Lisa Mascaro | Washington | May 25

LAT - In a momentary flash of bipartisanship, the Senate approved legislation that would allow Americans speedier access to generic drugs as well as breakthrough treatments for life-threatening diseases as part of a Food and Drug Administration revamping that now heads to the House.

But the comity didn't last, and the FDA accord was quickly followed by another round of partisan fighting over President Obama's push to keep student loan interest rates low. On party-line votes, senators blocked Democratic and Republican efforts to prevent interest rates from rising this summer.

John Markoff | San Francisco | May 25

NYT - A just-completed report from a presidential advisory committee urges President Obama to adopt new computer technologies to make better use of a huge swath of the radio spectrum now controlled by federal agencies.

The shift, which could be accomplished by presidential signature — and without Congressional involvement — would relieve spectrum congestion caused by the popularity of smartphones, and generate far more revenue for the federal government than auctioning spectrum to wireless carriers, according to the authors of the report.

Valentina Pop | Brussels | May 24

euobserver - EU leaders have tasked council chief Herman Van Rompuy with drafting a plan on deepening the eurozone's economic union, potentially via an inter-governmental treaty.

After more than five hours of talks on the need to strengthen growth policies while sticking to the already strengthened deficit rules, EU leaders on Wednesday night (23 May) agreed to come back to these issues at a formal summit on 28 June.

"Our discussion also demonstrated that we need to take the economic and monetary union to a new stage. There was a general consensus that we need to strengthen the economic union to make it commensurate with the monetary union," Van Rompuy said during a press conference at the end of the meeting.

Nikolaj Nielsen | Brussels | May 23

euobserver - National Roma integration strategies submitted by member states to the European Commission fail to fully assess the needs of Europe's largest minority.

Speaking to reporters in Strasbourg on Wednesday (23 May), EU justice commissioner Viviane Reding said the desperate situation of Roma is "a wake-up call for leaders."

EU leaders in June 2011 had backed a European Commission plan to end the centuries-old exclusion of the continent's 10 to 12 million Roma minority. Most live in Bulgaria, followed by Slovakia, Romania and Hungary. Access to education, jobs, healthcare and housing are among the four policy priorities.

Joe DeCapua | May 24

VOA - A new assessment has been released on efforts to end LRA rebel attacks in central and east Africa. The Enough Project says despite the deployment of U.S. advisers, current operations lack resources and troops.

Enough Project field researcher Kasper Agger spent several weeks in the region affected by LRA attacks. He said in the first three months of this year, there were more than 50 attacks, 9 deaths, 90 abductions and the continued displacement of nearly 450,000 civilians. Agger, who’s based in Kampala, Uganda, titled his report Mission in the Balance.

“I wanted to give it that title to stress that despite progress on the ground we are still far from seeing an end to the LRA. So I wanted to stress some kind of urgency,” he said.

The Enough Project is an advocacy group working to end genocide and crimes against humanity.

Adam Gabbatt | Montreal | May 24

The Guardian - More than 500 people were arrested in Montreal on Wednesday night as protestors defied controversial new law Bill 78

Protests that began in opposition to tuition fees in Canada have exploded into a political crisis with the mass arrest of hundreds of demonstrators amid a backlash against draconian emergency laws.

More than 500 people were arrested in a demonstration in Montreal on Wednesday night as protesters defied a controversial new law – Bill 78 – that places restrictions on the right to demonstrate. In Quebec City, police arrested 176 people under the provisions of the new law.

Demonstrators have been gathering in Montreal for just over 100 days to oppose tuition increases by the Quebec provincial government. On Tuesday, about 100 people were arrested after organisers say 300,000 people took the streets.

Michael Tarm | Chicago | May 24

AP - U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald said Thursday he isn't sure what his future holds as he steps down from the job he has held for 11 years. He ruled out elected office and hinted that switching sides and becoming a defense attorney wouldn't suit him.

But the highly regarded Fitzgerald, 51, did say he could see himself accepting another government position, if asked.

"Whenever the phone rings in the future and the (caller) ID says `public service calling,' I (will) answer the phone," said Fitzgerald, addressing a news conference in Chicago.

He added that he has not discussed the possibility with the Obama administration about becoming FBI director, a job for which his name has surfaced several times.

Sydney J. Freedberg Jr. | Washington | May 24

AOL Defense - The Senate Armed Services Committee unanimously passed its mark-up of the annual defense spending bill, rejecting all proposed cuts to the Air National Guard, cutting the Defense Department's civilian and contractor workforce by 5 percent over five years, and restricting aid to Pakistan.

The bill is silent on detention of terrorist suspects.

Stephanie Nebehay | Geneva | May 24

Reuters - The last three countries where polio is still paralyzing children -- Afghanistan, Pakistan and Nigeria -- said on Thursday that they have enlisted Muslim women and religious leaders to allay fears of vaccination and wipe out the disease.

Polio cases are at an all-time low worldwide, following its eradication in India last year, raising hopes but also fears about a threat of resurgence especially in sub-Saharan Africa unless remaining reservoirs of polio virus are stamped out.

