Politics News Headlines

BEIRUT (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Saturday that more than 92 people were killed in what activists described as an artillery barrage by government forces in the worst violence since the start of a U.N. peace plan to slow the flow of blood in Syria's uprising. The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls …

BAKU (Reuters) - Millions of television viewers tuned into Europe's annual pop contest in Azerbaijan on Saturday, but a row over human rights in the former Soviet republic has overshadowed the government's planned showcase for its rapid progress fuelled by oil riches. The Eurovision Song Contest draws more than 100 million …

PARIS (Reuters) - Close to two thirds of French people approve of President Francois Hollande's actions in his first days in power, a poll showed on Saturday, giving him a strong foundation to face a parliamentary election and the challenges of the euro crisis. Hollande took on the top job on May 15 at a time of stagnating …

ISIOLO, Kenya (Reuters) - Suspected grenade attacks at a hotel and a refugee camp in northeastern Kenya wounded at least five people on Saturday, police said, days after a similar strike in the same region. Grenade and improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in Kenya have become more frequent since it sent troops to Somalia …

Government spending and debt are emerging as a campaign tug-of-war, with Mitt Romney blaming President Barack Obama for a "prairie fire of debt" and Obama calling the charge a "cowpie of distortion." House Speaker John Boehner is talking about a debt ceiling that is still more than eight months away.

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's conservatives have regained an opinion poll lead that would allow the formation of a pro-bailout government committed to keeping the country in the euro zone, a batch of new surveys showed on Saturday. Greece was forced to call repeat elections for June 17 after a May 6 vote left parliament divided …

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood and a military man close to ousted leader Hosni Mubarak courted defeated first-round candidates in Egypt's presidential election on Saturday, each trying to claim the mantle of the uprising before a run-off next month. State television said the Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi led this …

Vice President Joe Biden said Saturday that the United States can now focus on new global challenges after a long decade of war in an election-year commencement address to jubilant graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.

ALGIERS (Reuters) - Islamist lawmakers walked out of the inaugural session of Algeria's parliament on Saturday to protest against an election they say was rigged to hand a majority to the ruling elite's party. Algeria, supplier of about a fifth of Europe's imported gas, is the only country in north Africa left largely untouched …

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Serbia is on a "long and uncertain" road to joining the European Union but will not give up its claim to Kosovo for the sake of membership, President-elect Tomislav Nikolic told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday. It was Nikolic's first foreign trip since he was elected president on May 20. …

MOSCOW (Reuters) - President Vladimir Putin steered Dmitry Medvedev into the chairmanship of Russia's ruling party on Saturday and demanded reforms to the flagging organization he will rely on to keep his grip on the country's far-flung regions. At Putin's behest, delegates at a United Russia congress elected Medvedev chairman …

The CIA is remembering those lost in the hidden, often dangerous world of espionage, adding a new star to the intelligence agency's memorial wall and more than a dozen names to its hallowed Book of Honor.

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - The militant Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) claimed responsibility on Saturday for a suicide car bomb attack in central Turkey that killed one policeman, and media reports said the bombers had entered Turkey from Syria. Four suspects have been detained in connection with the attack, Interior Minister …

Former Wyoming senator and Bowles-Simpson deficit commission co-chairman Alan Simpson took his war of words with the head of a senior’s group to a new level, defending his advice to cut Social Security as a way to tackle the long-term debt in an angry, expletive-laden...

CAIRO (Reuters) - The Muslim Brotherhood may seek to modify, but will not destroy, Egypt's 33-year-old peace treaty with Israel, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter said on Saturday. Carter, 87, was speaking after initial vote tallies put the Brotherhood's candidate ahead in the first round of Egypt's presidential election, …

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian authorities briefly detained a journalist for Voice of America (VOA) and his translator as he covered a dispute between Muslims and the government in the capital Addis Ababa, the U.S. broadcaster said on Saturday. Peter Heinlein and translator Simegineh Yekoye were arrested after leaving …

President Barack Obama faces new warning signs in a once-promising Southern state and typically Democratic-voting Midwestern states roughly five months before the election even as he benefits nationally from encouraging economic news.

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Final opinion polls show that Irish voters are likely to give the green light to the European Union's new fiscal treaty, with the 'Yes' campaign leading comfortably ahead of the referendum on Thursday. Ireland will hold what is likely to be the only popular vote on the so-called "fiscal compact", a German-inspired …