BUCHAREST, Romania — Traian Basescu returned to the presidency on Wednesday (May 23rd) after the Constitutional Court formally validated the results of the May 19th impeachment referendum. Voters overwhelmingly rejected Parliament’s decision to dismiss Basescu last month for alleged constitutional violations. In his first statement since returning to the job, …

BRUSSELS, Belgium — KFOR personnel will remain in Kosovo if the UN Security Council does not pass a new resolution on future status, NATO spokesman James Appathurai said in Brussels on Wednesday (May 23rd). The decision followed a meeting between NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and US President …

In a controversial move last week, the Macedonian Parliament approved a group of amendments to the legislation on public law and order that slap violators with stiffer penalties. In some cases, the fines are twice the average salary.

Senior Turkish cabinet ministers and police officials held an emergency meeting on Wednesday (May 23rd) to discuss new measures against terrorism, less than 24 hours after a powerful bomb blast in Ankara left six people dead and more than 100 wounded.

DUBAI (AP) — Ships packed with 17,000 sailors and US marines moved into the Persian Gulf Wednesday as the US navy staged another show of military force off Iran’s coast — just days before the US start of direct talks with Iran in Baghdad.

BAGHDAD — From hiding, possibly in Iran, anti-American Shiite cleric Muqtada Sadr is believed to be honing plans to sweep into the power vacuum made all the more intense by news that his chief Shiite rival has lung cancer. And he’s betting the US won’t keep its troops in Iraq …

LONDON (AFP) — Amnesty International said on Wednesday in its annual report that Iraq continued its descent into civil war in 2006 and that both Israel and Hizbollah committed war crimes during their 34-day conflict.

ANKARA (AP) — A suicide bomber carried out the attack that killed six people and injured dozens in Turkey’s capital, using methods similar to those of a Kurdish rebel group, a senior official said Wednesday.

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police dragged a body from the Euphrates River on Wednesday and said it was one of three American soldiers abducted in an ambush claimed by Al Qaeda. The US military has yet to identify the victim and pressed ahead with its search through sweltering flatlands south …

GAZA CITY (AFP) — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas convened talks on Wednesday hoping to consolidate a truce between rival factions in Gaza and revive a ceasefire with Israel after bloodshed that has cost 90 lives.