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BY: Robert Dreyfuss | The Nation
Few would argue that the rise of China has world-altering significance. But across the American left there are sharp, sometimes acrimonious differences about what constitutes appropriate and principled responses to China's emergence as a great power, and whether the country's ascendance is promising or ominous.
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BY: Ramin Mostaghim and Alexandra Sandels | Los Angeles Times
Iranian security forces patrolled central Tehran on Thursday and the home of a reformist leader reportedly remained under siege by pro-government militiamen in what appeared to be attempts to intimidate the political opposition ahead of rallies planned for Friday.
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BY: Mark Landler and Helene Cooper | The New York Times
Israeli and Palestinian negotiators cleared the first hurdle on Thursday in their elusive quest for Middle East peace: they agreed to keep talking, two weeks from now in Egypt.
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BY: David Schenker | Weekly Standard
This week, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak brought his son Gamal to Washington to attend the kick-off of renewed Israeli-Palestinian peace talks. Back in Cairo, the unprecedented family visit will no doubt reinforce the widespread belief that Mubarak is planning a hereditary succession in the Arab republic.
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BY: Benjamin Joffe-Walt | The Media Line
In a claim reminiscent of the most elaborate Middle East conspiracy theories known to date, a “reliable” source in the beleaguered Yemeni government has told the Yemeni news site Al Watan that a group of Saudi dissidents are secretly being trained by separatist Yemeni rebels in military warfare and covert communications so as to overthrow the Saudi king.
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BY: Thomas Siebert | The National
Just a few months ago, Turkey shocked the West when it appeared to stand shoulder to shoulder with Iran in the row surrounding Tehran’s nuclear programme. But now, the end of the US mission in Iraq is exposing major differences between Ankara and Tehran, analysts say.
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BY: Jane Arraf | Global Post
In a war that has changed the United States and its military almost as much as the country it invaded, the realization seems to have sunk in that victory is much easier to declare than it will be to define.
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BY: Mark Magnier and Hashmat Baktash | Los Angeles Times
Afghans on Thursday rushed to withdraw their savings from troubled Kabul Bank despite attempts by officials to reassure nervous depositors that their money was safe.
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BY: Saeed Shah | McClatchy Newspapers
The threat requires specialist IED hunters and specially designed vehicles. The Husky is the lead vehicle in an IED clearance convoy of hulking, bizarre-looking vehicles — with such names as the Buffalo — that seem like creations for a sci-fi movie.
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BY: Scott Baldauf | The Christian Science Monitor
The best hope for stability in Somalia may lie in African Union troops, but they can't take the offensive against the terrorist group Al Shabab.
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BY: Brian Blackstone | The Wall Street Journal
European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet firmly rejected risks of a double-dip recession in the euro zone, a vote of confidence that the currency bloc can withstand slowdowns in the U.S. and parts of Asia.
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BY: Leigh Phillips | EU Observer
After months of tough negotiations, the three sides of the EU triangle came to agreement on Thursday on the creation of financial supervisors intended to put an end to economic crises such as those of the last three years before they appear.
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BY: Clifford J. Levy | The New York Times
Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin announced Thursday that Russia’s ban on grain exports, which was adopted last month after a severe drought and heat wave depressed the harvest, would be extended well into next year because of continued uncertainty over production.
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BY: Neeta Lal | World Politics Review
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the recent passage of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages bill the end of "the nuclear apartheid that the world had imposed on India." The language was meant to appeal to a domestic audience; for most international observers, the law simply marks India's return to the international nuclear market. But in its final form, the liability law has left few on either side of the debate entirely satisfied.
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BY: Choe Sang-Hun | The New York Times
Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, is expected to convene a rare congress of the ruling Workers’ Party in coming days to pave the way for his son to succeed him, a feat of political engineering that would be a first in the Communist world: extending dynastic rule to a third generation.
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BY: Aijaz Hussain | Associated Press
Before hitting the streets, Ahmed reaches for his two essential protest tools: a scarf to mask his face and a cell-phone camera to show the world what is happening. The 23-year-old, who posts videos to YouTube under names such as "oppressedkashimir1," is part of a wave of Web-savvy protesters in Indian-controlled Kashmir who have begun using social networking to publicize their fight and keep fellow demonstrators energized and focused.
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BY: Simon Roughneen | World Press
As floodwaters slowly recede and the Indus River empties into the Arabian Sea, the full impact of what Pakistan's foreign minister on Wednesday described as the worst humanitarian crisis in the country's history is becoming clearer.
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BY: Nitasha Kaul | Open Democracy
In attempting to suffocate a separate Kashmiri identity, India reveals the cracks in its own idea of nationhood.
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BY: William Booth | The Washington Post
President Felipe Calderon acknowledged Thursday that an increasingly bloody war with powerful drug trafficking organizations continues to pose "the central threat" to Mexico.
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BY: Larry Luxner | The Washington Diplomat
When Brazilians flock to the polls Oct. 3 to choose a new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva won’t be on the ballot — for the first time in 21 years.