Paris police shot on Champs-Elysees; IS group claims attack

A gunman opened fire on police on Paris' iconic Champs-Elysees boulevard Thursday night, killing one officer and wounding three people before police shot and killed him. The Islamic State group quickly claimed responsibility for the attack, which hit just three days before a tense presidential election.

Security already has been a dominant theme in the campaign, and the violence on the sparkling avenue threatened to weigh on voters' decisions. Candidates canceled or rescheduled final campaign events ahead of Sunday's first round vote.

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.

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.

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.

Philippine campaign ends in panic as Trump-like mayor leads

A bruising presidential campaign was drawing to a close in the Philippines on Saturday, with a last-minute attempt by the president to unify candidates against a front-running mayor perceived as a threat to democracy virtually collapsing.

After crisscrossing the archipelago nation for three months, five presidential candidates led by Mayor Rodrigo Duterte will converge in the vote-rich capital Manila for their final rallies ahead of Monday's vote.

Suu Kyi loyalist and friend elected Myanmar's president

Myanmar's parliament elected Htin Kyaw as the country's new president Tuesday in a watershed moment that ushers the longtime opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi into government after 54 years of direct or indirect military rule.

The joint session of the two houses of parliament broke into thundering applause as the speaker Mann Win Khaing Than announced the result: "I hereby announce the president of Myanmar is Htin Kyaw, as he won the majority of votes." Immediately, the state-run Myanmar TV's camera zoomed in from above on a beaming Suu Kyi, sitting in the front row, clapping excitedly, for a live nationwide audience.

Iceland's president not seeking re-election after 20 years

Iceland's long-serving president says he will not be seeking re-election this year after leading the country for 20 years.

Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson said in his New Year's speech on Friday that it was the right time to step down because many political uncertainties — including Iceland's application for European Union membership and its recovery from economic collapse — have been resolved.

Burkina Faso to hold elections to replace transitional gov't

Burkina Faso is holding presidential and legislative elections on Sunday, the first since a popular uprising last year toppled the West African nation's longtime leader and started a turbulent transition.

With no incumbent on the ballot and the presidential guard now dissolved, candidates and analysts say the vote will be the most open and democratic in Burkina Faso's history.

Biographical information on Sri Lanka's Sirisena

NAME: Maithripala Sirisena (pronounced my-three-PA'-la si-ri-SAY'-na)

AGE-BIRTHPLACE: 63. Born in the village of Yagoda, north of Colombo, but moved in the 1950s with his family to the farming district of Polonnaruwa under a government agriculture development project.

Monitors say voters obstructed in Sri Lankan election

Election monitors said Thursday that voters in northern Sri Lanka were prevented from casting their ballots in an election that pits President Mahinda Rajapaksa against an ally who suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.

The Center for Monitoring Election Violence, based in the capital of Colombo, also said a hand grenade exploded near a voting station in the northern Jaffna peninsula in the Tamil minority heartland, but that no injuries were reported.

President faces fierce battle in Sri Lanka vote

Voters went to the polls Thursday in Sri Lanka, where President Mahinda Rajapaksa faces a fierce political battle after his onetime ally suddenly defected from the ruling party to run against him.

November defection by former Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena turned the race, which Rajapaksa had been widely expected to easily win, into a referendum on the president and the enormous power he wields over the island nation of 21 million.

Political revolt roils Sri Lanka presidential vote

Until just a few weeks ago, Sri Lanka's upcoming election seemed a mere formality. Nothing, it seemed, could keep President Mahinda Rajapaksa from rolling to a third term in office.

He was the president hailed as a king after crushing the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009 and ending the island nation's 25-year civil war. He is a charismatic campaigner with vast campaign funds. He has turned the government into an extended family business, with politically powerful brothers, sons and nephews who can all help his candidacy.

But times change. Quickly.

Jakarta governor wins Indonesian presidency

Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo, who captured the hearts of millions of Indonesians with his common man image, was declared the winner Tuesday of the country's presidential election, calling it a victory for all of the nation's people.

A former furniture exporter known to most as "Jokowi," Widodo was the first candidate in a direct presidential election in Indonesia with no ties to the former dictator Suharto, who ruled for 30 years before being overthrown in 1998.

Widodo leads early results in Indonesia election

Unofficial quick-count results of Indonesia's hotly contested presidential election Wednesday showed Joko "Jokowi" Widodo ahead of his rival with more than 80 percent of the votes tallied.

Widodo, the governor of Jakarta, was leading with about 52 percent of the vote, while Prabowo Subianto had about 48 percent, according to most credible quick-count surveys.