Thai anti-government protesters picket summit

Hundreds of anti-government protesters amassed outside a hotel hosting a major Asian summit as they continued their demand Friday for Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down. Some of the protesters and police engaged in shoving and shouting matches outside the Royal Cliff Beach Hotel in the beach resort city of Pattaya. But the demonstrations have been without incident otherwise.

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Obama in Europe: His Four Biggest Challenges

A European vacation it is not. Over the next week, President Barack Obama will board his plane anew nearly every day so that he can attend individual meetings with at least 17 political leaders from 11 nations, and appear at summits and forums in five countries to discuss international economic recovery, national security, cyber threats and global warming. He will have tea with a Queen , a private chat with a King , and convene a round table with students

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The ‘Post-Intelligencer’ Is Dead; Will Seattle News Live On?

The buzz on Monday afternoon in the newsroom of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer was not the usual cacophony of clacking keys, phone interviews and news meetings. Instead, it was the sound of reporters putting to bed their final stories, sifting through receipts to prepare their final expense reports, feeding years of reporting notes into an industrial-size shredding bin and tidying away the mementos of their P-I careers in cardboard boxes

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UK lawmakers aim to ‘force’ Hamas talks

A group of British politicians is trying to force the government in London to talk to Hamas, the militant Palestinian movement considered a terrorist organization by the United Kingdom, one of the politicians told CNN. Baroness Jenny Tonge, a member of the House of Lords, met the political leader of Hamas, Khaled Meshaal, in Syria along with other British politicians on Saturday, she said.

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UK lawmakers meet with militant groups

At least three British lawmakers have been holding unofficial meetings with militant groups in the Middle East for the past two years, one of the legislators told CNN Thursday. The lawmakers met high-ranking officials from Hezbollah and Hamas, said Michael Ancram, one of the legislators involved. The British government officially considers both Hezbollah and Hamas to be terrorist organizations, as does the United States.

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Iran attacks Hollywood over movie ‘insults’

Hollywood should apologize to Iran for "insults and accusations against the Iranian nation," a top aide to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a visiting Hollywood delegation Sunday. Oscar-nominated “American Beauty” star Annette Bening was among the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to hear the remarks, Iran’s state-run ISNA news agency said. “Representatives of Iran’s film industry should only have an official meeting with representatives of the Academy and Hollywood if they apologize for the insults and accusations against the Iranian nation during the past 30 years,” said Javad Shamghadri, Ahmadinejad’s advisor on the arts, ISNA reported.

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World’s richest countries pledge to fix economy

The world’s richest countries committed to "any further action that may prove necessary" to restore confidence in the global financial system, their finance ministers said as they wrapped up a two-day meeting in Rome. The Group of Seven finance ministers also urged countries not to close their markets to goods and services from abroad. “An open system of global trade and investment is indispensable for global prosperity,” they said in a statement at the end of their meeting Saturday.

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