Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe signs draft constitution.

Zimbabwe’s people have suffered more than a decade of murderous repression by the regime, collapse of the country’s once vibrant economy, and about a third of the population of 12 million people have been forced into exile in order to survive.

But in Berlin what started as a joke about yuppie newcomers has developed into a bitter campaign with neo-Nazi overtones.

Family members cry around the body of Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng. AP Photo

Why and where Taiwanese fisherman Hung Shih-cheng was killed last week is still unclear, but his death is a brutally vivid illustration of how quickly the competing territorial claims in the Far East can turn to bloodshed.

The fisherman, age 65, was shot and killed by the Philippine Coast Guard in waters claimed by both Taiwan and Philippine governments.

Muslim Brotherhood staged an anti-Israel rally in Cairo. AP Photo/Khalil Hamra

government of President Mohammed Morsi remains locked in a struggle for authority with the country’s dogged and influential judiciary.

Former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi

The small drama in Tehran on Saturday as two men rushed to register as presidential candidates before the 6 pm deadline is a useful reminder that while elections in Iran are not free and fair, neither are they fully scripted and devoid of surprises.

Former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Photo: AMIR QURESHI/AFP/Getty Images

The most likely outcome of Saturday’s election is that Nawaz Sharif, twice prime minister in the 1990s, will emerge the head of a coalition government.
But the defeat of the governing Pakistan People’s Party and the rise of Nawaz’ Pakistan Muslim League carries serious questions for the country and the region.

Nearly a month after the unexpectedly tight presidential election race  caused by Chavez death from cancer in early March, Maduro’s grip on power is looking decidedly flaccid. The question is not so much if he will be toppled, but who will do it and how soon.

But even though the performances of Prime Minister Najib Razak and opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim fell short of expectations, a close look at the results suggets Malaysia is moving away from the total domination of the United Malays National Organization that has dominated politics since independence from Britain in 1957.

But early in the evening of last December 15 Sombath was stopped at a police checkpoint and then driven off in a pickup truck. He hasn’t been seen since.