Moscow
Presidential election not free: The only Western monitoring group to observe Russia’s presidential election this week has pronounced it neither free nor fair. Andreas Gross, head of a delegation from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human-rights organization, said the landslide victory of Dmitri Medvedev was a foregone conclusion. Medvedev was the man President Vladimir Putin handpicked to succeed him. The media were heavily biased toward him, and all but a few fringe opposition candidates were banned from running. “Russia’s new political system, born in 1989, is now in a state of degradation and has been thrown back to Soviet times,” said Andrei Buzin of the Russian monitoring group Golos. Medvedev, who will be inaugurated in May, says he will appoint Putin prime minister.
Dobley, Somalia
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U.S. strikes at terrorists: The U.S. this week bombed a house in southern Somalia in which suspected Islamic terrorists were believed to be hiding. At least six people were wounded, but it was unclear whether any of the Islamist militants accused of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were among them. The militants, senior al Qaida associates, are believed to use Somalia as a base. The missile strike was at least the fourth U.S. attack inside Somalia since Ethiopian troops ousted an Islamic movement from the capital, Mogadishu, in December 2006. African analysts have criticized the U.S. for focusing on the terrorists instead of on nation-building. The U.S. is taking “a whack-a-mole approach to hunting for three al Qaida operatives,” said Kenya-based analyst Matt Bryden.
Nairobi, Kenya
Rivals agree to share power: After months of conflict over a disputed presidential election, Kenya’s top two political leaders have agreed to share power. Mwai Kibaki will remain president, while Raila Odinga, who says he was the true winner of the December election, agreed to accept the newly created position of prime minister. “Better half a loaf than no bread,” said Odinga. The two men’s parties, which represent different tribes, will split up the key ministries and cooperate in governing. Both sides said international pressure—particularly from U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who visited Nairobi last month—pushed them to compromise. The U.S. gives Kenya about $500 million a year in aid.
Baghdad
Iranian leader in historic visit: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad pledged $1 billion for Iraq’s reconstruction during the first state visit by an Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic revolution. He said money from Iran, Iraq’s neighbor, would be more welcome than money from the U.S. “We believe the powers that came from overseas, thousands of miles away, must leave this region and leave the issues in the hands of the locals,” he said. Ahmadinejad also bragged of the contrast between his own visit to Iraq, which was publicly announced ahead of time, and those of President Bush, which are kept secret for security reasons.
Tokyo
AIDS activist marries: A Japanese member of parliament who is one of the country’s most prominent AIDS activists announced this week that he has gotten married. Ryuhei Kawada, 32, is a hemophiliac who became infected with HIV in the 1980s by receiving a transfusion of tainted blood. At age 19, he became the first Japanese person to come forward under his real name to sue the government over the tainted blood, which infected nearly 1,500 people. He won a seat in parliament last year. “I never thought that I would live long,” Kawada said, standing next to his bride, a TV journalist, at a press conference. “But now for the first time in my life, I want to live long.”
Tehran
More sanctions on Iran: Iran reacted defiantly to new U.N. sanctions imposed on it this week over its refusal to stop enriching uranium, a process that can lead to nuclear bombs. The U.N. Security Council resolution, the third one authorizing sanctions on Iran, mandates inspections of cargo to and from Iran, tightens financial restrictions, and extends travel bans on Iranians suspected of working for the nuclear program. “This resolution is worthless and unacceptable,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini. “It has been issued based on political motivations and a biased approach.” The new resolution came just as the International Atomic Energy Agency began investigating newly disclosed intelligence that says Iran had procured blueprints for making nuclear missiles.
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