BEIJING — Premier Wen Jiabao and other top Chinese leaders paid their respects Wednesday to North Korea’s late leader Kim Jong Il, a further sign that China is working to reassure Pyongyang of the strength of ties and retain its influence amid an uncertain leadership transition. Wen and four other members of the ruling Communist Party’s Politburo Standing Committee made a morning visit to the North Korean Embassy in Beijing to offer their condolences, the official Xinhua News Agency said. Read full article > >

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More top Chinese leaders mourn Kim Jong Il as Beijing seeks to reassure Pyongyang

MOSCOW — Russians voting in parliamentary elections apparently turned against the ruling United Russia party in large numbers Sunday, exit polls and early results suggested, to the great benefit of the Communist Party. In what only months ago would have been a nearly unimaginable scenario, the party dominated by Vladimir Putin was predicted to get less than 50 percent of the vote, while polling organizations put the Communists at about 20 percent, nearly double their count in the last election. Read full article > >

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Russia voters turn away from Putin party

ROME — With his nation swept up in a mounting debt crisis, Italy’s embattled Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was scrambling to shore up his political base ahead of a vote in Parliament later Tuesday that could expose just how much support he has lost within his ruling coalition and set the stage for a confidence vote on his government. Read full article > >

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Italy’s Berlusconi faces crucial vote amid mounting debt crisis

CAIRO — Egypt’s finance minister resigned Tuesday to protest the government’s handling of protests that left 26 dead, most of them Coptic Christian demonstrators, an aide to the minister said. Overnight, some 20,000 mourners chanted slogans denouncing the ruling military during a funeral procession overnight for 17 Christians killed in the protest on Sunday night in Cairo. They accused the army of bearing primary responsibility. Read full article > >

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Egyptian Cabinet minister resigns over government handling of Christian protester deaths

A large majority in Germany’s parliament approves new powers for the EU’s main bailout fund, despite opposition from some members of the ruling coalition.

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Germany approves EU bailout fund

South Africa’s High Court says the ruling ANC’s anti-apartheid anthem constitutes “hate speech”, in a case against youth leader Julius Malema.

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ANC struggle song ‘hate speech’

Law enforcement officials are dismayed by the prospect of prisoners being released early, while budget cutters dislike the fiscal implications of the ruling.

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Ruling Raises Stakes in California’s Fiscal Crisis

Chinese media regulators suspend spy and police shows from television ahead of the ruling Communist party’s 90th anniversary.

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China regulators suspend crime TV

Preliminary parliamentary poll results revealing big losses for the ruling party show Nigeria “has changed”, an analyst tells the BBC.

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Elections ‘have changed Nigeria’

Protesters in Bahrain demanding that the ruling family step down say they are being targeted with death threats, reports the BBC’s Bill Law.

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Bahrain protesters ‘face threats’

Judge Roger Vinson may have slapped the Obama administration down with his ruling that health-care reform is unconstitutional, but he’s giving them a chance to respond. Vinson issued a stay of his ruling on Thursday, giving the Department of Justice…

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Judge Stays Ruling on Health Care

A leading tribal figure in Yemen announced his resignation from the ruling party, signaling a major blow to the embattled leadership of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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Tribal Leader’s Resignation Is Blow to Yemeni President

Prime Minister Brian Cowen of the ruling party, Fianna Fail, is seen as a symbol of Ireland’s fall from prosperity to ruin.

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Election Defeat Predicted for Ireland’s Ruling Party

Vietnam’s prime minister keeps his job and is joined by two others in a leading trio, as the ruling Communist Party closes its five-yearly Congress.

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Vietnam confirms new leadership

Irish prime minister Brian Cowen wins a confidence vote in his leadership of the ruling Fianna Fail party.

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Brian Cowen wins confidence vote