1. EGYPT HOLDS FIRST FREE ELECTION
Fifteen months after Hosni Mubarak was ousted in the Arab Spring, Egyptians are voting in their country's first-ever democratic presidential election Wednesday. The 12 candidates include revolutionaries, ministers from the Mubarak government, Islamists, and secularists; it's unlikely a single candidate will get more than half of the vote, so a run-off between the top two, to be held in June, will likely be necessary. The military council took control of the country in early 2011 and has pledged that the elections will be fair and orderly, but there is concern about the transition of power from the generals to the election winner. [BBC]
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2. WORLD POWERS BEGIN NUCLEAR TALKS WITH IRAN
In Baghdad, representatives from six world powers — the U.S., China, Russia, Germany, France, and Britain — began a new round of nuclear talks with Iran on Wednesday. The six-nation bloc aims to draft a detailed proposal outlining how Iran will demonstrate that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes. Iran is expected to face heavy pressure to accept the proposal to avoid a military confrontation. The talks come one day after the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said the organization was close to making a deal with Tehran to allow U.N. inspectors to visit Iran's most secretive nuclear sites. [Washington Post]
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3. MORGAN STANLEY IN HOT WATER OVER FACEBOOK IPO
Facebook's Wall Street debut was supposed to be a "crowning achievement" for Morgan Stanley, but, as shares of the social network continue to slide, the financial giant is being blamed and investigated. Big investors and rival banks says Morgan Stanley set the Facebook stock price too high and sold too many shares. The financial giant has also been subpoenaed by the Massachusetts secretary of state over concerns that information about Facebook's offering was only shared with select clients instead of broadly among potential investors. [New York Times]
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4. AID WORKERS KIDNAPPED IN AFGHANISTAN
Authorities say two women and three men working for the aid organization Medair were kidnapped in a remote area of Afghanistan this week. The workers were helping to bring food to children and pregnant women in the remote and mountainous region when they were abducted. An investigation is ongoing; the kidnappers have yet to contact the government or the aid group about their demands. [CNN]
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5. PILOT DIVERTS US AIRWAYS FLIGHT
A US Airways flight from Paris to Charlotte, N.C., was diverted to Maine on Tuesday after a female passenger began acting strangely and claimed to have a device implanted in her body. Doctors aboard the flight found no signs of a recent surgery on the women, and she made no mention of a bomb. A federal law enforcement source says she posed "basically no threat," and will likely now be psychologically evaluated. [CNN]
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6. GOOGLE COMPLETES MOTOROLA DEAL
After getting approval from the U.S., E.U., and China, Google has finally closed the deal and acquired Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The deal gives Google a number of useful patents and its own hardware company. It's being called the "most expensive and riskiest acquisition in [the company's] 14-year history." Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has been replaced by Dennis Woodside, a top Google exec. [Associated Press]
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7. OBAMA'S LEAD OVER ROMNEY NARROWS
A new NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll shows that President Obama still holds a small lead — 47 to 43 percent — over Mitt Romney, but that lead is narrowing. "This is a dead-even race," says Peter D. Hart, a Democratic pollster who worked on this latest survey. [MSNBC]
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8. DONALD DRIVER WINS DANCING WITH THE STARS
Donald Driver, the Green Bay Packers' 37-year-old star receiver, was crowned the winner of Dancing With the Stars on Tuesday night. Driver earned a perfect score for doing a shirtless cha-cha with pro partner Peta Murgatroyd. [USA Today]
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9. TV REMOTE CONTROL INVENTOR DIES
The electronics engineer who bestowed the first wireless TV remote control on the world died earlier this week. Eugene J. Polley was 96. He worked for Zenith Electronics for 47 years and had lived in Chicago his entire life. [Washington Post]
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10. GREAT GATSBY TRAILER DEBUTS
The first trailer for Baz Luhrmann's 3D adaptation of The Great Gatsby has been released. It opens with shots of 1920s excess set to Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild." Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, and Carey Mulligan star. [Los Angeles Times]
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