyah, south of Baghdad.

Three roadside bombs also hit Baquba, near Khalis, north of the capital.

The bombings struck across Iraq on Monday

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Sunni militants linked to al Qaeda, are known to frequently attack both government targets and civilians in a bid to destabilise the country.

Some have reportedly sought to intimidate candidates and election officials ahead of polls.

The deadliest attacks were in Baghdad, where six car bombs struck in five neighbourhoods across the capital despite tougher checkpoint searches and heightened security.

Eight people were killed and 48 wounded in the capital, security and medical officials said.

In Tuz Khurmatu, which lies 175 kilometres (110 miles) north of Baghdad, six people were killed and 60 wounded by three near-simultaneous car bombs, according to a provincial council member and a doctor.

And in Kirkuk, four people were killed and 19 wounded by another trio of car bombs, provincial health chief Sadiq Omar Rasul said.

Explosions elsewhere in Iraq killed one person and wounded 64 people.

Kirkuk and Tuz Khurmatu lie at the centre of a tract of disputed territory that stretches from Iraq's eastern border with Iran to its western frontier with Syria.

The swathe of land is claimed by both the mostly-Arab government in Baghdad and the autonomous Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq.

The dispute is often cited by officials and diplomats as the biggest long-term threat to Iraq's stability.

Soldiers and policemen cast their ballots for the provincial elections on Saturday, a week ahead of the main vote, the country's first since March 2010 parliamentary polls. It is also the first election since US troops withdrew from Iraq in December 2011.

The election also comes amid a long-running crisis between Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and several of his previous government partners.

There are also fears that the conflict in Syria has the potential to spread to Iraq.

More than 8,000 candidates are standing in the elections, with 378 seats on provincial councils up for grabs. An estimated 16.2 million Iraqis are eligible to vote, among them about 650,000 members of the security forces.

Although security has markedly improved since the height of civil strife in Iraq in 2006-2007, 271 people were killed in March, making it the deadliest month since August, according to figures from newswire AFP.

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Gunmen Rob Britons On Caribbean Cruise

Some 55 passengers - including ten Britons - from a cruise ship have been robbed by "three" masked gunmen on a tour bus on the Caribbean island of St Lucia.

The gunmen held up the bus at the Botanical Gardens in Soufriere during a tour excursion on Friday, but no one was hurt.

Jewellery and money was believed to have been stolen.

Two crew members from Celebrity Cruises' Eclipse vessel were also on the bus along with guests.

One passenger broke down in tears after the ordeal while others were "shaken", according to local broadcaster DBS TV.

One Eclipse passenger, Arizona Cruz Chic, posted on internet forum Cruise Critic: "One of the ships tour was robbed at gunpoint by three masked gunmen.

"We're not on the tour but friends were.. They said one woman fell and broke her leg, no one else was injured, all their money and jewellery were taken."

Tourism Minister Lorne Theophilus said it was "unfortunate and a horrible scenario".

Matthew Beaubrun, Chairman of the St Lucia Tourist Board told DBS: "This is a rare incident …This is such an important industry for us that we need to respond.

"We have taken it very seriously at the highest level and I know the minister's been in touch with the prime minister, so we are not taking this thing lightly."

A statement from Celebrity Cruises said: "No one was injured in the robbery and the guests returned to the ship unharmed.

"We are thankful that none of our guests were injured in this unfortunate event, and will continue to provide them any support they may need.

"A vacation is supposed to be filled with fun, rejuvenation and relaxation. An act of crime should not be part of any vacation, and we regret our guests had to experience those events."

The Eclipse is currently on a 14-night Caribbean cruise that departed Fort Lauderdale in Florida on April 6 and ends there on April 20.

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North Korea Brands US An 'Enemy' Of The State

North Korea has attacked the United States and rebuffed fresh calls from its only ally China to give up its nuclear programme.

As the sun set on Pyongyaang after a day of peaceful, nationwide colourful festivities celebrating the 101st anniversary of the birth of its founding father Kim Il Sung, the threat of a missile launch remained as its ambassador to China continued its aggressive rhetoric.

Ji Jae-ryong looks at photo albums on display at an exhibition in Beijing

Ji Jae-ryong used the opening of an exhibition marking the event on Monday in Beijing to brand the US an "enemy" of the state and to boast of North Korea's might as a "nuclear state and military power".

"Currently, enemy powers such as the United States are exerting unprecedented military and political suppression on our country," he said.

"But we have unswervingly demonstrated the power of a nuclear state and a military power, and firmly maintained peace and stability on the peninsula, and even in Northeast Asia and the whole world.

"And that is because we embrace comrade Kim Jong-Un as the top leader of our party and military," he said, referring to the North's unpredictable young new leader.

