World News

President Barack Obama speaks on health care reform, Monday, March 15, 2010, in Strongsville, Ohio.

photo: AP / Mark Duncan

Obama kicks off what may be final healthcare push
read more The Star

STRONGSVILLE, Ohio (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Monday delivered an emotional closing argument for his healthcare plan, kicking off a week he hopes will end with a conclusive vote in Congress after a year of debate. U.S. President Barack Obama delivers remarks on health insurance reform at Walter F. Ehrnfelt Recreation and Senior...

Russia's ruling United Russia party hold a rally in Moscow, Monday, March 15, 2010, to mark the party's victory in regional elections.

photo: AP / Ivan Sekretarev

Kremlin Sweeps Regional Elections
read more The New York Times

MOSCOW — The pro-Kremlin party, United Russia, has again dominated regional elections, according to preliminary results released Monday, though opposition parties have made slight gains in a vote that has been seen as a test of President Dmitri A. Medvedev’s call for greater political plurality in Russia. Voters chose new legislatures...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, left, embraces Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their meeting at Netanyahu's office in Jerusalem, Monday, March 15, 2010.

photo: AP / Gil Cohen Magen, Pool

Lula takes on regional peace with Israel visit
read more Gulf News

Occupied Jerusalem: Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva began a Middle East trip in occupied Jerusalem by saying he wants to promote regional peace, after expressing concerns last week that Israel may attack Iran over its nuclear programme. "We came here to talk about peace, but we also came here to strengthen our ties...

Somali government soldiers cross a street during heavy fighting with the Islamist insurgents in northern Mogadishu, Somalia, Thursday, March 11, 2010.

photo: AP / Farah Abdi Warsameh

Somali Government Signs Deal With Powerful Militia
read more The New York Times

Filed at 1:44 p.m. ET MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) -- Somalia's government signed an agreement with a powerful militia on Monday that offers high-level militants senior government positions in return for their military support during a long-planned offensive against an Islamist insurgency. The agreement gave the Ahlu-sunah Wal-jamea militia five...

File - In this photograph provided by Sri Lankan President's office, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, left, shakes hands with Sri Lankan Army commander Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka during a visit to newly liberated areas from Tamil Tiger rebels in Killinochchi, about 240 kilometers (150 miles) north of capital Colombo, Sri Lanka, Thursday, April 16, 2009.

photo: AP / President's Office, Sudath Silva

Sri Lanka ex-judge criticises Fonseka court martial
read more BBC News

Sri Lanka's ex-chief justice has criticised plans to put the former presidential candidate, General Sarath Fonseka, on military trial. Sarath Silva, who retired in June and has since come out as a supporter of Gen Fonseka, said his imminent court martial was unconstitutional. He said it should not be held as Gen Fonseka, in his view, was...

USS Wisconsin, shown moored in Norfolk, Virginia, is one of three Iowa-class battleships open to the public as museums, and was one of two maintained in the US Mothball fleet for potential reactivation.

photo: Creative Commons / TomStar81

US, Russia account for half of world arms sales: Report
read more Zeenews

Stockholm: The US and Russia jointly accounted for more than half of global arms sales between 2005 and 2009, according to a report Monday by a Sweden-based research institute. The volume of world arms sales increased by 22 percent in the five-year period when compared to 2000-2004, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said....

Nobel Peace Prize Winner, the fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet addressing during Tibetan National Uprising Day, Dharamshala, India

photo: WN / Yeshe Choesang

The Long Marches: Can Communism and Buddhism Unite?
read more WorldNews.com

Article by WorldNews.com Correspondent Dallas Darling. Recently, when the Dalai Lama accused Chinese authorities of trying to "annihilate Buddhism" in Tibet, it was reminiscent of when Jiang Jieshi's Nationalist troops and armed gangs moved into Shanghai in 1927 and massacred Communist leaders and trade unionists. Once Nationalist forces seized...

A supporter of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra holds a Thai flag during a protest on Sunday, March 14, 2010 in Bangkok Thailand.

photo: AP / Toon Akkanibut

Thai prime minister rejects demand to dissolve parliament
read more The Guardian

Abhisit Vejjajiva ignores call from thousands of red-shirted Thaksin Shinawatra supporters in Bangkok A red-shirted supporter of deposed Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra uses binoculars to look at soldiers guarding a military barracks during an anti-government protest in Bangkok. Photograph: Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP/Getty Images...

Iraqi security forces inspect the scene of a car bomb attack in Fallujah, about 40 miles (65 kilometers) west of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, March 15, 2010.

photo: AP / Bilal Fawzi

Suicide bomber kills seven in west Iraq
read more Khaleej Times

A suicide bomber detonated his explosives among a group of labourers in the former Sunni rebel bastion of Fallujah, killing seven people,...

File - A family has constructed a makeshift shelter in the area of Shangel Tubaya, Sudan, after migrating from their village in Darfur where fighting is ongoing, 26 January, 2010.

photo: UN / Albert Gonzalez Farran

Darfur rebel row jeopardises Sudan peace deal
read more BBC News

A row between Darfur rebel groups has thrown into doubt a peace deal between the rebels and Sudan's government. One rebel group signed a preliminary deal last month, and a final agreement was due to be completed on 15 March. But the BBC's correspondent in Khartoum says talks have stalled as another rebel faction pursues separate talks. The...