Top news: Voters in Myanmar are preparing to head to the polls this weekend for just the third election in last 50 years. Seventeen parties are competing for 45 seats in the country's 665-seat legislature.
Most closely watched will be formerly imprisoned democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. The NLD boycotted previous elections organized by the military government in 2010. In 1990, the NLD won a general election but the junta nullified the vote.
"I don't think we can consider it a genuinely free and fair election," Aung San Suu Kyi said of this year's contest, but said she would contest it nonetheless in order to raise public interest in politics.
The NLD's main rival will be the Union and Development Solidarity Party, which was organized by the military junta and holds most of the seats in the legislature. The elections will be interpreted as a test of the country's fledgling democratic reforms and an indicator of whether a planned general election in 2015 will be genuine.
France: French police arrested 19 alleged Islamic militants in a raid connecting to the Toulouse killings.
Middle East
- U.N. envoy Kofi Annan demanded that the Syrian government implement the ceasefire they have agreed to.
- Dozens have been killed in violence between rival armed groups in Southern Libya.
- Israeli forces clashed with Palestinian protesters during the annual Land Day rally.
Asia
- A member of the Afghan militia drugged and killed nine of his colleagues on Friday.
- At a meeting in New Delhi, the leaders of the BRICS pledged to expand trade but failed to come up with a plan for an alternative to the World Bank.
- North Korea may have tested several short-range missiles earlier this week.
Europe
- European finance ministers agreed to increase the size of the eurozone's rescue fund.
- David Cameron and the Conservative Party have begun an effort to legalize same-sex marriage.
- Millions joined a general strike to protest government austerity programs in Spain.
Africa
- Mali's Tuareg rebels captured another town in the country's northern desert.
- Rebels in South Kordofan attacked a town near the South Sudanese border.
- The president of Mauritius stepped down amid a feud with the country's prime minister.
Americas
- At least 13 people were killed in a prison riot in Honduras.
- Lawmakers in Colombia have proposed a bill that would legalize the growing of coca leaf and marijuana.
- Brazilian police dispersed riots sparked by a celebration of the country's 1964 coup.
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