The interview was conducted by Martin Hesse and Thomas Schulz | May 24

Speigel Online - In a SPIEGEL interview, Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman argues that this is not the time to worry about debt and inflation. To save the euro zone, he argues that the European Central Bank should loosen monetary policy and the German government should abandon austerity.

Alok Jha | May 24

The Guardian - Notoriously reclusive Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong gives video interview to Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia

As the first person to walk on the moon, he is a man whose name will be remembered for generations to come. But perhaps one of the other well-known things about Neil Armstrong is that he hardly ever gives interviews.

It was therefore something of a coup for Alex Malley, chief executive of Certified Practicing Accountants of Australia, to secure almost an hour of Armstrong's time to discuss the astronaut's trip to the moon.

In the illuminating conversation posted online on the CPA Australia website, Armstrong revealed how he thought his mission, Apollo 11, only had a 50% chance of landing safely on the moon's surface and said it was "sad" that the current US government's ambitions for Nasa were so reduced compared with the achievements of the 1960s.

"Nasa has been one of the most successful public investments in motivating students to do well and achieve all they can achieve," said Armstrong. "It's sad that we are turning the programme in a direction where it will reduce the amount of motivation and stimulation it provides to young people."

** CPA Australia Presents
An Audience with Neil Armstrong
In this four part series the first man to walk on the moon, gives a personal commentary on Apollo 11’s historic lunar landing, his thoughts on leadership and taking risks to innovate for the future

Lianne Gutcher | Kabul | May 24

The Independent - Two foreign medical workers and their three Afghan translators have been abducted in a remote part of north-east Afghanistan.

The women and their interpreters were travelling on horseback between the districts of Yaftal and Ragh in Badakhshan province when they were snatched by gunmen on Tuesday evening. The nationalities of the women were not disclosed.

The team, thought to have been with the Swiss aid organisation Medair, were on a trip to help women and children in rural areas. Abdul Maroof Rasek, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said the group was taken to a town in Ragh, adding: "So far, the kidnappers have not been in touch with officials or police, and there has been no ransom demand."

He said district elders had been asked to ask for help find the kidnap victims and negotiate their release.

Aris Roussinos | May 24

The Independent - The villagers of Angolo were gathered around the crater, mournfully staring at the bomb when we arrived. For over a month, the Russian-made cluster bomb has sat in the centre of this quiet farming village in Sudan's restive Nuba Mountains, its clutch of unexploded submunitions spilling from its belly into the red African soil. A makeshift attempt at cordoning off the scattered bomblets with a low circle of stones had little visible effect, with cattle and barefoot children moving unhindered through the long grass.

"Where is the West, where is the UN?" cried an elderly man, leaning against his spear as he gestured at the bomb. "How are we to clear this from our village? We need experts, and help from the outside world."

But South Kordofan's Nuba tribesmen have little hope of outside intervention. The UN's mandate to operate in Sudan's war-torn rebel provinces is heavily constrained by the government in Khartoum, and since South Sudan's declaration of independence in July 2011, little overt assistance is coming from their former allies a few dozen miles across the border.

Chris Boyette | May 23

CNN - A fire was burning Wednesday evening on a nuclear submarine docked at a U.S. Navy shipyard in Maine, and four people were injured, authorities said.

The USS Miami's reactor was not operating at the time and was not affected, according to Gary Hildreth, a public affairs officer for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery.

Navy spokesperson Lt. Myers Vasquez said the attack sub was in dry dock for regularly scheduled maintenance when the fire started.

London | May 24

AFP - A British stuntman became the world's first skydiver to land without a parachute on Wednesday, falling 731 metres (2,400 feet) to drop safely onto a crash-pad of cardboard boxes.

Wearing a specially-made "wing suit", Gary Connery leapt from a helicopter over Henley-on-Thames in southern England, aiming -- with his life hanging in the balance -- at a "runway" of 18,000 cardboard boxes.

After plunging at a speed of approximately 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour the 41-year-old landed successfully onto the boxes, but the anxious crowd had to wait several minutes before he emerged from the pile.

Connery, who has appeared as a stuntman in films including "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and the Bond movie "Die Another Day", said the experience had been "absolutely amazing".

"I'm in a strange space, if I'm totally honest," he told Sky News. "I guess I haven't digested what's just happened."

"(The landing) was so comfortable, so soft -- my calculations obviously worked out and I'm glad they did," he added.

Damascus | May 24

AFP - Syrian forces tried to storm the rebel bastion of Rastan Wednesday under cover of gunfire and shelling, reports said, as Damascus admitted sanctions were biting and the head of the main opposition bloc resigned.

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) meanwhile denied it was behind the abduction of Lebanese Shiite pilgrims, an incident stoking tensions in neighbouring Lebanon which is divided between pro- and anti-Damascus camps.

There was no word on any Rastan casualties, but the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 15 people were killed nationwide, including seven troops shot dead at Qalamun in Damascus province as they tried to defect.

