MINSK – Police in Belarus beat demonstrators with batons and rounded up opposition leaders in a violent crackdown after an election yesterday that was certain to return President Alexander Lukashenko for a fourth term.
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JERUSALEM – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said yesterday his government would pursue Middle East peace efforts despite the collapse of U.S.-brokered direct negotiations with the Palestinians.
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BAGHDAD – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is expected to reveal his new cabinet today, ending a nine month political vacuum as investors seek stability to rebuild Iraq after years of war.
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KABUL/KUNDUZ, Afghanistan – Taliban insurgents attacked Kabul and a major city in the north yesterday as the toll for foreign troops killed in 2010 passed 700, nearly a third of the total killed in over nine years of war.
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ISLAMABAD – Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao lauded yesterday Pakistan’s efforts to battle al Qaeda, just days after the United States said its ally could do more to crack down on militants, especially along the Afghan border.
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WASHINGTON – Democrats moved yesterday to bring President Barack Obama’s strategic nuclear arms treaty with Russia to a final vote in the U.S. Senate this week but rising Republican anger over partisanship threatened to derail the accord.
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KHARTOUM – Sudan will adopt an Islamic constitution if the south splits away in a referendum next month, President Omar Hassan al-Bashir said yesterday.
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LONDON – Europe saw little respite yesterday from the Arctic conditions that closed airports and disrupted travel over the weekend before Christmas, traditionally one of the busiest times of the year.
