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Judges in Milan rejected a request by former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Monday to halt his sex trial until after a national election next month, but allowed the key witness to avoid giving testimony in open court.

Venezuela's cancer-stricken President Hugo Chavez is recovering in Cuba and is not in a coma as some have rumored a month after surgery, his brother, Adan Chavez, said after a visit to Havana.

Thousands in Hong Kong protested on Tuesday against the city's leader Leung Chun-ying as pressure mounts against the Beijing-backed politician who has been embroiled in an illegal construction scandal since taking office in July.

President Mohamed Morsi apparently secured a victory at the polls Saturday for a new Egyptian constitution, locking the country into a bitter contest between his ascendant Islamist camp and his secular opponents.

Going after the cartel kingpins made the problem worse, say aides to Mexico's new president. But killing it would jeopardize significant U.S. funding.

It wasn't exactly a break-up moment between Iran and ally Bashar Assad. But Tehran's whiplash diplomacy over the weekend suggested its embrace of the Syrian president could be cooling....

Silvio Berlusconi said on Wednesday he would withdraw as a candidate in Italy's coming election if outgoing Prime Minister Mario Monti ran as the head of a "moderate" coalition.

President Barack Obama declared Syria's main opposition group the sole "legitimate representative" of its country's people Tuesday, deeming the move "a big step" in the international diplomatic efforts to end Syrian President Bashar Assad's embattled regime.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has flown to Cuba for a third cancer operation after designating the vice president as his political heir. State television showed images of Mr Chavez hugging vice president Nicolas Maduro and other aides before boarding the presidential jet.

Ghana's electoral authorities said incumbent leader John Dramani Mahama won a new term as president in the West African state in an election the opposition said was marred by tampering.