Bongo not dead, Gabon’s PM says

Gabon’s President Omar Bongo, Africa’s longest-serving ruler, is not dead, the country’s prime minister said Monday, contradicting reports from Gabonese and French media. Prime Minister Jean Eyeghe Ndong “deplored” French media reports that Bongo had died, saying he had met the president Monday morning.

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The 5 Big Health-Care Dilemmas

Max Baucus, the Senate’s point man on health care, sounds supremely confident when he talks about the odds that Congress will pass its most sweeping piece of social legislation since the New Deal. “Meaningful, comprehensive health-care legislation passes this year. That’s a given,” he declares, sipping a bottle of water in his functionally furnished hideaway office just steps from the Senate chamber

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Obama leaves door open to Bush officials’ prosecution

President Obama on Tuesday left open the possibility of criminal prosecution for Bush administration officials who drew up the legal basis for interrogation techniques that many view as torture. Obama said it will be up to Attorney General Eric Holder to decide whether or not to prosecute the former officials. “With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that is going to be more a decision for the attorney general within the parameter of various laws, and I don’t want to prejudge that,” Obama said during a meeting with Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House.

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Colombian father accused of decades-long incest, rape

A central Colombian farm worker has been accused of raping his daughter for decades and fathering eight children with her. White House and GM sources had told CNN Sunday that Wagoner would resign as part of the federal government’s bailout strategy for the troubled automaker. “On Friday I was in Washington for a meeting with Administration officials.

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Japan: GDP shrinks 12.1 percent in fourth quarter

Japan’s economy shrank more than 12 percent last quarter, the government said on Thursday, in another sign of how severely the global economic downturn has affected the world’s second-largest economy. “It has been a core belief of ours that every nation must not only live by, but help shape global rules that will determine whether people enjoy the right to live freely and participate to the fullest in their societies,” she said after a meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, adding the United States itself “must continually strive to live up to our own ideals.” Both of them discussed China’s human rights record and situation in Tibet on the 50th anniversary of Tibet’s national uprising

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Clinton warns of Iranian threat to Europe, Russia

Iran poses a threat to Europe and Russia, both from Tehran’s direct efforts and its support of terrorist groups, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday. The Tehran government is intent on interfering in the Middle East, she told reporters aboard her flight to Brussels from the region

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Pakistani woman watches Taliban take over town she loves

Gul Bibi and her three children fled the Taliban’s bloody interpretation of Islamic law in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, hoping one day to return. But now that the Pakistani government has recognized Taliban rule in the region in exchange for a temporary cease-fire, she said those hopes have been dashed. She warned that the government’s deal with the Taliban will have worldwide implications

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