Ex-aide claims Taliban chief behind Bhutto assassination

A close aide to Pakistan’s Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud said he is breaking ties with him and confirmed reports that Mehsud was behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Qari Turkestan Bhitaini, a self-proclaimed right-hand man of Mehsud, said Mehsud was behind the December 27, 2007, assassination of Bhutto, Pakistan’s Express TV reported. Bhitaini said he is breaking ties with Mehsud because he blames the Taliban chief for killing scores of innocent Muslims in recent attacks in Lahore

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Robert Baer: Don’t Forget Mousavi’s Bloody Past

Before we go too far down the road cheering the forces of Iranian democracy, let’s not forget that its public face, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, has American blood on his hands. He was Iran’s Prime Minister during most of the 1980s, a time when the country was waging a terrorist campaign against the U.S

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Labour Pains: Gordon Brown is Running Out of Time

It was billed as tragedy — an insurrection that would topple the Labour Party’s flawed hero, Gordon Brown — but it played out like a Marx Brothers farce. The June 8 meeting that would determine Brown’s fate attracted so many Labour MPs and members of the House of Lords that a House of Commons committee room quickly filled to capacity. And still they came, squeezing their way into the mass of bodies politic.

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Woods wins at U.S. Open warm up

Woods broke away from a four-way tie for the lead Sunday at the Memorial with birdies on his final two holes, the last one a 7-iron that stopped a foot away from the cup for a 7-under 65 and a one-shot victory over Jim Furyk. The “March 14” coalition won 71 seats in Lebanon’s parliament, while the Hezbollah-dominated “March 8” alliance won the remaining 57 seats, Lebanese Interior Minister Ziad Baroud announced. Saad Hariri, the leader of the Sunni-dominated March 14 bloc, gave a victory speech Monday after the polls closed but hours before the official results were released

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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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Center-right make gains amid EU vote apathy

Voters endorsed parties of the center-right in elections for the 736 seats of the European Parliament in the midst of a record low turnout, officials figures showed on Monday. Only 43 percent of the 375 million people eligible to vote in 27 countries visited the polls, according to European Parliament figures, continuing a fall in interest since elections for MEPs were first held 30 years ago

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Hezbollah choice at center of Lebanon vote

Lebanon goes to the polls on Sunday with the main choices a Hezbollah-backed alliance or the U.S-backed coalition to lead their government. U.S. President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo, Egypt, on Wednesday came at a critical time for Lebanon as it sits amid a power struggle between a weakened pro-Western government and a stronger pro-Syrian Hezbollah political bloc that has gained political momentum in recent years.

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