World News

India's ruling Congress party supporters celebrate outside party leader Sonia Gandhi's house after the Women's Reservation Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of parliament, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

photo: AP

Historic Women's Bill passes amid chaos
read more Mumbai Mirror

New Delhi: After unprecedented disruptions and high drama, the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday evening finally passed the historic Women's Reservation Bill reserving one-third seats for women in Parliament and state Legislatures. The Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), and the Left Front voted for the bill. The two MPs of the Trinamool Congress, the...

An Electoral worker empties a ballot box to begin counting the results at a counting center in Baghdad, Iraq, Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Karim Kadim

Some Iraq Results Coming Wednesday
read more The New York Times

BAGHDAD — Iraq’s electoral commission said Tuesday that it would announce partial results of parliamentary elections on Wednesday, providing an incomplete picture of the vote that will nevertheless provide the broad outlines of the country’s political landscape. Related At War Blog: Election Reaction From Around Iraq Party...

Construction workers are seen on a new housing development in the Jewish neighborhood of Har Homa in east Jerusalem, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2009.

photo: AP / Sebastian Scheiner

Israel approves East Jerusalem homes as Biden visits
read more BBC News

Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play. Speaking earlier, Joe Biden said Washington had a total commitment to Israel's security Israel has approved the building of 1,600 new homes in east Jerusalem, in a move that threatens to overshadow US Vice-President Joe Biden's visit. The move will infuriate Palestinians, whose leaders...

Secretary of Defense Robert M. Gates and President of Afghanistan Hamid Karzai walk together on the Presidential compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, March 8, 2010.

photo: US DoD / Cherie Cullen

Robert Gates warns of 'hard Afghan fight ahead'
read more BBC News

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned that "hard fighting" lies ahead, in his first visit to Afghanistan since the launch of a major offensive there. After meeting military chiefs overseeing the anti-Taliban operation in southern Helmand province, Mr Gates also said some progress had been made. Preparations have already begun to...

File - President Barack Obama talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during a G-20 leaders working dinner at the Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pa., Sept. 24, 2009.

photo: White House file / Pete Souza

US and Russia resume nuclear talks
read more Al Jazeera

US and Russian negotiators are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, to negotiate a treaty aimed at reducing their nuclear weapons arsenals. The two powers are hoping to find a successor to the 1991 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which expired last December. "The two sides are committed to concluding negotiations. What is important is...

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, walks with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the prime minister's residence in Jerusalem, Tuesday, March 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Debbie Hill, Pool

Biden urges Israel to take risks for peace
read more The Guardian

JERUSALEM (AP) — Vice President Joseph Biden has told Israel that the U.S. is willing to stand by those who will "take risks for peace." Biden also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday that he was confident Israel was prepared to take such risks. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's...

Contrasted against giant statues of ancient kings, Myanmar ruling leader Sr. Gen Than Shwe salutes the flag during opening ceremonies of Myanmar Armed Forces day Tuesday, March 28, 2007, in the new capital of Naypyitaw. The new Myanmar capital is located

photo: AP Photo/David Longstreath

Burma publishes new election laws
read more The Times

Burma's military junta revealed the details of its new election laws today, paving the way for the country's first polls since 1990. However the government indicated it would pick all members of the country's new election commission itself and retained the right to cancel elections of separate constituencies for 'security' reasons. The country's...

In this photo released by the Royal Thai Navy, shirtless Rohingya migrants sit on the ground on an island after they were arrested by Thai navy officers in the Andaman sea on Dec. 12, 2008.

photo: AP / Royal Thai Navy

Bangladesh 'ignoring plight' of starving Burma refugees
read more BBC News

An American medical charity has warned that thousands of Burmese refugees in Bangladesh are facing starvation. Physicians for Human Rights said government authorities are preventing the Rohingya, a Muslim minority, from receiving adequate care. It accuses Bangladesh of obstructing efforts to help the Rohingya, who have fled Burma to escape...

Unidentified women react to the sight of dead bodies in Dogo Nahwa, Nigeria, Monday, March 8, 2010.

photo: AP / Jon Gambrell

Nigeria cracks down after attacks
read more Al Jazeera

Nigerian authorities have arrested nearly a hundred people in connection with attacks near the central city of Jos that killed more than 500 people. Police and soldiers surrounded the village of Dogo Nahawa, about 15km south of Jos, as survivors buried the dead in mass graves on Monday. Residents said herders from nearby hills attacked their...

Togo riot police face off supporters of opposition leader Jean-Pierre Fabre protested in Lome, Togo. Tuesday March 9, 2010.

photo: AP / Sunday Alamba

Togo Police Seal Off Opposition Headquarters
read more The New York Times

LOMÉ, Togo (AP) — Anti-riot police officers on Monday sealed off the alleyways leading to the headquarters of Togo’s largest opposition party, stranding the country’s opposition leader outside for more than an hour in a tense standoff after a contentious election. The opposition leader, Jean-Pierre Fabre, has vowed to take...