| Victorious French left reclaims the Bastille Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - Giddy revellers thronged Paris's Bastille square on Sunday as Socialist Francois Hollande swept to a presidential election victory, erupting into cheers and rejoicing not seen since the party's only other elected president won power 31 years ago. Tens of thousands of Hollande supporters gave a huge cry of joy as a giant screen showed him as victor, echoing the spontaneous street party in the same historic venue that followed Francois Mitterrand's 1981 election. ...
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| Analysis: Greek, French voters reject German-led austerity Posted:  BERLIN (Reuters) - Greek voters dealt a serious blow on Sunday to the fragile political consensus that has kept Europe's currency bloc intact through more than two years of crisis, rejecting the austerity-for-aid policies that have shielded the country from bankruptcy and a euro exit. Greece's vote, combined with the victory of Socialist Francois Hollande over incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy in a French presidential election, will raise pressure on Europe's paymaster Germany to pursue a more growth-oriented approach to the crisis. ...
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| Socialist Hollande ousts Sarkozy as French leader Posted:  PARIS (Reuters) - Socialist Francois Hollande swept to victory in France's presidential election on Sunday in a swing to the left at the heart of Europe and promised to start a pushback against German-led austerity policies. Hollande led conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy by 51.3 percent to 48.7 percent with 83 percent of votes counted, the Interior Ministry said, bringing the centre-left back to government in Paris after a decade in opposition. "Europe is watching us," the president-elect said in a victory speech in his constituency of Tulle in central France. ...
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| Putin to be sworn in as president of divided Russia Posted:  MOSCOW (Reuters) - Vladimir Putin will be sworn in as Russia's president at a glittering ceremony on Monday, hours after clashes between police and protesters laid bare the deep divisions over his return to the Kremlin for six more years. The former KGB spy will take his oath before nearly 2,000 guests in the Kremlin's St Andrew Hall, the former throne room with sparkling chandeliers, gilded pillars and high Gothic vaults, before being blessed by the head of the Russian Orthodox Church and taking charge of the nuclear suitcase. ...
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| Angry Greeks reject bailout, risk euro exit Posted:  ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek voters enraged by economic hardship caused by the terms of an international bailout turned on ruling parties in an election on Sunday, putting the country's future in the euro zone at risk and threatening to revive Europe's debt crisis. The latest official results, with over 61 percent of the vote counted, showed the only two major parties supporting an EU/IMF program that keeps Greece from bankruptcy would be hard pressed to form a lasting coalition. ...
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| Netanyahu seeks September Israel election Posted:  TEL AVIV (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said he supported holding an early general election in four months' time, a ballot polls say could strengthen his hand as Israel confronts Iran's nuclear ambitions. The next national vote was not due until October 2013, but new legislation that might force ultra-Orthodox Jews to serve in the military and an upcoming budget debate have threatened to unravel a governing coalition of religious and nationalist parties once seen as one of the most stable in Israel's history. ...
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| Heavy fighting rocks eastern Syria ahead of poll Posted:  AMMAN (Reuters) - Fighting between rebels and President Bashar al-Assad's forces erupted in an oil producing province in eastern Syria, residents and activists said on Sunday, the eve of a parliamentary election the authorities say shows reforms are under way. Rebels armed with rocket-propelled grenades attacked tank positions in the east of the provincial capital Deir al-Zor, in response to an army offensive against towns and villages in the tribal area bordering Iraq that has killed tens of people and stopped others reaching supplies and medical care, they said. ...
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| Serbian right tied for power with liberals Posted:  BELGRADE (Reuters) - Serbia's ruling liberals and right-wing opposition were tied for control of the Balkan country on Sunday after knife-edge elections in which the party of late Serb strongman Slobodan Milosevic emerged as kingmaker. The opposition Serbian Progressive Party (SNS), led by former ultranationalist allies of Milosevic, claimed the narrowest of victories in the parliamentary election over the ruling Democratic Party, playing to voter anger over economic stagnation. The SNS said it would open coalition talks without delay. ...
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| Chinese tropical city highlights national income disparity Posted:  SANYA, China (Reuters) - A central government plan to create a high end tourist industry on the tropical Hainan island has delivered a much-anticipated surge in economic growth, but it has also widened the wealth gap between rich and poor that Beijing was trying to close. Money has poured into prime seafront property to build five-star hotels, lush golf courses and marinas for private yachts, generating an investment-led boom that has seen the island's economy grow an average 35 percent faster than the rest of the country in the three years since the government campaign began. But, for the 8. ...
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| Suspected U.S. drone kills two Yemeni al Qaeda men Posted: ADEN, Yemen (Reuters) - Two Yemeni members of al Qaeda were killed by a missile strike on their car on Sunday, in what residents and the al Qaeda-linked Ansar al-Sharia group described as a U.S. drone attack. The Yemeni government called the attack an air strike. Washington and Yemen do not acknowledge U.S. drone attacks on militants in the country, which have taken place regularly for years. Yemen's branch of al Qaeda has plotted abortive overseas attacks and is a major concern for Washington, which is waging an assassination campaign against suspected members using drone and missile strikes. ... |
| Hollande defeats Sarkozy in French presidency vote Posted:  Socialist Francois Hollande defeated conservative incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy on Sunday to become France's next president, heralding a change in how Europe tackles its debt crisis and how France flexes its military and diplomatic muscle around the world.
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| Greek parties vow bailout changes as votes come in Posted:  Greeks angered by a vicious and protracted financial crisis punished the parties that have dominated politics for decades Sunday, with projected election results showing them hemorrhaging support to anti-bailout groups and no party gaining enough ballots to form a government.
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| Runoff expected in Serbian presidential race Posted:  A pro-European Union candidate and a nationalist opponent are headed for a runoff in Serbia's presidential elections, while the ruling pro-Western party is likely to form the next coalition government, independent pollsters said Sunday.
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| Airstrike kills senior al-Qaida leader in Yemen Posted:  An airstrike Sunday killed a top al-Qaida leader on the FBI's most wanted list for his role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole warship, Yemeni officials said. The airstrike resembled earlier U.S. drone attacks, but the U.S. did not immediately confirm it.
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| Turkish premier: Syrian regime weaker every day Posted:  President Bashar Assad's grip on Syria is getting weaker by the day and "victory is close," Turkey's prime minister said Sunday in an address to thousands of cheering Syrians who fled a brutal crackdown on an anti-regime uprising.
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| Afghan soldier fires on NATO troops, killing 1 Posted: An Afghan soldier killed a NATO trooper before being shot to death in return fire Sunday in southern Afghanistan, the latest in a series of attacks against foreigners blamed on government forces within their own ranks. |
| Egypt parliament limits future military trials Posted:  Egypt's Islamist-dominated parliament on Sunday approved a ban on the country's next president from sending civilians for trial by military tribunals, but preserving that power for the military itself.
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| Georgia's patriarch baptizes 400 babies Posted:  The patriarch of the Georgian Orthodox Church presided over the baptism of hundreds of babies in a Tbilisi cathedral on Sunday as part of an effort credited with helping raise the birth rate in this former Soviet nation.
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| Sarkozy joins fallen leaders amid Europe crisis Posted:  Nicolas Sarkozy, defeated Sunday in France's presidential runoff by Socialist challenger Francois Hollande, joins a series of European leaders booted from office because of public anger over government spending cuts and economic crisis. Almost every crisis-hit European country that has held an election since disaster struck in 2009 has thrown out its leader.
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| What French election result means for US, world Posted:  French voters chose Socialist Francois Hollande as their new president Sunday in a race that will have implications for Europe's debt crisis, the Afghanistan war and global diplomacy.
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