Egypt's next president is facing an incredibly tall order of problems, from a tumbling economy and a beat-up security force to decrepit schools and hospitals that can't even provide enough incubators for premature babies.

Turning out in large numbers to vote for the first time in free and competitive presidential elections, a deeply engaged population have a lot of expectations from the leader that will replace the longtime leader Hosni Mubarak, whom they ousted in a popular uprising last year.

"We want a flawless president. We want him strong, just, respectable, clean, someone who feels for the poor. We basically want a superman," said Heba el-Sayed, a 42-year old teacher who was asking her colleagues outside a polling station in the popular neighborhood of Sayeda Zeinab who they voted for.

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The choices in the race raised worries among many whether real democracy will emerge in Egypt. And the final result, likely to come only after a runoff next month, will only open a new chapter of political struggle.

But in the lines at the polls, voters were palpably excited at the chance to decide their country's path in the vote, which is the fruit of last year's stunning popular revolt that overthew Mubarak after 29 years in power. For the past 60 years, Egypt's presidents running unchallenged have largely been re-affirmed in yes-or-no referendums that few bothered to vote in.

Mohammed Salah, 26, emerged grinning from a poll station, fresh from casting his ballot. "Before, they used to take care of that for me," he said. "Today, I am choosing for myself."

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If they're real, they were plucked from the lunar surface by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, given by then-President Richard Nixon to former Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle, pilfered by a Costa Rican mercenary soldier-turned Contra rebel, traded to a Baptist missionary for unknown items, then sold to a flamboyant Las Vegas casino owner who squirreled them away in a safety deposit box.

Now, more than 2½ years after Bob Stupak's death, an attorney for his estate has sent to NASA officials in Houston a tabletop display featuring the four gray chips the size of grains of rice. They're magnified in a Lucite dome about as big around as a U.S. 50-cent piece set with a small blue and white Nicaraguan flag. Combined, the chips weigh 0.05 grams.

Renee Juhans, NASA inspector general executive officer, confirmed Tuesday that the agency was "taking steps to authenticate" the display it received from attorney Richard Wright. Juhans declined to say what would happen after that.

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"I can die in a matter of months, so I came for my children, so they can live," a tearful Medhat Ibrahim, 58, who suffers from cancer, said as he waited to vote in a poor district south of Cairo. "We want to live better, like human beings."

Thirteen candidates, who include Islamists, liberals and Mubarak regime figures, are contesting the election. No outright winner is expected to emerge from the two-day vote starting Wednesday. So, a runoff between the two top finishers will be held June 16-17. The winner will be announced on June 21.

"It's a miracle," said Selwa Abdel-Malik, a 60-year-old Christian from the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria as she was about to vote. "And it's a beautiful feeling too."

For most of his 29-year rule, Mubarak — like his predecessors — ran unopposed in yes-or-no referendums. Rampant fraud guaranteed ruling party victories in parliamentary elections. Even when, in 2005, Mubarak let challengers oppose him in elections, he ended up not only trouncing his liberal rival but jailing him.

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The peaceful protest turned more violent in the evening as demonstrators set off fireworks and threw beer bottles at police. Riot police responded with pepper spray. Police spokesman Simon Delorme said at least 100 people were arrested. Two police officers were injured, and four people were taken to the hospital. The extent of their injuries was not immediately known

Since the emergency law was passed Friday, nightly protests have often turned violent, resulting in some 300 arrests Sunday alone. The new law requires that a detailed agenda be provided for protests of more than 50 people.

Police declared the Tuesday night protest illegal after no one provided an itinerary. "They didn't share the route, demonstrators were wearing masks and projectiles were thrown at police officers," the Montreal police said on their Twitter feed.

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The effort concentrates power over the use of lethal U.S. force outside war zones within one small team at the White House.

The process, which is about a month old, means Brennan's staff consults with the State Department and other agencies as to who should go on the target list, making the Pentagon's role less relevant, according to two current and three former U.S. officials aware of the evolution in how the government goes after terrorists.

In describing Brennan's arrangement to The Associated Press, the officials provided the first detailed description of the military's previous review process that set a schedule for killing or capturing terror leaders around the Arab world and beyond. They spoke on condition of anonymity because U.S. officials are not allowed to publicly describe the classified targeting program.

One senior administration official argues that Brennan's move adds another layer of review that augments rather than detracts from the Pentagon's role. The Pentagon can still carry out its own internal procedures to make recommendations to the secretary of defense, the official said.

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Melissa Bowerman, 41, who had been coaching the Condon/Wheeler track and field team with her 73-year-old husband, Jon Bowerman, was ousted this month in a phone call from the superintendents of the Condon and Fossil school districts.

