Oliver Tree

Thein Sein, whose military regime has had the democracy activist under house arrest for almost two decades, said the weekend balloting had been conducted in a very successful manner.

Martha Johnson quit as administrator of the agency that monitors conference spending by other federal entities, saying taxpayer dollars were squandered on a 2010 conference that totaled $822,751.

United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan told the Security Council that Assad had agreed to withdraw forces from population centers and stop using heavy weapons early next week.

The satellite photos appear to show a mobile radar trailer, and rows of empty fuel oxidizer trucks according to the U.S.-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

The move will see the kyat, which was previously pegged at 6.4 kyat to the dollar, work under a managed float system set to encourage greater investment in the country.

Representatives from the Economic Community of West African States, or Ecowas, said they would decide Monday what action to take against Mali's ruling junta, which missed a deadline for ceding power to civilians.

The news comes just hours before Kofi Annan is due to brief the UN Security Council on Monday on whether he had seen progress towards peace.

In a statement, Amnesty said Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, who has refused food since February 8, should be released immediately.

Two days of talks among the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa wrapped up Friday with little to show other than a currency exchange and a lot of hopeful talk.

According to Deputy Prime Minister Soraya Sanez de Santamaria the 2012 draft budget will is set to cut government ministry spending by an average of 17 percent.

The trauma of [the recent killings] is profound for our country ... a little like the trauma that followed in the United States and in New York after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The development leaves the UK government's push for a fleet of new nuclear power plants by 2025 in serious doubt.

The heads of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, drafted a joint statement attacking American and European aggressive policy actions and dominance of global institutions.

Wednesday's high-level meeting was the first bilateral military visit since a cross-border attack by NATO helicopters last November killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, prompting Pakistan to re-evaluate its level of cooperation with Western forces in Afghanistan.

Despite their political differences, varied economic clout and undefined association, the meeting between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa is set to highlight the group's growing independence

The UILM, who are affiliated with the 2.2 million strong Italian Labor Union (UIL), said they were calling the strike to protest proposed changes to labor laws set to make it easier for firms to fire workers during hard business times.

The comments come amid growing international skepticism towards a peace plan accepted by Syria and its last remaining Security Council allies Russia and China on Tuesday, after reports emerged of continued clashes between Assad's forces and opposition fighters.

The insurance market listed the litany of disasters in its annual report, which included claims from flooding in Australia in January, the February earthquake in New Zealand, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March and the floods in Thailand.

In a typically provocative statement, Ahmadinejad said Iran had no limit to expanding ties with President Bashar al-Assad's regime and that Iran would do all in its power to support this country.

Despite Washington officials offering a series of key concessions -- including giving Pakistan intelligence pre-warning for any strikes -- Islamabad has flatly rejected all offers, leaving already stretching already strained U.S.-Pakistan relations.

The explosion occurred on Tuesday in the western Indian state of Maharashtra, an area where the Maoists are known to operate.

The leak, which was detected over the weekend, has led to a cloud of explosive gas forming above the platform, forcing the evacuation of workers on nearby Shell installations.

The strike by baggage handlers and ground staff affiliated with the Ver.di union has also led national carrier Lufthansa to cancel hundreds of flights at Germany's largest airports.

After failed attempts in the U.N. Security Council to formulate a demand that President Bashar al-Assad end a deadly crackdown on dissenters, his government accepted Annan's six-point plan.

The British government has been in talks with Abu Dhabi's cash-rich sovereign wealth funds to sell a large portion of its 82 percent holding of RBS for months, according to a report.

She added important lessons had been learned from the Greek experience, allaying fears further bailouts would be needed for other struggling Eurozone countries.

Sarkozy said he would ban certain Imams invited to attend a congress by the Union of French Islamic Organizations (UOIF), a group regarded as being close to Egypt's Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

The move leaves 53 of Japan's 54 reactors out of service. The last operational reactor, Hokkaido Electric Power Co.'s Tomari No.3, will be switched off for maintenance May 5.

The big winner tonight is the Senegalese people, Macky Sall said of Sunday's run-off election. He defeated 12-year incumbent Abdoulaye Wade, a political mentor to Sall before the two had a falling-out.