Tsvangirai’s party boycotting Zimbabwe government

Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change — the party of Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai — is boycotting the country’s unity government, the party’s leader said Friday. “This is a constitutional crisis,” said Tsvangirai as he railed against President Robert Mugabe’s party.

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Western nations urge Japan to sign child abduction treaty

The ambassadors of eight Western nations urged Japan on Friday to consider signing The Hague Convention on international child abduction. The meeting came as an American Christopher Savoie, jailed for allegedly wresting his two children away from his ex-wife, was released by Japanese authorities and was on his way home to Tennessee.

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Italy denies report it ‘paid off’ Taliban to protect its troops

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi denied Thursday that payments to the Taliban in Afghanistan were authorized to protect Italian soldiers deployed there. The accusation, published by the London Times, is “baseless,” his office said in a written statement

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Israel to protest TV show to Turkish envoy

Israeli officials are seeking a meeting with Turkey’s ambassador to protest a show on Turkish television that reportedly depicts Israeli soldiers murdering Palestinian children. Turkey has been Israel’s strongest Muslim ally in the Middle East, and the move comes as relations between the countries have soured in recent days over the latter’s decision to exclude Israel from scheduled military exercises

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Turkey-Israel Relations Sour Further After War-Games Snub

In the cauldron of Middle East politics, the unlikely alliance between Turkey and Israel often stood out. Seemingly impervious to Arab opposition and the tracts of disputed land lying between them, the two countries had over the past decade traded intelligence, struck billion-dollar arms deals and hosted each other’s militaries for training sessions

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UK to send 500 more troops to Afghanistan

Prime Minister Gordon Brown is increasing British troop levels in Afghanistan to 9,500 — an increase of 500, he announced Wednesday. “We will now move further and faster with our strategy” of training Afghan forces to take responsibility for the country’s security, he said.

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Bomber who tried to kill Thatcher faces Parliament

The man jailed for trying to kill British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in a hotel bombing in 1984 appeared in Parliament Tuesday with the daughter of one of his victims. Patrick Magee, a former Irish Republican Army activist, held a public discussion with Jo Berry, whose father died in the bombing in Brighton, southern England 25 years ago Monday.

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