"There was an investigation done and through that investigation, there were some potential details that arose," Condon superintendent Jan Zarate told the East Oregonian newspaper of Pendleton (http://is.gd/pBVR6a). "We started an investigation that led to us asking her to un-volunteer."

Zarate declined to provide details of the investigation.

Melissa Bowerman, whose late father-in-law invented the waffle-soled running shoe and co-founded Nike with Phil Knight, said attending the Condon High School prom with a boy from the track team was an error in judgment. But she said the pair did not have an inappropriate relationship. She said they danced to a few slow songs but mostly played ping pong and foosball.

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On the second and last day of the international meeting, the demonstrations were notably smaller than weekend protests that drew thousands into the streets.

Outside Boeing Co.'s headquarters, a relatively small crowd of protesters gathered in the street. Some released red and black balloons and confetti or blew bubbles. Others staged a "die-in," lying on the ground as if dead.

An orange barricade blocked off the building's entrances, and dozens of police officers stood guard. A police boat idled in the nearby Chicago River.

Occupy Chicago contends tax breaks for the aircraft manufacturer have deprived the state of millions of dollars. The group also objects to Boeing's role in producing military hardware for the U.S. and its NATO allies.

Illinois leaders see such tax incentives as a way to attract large companies that bring thousands of jobs.

Targeting Boeing Co.'s Chicago office makes symbolic sense: The company is a major defense contractor that makes fighter jets, bombs and missiles.

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Persistent political divisions — neatly bridged by a Group of Eight summit statement that advocates a mix of austerity and growth promotion — and lack of money stand in the way of a comprehensive European growth strategy. Analysts said markets were likely to look past the verbal deal, with news about Greece's struggle to stay in the eurozone and an informal European Union summit Thursday in Brussels more likely to set the tone.

At Saturday's G-8 summit, German Chancellor Angela Merkel — under urging from U.S. President Barack Obama and French President Francois Hollande — signed onto a statement that called for mixing painful cutbacks with growth-promoting measures to deal with a crisis that threatens the global economy.

The leaders warned that budget deficits have to come down. But they also acknowledged that an approach that's based mostly on austerity and longer-term reforms can't help countries out of recessions this year or next. That's the approach that has dominated the continent's German-led attack on the crisis since it erupted in late 2009, when Greece admitted its finances were broken.

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Meanwhile, many office buildings in the usually bustling city were closed after workers were warned to stay home because of heightened security, snarled transportation and the possibility of unruly protests.

National Nurses United officials have said they expect about 2,000 nurses to attend Friday's rally, where they will call for a "Robin Hood" tax on financial institutions' transactions to offset cuts in social services, education and health care. City officials expect the rally to draw more than 5,000 because of a performance by former Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello, an activist who has played at many Occupy events.

In a sign of the building tension, lawyers for protesters said Chicago police, with their guns drawn, raided an apartment building where activists were staying and arrested nine people on Wednesday night. The Chicago chapter of the National Lawyers Guild said officers broke down doors in the building in the South Side Bridgeport neighborhood and produced no warrants.

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The new parliament will hold power just one day because the election left no party with enough votes to form a government, forcing repeat elections next month. Recent polls show falling support for Golden Dawn, so it's not certain to make it into parliament again. Still, many people across Europe are troubled.

"The Golden Dawn party is a dark stain on European politics," said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress. "For the first time in over six decades a seemingly long hidden Nazi ideology returned to power."

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You won't find Thomas Chin, either. Or Kariann Goldschmitt. Or Jake Edelstein.

More than 900 million people worldwide check their Facebook accounts at least once a month, but millions more are Facebook holdouts.

They say they don't want Facebook. They insist they don't need Facebook. They say they're living life just fine without the long-forgotten acquaintances that the world's largest social network sometimes resurrects.

They are the resisters.

"I'm absolutely in touch with everyone in my life that I want to be in touch with," Arwood says. "I don't need to share triviality with someone that I might have known for six months 12 years ago."

Even without people like Arwood, Facebook is one of the biggest business success stories in history. The site had 1 million users by the end of 2004, the year Mark Zuckerberg started it in his Harvard dorm room. Two years later, it had 12 million. Facebook had 500 million by summer 2010 and 901 million as of March 31, according to the company.

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THE PLAYERS

An alliance formed in 1949 to deter Soviet aggression. The central principle is that an attack in Europe or North America against any member is an attack against all. The alliance has grown to 28 member nations, ranging from the United States, Britain, France and Germany to former Soviet bloc countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. Albania and Croatia are the newest members

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AFGHANISTAN

The summit will affirm the shift in NATO's military mission in Afghanistan from a combat role to an advisory role next year, and on plans to help underwrite the Afghan military after the NATO-led military mission ends two years from now. NATO is pledging to maintain a multinational combat force in Afghanistan until sometime in 2014, with a firm deadline to end the mission by 2015. NATO nations, along with others such as Australia that participate in the NATO-led mission, have planned a gradual withdrawal of combat forces ahead of that deadline.

