Because Economics is Sexy...

Somalia’s new foreign minister has warned that the al-Shabab group is controlling the fighting in the capital, Mogadishu, and poses a threat to the entire country.
Mohamed Abullahi Omaar told reporters on Friday that Somalia lacks proper resources to tackle the group, noting that it would not be so hard to defeat if the government had [...]

Morgan Tsvangirai, Zimbabwe’s prime minister, has said that his efforts to restore democratic freedoms and the rule of law to Zimbabwe have so far failed.
Tsvangirai made the comments on Saturday at his party’s annual convention, blaming supporters of Robert Mugabe, the president, for frustrating progress.
Tsvangirai said his party remained committed to democratic ideals, but said [...]

Iran has hanged three men for helping to orchestrate a bombing of a Shia mosque that killed 25 people on Thursday.
The state IRNA news agency quoted officials as saying that the three men were executed publicly on Saturday.
“The terrorists Haji Noti Zehi, Gholam Rasoul Shahi Zehi and Zabihollah Naroui were hanged at 6am [0130GMT] near [...]

NAGOYA (Kyodo) The Nagoya District Court sentenced a former sumo stable master Friday to six years in prison for telling wrestlers at his stable to haze and beat a 17-year-old wrestler who died in the 2007 assault.
Presiding Judge Masaharu Ashizawa said that Junichi Yamamoto, 59, with his “immeasurable power” as stable master, ordered the two [...]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Jay Leno bid farewell to “The Tonight Show” on Friday, ending his 17-year run as host with a finale that stayed true to the style that made him the top-rated performer on U.S. late-night television.
The main difference was a long ovation that Leno struggled to quiet as he took the stage [...]

BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany reached a landmark deal with Canadian auto parts group Magna, General Motors and governments to save carmaker Opel from the imminent bankruptcy of its U.S. parent, German leaders said on Saturday.
Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck told journalists waiting outside Chancellor Angela Merkel’s offices during the six-hour meeting that a comprehensive deal had [...]

At least four people have been killed and 2,500 others made homeless after heavy rains caused a dam to burst in northeast Brazil.
Residents took refuge on rooftops and in high trees when Cocal, a city of about 25,000 in the Piaui state, was flooded on Thursday.
More than 100 people were missing and rescue personnel, using [...]

Barack Obama has repeated his call for Israel to stop settlement construction after holding talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president.
Declaring that Washington was a “stalwart ally” of Israel, the US president nonetheless said that “stopping settlements” was part of Israel’s responsibility under the 2003 “road map” peace plan.
He also reiterated his commitment to a [...]

The nomination Thursday of a virtually unknown lawyer as the next U.S. ambassador to Japan was greeted with more concern than optimism by experts and the government.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura welcomed the nomination of John Roos, calling it “proof that the Obama administration considers the Japan-U.S. alliance important.”
Kawamura brushed off concern that Roos lacks [...]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Pentagon plans to create a new military command for cyberspace, stepping up preparations by the armed forces to conduct both offensive and defensive computer warfare, the New York Times said on Friday.
The military command will complement a civilian effort President Barack Obama plans to announce on Friday that will overhaul the [...]