ATTEMPTS AT DEMOCRACY: The voting was the most peaceful in decades, which was a contrast to the failed elections of last year that degenerated into street riots
An alliance led by former prime minister Sheikh Hasina won a landslide victory in elections aimed at restoring democracy to Bangladesh, an election official said yesterday.

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FABLED ROAD: Just two weeks ago, several haulage companies in Pakistan refused to ply the route, saying the security of their drivers was compromised
Pakistan on Tuesday cut off supplies to NATO and US forces in Afghanistan via the Khyber Pass as security forces launched a major operation against militants there, an official said.

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JATROPHA: Boeing and Virgin Atlantic carried out a similar test flight that included a biofuel mixture that was dismissed as a publicity stunt by environmentalists
A passenger jet powered in part by vegetable oil successfully completed a two-hour flight yesterday to test a biofuel that could lower airplane emissions and cut costs, Air New Zealand said.

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The elderly residents of a small Japanese island swarming with cats are hoping that their trademark animals will attract something they’ve been missing for years — people.

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‘PARALYZED’: While Washington and the UN hailed Abdullahi Yusuf’s decision, the power vacuum could lead to more chaos as Islamic militants scramble for power
Somalia’s president resigned on Monday after a four-year term in which his Western-backed government failed to extend its power throughout a country crippled by infighting and a strengthening Islamic insurgency.

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In a softly lit room, giggly teenagers rise from their desks and sing a hymn. Then the leader of the youth group starts a detailed reading of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev’s state of the nation address.

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Britain’s defense ministry said yesterday it was keen to finalize a deal that would make legal its military presence in Iraq and prevent a halt to its operations when a UN mandate expires this week.

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Lawyers for detained rights activists called on Monday for Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe’s government to be charged with contempt as the country’s cholera death toll rose above 1,500.

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DECLASSIFIED: A 1978 memo described British defense as so outmoded, rusty and obsolete, it may have had to rely on fishing trawlers to fight Russia
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CRISIS MANAGER: Earlier this month, Barack Obama said the Middle East would be a top priority for his designated secretary of state, Senator Hillary Clinton
The intractable Israeli-Palestinian conflict has thrust its way to the forefront of the mountain of challenges awaiting US president-elect Barack Obama when he takes office in three weeks.

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Israel has said the aim of the past three days of intense bombing in Gaza is to stop rockets being fired by Palestinian militants into southern Israeli towns. To reduce the rocket fire, Israeli military analysts argue, is a modest goal. However, even within Israel there remain sharp differences of opinion about how to achieve that.

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The family house was small: three rooms, a tiny kitchen and bathroom, built of poor-quality concrete bricks with a corrugated asbestos roof, in block four of the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza. There are hundreds of similar homes crammed into the narrow streets, filled with some of the poorest and most vulnerable families in the overcrowded Gaza Strip.

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Outside his rustic home in Veliko Krcmare, in the heart of Serbia, a villager stops chopping wood to say he’s convinced of the innocence of his uncle, Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

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UNCLEAR PATH: One of the world’s last communist strongholds, Cuba now faces uncertain ‘structural reforms’ promised by President Raul Castro after he took over
Cuba celebrates the 50th anniversary tomorrow of its communist revolution, which ushered in decades of enmity with the US, fueling one of the world’s most enduring and defining geopolitical dramas.

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■HONG KONG

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