Mexico’s Pena Nieto draws fire but survives debate

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Mexico’s presidential front-runner Enrique Pena Nieto was forced onto the defensive on Sunday by his rivals who accused him of corruption, lies and being a pawn of the media during televised election debate. Pena Nieto, of the opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), has led opinion polls for months and his two main opponents repeatedly turned on the 45-year-old, albeit without airing any new accusations against him or his party. …

Greece’s young leftist Tsipras delivers political earthquake
ATHENS (Reuters) – Greece’s youngest political leader Alexis Tsipras was the big beneficiary of Sunday’s national election as austerity-fatigued voters catapulted his Left Coalition party towards second place. Tsipras, 37, benefited from a stinging electoral rejection of conservative New Democracy and socialist PASOK, the two parties that dominated Greek politics since the fall of the junta in 1974. Opinion polls indicated that his party had a good chance of coming third in the race but overtaking PASOK delivered the political earthquake Tsipras was hoping for. …

Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood rise from the ashes

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – At a meeting of Syria’s opposition, Muslim Brotherhood officials gather round Marxists colleagues, nudging them to produce policy statements for the Syrian National Council, the main political group challenging President Bashar al-Assad. With many living in the West, and some ditching their trademark beards, it is hard to differentiate Brotherhood from leftists. But there is little dispute about who calls the shots. …

France’s Sarkozy cuts Hollande poll lead to four points
PARIS (Reuters) – An opinion poll on Friday suggested French President Nicolas Sarkozy has cut his Socialist rival Francois Hollande’s lead to just four percentage points ahead of Sunday’s decisive second-round vote, the narrowest gap to date. The daily survey by pollster Ifop-Fiducial had Hollande, who has led in the polls for months, losing one percentage point to stand at 52 percent of those intending to vote, while Sarkozy rose to 48. …

Obamas kick off campaigning with rallies in must-win states

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – With his wife at his side and Air Force One as a campaign plane, President Barack Obama holds his first political rallies of the 2012 presidential race on Saturday, targeting two swing states that could be critical to his bid to retain the White House. Obama, a Democrat, formally launched his Chicago-based re-election effort last year, but his official political events have been confined to fundraisers since then. That changes this weekend. …

NOAA sought magician, now wants plans to disappear
A federal agency needs illusionist David Copperfield to help escape from criticism over now-canceled plans to hire a speaker to train agency leaders using “magic tools.”

Analysis: Tuareg uprising in Mali threatens neighbor Niger
TCHINTABARADEN, Niger (Reuters) – In the weeks since a sudden Tuareg revolt split Mali in two, officials in neighboring Niger have been desperate to stop the Sahara uprising from spreading across their border. If history is a guide, Niger has reason to be nervous. Since the first of several uprisings nearly a century ago by the indigo-turbaned nomads – who live in the vast desert spanning northern Mali and Niger – both countries have tended to be simultaneous battlegrounds. …

Florida school district officials accused of racism
ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – A federal lawsuit against a Florida school district alleges two black women who scored well on an adult skills test in 2010 were accused of cheating because, they were told, “you people don’t score that high.” The lawsuit, filed in Ocala on April 20 and announced Monday by the Florida Civil Rights Association, which is representing Lelia Jackson-Burch, alleged violations of civil rights, defamation and false imprisonment. …

Canada’s finance minister frets on housing, debt

TORONTO (Reuters) – High housing prices and household debt are Canada’s biggest economic concerns, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in weekend interviews that also warned of a crash in Toronto’s booming condo market and hinted at a crimped role for the government’s mortgage insurer. Speaking to the Globe and Mail and the National Post, Flaherty said he had spoken to bank CEOs about their “race to the bottom” on mortgage interest rates, which he described as irresponsible. …

Escaped China activist in US protection: source
BEIJING (Reuters) – Blind Chinese activist Chen Guangcheng is now under U.S. protection in Beijing after fleeing from house arrest, a supporter of his told Reuters on Saturday, threatening to open up a new front of tensions between the two governments. The United States has not provided any official confirmation of reports from rights activists that Chen, who was spirited away from house arrest at his home in Shandong province, had fled into the U.S. embassy. China declined to comment on Saturday on the issue, which now threatens to overshadow a top-level China-U.S. …