Top news: On Saturday, roughly 65 percent of registered voters in Libya cast ballots in a national assembly race -- the country's first election since the overthrow of Muammar al-Qaddafi, who ruled Libya for more than four decades. The vote went relatively smoothly despite election-related violence in the east, where Libyans are angry about the number of seats allotted to the region in the new assembly.
Early results suggest that the National Forces Alliance, a coalition of some 60 parties led by Mahmoud Jibril, the rebel prime minister during the revolution, is ahead of Islamic groups, including the Libyan wing of the Muslim Brotherhood. The New York Times notes that the outcome could break "an Islamist wave that swept across neighboring Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings."
Jibril, a Western-educated political scientist, has called for Libya's 150 political parties to form "one coalition" in the wake of the election.
Egypt: Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court and Supreme Council of the Armed Forces are holding emergency meetings after Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi ordered the country's Islamist-led parliament, which judicial and military authorities recently dissolved, to reconvene. Egypt's parliamentary speaker has vowed to carry out the presidential decree.
Asia
- More than 70 countries pledged $16 billion in aid for Afghanistan in exchange for anti-corruption measures, as NATO confirmed a deadly attack on U.S. troops in the country.
- Unidentified gunmen killed six Pakistani soldiers and a policeman in Punjab Province.
- The top U.S. general in South Korea apologized after American military policemen handcuffed three South Koreans.
Middle East
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party backed an effort to end military service exemptions for ultra-Orthodox Jews and Arab Israelis.
- U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan met with Bashar al-Assad to discuss the escalating violence in Syria after the Syrian president gave an interview on German television.
- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas approved the exhumation of Yasir Arafat's remains amid speculation that the former Palestinian leader was poisoned.
Africa
- Gunmen killed more than 100 people, including a senator and state lawmaker, in Nigeria's central Plateau state.
- South Sudan marked its first anniversary of independence.
- Rebel fighters in the Democratic Republic of Congo took control of several towns in the country's east.
Europe
- Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a national day of mourning after flooding in southern Russia killed more than 170 people.
- Spanish and Italian borrowing costs are rising ahead of a summit of eurozone finance ministers.
- Greece's new coalition government won a confidence vote in parliament.
Americas
- Two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed a drug smuggling suspect in Honduras, in the second such incident in a month.
- Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Mexico City against Enrique Pena Nieto's presidential election victory.
- The FBI is shutting down servers used by cyber criminals in a move that could leave more than 300,000 people without Internet access.
Gianluigi Guercia/AFP/Getty Images
Read More
(0)
HIDE COMMENTS LOGIN OR REGISTER REPORT ABUSE