"As long as we follow the lead of comrade Kim Jong-Un, we are bound to obtain the great success of socialism," he added.

North Koreans bow to statues of their former leaders

There has been fears North Korea might use the national holiday to demonstrate its military capability.

Tens of thousands of people gathered in the capital Pyongyang to celebrate the unveiling of new statues of Kim Il Sung and the son who succeeded him, Kim Jong Il.

But there were concerns North Korea may launch a medium-range ballistic missile as the Communist state has made a habit of linking high-profile military tests with key dates in its calendar.

The centenary of Kim's birth last year was preceded by a long-range rocket test that ended in failure.

Earlier, Kim's grandson and current dynastic leader Kim Jong-Un visited the Pyongyang mausoleum to pay "high tribute in humblest reverence" where his grandfather's body lies embalmed, the official Korean Central News Agency said. 

He also visited the embalmed body of his father, who died in December 2011.

Athletes from 16 nations were cheered into Kim Il Sung Stadium

And despite North Korea's warnings that the threat of war on the Korean Peninsula is so high it cannot guarantee the safety of foreign residents, it hosted athletes from around the world for its biggest international marathon yet ahead of the celebrations.

After racing through Pyongyang, athletes from 16 nations including hundreds of North Korean runners were cheered into Kim Il Sung Stadium by tens of thousands of spectators.

North Korea's official media said the 26th Mangyongdae Prize Marathon was larger than previous years and that enthusiasm was "high among local marathoners and their coaches as never before".

After the race, competitors then filled a performance hall for a gala concert featuring ethnic Korean performers brought in from China, Russia and Japan as part of the birthday events.

"The feeling is like, I came last year already, the situation is the same," said Taiwan runner Chang Chia-che, who finished 15th.

South Koreans burn effigies of the North's past and present leaders

Tourists too were invited to join in the birthday celebrations. Hannah Barraclough, who is a tour guide with the Koryo Group travel agency, told Sky News there was no sense of a nation on a war-footing.

"When we come here we are treated very well - they take the role of host very seriously," she said.

The Korean peninsula has been in a state of heightened military tension since the North carried out its third nuclear test in February.

Incensed by fresh UN sanctions and joint South Korea-US military exercises, Pyongyang has spent weeks issuing blistering threats of missile strikes and nuclear war.

US Secretary of State John Kerry, in Japan on the last leg of an Asian tour dominated by the crisis, said the US was prepared to talk to North Korea if it took "meaningful steps" towards peace.

"The United States remains open to authentic and credible negotiations on denuclearisation, but the burden is on Pyongyang," he said. "North Korea must take meaningful steps to show it will honour commitments it has already made."

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Bali Crash: Data Recorder Retrieved From Jet

Indonesian air crash investigators have started working to determine what caused a new passenger jet to miss a runway while landing in Bali and crash into the sea.

A data recorder remains in the submerged tail section

The Boeing 737-800 overshot the runway on the resort island and plunged into shallow water near the airport boundary.

All 101 passengers and seven crew members safely escaped from the Lion Air plane, although up to 45 people suffered injuries.

Some were forced to swim to safety while others waiting atop the wings of the twin-engine jet to be rescued by boat.

The rear broke free after being hit by tide and swell

Transportation Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said the National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) is examining the wreckage.

He said aviation authorities have removed the flight data recorder from the aircraft operated by West Java-based budget air carrier.

Local fisherman and eyewitness Fendi Yono said: "I saw two planes approaching the runway.

Investigators retrieved items from the sea near the Denpasar airport

"The first one landed smoothly while the second plane went very slowly (before it crashed into the sea), probably because the weather was foggy at the time."

The fuselage of the recently purchased plane was fractured during the crash.

Waves hitting the plane completely severed the rear of the aircraft from the main body, causing it to partially submerge.

Possessions spilled from the plane after the accident

Survivor  Santi Widiastuti said: "I don't know how this accident happened. I just heard a notification that the aircraft would be landing soon.

"Not long after that notice, I heard a loud noise like a plane crashing into something. Suddenly, from under the deck, water began to enter the plane. All happened so fast."

Salvage crews are now hoping to tow the aircraft and retrieve its cockpit voice recorder, which is located in the tail.

The plane overshot the runway on the resort island in Indonesia

Last month Lion Air signed a £18bn deal with Airbus for 234 passenger jets and two years ago it signed a contract with Boeing for 230 planes.

However, the rapidly-expanding carrier is reportedly banned from US and European airspace due to safety concerns.

Between 2004 and 2006, Lion Air suffered a series of six accidents, which all involved planes overshooting or missing the runway, although no one died in those incidents.

The plane's back was fractured by waves but later severed it completely

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Bus Crash At Dawn Near Antwerp, Belgium

A bus carrying Russian children has crashed in Belgium, leaving at least five people dead and another five critically injured.