The election of Socialist President Francois Hollande in France complicates that agenda. Hollande campaigned on a promise to pull French troops out of Afghanistan by the end of this year — two years early.

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Nine tortured days of fruitless talks to build a coalition government led to increasing doubts that Greece can make enough reforms to prevent the world's largest currency union from fracturing.

"We expect the euro to remain under pressure as a result of this, and pressure on the borrowing costs, the bond yields, of countries like Spain and Italy to persist," said John Bowler, director of the Economist Intelligence Unit's Country Risk Service.

No date has been set for the elections, but they will have to be by the middle of June — the month in which Greece must make more spending cuts to ensure it meets the terms of its international bailout. A caretaker government will be appointed until then.

The uncertainty has created alarm across the continent, with key leaders fearing that Greece could be forced out of the euro, triggering shock waves throughout the 17-country Eurozone.

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Pakistan blocked the routes in November after American airstrikes killed 24 of its troops on the Afghan border. The attack sent ties between Washington and Islamabad to new lows, threatening regional cooperation needed for negotiating an end to the Afghan war.

The U.S. expressed regret for the airstrikes and has been quietly pressing Pakistan to reopen the routes over the last two weeks. Washington and NATO stepped up those efforts in recent days by making it clear Islamabad would not be welcome at the two-day summit beginning Sunday in Chicago unless it did so.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen phoned President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday afternoon to invite him to the meeting, according to a statement from the Pakistan government and NATO.

"This meeting will underline the strong commitment of the international community to the people of Afghanistan and to its future," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said in Brussels, where the alliance is based. "Pakistan has an important role to play in that future."

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So how, then, did we get to where we are today, with GI bill education-related financial aid embroiled in the for-profit college mess?

The answer hinges on a classic case of unintended consequences. But first, cue President Obama.

On Friday, Obama continued his efforts to keep education front and center during his reelection campaign. This time around, the focus was on the military: specifically, the abusive, bordering-on-fraudulent practices employed by for-profit "diploma mill" colleges to boost military enrollment.

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The absence was jarring, because Romney's claim that President Obama is dragging the United States toward a loathsome European-style "social welfare" future has been a staple of the former Massachusetts governor's shtick ever since he started campaigning in earnest.

It's always been an easy line for him: Europe, Romney's audience understands, is the land of the not-free. The continent gave birth to Karl Marx, for crying out loud! Every now and then, socialist political parties actually take power!

But there is a big problem with Romney's formulation. For the last year or two, Europe has been implementing, in real time, exactly the policies that Romney and congressional Republicans fervently believe are the best strategy for boosting economic growth. It's called "austerity," and it means cutting deficits, slashing spending, and chipping away at all those goodies the social welfare state provides.

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One has to pity poor Bloomberg reporter Andrew Frye, squelched by the constraints of his employer's by-the-book writing guidelines from expressing his natural aghast incredulity at Castro-Wright's well-compensated sinecure as "a member of MetLife's Governance and Corporate Responsibility Committee."

MetLife's governance committee "oversees the management and mitigation of risks related to failure to comply with required or appropriate corporate governance standards," the insurer said last month in a proxy statement. Castro-Wright, who also served on the compensation and investment committees, was paid $259,124 for his work at the insurer last year, including $145,000 in cash and $112,502 in stock awards, the filing shows.

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The rest of us may prefer to cut to the political chase. The justices will, in all likelihood, either generally uphold the constitutionality of Arizona's law -- which expands the powers of state police officers to ask about the immigration status of anyone they stop and to hold those suspected of being in the country illegally -- or they will throw out its key provisions as a usurpation of the federal government's powers. What happens then?

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The junior senator from Florida gave a proverbial "major foreign policy address" in Washington today, after publishing a Los Angeles Times op-ed calling for the U.S. to pay more attention to Latin America and before moving on to a meeting with Democratic senators about his variation of the Democrats' DREAM Act.

If nothing else, the events indicate Rubio is auditioning to become the new Richard Lugar: the Democrats' favorite Republican. His speech to an overflowing audience at the Brookings Institution was announced by an email from Martin Indyk, who served as assistant secretary of state under President Clinton and has positive things to say about President Obama. Rubio was first introduced by Strobe Talbott, deputy secretary of state under Clinton, and then introduced some more by independent Joe Lieberman, the former Democrat whose voting record is still more liberal than that of every senate Republican.

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