Witnesses describe violence in Iran as protesters stand firm

Defying threats of arrest or worse, witnesses to protests in Iran are managing to leak reports of violence after the country’s disputed presidential elections. “Censoring is very bad here and they have reduced Internet speed,” two Iranians said to a friend outside the country. The pair wanted to broadcast images of damage and casualties after a reported attack on a dorm at the University of Tehran

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African couples urged to get HIV ‘love test’

Couples in the African kingdom of Swaziland are being urged to get tested together as part of a HIV "love test" campaign. The nationwide initiative — funded by the United States government and implemented by global charity ‘Population Services International’ (PSI) — is aimed at couples because tests can be useless if partners are not aware of the others’ HIV status. “If partners get tested separately, they may not disclose the results and not get the support they need,” Dominic McNeill, spokesman for PSI Swaziland, told CNN.

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Ayatullah Ali Khamenei: Iran’s Supreme Leader

Observers with a working knowledge of Iranian politics have largely been able to shrug off President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s bluster and bullying, knowing the diminutive President must still answer to a far more powerful figure: Supreme Leader Ayatullah Ali Khamenei. Since 1989, the shadowy cleric — a former president himself — has sat at the apex of Iran’s complex hierarchy as the final word in all political and religious matters.

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More Trouble in West Africa’s Narco State

Some were actually hoping the wretched west African nation of Guinea-Bissau might have a fresh start this summer. In March, both the country’s dictatorial President, Joao Bernardo Vieira, and its mighty army chief Tagme Na Waie were assassinated, creating something of a clean slate, a chance for the country to start anew with a presidential election scheduled for June 28.

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Who’s Fighting Who in Iran’s Struggle?

We’re told that a young and restless Facebook generation has arisen in Iran, text-messaging and Twittering away at the fabric of a conservative clerical rule that it is no longer willing to accept. Ranged against it are the dogged defenders of a decrepit regime that has outlived its purpose, surviving only through brute force and its ability to convince the unsophisticated, mostly rural poor folk in their ragged suits and black chadors that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is their champion against corrupt politicians and the treacherous intellectuals and amoral rich kids who support them. Obviously these are stereotypes — and highly misleading ones at that

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