The Polish vehicle containing the youngsters crashed through guardrails and ended up on its side under a raised road near the port city of Antwerp.

The accident in Ranst happened at dawn and no other vehicles were believed to be involved, mayor Lode Hofmans said.

He said: "We have five dead and five who are in critical condition", adding that two more were seriously injured and seven had light wounds.

Mr Hofmans said the bus had been taking the Russian children from Volgograd and was heading towards Paris when the accident happened.

Some 42 people were in the bus at the time of the crash. They were mainly teenagers and a few in their early twenties.

Pictures of the crash scene showed the white bus lying on its side with belongings of the passengers strewn outside.

The accident came hours after more than 30 people were killed when a bus plunged down a ravine in the Peruvian highlands.

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Guantanamo: Guards Fire Rounds To Quell Unrest

Guantanamo Bay prison guards have fired several rubber shots to quell prisoner unrest as they moved inmates into individual cells, US military officials said.

The violence erupted during an early morning raid carried out because, according to military officials, prisoners had covered up security cameras and windows as part of a protest and hunger strike over their indefinite confinement and conditions at the US base in Cuba.

Prisoners fought guards with makeshift weapons that included broomsticks and mop handles when troops arrived to move them, said Robert Durand, a military spokesman.

Guards responded by firing four "less-than-lethal rounds" in the section of the prison known as Camp Six, he said.

Mr Durand said there were "no serious injuries to guards or detainees" during the operation aiming "to reestablish proper observation" at the facility.

The rounds included a modified shotgun shell that fires small rubber pellets as well as a type of bean-bag projectile, said Army Colonel Greg Julian.

The violence broke out at so-called Camp Six (file image)

Mr Durand said inmates were being isolated "to ensure the health and security" for prisoners at the facility, where dozens of detainees are in the third month of a hunger strike.

"This action was taken in response to efforts by detainees to limit the guard force's ability to observe the detainees by covering surveillance cameras, windows, and glass partitions," the statement added.

"Round-the-clock monitoring is necessary to ensure security, order and safety, as detainees continued a prolonged hunger strike by refusing regular camp-provided meals."

The prison houses scores of detainees swept up more than a decade ago during in America's so-called war on terror.

The hunger strike began when the men claim prison officials searched their Korans for contraband. Officials have denied any mishandling of Islam's holy book.

An attorney representing some of the inmates slammed their treatment.

"It's just another example of force being used in GTMO (Guantanamo), instead of a sense of human rights," said military lawyer Lieutenant Colonel Barry Wingard.

"The sad thing is that it doesn't appear to matter which political party is in power in Washington. The officials in GTMO always resort to force over common sense."

Activists at an April 11 rally campaign for the closure of Guantanamo Bay

He said the prisoners had asked prison officials to take their Korans instead of "disrespecting" them.

"The officials refused to take the Korans, and continued to search the books in plain view of the prisoners," Col Wingard added.

"Of course, the bigger issue is the 11.5 years without charges and hopelessness of never being released."

Attorneys representing inmates at the prison have said that most of the estimated 130 detainees at Guantanamo's Camp Six wing, which houses "low-value" prisoners, are on hunger strike.

US authorities, however, put the number of hunger strikers at about three dozen.

US President Barack Obama ordered the closing of the Guantanamo detention centre when he took office in 2009, but that was blocked by a Republican-led bill that cut off funding to move the detainees to the US.

The politicians cited security concerns, saying the presence of the detainees would encourage terror attacks in the states or cities where they were being held.

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North Korea Rebuffs Talks As A 'Crafty Trick'

North Korea has rejected the South's call to negotiate to resolve the nuclear crisis, calling it a "crafty trick".

The development came as US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Japan for the last leg of his four-day Asia tour aimed at reining in Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.

South Korea last week urged the North to discuss stalled operations at a joint factory complex and other issues.

But an unidentified spokesman at the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea said on Sunday that Pyongyang had no intention of talking with Seoul unless it abandoned its confrontational posture.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-UN has vowed to beef up its nuclear arsenal

It came as Mr Kerry held meetings in Tokyo with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and also with Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who said North Korea could not be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

Both countries reaffirmed their commitment deal with the threat posed by North Korea - and to hold talks with the regime if leader Kim Jong-Un was prepared to honour previous agreements on its missile and nuclear programme.

Mr Kerry said the US was "fully committed" to the defence of Japan on Sunday - just days after Pyongyang threatened the Japanese capital would be "consumed in nuclear flames".

In the past few weeks, North Korea has declared itself to be in a "state of war" with the South, announced that a mothballed nuclear site is to be reopened and threatened to carry out nuclear attacks against the US.

