WORLD

Mitt Romney is poised to become the Republican nominee to take on Obama in the coming US presidential election.

Romney, squarely focused on President Barack Obama, said the man whose job he wants is out of touch after years of flying around on Air Force One, surrounded by an adoring staff of true believers.

Romney was the clear winner of Tuesday's GOP primary races in Maryland and Washington, D.C., where he was overwhelmingly declared the winner only minutes after polls closed.

She didn't mention the U.S. central bank's two previous rounds of bond-buying known as quantitative easing, but Lagarde stressed that past action by the Fed and European regulators helped keep growth strong and steady.

Kimberly Hester, a former teacher's aide from Michigan, was suspended after supervisors asked to see her personal Facebook profile and she refused. New laws may be in order to protect employees from breaches of online privacy.

The U.S. department in charge of land-based federal oil and gas drilling is getting a face-lift for the digital era, the Obama administration announced Tuesday. That may speed up the granting of permits dramatically

China has sent election monitors to check on Myanmar's recent parliamentary elections. The irony of a country without free democratic elections monitoring ballots has not been lost on the Chinese.

Last month, North Korea invited 14 scientists from eight different countries -- five alone from the U.S. -- to attend a conference with 75 North Korean scientists, and provide their expertise on restoring the country's environment and securing domestic food supplies.

Mitt Romney is expected to win the Republican primary races in Maryland and Washington, D.C., on Tuesday.

Mitt Romney is the projected winner of the Wisconsin Republican Presidential primary Tuesday night, Marketwatch reported. And with three projected victories on Tuesday night, Mitt Romney is poised to effectively win the Republican nomination to be his party's candidate to compete against President Barack Obama for the White House in November.

The Syrian government began withdrawing troops from some cities on Tuesday, the first sign after more than a year of violence that President Bashar al-Assad is taking a peace plan seriously.

Clinton also reiterated the Obama administration's push for a diplomatic solution to the growing Gulf crisis.

The Saudis are reportedly greatly concerned by Iran’s alleged nuclear power ambitions and the impact of such a development on the Persian Gulf.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) and Transocean (NYSE: RIG) will soon know which Brazilian court will preside over a criminal trial stemming from a November 2011 oil spill.

A female Russian spy was close to seducing a member of President Barack Obama's cabinet in 2010, the FBI's assistant director for counterintelligence, Frank Figliuzzi, told the BBC in a recent interview. But that spy wasn't flame-haired media darling Anna Chapman, a bureau spokesman told ABC News.

Unions, students and others have protested the proposed cuts by staging huge demonstrations in Barcelona, Madrid and other cities across the beleaguered country.

The United States announced a $10 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Hafiz Safeed, an alleged terrorist from Pakistan. The move, lauded by India, is likely to strain the already tense relationship between Pakistan and the United States.

In the face of falling exports as a percentage of its economy, China is trying to get its citizens to overcome a long-held propensity to save and start spending more on consumer goods.

After the Mumbai attacks, Saeed and other LeT members were arrested by Pakistani police, but later released on appeal.

Shell is moving closer to the date when it can start drilling for oil in Arctic waters off Alaska. The company may soon get the Department of the Interior's approval and could begin operations by year's end.

Federal Reserve policymakers appear less keen to launch a fresh round of monetary stimulus as the U.S. economy improves, according to minutes for the central bank's March meeting.

Conviasa, which was set up by the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in 2004, was added to the EU air safety blacklist because of numerous safety concerns as a result of numerous accidents and checks carried out at EU airports.

Hashemi denies the government's terrorism charges, claiming they are motivated by politics given his prominence as a Sunni lawmaker.

Thein Sein, whose military regime has had the democracy activist under house arrest for almost two decades, said the weekend balloting had been conducted in a very successful manner.

Saudi leaders said such a drawdown was unnecessary.

A poll showed more Americans still hold the same view of the U.S. Supreme Court and the Affordable Care Act despite last week's six hours of oral arguments in a high-profile case.

America is in the process of embracing certain failure. We have a president who appears enraptured by the European economic model as Europeans themselves are facing the reality of its ashes and despair.

It's a Trojan horse, the president said of Republicans' proposed 2013 budget. Disguised as deficit reduction plan, it's really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country.

Unesco has issued a warning for the safety of Timbuktu since the Tuareg rebels defeat of Malian government authorities in the northern part of the country.