1. Netanyahu claims surprise victory

    Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won a victory in Israel’s election on March 18.

    In a four-day pre-election blitz*, Netanyahu made a series of promises designed to shore up* his Likud base and draw voters from other right-wing and nationalist parties. He pledged to go on building settlements on occupied land and said there would be no Palestinian state if he was re-elected.

    2. Letter sent to White House tests positive

    An envelope addressed to the White House has tentatively tested positive for cyanide* after two rounds of analysis, the U.S. Secret Service said on March 17.

    The letter was received on March 16 at a facility that screens mail for the White House and is located away from the grounds of the executive mansion and its surrounding buildings in the heart of downtown Washington.

    Initial biological testing came back negative, said agency spokesman Robert Hoback.

    Additional testing conducted on March 17 returned a “presumptive positive” for cyanide.

    3. Search for AirAsia crash victims ends

    Indonesia has called off the search for the remaining victims of the AirAsia plane crash in the Java Sea, an official said on March 18.

    All 162 people aboard Airbus A320-200 died when it went down December 28 while flying from Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, to Singapore. So far, 106 bodies have been recovered, with the last three pulled out from the underwater wreckage* last week. Some of the bodies have been found off Sulawesi island, about 1,000 kilometers east of the crash site.

    Tatang Zainudin, the operations director of the National Search and Rescue Agency, said the final retrieval* operations ended on March 17.

    4. Kim to attend Russian WWII anniversary

    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on March 17 North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will attend celebrations in Moscow to commemorate the end of World War II.

    Lavrov said the heads of 26 countries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, have confirmed their attendance at the May 9 celebrations, which mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the war.

    North Korea and Russia have grown closer recently.

    This month, North Korea and Russia declared 2015 to be a “year of friendship” between the two countries.

    5. Thai ex-PM to stand trial for negligence

    Thailand’s former Premier Yingluck Shinawatra was on March 19 ordered to stand trial* on charges of negligence* over a bungled rice subsidy scheme, in a case that could see her jailed for up to a decade.

    The decision is the latest legal move against Yingluck — Thailand’s first female prime minister and sister of fugitive former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra — that could spell the end of her family’s political dominance.

    “The panel (of judges) has decided that this case falls within our authority,” said judge Veeraphol Tangsuwan at Bangkok’s Supreme Court, adding that the first hearing will be held on May 19.

    6. Seven children killed in NYC house fire

    Seven children from an Orthodox Jewish family died on Saturday when flames ripped through their Brooklyn home in one of New York City’s (NYC) deadliest fires in years, U.S. officials said.

    “I call this not a tragedy but an absolute disaster,” said state assemblyman Dov Hikind, who represents the Midwood neighborhood of Brooklyn where the fire broke out early on Saturday. The blaze killed three girls and four boys ages 5 to 16, leaving their mother and another child critically injured.

    (SD-Agencies)

    -