As the violence continued to rage, Russia, one of Syria's few allies, offered to host direct talks between the Damascus regime and rebel representatives, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov said.

Soldiers were trying to overrun Rastan for the second time in 10 days, with shells crashing into the town at the rate of "one a minute" at one stage, according to the Britain-based Observatory.

Ibrahim Shinwari and Jibran Ahmad | May 23

Reuters - Pakistani authorities have sentenced a doctor accused of helping the CIA find Osama bin Laden to 33 years in jail on charges of treason, officials said, a move almost certain to further strain ties between Washington and Islamabad.

Shakil Afridi was accused of running a fake vaccination campaign, in which he collected DNA samples, that is believed to have helped the American intelligence agency track down bin Laden in a Pakistani town.

The al Qaeda chieftain was killed in a unilateral U.S. special forces raid in the town of Abbottabad in May last year.

"Dr Shakil has been sentenced to 33 years imprisonment and a fine of 320,000 Pakistani rupees ($3,477)," said Mohammad Nasir, a government official in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where the jail term will be served. He gave no further details.

Haji Mujtaba/ Miranshah & Jibran Ahmad / Peshawar | May 23

Reuters - A U.S. drone strike on suspected Islamist militants in northwest Pakistan killed 10 people on Thursday, intelligence officials said, an attack likely to raise tensions in a standoff with Washington over NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

The pilotless drone aircraft fired two missiles at a compound in a village in North Waziristan, a day after a similar attack killed four suspected militants in the same region.

Zach Epstein

BGR - Hackers associated with well known hacker-activist group “Anonymous Operations” have released a massive cache of data they say was obtained when they hacked a website belonging to the United States Department of Justice. “Today we are releasing 1.7GB of data that used to belong to the United States Bureau of Justice, until now,” Anonymous wrote in a statement on its website. The hackers claim the file contains emails as well as “the entire database dump” from the DOJ website.

“We do not stand for any government or parties, we stand for freedom of people, freedom of speech and freedom of information,” the hackers wrote. ”We are releasing data to spread information, to allow the people to be heard and to know the corruption in their government. We are releasing it to end the corruption that exists, and truly make those who are being oppressed free.”

Montreal | May 22

CBC - More than 100 people were arrested at the end of a long day of protests in Montreal that saw tens of thousands of people take to the streets over several hours to mark the 100th day of a student movement against tuition hikes.

Carrying signs, chanting slogans and wearing the student movement's red felt square, most protesters followed a pre-approved route submitted to police, as required by Quebec's new protest law. But encouraged by the more hardline CLASSE student group, a minority of protesters broke off from the main crowd in a symbolic defiance of Bill 78.

Paul Richter | Baghdad | May 23

LAT - Officials of six world powers and Iran gathered at an imposing guest house in Baghdad's international zone in a hopeful but subdued atmosphere for one or two days of talks on Iran's disputed nuclear program.

The six world powers opened the meeting at midday Wednesday with a group session led by Catherine Ashton, the European Union's foreign policy chief. The group is expected to outline a proposed interim deal in which Iran would halt production of 20% enriched uranium, which can be purified relatively easily to material that can be used in a nuclear bomb. It would also surrender control of all of the material and dismantle an underground bunker where it is being refined.

Riyadh | May 23

Reuters - Saudi Arabia, concerned that chaos in Yemen is creating an al Qaeda base on its doorstep, pledged $3.25 billion in aid to its neighbour at a donor group meeting two days after more than 90 Yemeni soldiers were killed in a suicide attack.

Riyadh, which already provides oil and military aid to its impoverished neighbour, convened Western and Arab Gulf nations to see how they can help Yemen push ahead with reforms and tackle its poverty and lawlessness.

By Evelyn M. Rusli & Michael J. De La Merced | New York | May 23

NYT - Just days before Facebook went public, some big investors grew nervous about the company’s prospects.

After publicly warning about challenges in mobile advertising, Facebook executives held conference calls to update their banks’ analysts on the business. Analysts at Morgan Stanley and other firms soon started advising clients to dial back their expectations. One prospective buyer was told that second-quarter revenue could be 5 percent lower than the bank’s earlier estimates.

David D. Kirkpatrick & Alan Cowell | Cairo | May 23

NYT - After weeks of fevered debate, speculation and argument, Egyptians went to the polls on Wednesday in the Arab world’s first competitive presidential election, choosing between a dozen candidates spanning the nation’s secular and Islamist traditions after decades of authoritarian rule.

With the skies clear and the weather warm, long lines of people queued at polling stations to vote in an election cast as a watershed in their political history.

Hiroshi Matsubara | Tokyo | May 21

Asahi Shimbun - Despite growing international concerns over the state of spent fuel rods at the crippled Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant, two government experts said on May 21 that there are no plans to speed up their scheduled removal by 2015.

Speaking at a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo, the government apparently wanted to get the message out to the world that the No. 4 reactor at the plant, which houses more than 1,500 nuclear fuel rods, could withstand a similar strike to last year's Great East Japan Earthquake.