Craig Taylor

French ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy’s Conservative UMP and its allies make major gains in the final round of local elections, exit polls suggest.
BBC News – Europe

David Cameron is to tell voters they face a “stark choice” between him and Labour’s Ed Miliband, as the election campaign officially gets under way.
BBC News – UK

Three days on from a massive gas blast in New York that flattened three buildings, two bodies are found in rubble.
BBC News – US & Canada

Counting is under way in Nigeria’s presidential election, which has been praised by the UN despite technical problems and violence.
BBC News – Africa

SALT LAKE CITY – For a while, the Thunder looked unstoppable, then the team hit a lull before finally getting back into
Oklahoma City Thunder

Apple CEO Tim Cook says he will give away most of his $ 800m (£537m) fortune to good causes before he dies.
BBC News – Business

Islamist militants capture the north-western Syrian city of Idlib for the first time, monitoring groups and jihadists say.
BBC News – Middle East

A Chilean miner who was trapped underground for 69 days in 2010 has lost his home in flash floods in the Atacama desert region.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

The co-pilot of the Germanwings Airbus which crashed in the French Alps predicted “one day everyone will know my name”, his ex-girlfriend says.
BBC News – Europe

The father of a British man killed in the Alps air crash urges airlines to look after pilots “properly”, saying the victims of the disaster should “never be forgotten”.
BBC News – UK

Amanda Knox and Raffaele Sollecito are acquitted by Italy’s top appeals court of murdering British student Meredith Kercher in 2007 – the final ruling in the case.
BBC News – US & Canada

Elections in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation, are extended to Sunday in some parts of the country after delays and a number of attacks.
BBC News – Africa

Being in the right place at the right time is always good, but that is particularly true in the NBA.
Oklahoma City Thunder

SAN ANTONIO – With a workmanlike approach to Tuesday night’s game, the Thunder simply came in and took care of business
Oklahoma City Thunder

UK housing market activity has “remained subdued”, the Nationwide says, as annual house price growth slows for the seventh month in a row.
BBC News – Business

Yemen’s foreign minister says a “short, sharp” air campaign is needed against Houthi rebels who forced the president to flee abroad.
BBC News – Middle East

A court of appeals in Argentina has upheld a decision to throw out controversial allegations against President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
BBC News – Latin America & Caribbean

German prosecutors say Alps crash co-pilot Andreas Lubitz hid details of an existing illness from his employers.
BBC News – Europe

Three new investigations into alleged corruption by the Metropolitan Police over claims of child abuse are to be managed by the police watchdog.
BBC News – UK

At least 19 people are injured after an explosion causes two buildings to collapse in New York’s East Village.
BBC News – US & Canada