BANGKOK – Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva held talks with protest leaders yesterday in an effort to defuse growing tension and avert possible confrontation after protesters intensified their drive to topple the government.
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FALLUJA, Iraq – A series of explosions in western Iraq killed six people yesterday, including an official of a political faction in former Prime Minister Iyad Allawi’s electoral coalition, police said.
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JERUSALEM – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected yesterday a description of President Barack Obama as Israel’s “greatest disaster”, a phrase a best-selling newspaper attributed to an anonymous confidant of the premier.
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OTTAWA – Canada will press the Group of Eight leading industrialized nations to tighten United Nations sanctions on Iran when it hosts a meeting of foreign ministers from the grouping today and tomorrow.
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ROME – Graft scandals and bureaucratic bungling by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s party appeared to put a damper on turnout, which could favour the opposition, as Italians voted yesterday in regional elections.
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WASHINGTON – Powerful groups in the United States appear to be blocking efforts to stem the flow of assault weapons fueling Mexico’s drug war, Mexican President Felipe Calderon said in an interview broadcast yesterday.
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ISLAMABAD – Buoyant U.S.-Pakistani relations are being underpinned by converging interests over Afghanistan but strains could emerge if Pakistan’s expectations for U.S. help are not met and it feels it is being used.