http://www.realclearworld.com/ en Copyright 2012 Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:14:25 -0600 YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar artist Nyein Chan Su's paintings have a breezy simplicity. Broad, colourful strokes and exaggerated figures, often in silhouette, capture an isolated country steeped in Buddhist culture but blighted by years of military rule.But selling them has been anything but simple. For two decades, sanctions imposed in response to http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/06/in_myanmar__hopes_for_an_art_renaissance.html 400586411 Jason Szep Reuters Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:13:54 -0600 JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's top court struck down on Tuesday a law designed to encourage ultra-Orthodox Jews to join the military and the workforce, saying it had backfired by "entrenching" their blanket draft exemptions and protracted seminary studies.The ruling was welcomed by Israel's secular majority but could set off rifts in Prime http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/06/israel_top_court_scraps_pious_jews__draft_exemption.html 400586404 Dan Williams Reuters Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:14:43 -0600 TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's prime minister ordered workers to remain at the tsunami-crippled Fukushima nuclear plant last March as fears mounted of a "devil's chain reaction" that would force tens of millions of people to flee Tokyo, a new investigative report shows.Then-premier Naoto Kan and his staff began referring to a worst case scenario that http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/06/fukushima__japan_leaders_feared__devil_s_chain_reaction_.html 400586403 Shinichi Saoshiro Reuters Tue, 06 Mar 2012 11:13:53 -0600 UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. humanitarian affairs chief Valerie Amos said on Monday that the Syrian government had agreed to allow her to visit the conflict-wracked country later this week, an announcement that followed sharp international criticism of Damascus for not letting her into the country."As requested by the Secretary-General (Ban http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/u_n__humanitarian_chief_says_to_visit_syria_this_week.html 400586306 Louis Charbonneau Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:43:58 -0600 MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian riot police detained more than 500 protesters including opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Monday at rallies challenging the legitimacy of Vladimir Putin's victory in the presidential election.Putin, who secured almost 64 percent of the votes on Sunday, portrayed his return to the presidency as a triumph over opponents http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/hundreds_of_anti_putin_protesters_detained_in_russia.html 400586305 Lidia Kelly And Alissa De Carbonnel Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:43:50 -0600 TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's supreme court on Monday dismissed an execution sentence passed by a revolutionary court against an Iranian-American national accused of spying for the CIA, the semi-official Fars news agency reported."The supreme court nullified the execution sentence against Amir Mirza Hekmati and sent it to an affiliate court," said http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/iran_dismisses_execution_sentence_on_u_s__iranian.html 400586284 Staff Reporter Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:14:04 -0600 GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday that it had distributed food and other aid to some neighborhoods of the battered Syrian city of Homs but could not get clearance from authorities to enter the hardest-hit district of Baba Amr.The government was still blocking its access to the former rebel bastion, http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/icrc_reaches_syria_s_homs__blocked_from_worst_hit_area.html 400586283 Stephanie Nebehay Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 15:13:50 -0600 UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council expressed grave concern on Monday at the threat posed by Somali pirates and extremist groups as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon warned the African state's humanitarian situation would likely deteriorate again in the coming months.For the past two decades, Somalia has been engulfed in anarchy, chaos and http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/u_n__gravely_concerned_by_somalia_threats__famine.html 400586275 Michelle Nichols Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:44:28 -0600 TRIPOLI (Reuters) - The most senior Algerian official to visit Libya since its revolution promised on Monday that members of Muammar Gaddafi's family given refuge on Algerian soil will not be allowed to meddle in Libyan affairs.Algeria's relations with Libya were strained by the rebellion that overthrew Gaddafi last year, disrupting security http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/algeria_promises_libya_it_will_rein_in_gaddafi_family.html 400586274 Taha Zargoun Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:44:21 -0600 ADEN (Reuters) - Yemen's new president vowed Monday to pursue militants linked to al-Qaeda to their last hiding place after they killed more than 110 soldiers in their deadliest attack on the Yemeni army.The militants said they had also captured 70 soldiers in a raid after suicide bomb attacks on two military posts outside the southern city of http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/yemen_president_vows_to_pursue_qaeda_linked_militants.html 