World/Nation

Netanyahu fends off challenger in Israeli elections

JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to fend off a strong challenge from the country's opposition leader in parliamentary elections Tuesday, emerging from an acrimonious campaign in a slightly better position to form Israel's next government.

But with the sides nearly evenly divided, a victory by Netanyahu's Likud Party still was not guaranteed. His chief rival, Isaac Herzog of the Zionist Union, said he would make "every effort" to form a government, and an upstart centrist party led by a former Netanyahu ally-turned-rival was set to be the kingmaker. The country now heads into what could be weeks of negotiations over the makeup of the next coalition.

Both Netanyahu and Herzog will now compete for a chance to form a coalition that commands a majority in the 120-seat parliament, a daunting task in Israel's fractured political landscape. Netanyahu appeared to have a better chance of cobbling together a government with right-wing and religious parties that he calls his "natural allies." Herzog would have to appeal to more ideologically diverse parties.

Either will likely need the support of Moshe Kahlon, whose new Kulanu party captured nine or 10 seats, according to polls. Kahlon, whose campaign focused almost entirely on bread-and-butter economic issues, refused to take sides.

GOP plan boosts defense budget, cuts elsewhere

WASHINGTON - House Republicans launched a boldly conservative 10-year budget plan on Tuesday that would favor the Pentagon, partially privatize Medicare and rely on deep cuts in other social programs to help wipe out deficits at the end of a decade.

A little more than four months after winning their largest majority in 70 years, Republicans promised an overhaul of the federal tax code and called for repeal of two of the top legislative achievements of President Barack Obama's tenure in office. Those are the health care law known by his name and a measure enacted to crack down on Wall Street after the economy's near-collapse in 2008.

Republicans said their balanced-budget promise came with no tax increases, though the fine print assumes the expiration of about $900 billion in breaks for business research and development and other items.

"The new normal of slow economic growth and low expectations is unacceptable. We know we can do better," the House Budget Committee, chaired by Rep. Tom Price of Georgia, said in a report accompanying the proposal. It promised "greater prosperity, opportunity, security and freedom" if enacted.

Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock abruptly resigns

WASHINGTON - Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock abruptly resigned Tuesday following a monthlong cascade of revelations about his business deals and lavish spending on everything from overseas travel to office decor in the style of "Downton Abbey."

"I do this with a heavy heart," Schock said in a statement. He said he had given the people of his Peoria-area district his all since his election in 2008, "but the constant questions over the last six weeks have proven a great distraction that has made it too difficult for me to serve the people of the 18th District with the high standards that they deserve and which I have set for myself."

Schock, 33, a young, media-savvy Republican, had drawn attention for his physical fitness and fundraising prowess. But more recently he has come under scrutiny for extravagant spending, payments to donors for flights on private jets and improperly categorized expenses.

The questions raised have included Associated Press investigations of his real estate transactions, air travel and Instagram use. On Monday, the AP confirmed that the Office of Congressional Ethics had reached out to Schock's associates as it apparently began an investigation.

Relief groups rush to help cyclone-hit area

PORT VILA, Vanuatu - Relief workers rushed to deliver desperately needed food and water Wednesday to survivors living on Vanuatu's outer islands, after a monstrous cyclone wiped out entire villages and flattened vast swathes of the South Pacific nation's landscape.

Teams of aid workers and government officials were planning to send a boat packed with supplies to hard-hit Tanna Island, where aerial assessments showed more than 80 percent of homes or buildings had been partially or completely destroyed by Cyclone Pam.

Lack of food was a growing worry for those who survived the storm, which packed winds of 168 miles per hour when it struck Saturday.

"Everyone in Tanna and other islands in the south, they really live subsistence lives, so they grow what they need for a short period. ... And the reality is that much of that would have been washed away by this storm," said Tom Perry, spokesman for CARE Australia. "That's a grave concern because we desperately need to get food to people soon."

Flyover crews who surveyed the outer islands saw a flattened landscape and widespread destruction, with survivors below trying to signal them for help, said Colin Collett van Rooyen, Vanuatu director for aid group Oxfam.

- The Associated Press