Hydrablog

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/19/AR2008031903762.html
WORLD IN BRIEF
Thursday, March 20, 2008; A11
PAKISTAN
New Parliament Elects First Female Speaker
[Pakistan] [south asia] [Pakistan as the new Afghanistan] [hydra central] [Pakistan seemingly teetering on the brink] [islamists, tribals, and jihadis striking back] [followup] [it appears truly the frontline of the jihadis] [recent external reported that retired officers calling for Musharraf to step aside] [more evidence that al Qaeda and new crop of younger jihadis have regrouped-grouped] [post-Bhutto period] [***]
Legislators elected Pakistan's first female speaker of Parliament on Wednesday, seating a follower of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
Fehmida Mirza's elevation [****]reflected the air of liberalism in the country's politics since voters defeated backers of President Pervez Musharraf in the Feb. 18 parliamentary elections.
Leaders of the new Parliament are still struggling to agree on who should be prime minister as Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party prepares to lead a coalition government united against Musharraf after eight years of his rule.
Mirza, 51, a businesswoman and physician elected to Parliament three times, won 249 of the 324 votes cast in the National Assembly, the lower house. Israr Tareen, a coal-mining magnate and Musharraf supporter, got 70.
"We are starting a new chapter," Mirza said at a news conference after presiding over her first assembly session.
SERBIA
Three Neighbors Recognize Independence of Kosovo
Serbia's neighbors in Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria dealt a blow to the Serb campaign to overturn Kosovo's month-old independence, announcing Wednesday that they would recognize the new republic.
More than 30 countries have now recognized Kosovo.
GERMANY
Cabinet Approves Museum About Postwar Expulsions
Germany's cabinet adopted a plan Wednesday for a $45.5 million museum in Berlin to commemorate the plight of Germans uprooted from their homes in Eastern Europe after World War II.
The program follows years of debate on how best to memorialize the hardships suffered by millions of Germans left homeless after borders shifted westward in 1945, without diminishing Nazi war crimes.
* * *
Medvedev Reaches Out to Civic Groups
Russian civil society groups should have a bigger role in forming policy and holding the government to account, President-elect Dmitry Medvedev said Wednesday.
Kuwait's Leader Dissolves Legislature
Kuwait's emir dissolved parliament and called for early elections after disputes led to the resignation of the entire cabinet.
From News Services
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