East Timor votes for president in test for young nation

East Timor voted for a new president Monday in an election that will test Asia's newest and poorest nation.

Francisco "Lu Olo" Guterres, a former guerrilla leader from the leftist Fretilin party, was up against seven other candidates. He and the Democratic Party's Antonio da Conceicao, the minister of education and social affairs, were the front-runners.

While East Timor's president has a mostly ceremonial role, the prime minister heads the government.

Hungary's president re-elected for 5-year term

Hungarian lawmakers re-elected President Janos Ader to his largely ceremonial post on Monday, ensuring another five-year term for a supporter of populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban's government.

Ader, nominated by Orban's governing Fidesz party, defeated Laszlo Majtenyi, a former ombudsman for data protection nominated by the left-wing opposition. Ader won by 131 votes to 39, with 29 abstentions.

A second round was needed because Ader fell two votes short of the 133 votes needed for a two-thirds majority in the first round. Only a simple majority was needed to win in round two.

Egypt's Mubarak acquitted in final ruling on 2011 deaths

Egypt's top appeals court issued a final ruling Thursday that effectively acquits former President Hosni Mubarak on charges of killing protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his nearly three-decade reign.

The Court of Cassation rejected an appeal by prosecutors, allowing an acquittal verdict from 2014 to stand. The judge also rejected a civil petition for compensation from families of some of the hundreds of protesters killed during the 18-day Arab Spring uprising.

Crowds greet Saudi king on rare visit to Indonesia

The first Saudi monarch to visit Indonesia in nearly half a century arrived Wednesday to an elaborate official welcome and crowds of thousands.

King Salman exited his plane at Halim airport in Jakarta using an escalator, with a portable lift carrying him the final meter or so to the ground.

Zimbabwe's Mugabe marks 93rd birthday in opposition area

Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe celebrated his 93rd birthday Saturday amid granite hills where ancient spirits are said to dwell, defying calls to resign after nearly four decades in power in a region known for opposing the man who says he'll run again in 2018 elections.

Thousands of government supporters, some wearing clothing adorned with Mugabe's image, converged in Matabeleland for a birthday bash and show of strength for the ruling ZANU-PF party, beset by squabbling in the past year as the elderly president weakened and factions, one including his wife Grace, sparred ahead of an expected power vacuum.

Azerbaijan's leader names his wife as 1st vice president

Azerbaijan's president on Tuesday appointed his wife as the first vice president of the ex-Soviet nation — the person next in line in the nation's power hierarchy.

Ilham Aliyev, 55 named his wife Mehriban, 52, to the position created after a constitutional referendum in September. Mehriban, who married her husband when she was 19, graduated from a medical university. She has served previously as a lawmaker and headed a charity.

New Gambian president promises reforms, freedoms

Gambia's new president promised greater freedom, an improved economy and better education as thousands attended a ceremony Saturday marking his inauguration after a tense political standoff with the country's former longtime leader.

"This is a victory for democracy. It is a victory for all Gambians," President Adama Barrow said to a packed stadium near the capital that included dignitaries and several African heads of state.

US judge bars deportations under Trump travel ban

A federal judge issued an emergency order Saturday night temporarily barring the U.S. from deporting people from nations subject to President Donald Trump's travel ban, saying travelers who had been detained had a strong argument that their legal rights had been violated.

The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement early Sunday that said the court order would not affect the overall implementation of the White House order and the court order affected a small number of travelers who were inconvenienced by security procedures upon their return.

Trump orders strict new refugee screening, citing terrorists

President Donald Trump on Friday barred all refugees from entering the United States for four months — and those from war-ravaged Syria indefinitely — declaring the ban necessary to prevent "radical Islamic terrorists" from entering the nation.

The order immediately suspended a program that last year resettled to the U.S. roughly 85,000 people displaced by war, political oppression, hunger and religious prejudice. Trump indefinitely blocked all those fleeing Syria, where a civil war has displaced millions of people, and imposed a 90-day ban on entry to the U.S. from seven Muslim majority nations.

Throngs cheer new president's triumphant return to Gambia

President Adama Barrow returned triumphantly to Gambia on Thursday, nearly two months after winning an election disputed by the country's longtime dictator, to the cheers of hundreds of thousands who jammed the roads in welcome.

"That's my president!" the crowds cried, eager to see Barrow fulfill the promise of democratic reforms and newfound freedoms in this tiny West African nation.

