Montgomery wins USA Today Travel's 10 Best contest, named Best Historic City in America

 After weeks of voting, Montgomery has emerged the victor in USA Today Travel's 10Best contest to name the Best Historic City in the United States.

Montgomery was announced as the winner of the contest today, which was decided by number of votes, after running neck-and-neck with several other contenders throughout the competition.

“This is great news for our city, a place with immense history and the setting for some of the most seminal moments in our nation’s history – from the Civil War to Civil Rights to civil aviation,” Mayor Todd Strange said.

 “As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Selma to Montgomery March and 60th anniversary of the Montgomery Bus Boycott next year, visitors will not only experience our history, but they will discover there’s a whole lot more to Montgomery, like our revitalized riverfront, the vibrant downtown entertainment district and world-class cultural institutions."

The competition, which kicked off at the beginning of April, included a list of 20 cities selected as nominees due to their roles in America's history. Among the other nominated cities was New Orleans, Charleston, Boston and more.

The city of Montgomery made the list of 20 nominees for its role in the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. USA Today Travel said the following about Montgomery in its description:

"In 1819, two small settlements of cotton plantations merged together to form the town of Montgomery. During the Civil War, Montgomery was home of the First White House of the Confederacy, where Jefferson Davis and his family lived, but its most important historical contributions came during the Civil Rights movement as the site of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The city also had the first electric street car system, and the first flight school set up by the Wright Brothers."

Below is a listing of the cities ranked as the contest's top 10 Best Historic Cities:

1.     Montgomery, Ala.
2.     Annapolis, Md.
3.     Williamsburg, Va.
4.     Savannah, Ga.
5.     Charleston, S.C.
6.     St. Augustine, Fla.
7.     Boston
8.     Santa Fe
9.     Philadelphia
10.     New Orleans

Al menos 49 talibanes y 5 militares mueren en enfrentamiento en Afganistán

Al menos 49 talibanes murieron en un enfrentamiento con fuerzas de la Otán y del Ejército afgano, que perdió a cinco soldados, en el este de Afganistán, informó hoy a Efe una fuente oficial.

KABUL.-  El enfrentamiento se produjo ayer en la provincia de Paktika, cuando fuerzas del Ejército afgano y de la misión de la Otán en Afganistán  (ISAF) fueron atacadas por unos quinientos talibanes, dijo un portavoz del Ministerio de Defensa, Dawlat Waziri.

Además, en el ataque, que tuvo lugar en el distrito de Ziruk, seis miembros del Ejército afgano resultaron heridos y otro fue capturado por los talibanes, añadió Waziri.

Tropas de la ISAF y del Ejército afgano llevaban a cabo una operación cuando se produjo la acción armada de los insurgentes,a la que respondieron con un ataque aéreo, en un enfrentamiento que se prolongó durante casi todo el día.

Las tropas de la Otán destacadas en Afganistán se hallan en pleno proceso de retirada y transfieren gradualmente las competencias de seguridad a la Policía y al Ejército afganos.

India election: Narendra Modi accused of poll law violation as millions vote

India's Election Commission has accused the main opposition BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi of violating the election code.

He breached poll laws by flashing his party's symbol and making a political speech while voting was going on in the seventh phase of the election, it said.

Mr Modi addressed journalists and supporters after casting his vote in his home state of Gujarat.

India's general election, with 814 million eligible voters, is the world's biggest exercise in democracy and the governing Congress party is battling the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for power. Mr Modi is ahead in all the opinion polls.

He was greeted by cheering crowds lining the streets and on rooftops as he arrived at the polling station in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's biggest city. Voting was held in all 26 seats in the state.

Andhra Pradesh also voted on Wednesday for the last time as a united state before it is divided on 2 June.

Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh were among seven states and two union territories where 139 million eligible voters had to make their choice between some 1,300 candidates contesting 89 seats on Wednesday.

In trouble

"The BJP will form a stable government in Delhi soon," Mr Modi said after casting his vote.

"The Congress party has already conceded defeat... It is the end of the mother-son government," he added, in a reference to the Congress party chief Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul.

But photographs of an upbeat Mr Modi holding a small white lotus flower, shown on television screens across India, have landed him in trouble with the Election Commission.

The commission said it had seen the video recordings of Mr Modi's speech and that it was evident that it was "a political speech intended and calculated to influence and affect the result of elections in the constituencies voting today". It has now ordered the authorities to register a case against him.

A spokesperson for the BJP said Mr Modi had done nothing wrong and that the party would respond to the Election Commission notice.

If found guilty, Mr Modi could be sent to jail for up to two years or asked to pay a fine, or both, but correspondents say it is unlikely to happen.

Mr Modi was mobbed by frenzied crowds when he arrived at the polling booth

The governing Congress party is being led by its vice-president Rahul Gandhi

Brisk polling was reported throughout the day in Andhra Pradesh

Voting was also held in Srinagar constituency in Indian-administered Kashmir

Mr Modi is standing for election in two seats - in the Hindu holy city of Varanasi as well as Vadodara in Gujarat. If he wins both seats, he will have to relinquish one.

In Andhra Pradesh - where voting for state assemblies is also taking place - brisk polling was reported through the day.

US economic growth slows sharply to 0.1% in first quarter

US economic growth slowed sharply in the first quarter of the year, growing at an annual rate of 0.1%.

The rate is the slowest for a year and a large fall on the 2.6% increase in gross domestic product (GDP) in the final quarter of last year.

An unusually cold and disruptive winter, coupled with tumbling exports, contributed to the decline, the US Commerce Department said.

But it said economic activity already appeared to be bouncing back.

Business investment fell by 2.1%, with spending on equipment plunging by 5.5% at an annual rate compared with a year earlier.

Residential construction, which was inevitably hit by the unusually cold winter fell by 5.7% although it was also hit by higher house prices and a shortage of available homes for sale.

The US trade trade deficit deficit widened, thanks to a sharp fall in exports which shaved growth by 0.8 percentage points in the first quarter. Businesses also slowed their restocking, with a slowdown in inventory rebuilding reducing growth by nearly 0.6 percentage points.

But consumer spending - which drives 70% of growth in the US economy - grew by 3%, although the increase was dominated by a 4.4% rise in spending on services, reflecting higher utility bills during the bitterly cold winter.

Rebound

A cutback in spending by state and local governments also helped offset a rebound in federal activity after the 16-day partial government shutdown last year.

But most economists expect a strong rebound in growth in the April-June quarter. The consensus view is the economy will expand by 3% in the second quarter.

Analysts said stronger growth will endure through the rest of the year as the economy derives help from improved job growth, rising consumer spending and a rebound in business investment.