An anti-North Korea rally in Seoul on Sunday

Japan, separated by less than 1,000km (625 miles) of water and a frequent target of Pyongyang's anger, is in easy range, and has deployed Patriot missiles around Tokyo in anticipation of a missile launch by the North.

Speculation has been building since the North was reported to have loaded two mid-range Musudan missiles on mobile launchers and hidden them in underground facilities on its eastern coast.

The move last week prompted the US to bring forward its drone deployment to Japan and send an unmanned spy plane to its airbase in Misawa, in northern Japan.

The Musudan have never been tested but are believed to have a range of around 3,000km (1,860 miles), which could theoretically be pushed to 4,000km (2,485 miles).

US soldiers on a training exercise in Yeoncheon, northeast of Seoul

That would cover any target in South Korea and Japan, and possibly even reach US military bases located on the Pacific island of Guam - which Pyongyang has threatened to strike.

In Seoul, Mr Kerry warned North Korea it would do everything within its means to defend its allies - and that it would be making a "huge mistake" if it launched one of its medium-range missiles during the current standoff.

Japan is a firm ally of the US, More than 35,000 US military personnel are based across the islands.

Both nations share the view that the solution to the North Korean problem lies with Beijing.

Sky's Alex Rossi, who is in Tokyo, said: "There is a feeling here that if North Korea does decide to do something stupid, Japan may very well be in the firing line.

Female Korean soldiers on patrol in their high heels

"Tomorrow is the birthday - the 101st anniversary of the birth of the founding father of North Korea, Kim Il Sung - and it is possible that a medium-range missile may be tested or used."

On Saturday, the top US diplomat met China's leaders to persuade them to push North Korea, whose sole main ally is Beijing, to scale back its belligerence and return to the negotiating table over its suspected nuclear aims.

Both nations agreed to seek a peaceful resolution to the crisis and to work together to ensure a nuclear-free Korean peninsula.

Tensions have soared in the region since December, when North Korea test-launched a long-range rocket. In February, it conducted its third nuclear test, which drew fresh UN sanctions.

Mr Kerry said there had been enough confrontational language on North Korea and he did not want to get into a cycle of threats and counter-threats with the reclusive nation.

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Womb Transplant Patient Falls Pregnant

The first woman to have a successful womb transplant from a dead donor is two weeks pregnant, according to a hospital in Turkey.

Derya Sert, 22, was born without a womb and was given a uterus in August 2011 in what was described as a "medical miracle" at the time.

She has now conceived after having in-vitro fertilisation treatment (IVF) and is in the early stages of pregnancy.

Doctors waited for 18 months before implanting the embryo to make sure that the organ was still functioning properly.

"Early test results are consistent with pregnancy. The patient is in good health at the moment," Akdeniz University Hospital in Antalya said in a statement.

The baby is expected to be delivered by Caesarean.

The womb will then be removed in the months after the birth to avoid further complications and the risk of rejection.

Experts warn the pregnancy carries several health risks to the patient as well as to the baby.

These include birth defects due to the use of immuno-suppressive drugs as well as premature delivery.

Miss Sert was the second woman in the world to have a womb transplant.

The first went to a woman in Saudi Arabia in 2000 but was from a living donor.

Doctors had to remove the organ when it failed after 99 days due to heavy clotting.

The groundbreaking news of Miss Sert's pregnancy will rekindle hopes for thousands of childless women.

One in every 5,000 women globally is born without a womb, while thousands more have the organ removed due to cancer or other diseases, leaving them unable to get pregnant.

In September, doctors in Sweden performed the world's first mother-to-daughter womb transplants on two Swedish women, both in their 30s.

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North Korea Missile Alert After Japan Blunder

A Japanese official mistakenly announced the launch of a North Korean missile instead of sending an alert about a strong earthquake.

An official at the western Osaka aviation bureau emailed 87 airport offices to say a North Korean missile had been launched, Japan's transport ministry said.

The official was trying to send a message to check on possible airport damage immediately after the 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck near the southwestern city of Kobe, injuring dozens of people and destroying several homes.

But instead the official dispatched a pre-prepared alert ready to go in the event of a North Korean missile launch.

The incorrect message was retracted six minutes later but at least one domestic flight was delayed due to the mistake.

Japan is on full alert ahead of an expected mid-range missile launch by North Korea, with Patriot missiles stationed in its capital to protect the 30 million people who live there.

In addition to PAC-3 batteries, Aegis destroyers equipped with sea-based interceptor missiles have been deployed in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

On Wednesday officials in the Japanese city of Yokohama were left red-faced after mistakenly announcing the launch of a North Korean missile to 40,000 followers on Twitter.

Saturday night's earthquake was in the area where a magnitude 7.2 quake killed more than 6,400 people in 1995.

The Meteorological Agency warned there may be aftershocks for about a week.

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