AFP Video - Politics

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Iranian President Ahmadinejad arrived in Brasilia on Monday for a 24-hour stay that started with a meeting with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

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Gabon's President Ali Bongo met with his French counterpart Nicolas Sarkozy on Friday on his first trip to France since he succeeded his father, who had made Paris nearly a second home while leader of the oil-rich former French colony. Images and soundbites.

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Romania, struggling with a severe recession and reeling from political turmoil, is now set to face yet another challenge -- a presidential election. Both front-runners, including the incumbent Traian Basescu, are neck-and-neck in the polls, meaning a decisive outcome from Sunday's poll looks unlikely.

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European leaders have chosen a low-profile pair to lead a revamped EU, prompting widespread criticism that national leaders deliberately undercut the positions in order to preserve their own influence. The pick of Belgium's premier, Herman Van Rompuy, as president and EU Commissioner Catherine Ashton, a Briton with little foreign policy experience, as the top diplomat, came at a summit of the 27 EU heads of state and government.  Duration: 02:21

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After a controversial election, Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term on Thursday. But with public confidence at an all time low and the US ramping up pressure to rid the country of its corruption, many Afghans are concerned about the future. Duration: 02:15

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Since Romania joined the European Union in 2007, an estimated 10 percent of its people have left, seeking better fortunes elsewhere in the 27-nation bloc. Some regions have been abandoned by the able-bodied, leaving the elderly and children behind. Duration: 02:04.

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term, vowing to combat corruption, bring security and reach out to his political rivals under Western pressure to restore legitimacy. Duration: 01:22.

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On Canusa Avenue, houses on one side of the street are in the USA, but on the other side they are in Canada. It’s a spot favored by illegal immigrants, and authorities are taking notice. The US is planning to build a wall on the street, and they've already installed a customs post. 

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US President Barack Obama wrapped up his first trip to China on Wednesday by meeting Premier Wen Jiabao, who said the two nations were better off as partners not rivals, and visiting the Great Wall. Duration:00:52

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On Wednesday the Queen presents the British government's law-making plans for the coming year at the formal opening of parliament. Gordon Brown's Labour party wants to tighten the rules that govern the financial system but critics say there's not enough time for any new bills to come into force before the next general election. Duration: 01:54

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US President Barack Obama arrived in Beijing on Monday from Shanghai, for the second leg of his maiden state visit to China. Obama was due to attend a welcome dinner hosted by Chinese President Hu Jintao. The pair will hold formal bilateral talks on Tuesday.

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President Barack Obama held a town hall meeting with Chinese students in Shanghai, which was streamed live on the Internet on Monday.

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US President Barack Obama arrived in China late Sunday for his first visit to the Asian giant -- a three-day mission aimed at convincing Beijing that Washington is its partner, not its rival. Obama touched down in China's financial hub after a flight from Singapore, where he and other Asia-Pacific leaders pledged to revamp the world economy but scuppered hopes that key climate change talks next month would end in a pact. Duration: 00:50

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Sarah Palin’s autobiography hits stores Tuesday. "Going Rogue" is the 2008 election told by the Republican vice presidential candidate, and running mate to John McCain. She may have her sights set on the White House in 2012, but is she still the darling of the Republican base?

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US President Barack Obama joined world leaders who donned colourful designer shirts for a glittering dinner Saturday, taking a break from annual talks to enjoy the Singapore waterfront and skyline. Obama, who arrived late after jetting in from Japan, was resplendent in a shirt created especially for the 21 leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Singapore. Duration: 00:47.

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Billing himself America's first "Pacific president", Barack Obama Saturday said the United States did not seek to "contain" China and promised a full US role in charting Asia's future. Duration: 00:48.

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Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said Friday that he had no "Israeli partner" ready to push forward the Middle East peace process, rebuffing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's offer of talks.

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Barack Obama embarked Thursday on his first tour of Asia as US president, bound for Japan before later stops in Singapore, China and South Korea on a week-long trip.

