By David D. Kirkpatrick and Alan Cowell | The New York Times
After weeks of fevered debate, speculation and argument, Egyptians went to the polls on Wednesday in the Arab world’s first competitive presidential election, choosing between a dozen candidates spanning the nation’s secular and Islamist traditions after decades of authoritarian rule.
By Steven Erlanger | The New York Times
Negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program resumed on Wednesday, a day after Tehran signaled willingness to allow inspections of its secret military facilities.
By Sergei L. Loiko | Los Angeles Times
Stiff new penalties aimed at opposition protesters were given preliminary approval Tuesday by Russian lawmakers loyal to President Vladimir Putin, the target of mass rallies and demonstrations before his March election victory.
By Will Englund | The Washington Post
With Russia in a state of political ferment for the first time in more than a decade, a new poll has found sharply expressed and seemingly contradictory opinions holding sway.
By Tristan McConnell | Global Post
Renewed fighting between the Congolese army and rebels has erupted in mountainous eastern Congo, creating a new flood of civilian refugees.
Agence France-Presse
Supporters of Mali's coup leader dealt a fresh blow to a return to democratic rule by saying they had chosen him to head an interim government, defying a deal mediated by regional leaders at the weekend.
By Taha Siddiqui | The Christian Science Monitor
An assistant to the Prime Minister says the country will show flexibility on the issue after NATO clearly expressed its displeasure in Chicago.
By Ibrahim Shinwari and Jibran Ahmad | Reuters
A Pakistani doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden has been jailed for 33 years for treason, officials said, a move likely to deepen strains in ties between Washington and Islamabad.
By John Paul Schnapper-Casteras | World Politics Review
The U.S.-Afghan strategic partnership agreement that President Barack Obama recently signed in Kabul with Afghan President Hamid Karzai is noteworthy for the lessons it draws from similar agreements with Iraq and other countries, as well as for the pitfalls it avoids repeating.
The Associated Press
The leader of Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah appealed for calm Tuesday after people blocked roads and burned tires in Beirut to protest the kidnapping of 11 Lebanese Shiites in neighboring Syria.
By Tom Finn | Time
The death of more than 100 soldiers in a suicide attack punctuates the fact that the terrorist franchise in the Arabian Peninsula is the most successful of Osama Bin Laden's offspring.
BBC
Saudi Arabia has pledged $3.5bn in aid to Yemen, which is facing political instability and a possible humanitarian catastrophe. Seven aid agencies have warned the country is on the brink of a food crisis, with nearly half the population lacking sufficient food.
By Rhys Jones and Rania El Gamal | Reuters
BAE Systems has signed a 1.6 billion pound ($2.5 billion) deal to supply Saudi Arabia with Hawk jets to train pilots to fly the Eurofighter Typhoon which it has already ordered from UK company.
By Al Jazeera and Agencies | Al Jazeera
Argentine police has defused two bombs discovered in the ceiling of a Buenos Aires theatre, and authorities say they were timed to explode during an appearance there by Alvaro Uribe, the former Colombian president.
By Juan O. Tamayo | McClatchy Newspapers
A U.N. panel on torture Tuesday demanded that Cuba provide information on the deaths of several political prisoners, the repression of dissident groups such as the Ladies in White and the 2,400 arrests of government critics reported last year.
By Isolda Agazzi | Inter Press Service
Ahead of the Universal Periodic Review of India, a coalition of NGOs has denounced the gap between the country’s growth rate and the rate of poverty, malnutrition and lack of health and sanitation.
By Tom Wright and Santanu Choudhury | The Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
Countries involved in a U.S.-backed trans-Afghanistan pipeline will sign a commercial agreement aimed at keeping the much-delayed $7.6 billion project alive.
By Nicholas Kulish and Paul Geitner | The New York Times
A renewed call for European bonds backed by the bloc is growing, but Germany said Tuesday that there was no way it would bend on collective debt.
By Kristina Wong | The Washington Times
The Defense Department on Tuesday said it would strengthen efforts to prevent Chinese counterfeit parts from ending up in the U.S. military’s supply chain.
By Mahmood Delkhasteh and Hassan Rezaei | The Christian Science Monitor
In Egypt elections for president today, the role of Islam in government is a big question. But a freedom-based interpretation of sharia can support democracy in the Arab world.
By David Kenner | Foreign Policy
If Amr Moussa wins Egypt's presidential election, is the revolution over?
By Rami G. Khouri | The Daily Star
One of the important byproducts of the ongoing Arab uprisings, regime changes and national reconfigurations is the increased ability of many people around the world to view Arabs in their full, dynamic human complexity and nuance.
By Jack Shenker | The Guardian
Beyond Tahrir Square Egypt's uprising is one that intersects with grassroots struggles in Europe: that's what the elites fear most.
By Amartya Sen | The New York Times
Reform on a well-thought-out timetable must be distinguished from reform done in extreme haste.
By Jacob Kirkegaard | Bloomberg News
A Greek exit from the euro area would inflict heavy damage in Greece and throughout Europe. It could also be one of the best things that ever happened to the currency union.
By Daniel C. Chung | International Herald Tribune
The dissident should take his time before making public comments on America and China, so he is not used as political fodder.
By Michael A. Fitts and Amy Gadsen | The Japan Times
Much about the case of activist Chen Guangcheng is troubling, especially his lack of recourse to fight harassment from Chinese authorities themselves.
By Andrew Exum | World Politics Review
When I speak to U.S. military officers and other Americans about why we have failed in Afghanistan, among the various explanations that are advanced, I often hear the argument that we have lacked a “credible Afghan partner.”
By Reuel Marc Gerecht and and Mark Dubowitz | The Washington Post
The West’s sanctions — the reason the Iranians are showing up in Iraq — have been an alternative to war. Those who want these talks to go on will be enormously tempted to make concessions to Tehran.
By Lindsey Graham, Joseph I. Lieberman and John McCain | The Wall Street Journal (Subscription Required)
Beware 'confidence-building' measures that never force Tehran to verifiably abandon its pursuit of a nuclear-weapons capability.
By Chuck Freilich | Los Angeles Times
When world powers meet with Iran on Wednesday in Baghdad, they may reach an interim nuclear deal. Its precise outline is unknown.
By Andrew Finkel | International Herald Tribune
Ankara should spin Europe's economic problems to its advantage and revive talks for E.U. membership.
By Thomas L. Friedman | The New York Times
The stakes are higher than ever for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel.
By Charles Glass | The National
Many of the civilian members of the Baath Party, whose founders claimed to believe in secularism and democracy, deserted its ranks when the party took power in 1963.
By Alistair Burt | Asharq Alawsat
We must not forget the precarious humanitarian, economic and political situation in Yemen which must be addressed with equal determination and urgency.
By Yulia Latynina | The Moscow Times
President Vladimir Putin's regime is clearly going through hard times. Russia hasn't seen anything close to the massive anti-Putin rallies of the past six months since he came to power in 2000.
By Jennifer Sims | Foreign Affairs
Last month, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper and Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta announced the creation of a new U.S. espionage agency, the Defense Clandestine Service, or DCS, which is expected to expand the Pentagon's espionage personnel by several hundred over the next few years.