HELP NOT WANTED: The ruling junta said that a referendum and elections in 2010 were internal affairs. Philippine President Arroyo called it a 'sad day for democracy'
Myanmar's military government has rejected a UNs offer of observers for May's constitutional referendum and elections in 2010, redoubling concerns about the freedom and fairness of both polls.

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Thousands of Afghan students blocked a highway and threatened attacks on foreign troops yesterday in the latest protest against the reprinting of a cartoon of the Prophet Mohammed in Danish papers.

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Pakistan's election winners sealed an agreement yesterday to form a coalition government and said parliament would restore judges ousted by President Pervez Musharraf.

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She grew up listening to her grandparents' stories over dinner, three generations gathered in the house they shared, like nearly every Indian family she knew.

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ON ALERT: President Ehud Olmert did not speak directly about the peace talks, but said that Israel will use both 'military and diplomatic tools' to ensure its existence
Israeli-Palestinian peace talks will proceed this week despite a shooting attack at a Jerusalem religious seminary that killed eight Israelis, Israeli officials said. Police across the country were on alert yesterday for possible additional attacks, and security was high in public areas and at schools.

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RADICAL IDEA: Psychologists are turning militants into model citizens as they 'deradicalize,' providing education and financial help with marriages and cars
Today a young man in traditional white robe and headdress will walk out through the iron gates of an anonymous low-rise compound down a gravel lane behind a Lebanese restaurant, 30 minutes' drive from the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh.

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A leading Saudi reformist and his brother started to serve time behind bars on Saturday after being convicted of inciting women's protests in the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom.

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UNPOPULAR CHIEF: Local issues were seen as more important to voters in yesterday's municipal elections , but Sarkozy's image could prove crucial
French local elections got under way yesterday, a test for conservative President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose plummeting popularity has given an advantage to the left.

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A joke going around among Russians these days has President Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev waking up in the Kremlin in 2023 with a vicious hangover.

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A TIGHT DUEL: Obama won 61 percent, or 5,378 votes, on Saturday, while Clinton obtained 38 percent, or 3,312 votes. Obama won seven delegates to Clinton's five
Democrat Senator Barack Obama beat rival Senator Hillary Clinton in Wyoming's nominating contest on Saturday, bouncing back from a string of losses that gave Clinton new life in their hotly contested presidential battle.

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MORAL AUTHORITY: While the House of Representatives says it will try to veto Bush's decision, doing so may prove difficult because of margin of passage in each chamber
Democrats and human rights advocates criticized US President George W. Bush's veto of a bill that would have banned the CIA from using simulated drowning and other coercive interrogation methods to gain information from suspected terrorists.

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The guerrilla walked out of the jungle tired, hungry and bearing the dismembered hand of his slain commander.

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A judge is trying to bankrupt a former reporter with daily fines as much as US$5,000 for refusing to disclose her sources for stories about the 2001 anthrax attacks, press advocates said on Saturday.

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Colin Pfaff, a doctor imbued with Christian zeal, had reached a moral crossroads.

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■ VATICAN

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