Our Great City

MEXICO CITY — The two most important criminal organizations in Mexico are engaged in all-out war, and the most spectacular battles are being fought for the cameras as the combatants pursue a strategy of intimidation and propaganda by dumping ever greater numbers of headless bodies in public view — the victims most likely innocents.

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CAIRO — Egyptians continued to line up outside polling stations in high numbers Thursday, in the second day of voting in the country’s landmark presidential election. Across Egypt voters cast their ballots with a mix of joy and anxiety for one of 13 candidates.

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BAGHDAD — A second day of talks between Iran and world powers began Thursday amid fading hopes that these latest negotiations would help ease tensions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

Iran rejected a new package of proposals put forward by the six nations, including the United States, on Wednesday, but U.S. officials said the fact that the talks were being extended into Thursday suggested there was still hope the effort could be salvaged.

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PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Ten suspected militants were killed in a pre-dawn drone strike on a compound in a tribal district in northwestern Pakistan on Thursday, a local tribesman and security official said.

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A search is underway for the women, who worked for Switzerland-based Medair. Three Afghan colleagues were also taken.

KABUL, Afghanistan — Two foreign women working for a Swiss-based aid group have been kidnapped in the remote northeastern province of Badakhshan, Afghan officials said Wednesday.

Shakeel Afridi gets 33 years in prison for treason. He led a phony vaccination campaign that aided the U.S. raid that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani doctor who led a phony vaccination campaign aimed at helping the CIA pinpoint Osama bin Laden's whereabouts was convicted of treason Wednesday and sentenced to 33 years in prison, a decision that is likely to further fray Washington's fragile relations with Islamabad.

Tehran and six world powers clash in new talks in Baghdad, with Iran accusing them of not giving it a 'balanced' proposal.

BAGHDAD — Hopes for quick progress on Iran's disputed nuclear program faded rapidly Wednesday, as diplomats from six world powers and Iran collided bitterly in daylong talks intended to resolve their long-standing differences over an effort many nations fear is aimed at building a nuclear bomb.

The area around Recife in particular has benefited from government and business investment, and the northeast's growth has far outpaced that of richer states.

RECIFE, Brazil — The Brazilian state of Pernambuco was once known for its vast plains of parched dirt and roving bandits called cangacos, who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor.

At a European Union summit, France and Germany hold fast to dueling approaches to Europe's fiscal woes even as fears grow of Greece's exit from the euro club.

LONDON — With investor confidence draining away and the value of the euro plunging, Europe struggled anew Wednesday to come up with a united game plan to keep its currency union intact and its economies from collapsing.

Two days of balloting mark a historic contest between political Islam and secularists connected to the Mubarak regime. Egyptians marvel at the experience.

CAIRO — Seizing a moment in history they never imagined, the two old men walked arm in arm into a polling station on a day that was thoroughly and wonderfully Egyptian: Opinion polls were unreliable, intrigue was high, and there was a sense of destiny to rekindle the grandeur of the nation's ancient past.

State Department cyber experts recently hacked into Web sites being used by al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen and substituted the group’s anti-American rhetoric with information about civilians killed in terrorist strikes, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Wednesday.

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BAGHDAD — Hopes began to fade Wednesday that a fresh round of talks with Iran would help ease tensions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program after Iran slammed a new package of proposals by Western powers as inadequate.

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BRUSSELS — European leaders expressed determination to keep Greece in the euro zone early Thursday after a summit meeting and said that, despite a deep divide between France and Germany, they would seek a new European Union “growth pact” designed to stimulate their sagging economies.

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Nuclear weapons are terror weapons, and basically unusable.

That’s one reason why no rational strategy, other than deterrence, has ever been developed to justify them. Events in the past 10 days make my case.

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CAIRO — Ahmed Shafiq, Hosni Mubarak’s last prime minister, makes no apology for his service to a leader toppled by last year’s popular uprising. Now a presidential candidate himself, Shafiq has vowed to restore the security of the old order.

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BAGHDAD -- Hopes began to fade on Wednesday that a fresh round of talks with Iran would help ease tensions over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program after Iran slammed a new package of proposals put forward by Western powers as inadequate.

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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A Pakistani court imposed a 33-year sentence Wednesday on a doctor who assisted the CIA in the hunt for Osama bin Laden, prompting dismay among U.S. officials and warnings that the punishment will exacerbate strained relations and could lead to cuts in aid.

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CAIRO — The first day of Egypt’s landmark presidential election Wednesday was hailed as largely free of fraud and violence, as voters endured long lines and blistering heat to elect a leader after three decades of autocratic rule.

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BRUSSELS — European leaders gathered in Brussels for a summit meeting Wednesday with France and Germany deeply divided on how best to restore growth to the continent’s stagnant economies.

Clashing views between the European Union’s two most influential members threatened to produce stalemate even as predictions mount that the 17 nations that use the euro, the common E.U. currency, are slipping into a recession that could postpone economic recovery on both sides of the Atlantic.

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