World Leaders

HARARE, Zimbabwe, June 23 -- Heavily armed police officers raided the headquarters of opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change party on Monday, dragging away about 60 people -- including children -- on a day when world leaders condemned violence by the Zimbabwean government in increasingly strong terms. As Tsvangirai took refuge in the Dutch Embassy here, the U.N. Security Council unanimously agreed in New York that the violence and restrictions on Tsvangirai's party "have made it impossible for a free and fair election...

DUBLIN — Northern Ireland security chiefs say arrested troublemakers at the G-8 summit next month may be housed in a prison wing and in an abandoned British Army base. Justice Minister David Ford says one wing of Maghaberry Prison, which houses convicted members of outlawed paramilitary groups, will be reserved to house up to 200 arrested G-8 protesters. He says the empty military barracks in the town of Omagh could be used to hold approximately 300 more. "It would be very foolish...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Hundreds of protesters rallied in the nation's capital as world leaders met for an emergency economic summit. Outside the summit, the largest protest came from the nearly 200 demonstrators supporting Tibetan independence. They were joined by a smaller group from the spiritual movement Falun Gong in protesting China, which is attending the financial meeting at the National Building Museum. Protesters chanted "Shame on China" on the outskirts of the perimeter established by police.

Topic A, the core agenda for world leaders, has become clear: how to fill the economic middle with jobs that can put Europe back to work, get incomes climbing in the United States and absorb a bulge of young people in parts of Asia and the developing world. But deep into the world's financial crisis response, and as officials wrap up annual spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, there is no consensus on how to proceed. Europe remains locked in a feud over more spending in hopes of...

The United States has closed its embassy in Damascus amid the Syrian ruling junta's increasingly violent crackdown . As China defends its veto this weekend of a U.N. resolution that might have amounted to nothing more than strong condemnation, the Assad regime, buoyed by continuing Russian and Iranian political and logistical support, including arms shipments, is escalating its murderous rampage. Its goal is to crush the rebellion by brute force; meanwhile, international confusion regarding what can or needs to be...

SHANGHAI, Oct. 25 -- Leaders from Asia and Europe on Saturday called for new rules for and stronger regulation of the global monetary and financial system at the close of a two-day summit in Beijing as China assumed a leadership role in the crisis. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the world's economic problems had become so massive that measures beyond the many multibillion-dollar bailout packages announced might be necessary to avert further damage. "We are very glad to see that...

CANNES, France — World leaders attending the G-20 summit sent a strong message to Europe on Friday that it must do more to manage its spiraling debt and financial problems but offered no explicit help, saying the region's fate was in its own hands. After two days of talks dominated by the crisis in Greece , the most tangible outcome was an agreement by the cash-strapped government of Italy to allow its economy to be intensely monitored by the International Monetary Fund . ...

TRIPOLI, Libya — Rebel fighters fled under fire from a key town in eastern Libya on Tuesday as world leaders convening in London insisted that Moammar Gaddafi step down but offered no new suggestions for how to dislodge him from power. The rebels' chaotic retreat from the town of Bin Jawwad, which they had captured from troops loyal to Gaddafi just two days earlier, reversed the momentum they had seized over the weekend and suggested that the ad hoc and...

DEAUVILLE, France — President Obama met with world leaders Thursday to discuss military operations in Libya and the implications of the Arab Spring at the start of the Group of 8 summit, a forum that a year ago remained preoccupied with the global economic crisis. The shift to national security issues this year has been driven by the anti-government demonstrations sweeping across North Africa and the Middle East, a process Obama has said he will encourage...

Top world leaders gathering in Camp David on Friday will confront renewed financial tensions in Europe and a deepening quandary over how to bolster tepid economic growth in developed nations while controlling public debt. It will be the first summit of leaders from major industrialized countries since the euro region completed a set of extraordinary measures meant to combat its problems. The discussions will focus on an urgent question: Will those steps protect Europe and the world...

In the past week, the world witnessed the transition to the 265th successor to St. Peter, whe n Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio S.J. of Argentina , the first elected from the Americas, and the first Jesuit, became head of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Francis. There are two responsibilities that he holds: leader of the institutional church that is a locus of power—a church that engages in the world and is subject to all of the vagaries and temptations of the human condition; and inspirer of the church of the Spirit, a church that...

Even as a non-Catholic, I was filled with hope when an Argentine cardinal said to be passionate about serving the poor stepped onto the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square as Pope Francis. By taking the name of a church reformer, the former Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio promised a better day for an ossified institution whose people beg for hope while hierarchs defend medieval power and pomp. In greeting the crowd, the new pope showed a common touch that could repurpose a global movement from being lost in scandal...

Venezuela bid farewell to President Hugo Chavez in an emotional funeral on Friday and then hours later inaugurated a new president, Nicolas Maduro, who pledges to continue the late leader's radical economic and political transformation of one of the world's great oil powers. "I, Nicolas Maduro, militant in Chavez's cause, assume his sash as the legitimate president, to lift the people, protect them and to follow the path of continuing the revolution," the former vice president, 50, said after the...

More than 100 air traffic control towers could be closed and travelers could expect lengthy flight delays beginning in April, the White House warned Friday in its latest bid to raise public alarm over the mandatory spending cuts set to kick in next week. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood vowed that airline security would not be compromised, but he emphasized that the Federal Aviation Administration would have no alternative but to furlough thousands of employees as it seeks to slash...

You may think that only grown-ups can change the world, meaning that you may have 10, 15 or 20 years before you will do anything amazing. But that's just not true. Many famous men and women, from artists and composers including Pablo Picasso and Mozart, to athletes and world leaders such as Wilma Rudolph and Mother Teresa, started doing amazing things when they were about your age — or even younger. Their stories are told in two very fun new books, " Girls Who Rocked the...

In case you haven't noticed, this past week was Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) . What started off as a modest effort to inspire entrepreneurship has evolved into a massive global movement. According to the Kauffman Foundation, more than 7 million people will participate in entrepreneurship events across 130 countries. The idea is simple: build and strengthen local entrepreneurial ecosystems to nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs. I participated in one of these events in...

ADD MAHMOUD Ahmadinejad to the list of world leaders impatiently waiting for the U.S. election to be over. The Iranian president suggested to The Post's David Ignatius in an interview Sunday that "key issues" in the negotiations between Iran and an international coalition over its nuclear program "must be talked about again once we come out of the other end of the political election atmosphere in the United States. " The implication was that it won't be possible to know the bottom-line U.S. terms for a...

The global environment summit concluding Friday, which drew nearly 100 world leaders and more than 45,000 other people to Rio de Janiero and cost tens of millions of dollars, may produce one lasting legacy: Convincing people it's not worth holding global summits. The U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development, a once-a-decade meeting aimed at reconciling economic and environmental aspirations, has produced a nonbinding declaration, committing the world's politicians to modest goals.

BERLIN — With President Obama's victory just a few hours old Wednesday, the world's wish list for his second term stacked up as fast as the congratulatory telegrams that arrived in Chicago. Leaders around the globe seemed quick to blame their disappointments about Obama's first term on his need to win a second, whether it be inaction on the conflict in Syria, missile- defense tensions with Russia or saber rattling toward Iran. And as Obama caught a few hours of sleep Wednesday, others worldwide...

ADD MAHMOUD Ahmadinejad to the list of world leaders impatiently waiting for the U.S. election to be over. The Iranian president suggested to The Post's David Ignatius in an interview Sunday that "key issues" in the negotiations between Iran and an international coalition over its nuclear program "must be talked about again once we come out of the other end of the political election atmosphere in the United States. " The implication was that it won't be possible to know the...