MARTIN BUREAU/AFP
Europe
Ségo and Sarko pulled few punches last night in a hard-hitting debate between the two French presidential contenders. Sunday's elections will decide the winner.
Germany's got a plan to solve the Iranian nuclear standoff: Have the IAEA run Iran's nuclear facilities.
Save the date: July 22 is the new date for Turkish parliamentary polls.
Middle East
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will meet today with her Syrian counterpart, and possibly her Iranian counterpart as well. The occasion: Representatives of some 60 countries are discussing Iraq's present and future at a two-day international conference at an Egyptian resort.
The ex-chair of the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq said reconstruction was "almost impossible, if not impossible" in the violence-plagued country. And an oil bill many analysts deem crucial to reconciliation efforts faces strong Kurdish opposition, or at least agile maneuvering.
Israel's foreign minister called on her boss to resign.
Asia
By a landslide margin, Thailand's wealthy ex-prime minister has won the presidency ... of his country's Professional Golf Association.
China and India are proving to be less obstinate obstacles than in the past toward a new U.N. climate change report that is expected to come out on Friday.
Japan's prime minister marked the 60th anniversary of his country's postwar constitution by calling for its overhaul.
Elsewhere
An ad hoc investigative committee of the World Bank will likely find that Bank President Paul Wolfowitz violated ethics rules in arranging pay raises and a promotion for his girlfriend.
Water deposits on Mars are so large that they could form an ocean if melted, according to new research at Arizona State University.
Today's Agenda
- Ronald Reagan's presidential library hosts the first debate between Republican party candidates for U.S. president.
- Tel Aviv's Rabin Square is the stage for what is expected to be a massive rally calling for the ouster of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
- The UK's ruling Labor Party expects to fare poorly in parliamentary elections in Scotland and Wales and local elections in England.
- The Queen of England, meanwhile, will be in Jamestown, Va., to mark the 400th anniversary of the settlement site.
- Today is World Press Freedom Day and National Prayer Day in the United States.
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