400586273 Mohammed Mukhashaf Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:44:07 -0600 TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran will hold run-off elections for 65 parliamentary seats, state media said on Monday, after loyalists to the paramount clerical leader won a dominating majority at the expense of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.The widespread defeat of Ahmadinejad's allies in the 290-seat assembly is expected to reduce the president to a lame http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/iran_to_hold_runoff_parliamentary_vote.html 400586272 Staff Reporter Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:43:59 -0600 ABUJA (Reuters) - The United States urged Nigeria to tackle an Islamist insurgency in the north by bringing jobs and development to the deprived region, and it pledged to support Abuja in the task.U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman said on Monday that the United States was looking to establish a consulate in Kano, Nigeria's http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/u_s__to_nigeria__develop_north_to_beat_boko_haram.html 400586271 Camillus Eboh Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:43:52 -0600 KINSHASA (Reuters) - Three months after one of the world's most expensive elections, the Democratic Republic of Congo has no parliament or new government and its people are beginning to wonder what has become of their publicity-shy president, Joseph Kabila.Never one to seek out the media gaze, Kabila has rationed his public appearances even more http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/_invisible__president_has_post_vote_congo_on_edge.html 400586244 Jonny Hogg Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:43:50 -0600 ADEN (Reuters) - Militants linked to al Qaeda celebrated on Monday one of their deadliest attacks on the Yemeni army, parading military hardware seized after they killed more than 110 soldiers, as the Yemeni president swore to pursue the group with full force.The militants said they had also captured some 70 soldiers in a raid after suicide bomb http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/militants_celebrate_after_killing_110_yemeni_soldiers.html 400586229 Mohammed Mukhashaf Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 14:44:14 -0600 VIENNA (Reuters) - The United Nations nuclear watchdog chief said on Monday there were indications of "activities" taking place at an Iranian military site which his inspectors want to visit as part of an investigation into Iran's nuclear program.Yukiya Amano, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, did not give details about http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/iaea__possible__activities__at_iran_military_site.html 400586210 Staff Reporter Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:43:57 -0600 BERLIN (Reuters) - The German government hit back at Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko on Monday after his slur on Germany's foreign minister that it was "better to be a dictator than gay"Lukaschenko, branded "Europe's last dictator" by German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, lashed out at European Union politicians on Sunday who have http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/germany_hits_back_at_lukashenko_after_gay_slur.html 400586209 Staff Reporter Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 10:43:50 -0600 REYKJAVIK (Reuters) - Iceland began the trial Monday of former prime minister Geir Haarde for failing to prevent a 2008 financial crash, thought to be the only prosecution in the world of a political leader over the crisis.Iceland's top three banks all collapsed in late 2008 after years of debt-fuelled expansion. The country of just 320,000 people http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/iceland_puts_former_pm_on_trial_over_crisis.html 400586202 Omar Valdimarsson Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:43:58 -0600 GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross said Monday that it had distributed food and other aid to some neighborhoods of the battered Syrian city of Homs but could not get clearance from authorities to enter the hardest-hit district of Baba Amr.The government was still blocking its access to the former rebel bastion, where http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/icrc_reaches_homs_but_is_blocked_from_worst_hit_area.html 400586201 Stephanie Nebehay Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 09:43:51 -0600 OSH, Kyrgyzstan (Reuters) - Kyrgyzstan's new leader will seek to extend his government's reach in the turbulent Central Asian state on Monday after an election key to deciding who will run the country's most ethnically divided city.Kyrgyzstan's impoverished south, home to the second-biggest city of Osh, is prone to ethnic violence and drug-related http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/kyrgyz_leader_seeks_to_bridge_regional_divisions.html 400586193 Staff Reporter Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:43:58 -0600 PUERTOLLANO, Spain, March 5 - Mercedes Garcia, the director of a residency for severely mentally disabled adults, has a crisis in her kitchen.Two caterers have been supplying and preparing food for the centre's 46 patients for free for almost a year; the other 18 recently decided they'd had it and refused to provide further service without payment http://www.realclearworld.com/news/reuters/international/2012/Mar/05/spain_s_safety_net_frays_as_care_workers_go_unpaid.html 400586192 Paul Day Reuters Mon, 05 Mar 2012 08:43:51 -0600