Trump moves to pull US out of big Asia trade deal

Charting a new American course abroad, President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from the sweeping Trans-Pacific Partnership on Monday, using one of his first actions in office to reject a centerpiece of Barack Obama's attempts to counter China and deepen U.S. ties in Asia.

Trump's move on trade aimed to fulfill a central campaign promise even as he appeared to be fixated on re-litigating the 2016 election.

Trump undoes parts of Obama agenda with executive actions

President Donald Trump signed three executive memorandums on Monday, kicking off his first full week in the White House by undoing parts of his predecessor's agenda and renewing a longtime Republican priority on abortion funding.

Trump signed a memorandum that freezes hiring for some federal government workers, a notice to abandon the proposed Pacific Rim trade pact known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, and another executive action to reinstate a ban on providing federal money to international groups that perform abortions or provide information on the option.

Over 1 million join anti-Trump women's marches worldwide

In a global exclamation of defiance and solidarity, more than 1 million people rallied at women's marches in the nation's capital and cities around the world Saturday to send President Donald Trump an emphatic message on his first full day in office that they won't let his agenda go unchallenged.

"Welcome to your first day, we will not go away!" marchers in Washington chanted.

Trump takes charge, assertive but untested 45th US president

Pledging emphatically to empower America's "forgotten men and women," Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States Friday, taking command of a riven nation facing an unpredictable era under his assertive but untested leadership.

Under cloudy, threatening skies at the West Front of the U.S. Capitol, Trump painted a bleak picture of the America he now leads, declaring as he had throughout the election campaign that it is beset by crime, poverty and a lack of bold action. The billionaire businessman and reality television star — the first president who had never held political office or high military rank — promised to stir a "new national pride" and protect America from the "ravages" of countries he says have stolen U.S. jobs.

No deal in talks to persuade Gambian leader to step down

No deal was reached Friday in last-ditch attempts by a regional mediation team to persuade Gambia's longtime leader to step down, and while mediation will continue, the inauguration next week of the elected opposition coalition leader will go forward, the spokesman for coalition said.

"This crisis has not been solved by these talks," said spokesman Halifa Sallah, adding that more efforts are needed to narrow differences.

Obama ends visa-free path for Cubans who make it to US soil

President Barack Obama announced Thursday he is ending a longstanding immigration policy that allows any Cuban who makes it to U.S. soil to stay and become a legal resident.

The repeal of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy is effective immediately. The decision follows months of negotiations focused in part on getting Cuba to agree to take back people who had arrived in the U.S.

In tearful farewell, Obama awards Biden the Medal of Freedom

At the dusk of both of their political careers, surrounded by teary friends and family, President Barack Obama on Thursday bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Joe Biden, the man he called "the finest vice president we have ever seen."

The vice president winced in shock as Obama announced he was conferring the nation's highest civil honor on his right-hand-man for eight years. Biden turned away from the cameras, wiped away some tears, then stood stoically as Obama draped the blue-and-white ribbon around his neck.

Iranians mourn as former leader Rafsanjani interred

Hundreds of thousands mourned former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani on Tuesday, wailing in grief as his body was interred at a Tehran shrine alongside the leader of the country's 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Rafsanjani's final resting place near the late Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, reflected his legacy as one of the pillars of Iran's clerical-dominated political system, as he served in later years as a go-between for hard-liners and reformists.

Roman Herzog, Germany's president in the 1990s, dies at 82

Roman Herzog, who as president pressed Germany to embrace economic reform in the 1990s and also stressed the importance of remembering the Nazi Holocaust, has died. He was 82.

Current President Joachim Gauck announced Herzog's death on Tuesday, without giving details. In a message to Herzog's widow, he described the former head of state as "a distinctive personality" who "advocated readiness for reform and at the same time stood for preserving the tried and tested."

Rafsanjani, Iran leader whose life mirrored nation's, dies

Iran's former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani died Sunday after a decades-long career in the ruling elite, where his moderate views were not always welcome but his cunning guided him through revolution, war and the country's turbulent politics.

The political survivor's life spanned the trials of Iran's modern history, from serving as a close aide to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini during the 1979 Islamic Revolution to acting as a go-between in the Iran-Contra deal. He helped found Iran's contested nuclear program, but later backed the accord with world powers to limit it in exchange for sanctions relief.