Showing Archived Posts

Kosovo Serb Voters Expected to Reject Pristina Rule

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 1:10 pm (UTC-5)
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Ethnic Serbs in northern Kosovo cast ballots on the final day of a referendum on whether to recognize the country’s ethnic Albanian dominated government. The Serbian community is expected to overwhelmingly reject the Kosovo government in the two-day vote that ends Wednesday. Ethnic Serbs have ignored Pristina’s efforts to extend its authority into the northern […]

Tags: , Posted in Europe

Syria’s Assad Sets Referendum as Troops Pound Cities

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 12:55 pm (UTC-5)
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Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has ordered a constitutional referendum later this month that he says would end nearly five decades of single-party rule, as government troops continued to assault rebellious areas nationwide. If approved, the February 26 ballot would usher in a new charter that dilutes the ruling Ba’ath party’s status as “the leader of […]

Tags: , , Posted in Middle East

Police Push Back Protesters in Senegal

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 12:45 pm (UTC-5)
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Police in Senegal used tear gas Wednesday to push back protesters demanding President Abdoulaye Wade not run for a third term. Hundreds of demonstrators tried to march toward the presidential palace in Dakar, after opposition groups called for more protests against the president’s candidacy. But police blocked their path and fired tear gas to disperse […]

Tags: , , , Posted in Africa

World Bank Chief Zoellick to Leave in June

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 12:00 pm (UTC-5)
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The president of the World Bank, American Robert Zoellick, says he will leave his post when his five-year term expires June 30. Zoellick announced his resignation Wednesday, saying that he was pleased that the Washington-based organization had expanded its programs during his tenure, lending $247 billion to developing countries to boost their economic growth and […]

Tags: , , Posted in Economy

Police Push Back Protesters in Senegal

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 11:25 am (UTC-5)
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Police in Senegal used tear gas Wednesday to push back protesters demanding President Abdoulaye Wade not run for a third term. Hundreds of demonstrators tried to march toward the presidential palace in Dakar, after opposition groups called for more protests against the president’s candidacy. But police blocked their path and fired tear gas to disperse […]

Tags: , , , Posted in Africa

Iran Announces Nuclear Advances

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 11:05 am (UTC-5)
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Iran hailed its advanced nuclear capabilities Wednesday by unveiling what it says are a new generation of centrifuges to speed up uranium enrichment and its first domestically produced fuel rods. The semiofficial Fars news agency reported Wednesday that the new carbon fiber centrifuges have been installed and operated at a uranium enrichment plant in the […]

Tags: , , , Posted in Middle East

UN, Aid Groups Call for ‘Urgent’ Action in Sahel

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 10:35 am (UTC-5)
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U.N. officials and humanitarian groups are calling for an “urgent scale up” of aid to Africa’s Sahel region, where millions of people are facing severe food shortages. Officials met with donor governments in Rome Wednesday, telling them only a rapid and comprehensive response to the crisis could stop the problem from growing worse. The European […]

Tags: , , , , Posted in Africa

Greek Leaders Pledge Austerity Support as European Doubts Grow

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 10:15 am (UTC-5)
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Greece’s coalition leaders are pledging to carry out the country’s latest austerity plan, but the government also pointedly acknowledges some of its European neighbors may want the country out of the 17-nation eurozone. Both socialist leader George Papandreou, the country’s former prime minister, and conservative leader Antonis Samaras, sent written pledges to eurozone finance ministers […]

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China Installs New Head of Restive Tibetan Area

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 9:50 am (UTC-5)
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China has appointed a career law enforcement officer to head a restive, ethnically-Tibetan area of Sichuan province, a region where more than 20 Buddhist monks, nuns and their supporters have set themselves on fire in the past year to protest Chinese rule. State-controlled media said Wednesday that Liu Zuoming was named last week as Communist […]

Tags: , Posted in East Asia Pacific

Turkish Court To Try Top General

Posted February 15th, 2012 at 9:20 am (UTC-5)
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Turkey’s former army chief will be tried for an alleged plot to topple the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. A Turkish court determined Wednesday that there is sufficient evidence to prosecute former general Ilker Basbug in an alleged Internet campaign aimed at destabilizing Mr. Erdogan’s Islamic-based government. The former general will be tried […]

Tags: , Posted in Europe