• SOMA, Turkey (AP) -- A maximum of 18 miners remain missing inside a devastated coal mine and the final death toll will be around 300, Turkey's energy minister said Friday.
• Although he did not spell it out, Taner Yildiz's comments suggested that no one else was expected to come out alive from the mine in Soma, western Turkey. Some 284 miners are known to have died in Turkey's worst mining disaster.
• "We believe that there are no more than 18 people inside the mine," Yildiz told reporters. He said that was based on reports from families and data provided by the company.
• Yildiz said a fire is still burning inside the mine, spreading noxious fumes, but that "it is declining."
• Grieving relatives laid their dead to rest in mass burials Thursday, with photos of their loved ones pinned to their chests and chanting the names of lost miners. More funerals were planned for Friday.
• ___

• NEW DELHI (AP) -- India's opposition leader Narendra Modi and his party won national elections in a landslide Friday, preliminary results showed, driving the long-dominant Congress party out of power in the most commanding victory India has seen in more than a quarter century.
• The Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party captured a commanding lead for at least 272 seats in the lower house of Parliament, the majority needed to create a government without forming a coalition with smaller parties.
• Full results are expected later in the day but it's unlikely that Modi's party would see a significant reversal, putting him on track to be the next prime minister.
• With a note of triumph, Modi tweeted: "India has won!" as the results came out Friday.
• Television channels aired footage of an emotional Modi meeting his mother and touching her feet, a traditional gesture when Hindus seek the blessings of an older relative.

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