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DILI: East Timorese President Jose Ramos-Horta is confident about his young country's future, despite lingering poverty and swirling mistrust over rebel attacks three months ago that left him near death. The attack on February 11 led by rebel leader Alfredo Reinado left Ramos-Horta shot and bleeding outside his Dili home. Reinado and one other rebel died in the attack. "I'm much more optimistic, the situation was calm before February 11 and was even more calm after February 11," he said.
-- AFP
MOSCOW: Russia's new President Dmitry Medvedev travels to powerful neighbor China this week in the centerpiece of his first trip abroad since taking office. The 42-year-old president, who took office in place of Vladimir Putin on May 7, will visit energy-rich ex-Soviet Kazakhstan on Thursday before traveling to Beijing on Friday, the Kremlin said. But the visit underscores Russia's accounting of its populous and resource-hungry neighbor in numerous spheres-a major change for a country used to measuring itself against the West.
-- AFP
BEIRUT: Lebanon was brimming with a new sense of optimism on Thursday following a deal hammered out between rival politicians that brought the country back from the brink of a new civil war. As life returned to downtown Beirut after the end of a crippling 18-month opposition protest, newspapers hailed the beginning of a new era in the deeply divided country following he agreement signed in Doha on Wednesday. "Lebanon emerges from the standoff . . . and Beirut comes back to life," cried the headline in the pro-opposition newspaper As-Safir.
-- AFP
KUALA LUMPUR: The Association of Southeast Asian Nations should speedily introduce strong tobacco packaging and labeling laws that have proven effective in spreading the anti-smoking message, Malaysian media reported on Thursday. This was the message from senior government officials, civil society officials and World Health Organization representatives from the grouping who met in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday. Joining their appeal were experts from Mongolia and Australia attending a two-day regional workshop on tobacco controls, the New Straits Times said.
-- Xinhua
UNITED NATIONS: The UN General Assembly on Wednesday elected 15 members of the Geneva-based Human Rights Council for three-year terms starting from June 20 after one round of secret balloting at the UN Headquarters. Nineteen candidate countries took part in the contest for 15 seats available on the 47-member council. Zambia, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Gabon were chosen in that order to fill the four vacant African seats on the 47-member panel, according to a formula that allots seats among regions.
-- Xinhua
LOS ANGELES: Microsoft said Wednesday it has adopted a new strategy to offer cash rewards to users in its fight against Google for the lucrative Internet search and on-line advertising business. Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, at an annual conference for on-line advertisers, announced the company's "Live Search Cashback" service, which rewards on-line shoppers with a cash refund. "We want to earn your loyalty and reward it with cashback savings for your everyday on-line shopping," the giant software maker said.
-- Xinhua
DHAKA: Bangladesh's army-backed emergency government opened talks with the country's sidelined political parties on Thursday as part of a roadmap to restoring democracy, officials said. The government, which took office in January last year following months of political turmoil, has pledged that new elections will be held by December 2008. Chief government Spokesman Syed Fahim Monaem said caretaker leader Fakhruddin Ahmed had opened talks with two smaller parties.
-- AFP
SEOUL: A South Korean foundation led by disgraced cloning expert Hwang Woo-Suk said Thursday it was working with a US firm which offers the world's only licensed commercial dog cloning service. The Hwang-led Sooam Biotech Research Foundation said in a statement it had teamed up with BioArts International in California, which announced it would auction off the right for five dog owners to have their furry best friend cloned, with bidding in a worldwide online auction starting on June 18 beginning at 100,000 dollars.
-- AFP
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