BAGHDAD – Iraq election winner Iyad Allawi said yesterday he was open to alliances with any faction and wanted quickly to form a government that would build strong relationships with its regional neighbours.
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GAZA – Israeli troops and tanks left the Gaza Strip ysterday, witnesses said, after the bloodiest clash in the Hamas-ruled enclave in 14 months killed two soldiers and a Palestinian.
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BAENGNYEONGDO – South Korea yesterday all but ruled out the chance that North Korea was involved in the sinking of one of its navy vessels near their disputed border.
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SAO PAULO – Sao Paulo state governor Jose Serra, the main opposition candidate in Brazil’s presidential election in October, widened his lead over the ruling party contender as his popularity grew among poor voters and women, pollster Datafolha said yesterday.
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CAIRO – President Hosni Mubarak returned to Egypt yesterday, landing in Sharm El Sheikh where he will reassume presidential powers while recovering from gallbladder surgery in Germany, state television showed.
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BERLIN – Differences over Iran and Turkey’s bid to join the European Union will dominate talks when German Chancellor Angela Merkel visits Turkey tomorrow.
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WASHINGTON – U.S. President Barack Obama yesterday announced his plan to make 15 recess appointments held up by Republican delays, including two Treasury Department positions and two on the National Labor Relations Board that have been vacant for more than a year.
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BANGKOK – Thousands of Thai protesters surrounded the office of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday, raising fears of a confrontation after repeated threats to expel troops guarding Bangkok’s old city.
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TAIPEI – China has added long-range missiles near Taiwan and leads the self-ruled island in military defences, a U.S. navy official said, suggesting that Taiwan may need new F-16 jet fighters.
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WARSAW – Poland’s ruling Civic Platform named parliament speaker Bronislaw Komorowski as its candidate for president yesterday, with polls showing he is likely to defeat the incumbent conservative President Lech Kaczynski.
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NAYPYITAW, Myanmar – The leader of Myanmar’s military junta yesterday warned against foreign meddling in upcoming elections and said “divisive acts” could spark anarchy and derail the transition to democracy.
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KINSHASA – Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebels killed at least 290, and maybe more than 300 people in Congo in a previously unreported massacre in December 2009, U.N. officials told Reuters yesterday.
