International and Bilateral Issues

Two people have been killed and more than 600 injured in fierce clashes between protesters and security forces in Cairo and Alexandria.
The clashes came as police moved to prevent a long-term sit-in following a huge demonstration in Cairo against the military leadership on Friday.
Protesters - mostly Islamists and young activists - have been holding demonstrations against a draft constitution that they say would allow the military to retain too much power after a new civilian government is elected.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called on the protesters to clear the square.
They [police] were shooting rubber bullets directly at the heads

Opinion polls have given the centre-right Popular Party, led by Mariano Rajoy Brey, a clear lead over the governing Socialist Party.
Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero - who is not standing for re-election - called the election amid concerns over the economy.
With slow growth and almost five million unemployed, the economy has been at the heart of the election campaign.
Borrowing rates this week have passed 6% for most of this week
Correspondents say many are angry with the Socialists for failing to allowing the economy to deteriorate and then for introducing tough austerity measures.

Ibrahim Adam, 24, and Mohammed Azmir, 37, both from east London, are said to have been killed in Waziristan on the Afghanistan border.
British authorities said he was planning to travel to Iraq or Afghanistan for jihadist training or to fight Western forces.

Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, doctor of the London School of Economics, one-time reformer turned scourge of the rebels against his dictator father, was now a prisoner, bundled aboard an old Libyan air force transport plane
"At the beginning he was very scared. He thought we would kill him," said Ahmed Ammar, one of the 15 fighters who captured Gaddafi.
Caught exactly a month after his father met a violent end, Saif al-Islam Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court at The Hague on charges of crimes against humanity - specifically for allegedly ordering the killing of unarmed protesters last spring.
Libya's interim leaders want him to stand trial at home and say they won't extradite him; the justice minister said he faces the death penalty.

President Obama and nearly all the leaders at an Asian summit directly confronted China on Saturday for its expansive claims to the resource-rich South China Sea
He announced that 2,500 Marines would be stationed in Australia; opened the door to restored ties with Myanmar, a Chinese ally; and gained support for a regional free-trade bloc that so far omits Beijing.
Mr. Wen had been put in an uncomfortable position by the focus on the South China Sea, especially because the country has long insisted that the issue should not be discussed in multinational forums.
The United States, with an eye toward strengthening ties with China’s smaller neighbors, has backed their preference for multinational talks, rather than one-on-one negotiations in which China would have the advantage.
Of the 18 nations represented at the East Asia Summit, only the leaders of Cambodia and Myanmar did not raise the issue of maritime security
The first to speak up, the administration official said, were the leaders of Singapore, the Philippines and Vietnam — among whom tensions with China run highest — followed by representatives of Malaysia, Thailand, Australia, India, Russia and Indonesia, the summit host.
Only after other leaders had spoken did Mr. Obama express his agreement with them
Mr. Wen simply countered that the East Asia Summit was not the place to discuss the issue, and asserted “that China goes to great pains to ensure that the shipping lanes are safe and free.”