April 30 (Reuters) – A Bahraini court has ordered a retrial
for jailed hunger striker Abdulhadi al-Khawaja and 20 other men
convicted in a military court of leading last year’s
pro-democracy uprising, but ruled they would remain in jail
until new verdicts are reached.
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BEIRUT – At least eight people, mostly Syrian military
personnel, were killed and about 100 wounded on Monday in bomb
blasts at security buildings in Idlib, state media said, as a
bombing campaign intensified against government targets.
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MAIDUGURI, Nigeria – A bomb blast struck a police
commissioner’s convoy in the eastern Nigerian town of Jalingo on
Monday, killing seven people and wounding 20, a witness and
officials said, a day after two deadly attacks in other parts of
the country.
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YANGON – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi agreed
on Monday to end her party’s boycott of parliament, setting
aside her first major dispute with the government since winning
by-elections and clearing the way for what could be an
acceleration of reforms.
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MADRID – Spain’s economy slipped into recession in the first
quarter, data showed on Monday, with deep government spending
cuts to reduce a massive public deficit and troubles in the
banking sector likely to delay any return to growth.
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PARIS – French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Monday he
would sue news website Mediapart for publishing a document which
it says proves that the government of former Libyan leader
Muammar Gaddafi sought to fund his 2007 election campaign.
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WASHINGTON – The United States faces a tense week in China
as high-level talks on trade and global hot spots like Iran and
North Korea open in the shadow of a blind Chinese activist’s
bold escape from house arrest to seek U.S. protection in
Beijing.
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KHARTOUM/JUBA – Sultan Kwaje’s problems started when his
country disappeared from under him.
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NEUMUENSTER, Germany – With some sporting pirate garb and
black beards in light-hearted tribute to their name, Germany’s
Pirates party gathered in a small city hall and in the vast open
waters of cyberspace this weekend to chart a course that may yet
take them to the national parliament.
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MCLEAN – Former U.S. President Bill Clinton gave a rousing
endorsement of fellow Democrat Barack Obama in his first 2012
campaign appearance with the president on Sunday night, and
helped him raise more than $2 million.
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BEIJING – China is considering sovereign guarantees for its
ships to enable the world’s second-biggest oil consumer to
continue importing Iranian crude after new EU sanctions come
into effect in July, the head of China’s shipowners’ association
said.
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WASHINGTON – Former Liberian President Charles Taylor’s war
crimes conviction may be seen in some quarters as a victory for
global justice, but a backlash against costly, lengthy
international tribunals is also underway.
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KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak appeared
on Monday to have weathered a violent electoral reform protest
and may still call elections as early as June, but a huge
turnout by protesters showed a strong groundswell of opposition
to his government.
(Reporting By Maria Golovnina)
