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ABIDJAN - Ivory Coast presidential claimant Alassane Ouattara sought to assert his grip on power after weeks of fighting, leaving his rival Laurent Gbagbo isolated behind a military cordon in his bunker.
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TRIPOLI - Libyan government forces tried to storm into the besieged city of Misrata on Friday as NATO generals acknowledged their air power was not enough to help insurgents remove Muammar Gaddafi by force alone.
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WASHINGTON - Facing a midnight deadline, the White House and Congress worked furiously on Friday to break a U.S. budget deadlock and avoid a federal government shutdown, after President Barack Obama and congressional leaders failed to reach a deal in late-night talks.
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TOKYO - Japan's economy is in a "severe condition" with no quick recovery in sight following a triple disaster triggered by the March 11 earthquake that has sent service-sector sentiment plummeting the most on record, the government said on Friday.
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BUDAPEST - Euro zone finance ministers told Portugal on Friday that it would have to implement new economic reforms that went beyond those proposed by its outgoing government if it hoped to secure aid from the EU and IMF.
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SOHAR, Oman - Heavy security prevented fresh protests after Friday prayers in the Omani city of Sohar, where protesters camped out for over a month before security forces moved them out last week.
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SANAA - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Friday a plan to negotiate his resignation in the face of mass protests was a "belligerent intervention", apparently rejecting a Gulf Arab plan to end his 32-year rule.
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AMMAN - Protests against Baath Party rule erupted in Kurdish regions of eastern Syria on Friday, Kurdish activists said, a day after President Bashar al-Assad offered Syrian nationality to some Kurds.
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ATHENS - Workers at Greece's biggest refiner Hellenic Petroleum are extending to April 19 a walkout that is already crippling production and fuel supplies, labour union and company officials said on Friday.
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GAZA - Israeli air strikes in the Gaza Strip killed two militants from the Islamist group Hamas and three Palestinian civilians on Friday in a second day of increased cross-border violence.
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LONDON - Britons vote next month in a referendum on changing the electoral system which looks certain to undermine either Prime Minister David Cameron or his deputy Nick Clegg, and could weaken their coalition.
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NEW DELHI - A veteran Indian social activist whose hunger strike against corruption is drawing growing support rejected on Friday an offer of talks saying the government was ignoring the wishes of the people.
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