World News in Africa, Americas, & Asia Pacific by New York Times

Egyptians returned to the polls on Thursday, hoping to seize the promise of a popular uprising that defined the Arab spring in an election that could end 15 chaotic months of military rule.

Mali’s interim president, Dioncounda Traoré, who was assaulted by protesters on Monday, was flown to Paris on Wednesday for medical checks.

After weeks of debate, speculation and argument, Egyptians went to the polls on Wednesday to cast ballots.

Voters in Egypt hoped to seize the promise of a popular uprising that defined the Arab spring in an election that could end 15 chaotic months of military rule.

Libya’s former prime minister will be extradited to his country only if his life is not in danger there and he can be guaranteed a fair trial, Tunisia’s presidential spokesman said Wednesday.

A United States federal appeals court upheld the convictions of five Somali pirates on Wednesday.

Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi was the only person convicted in the attack on Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed 270 people.

In South Africa, protesters are caught on video defacing a controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma, while in Canada, the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes light of his nude likeness.

“The Spear” appears to show President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed, and the African National Congress is trying to force a gallery to remove it.

President Joyce Banda declared Friday that she wanted to repeal Malawi’s laws against homosexual acts, going against a trend in Africa in which gays are increasingly singled out for prosecution.

Despite an influx of American assistance, residents of an area of Honduras that has become a way station for cocaine on its way north say they feel threatened.

Mark J. Sullivan told a Senate committee that no security breach had arisen from the interaction of a dozen agents with prostitutes last month in Colombia because agents had not yet been briefed about security arrangements for President Obama’s visit.

Quebec is trampling basic democratic rights in order to end student protests against tuition increases.

The United Nations treaty that governs the world’s oceans is undergoing one of its periodic resurrections in Congress.

A strike by subway and commuter train workers in São Paulo led to congestion that, at its peak, backed up 155 miles of roads and highways.

A man was detained in the killing of Bradley Roland Will, a New York activist and journalist who was covering street protests in Oaxaca.

U.S. conservatives have won the political debate on taxes, convincing Americans that they pay too much when the reality is government revenue as a percentage of output is at a historical low.

Resource companies and manufacturers in Canada faced disruptions after a strike organized by the Teamsters targeted the Canadian Pacific Railway early Wednesday morning.

For five decades, tight restrictions have governed who can leave the island, who can return and how long they can be gone.

In South Africa, protesters are caught on video defacing a controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma, while in Canada, the office of Prime Minister Stephen Harper makes light of his nude likeness.

The meme asserting otherwise began in earnest Sept. 7 with a post on a CNN blog that the network broadcast as an exclusive. The headline read, “Libyan Missiles Looted.”

Chen Guangfu, a brother of Chen Guangcheng, slipped through a security cordon and went to Beijing, said a lawyer who met him there.

The list for Chongqing includes some officials considered allies of Bo Xilai.

At least 10 alleged militants were killed on Thursday when an American drone struck a compound in northwestern Pakistan, government officials said.

A bearish economist’s plea to Sonia Gandhi to allow economic reforms.

The four are employees of Medair, an international humanitarian organization that specializes in emergency relief work and also does food aid and nutrition projects.

Telugu Desam Party activists in Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, protest the 7.54 rupee petrol price hike by the central government.

With the recent crop of veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan on many minds, some military bases have decided that Vietnam veterans need their own recognition.

The technology revolution has transformed ordinary life and helped raise a political consciousness that has found expression through a campaign of self-immolations.

Findings of a newly issued report, compiled after speaking to thousands in Kashmir.