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Tens of thousands of Palestinians gathered in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Wednesday to honour their iconic leader Yasser Arafat but there were no ceremonies in the Gaza Strip where Hamas banned people from marking the fifth anniversary of Arafat's death.

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Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held talks Wednesday in Paris with French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Iran and the crisis in the Middle East peace process.

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Tensions between Venezuela and Colombia continue to mount as Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has urged his countrymen to "defend the homeland." This call for arms comes as Colombia signs a new military agreement with the US. On the frontline is San Antonio del Tachira in Venezuela. Duration: 01:48

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Lebanon's new unity government will be united in name only because of unresolved deep divisions between rival parties, especially on the issue of Hezbollah's arsenal of weapons, analysts say. The new government was formed late on Monday by Prime Minister Saad Hariri following more than four months of tough negotiations with the Hezbollah-led opposition.

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Fifteen years after bloodshed drove them out of southeast Turkey, some 12,000 Kurdish refugees still languish in the Makhmour camp in northern Iraq. They dream of returning home, but say they will not move unless Ankara grants extensive political and cultural rights to Kurds. Duration: 02:33

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For the past 20 years Berlin is a city reunified. But another European capital, Nicosia, remains cut in two. UN troops oversee security on the so-called Green Line dividing the Greek Cypriot republic in the south from the Turkish-backed statelet to the north. Since a UN-backed reunification plan was scrapped in 2004, the island has remained in a state of limbo. Duration: 02:20

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The US House of Representatives approved the broadest overhaul of US health care in four decades late Saturday, handing President Barack Obama a hard-fought victory for his top domestic priority. The bill amounts to a 10-year, trillion-dollar plan to extend coverage to some 36 million Americans who lack it now. Duration: 0:42                       

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China's Communist Party has experienced tumultuous times over the past 60 years but has managed to maintain its grip on power throughout a massive famine, the Cultural Revolution, pro-democracy protests on Tiananmen Square and recent ethnic tensions. Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin Wall -- and the ensuing demise of Communism throughout Europe -- the regime remains strong, buoyed, many say, by Beijing's impressive economic success. Originally filed on 103009.

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The Ivory Coast's long-awaited presidential election is officially taking place on 29th November, but it's feared the poll will be delayed while the country's electoral commission sifts through almost two million potentially ineligible voters.

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Former French president Jacques Chirac's charity foundation gave its first award for the prevention of conflicts to two Nigerian preachers on Friday. The jury also gave a special prize to Park Jae-Kyu, South Korea's former unification minister.

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The UN announced Thursday it was evacuating more than half its international staff from Afghanistan after a deadly Taliban attack on a guesthouse for UN workers.

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Israeli naval commandos intercepted a ship carrying "hundreds of tonnes" of arms which officials said were being sent from Iran to the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon. The haul from the Francop ship is among the largest ever seized by Israel, containing hundreds of ammunition crates packed into shipping containers, many hidden behind sacks of cement. 

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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday the future of Jerusalem must be on the agenda of any Middle East peace talks, as the Palestinians again took Israel to task over Jewish settlements in the disputed holy city. Duration: 00:52

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With the last hurdle for the Lisbon Treaty out of the way, people across the European Union can now focus on another question: what is it, exactly? The document seeks to reform the unwieldy 27-nation bloc, but it is unclear to most how that will change life for the 300 million people within its mandate. Reaction from the streets of London, Warsaw, Paris and Berlin. Duration: 02:24

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Afghanistan's former presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday slammed Hamid Karzai's re-election as illegal, piling pressure on the head of state as his foreign allies warned him to deliver on reform pledges. Duration: 00:44

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A year ago Wednesday, Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States of America. A look at images from that historic election. 

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German Chancellor Angela Merkel hit out at Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Tuesday, saying it would be unacceptable to allow a Holocaust denier to get the nuclear bomb.

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Italy's Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was swept to power largely on an anti-crime platform. In November the government will give the greenlight to a controversial crime-fighting measure --- legalising citizen patrols of neighborhoods. The law is triggering heated debate. Duration: 01:39.