JERUSALEM — Inconclusive election results sent Israel into political limbo today with both Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and hard-line leader Benjamin Netanyahu claiming victory and leaving the kingmaker role to a rising political hawk with an anti-Arab platform.

Livni's Kadima Party won 28 seats, just one more than Netanyahu's Likud, in Tuesday's election for the 120-member parliament, according to nearly complete results. Both held victory rallies, but without a clear majority neither can govern alone. Hard-line parties won a majority of the votes, meaning that Netanyahu has more natural allies and a better chance of forming a coalition.

The results set the stage for what could be weeks of coalition negotiations. The first meetings began today, with Netanyahu meeting the head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas faction and Livni meeting Avigdor Lieberman, whose ultranationalist party received 15 seats and emerged as the third-largest force in parliament.

Two of the more likely options would see a hard-line government led by Netanyahu, leaving Livni in the opposition, or some form of accommodation between the two in the form of a centrist coalition in which they would share power.

KINGLAKE, Australia — Residents of towns scorched off the map by the worst wildfires in Australia's history returned for the first time today to find twisted metal and blackened debris where their homes once stood.Police said an investigation by arson specialists turned up signs of at least one case of foul play and a suspect was being sought. For the first day since Saturday's inferno, the official death toll did not rise today. It stood at 181, though officials said it would exceed 200.Investigators are also looking into new fires that broke out overnight Tuesday. Victoria state Premier John Brumby said he was aware of "several" fires being lit in the Beechworth area, northeast of Melbourne."There seems little doubt that these were deliberately lit," he told reporters Wednesday.Brumby also expressed concern about the emotional impact of the sight of the destruction on survivors, especially those who had not seen television footage."Where do you start? Where do you start?" said Peter Denson, standing blank-faced amid the ruins of his home in Kinglake, where at least 39 people were killed and the town all but destroyed.

KABUL — Taliban fighters, carrying assault rifles and wearing suicide vests, stormed the Justice Ministry and another government building in Afghanistan's capital today, forcing workers to flee from windows, according to government officials and a Taliban spokesman.Nineteen people were killed in the assault.The coordinated attacks struck in the heart of Kabul, underscoring the reach of the Taliban beyond their strongholds in the south and east ahead of a planned visit by President Barack Obama's special envoy to the region.Eight assailants also died in the attacks, said Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammad Zahir Azimi, bringing to 27 the total deaths.Azimi said all eight attackers had suicide vests, but only three assailants set them off.Five men armed with assault rifles and grenades attacked the Justice Ministry in late morning — and they appeared to control it for at least a short period.But by midday, about two hours after the attacks began, Afghan security forces waved from windows in an apparent all-clear sign, according to an AP reporter on the scene. All five attackers were killed in a shootout with security forces.