Heads Of State

Deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned today from 17 months in exile, and police immediately took him into custody on corruption charges at an airport where thousands of supporters awaited his arrival. Thaksin, a 58-year-old billionaire ousted in September 2006, could face a maximum of 15 years in prison on corruption charges in two cases that date to his time in office. "I have to restore my reputation, which has been tarnished by the coup," he said.

President Bush said Friday that Fidel Castro's "supposed retirement" meant only that Cuba was replacing "one dictator with another" and that the U.S. would not relax its strict opposition to the regime. Bush's remarks were his most extensive on the change taking place in Cuba, with Raul Castro's elevation to the presidency in place of his ailing older brother.

A few yards from the four-room house where President Chen Shui-bian grew up, a life-size cutout leans against a wall. Tourists used to arrive in droves and have their photo taken with the "president," earning neighbors a steady income. These days the visitors are largely gone, the prop weather-worn and seemingly forgotten. "We haven't had any real business in years," said Chen, a 60-year-old retiree and distant relative with silver teeth and a pink shirt, who declined to give her first name.

Kenyan lawmakers unanimously approved a power-sharing deal, bringing together two men whose dispute over the presidency unleashed weeks of deadly violence. President Mwai Kibaki and opposition leader Raila Odinga both claimed victory in the Dec. 27 presidential election, which observers said was so flawed by rigging that it was impossible to say who had won. Under the deal, Odinga will fill the newly created post of prime minister.

She smiles like a queen from almost every street corner here. Billboards congratulate her on her recent 52nd birthday, declaring her admirers' wish that she live for "thousands of years." Her name is Mayawati, and she has a penchant for diamonds, helicopters and power, all of which are at her disposal as the leader of Uttar Pradesh, India's most populous state and home to the Taj Mahal. Elected chief minister in May, she reigns over a population more than half that of the United States.

Prime Minister Yusaf Raza Gillani on Saturday won a unanimous vote of confidence from the National Assembly and pledged to begin rolling back some of the authoritarian measures imposed late last year by President Pervez Musharraf during six weeks of de facto martial law. Gillani, who took office Tuesday, was legally required to win a vote of confidence before his government embarks on its work. No Pakistani prime minister had ever won such a vote unanimously.

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai claimed Tuesday to have defeated President Robert Mugabe in Saturday's presidential election and called on the longtime leader to respect voters' will. In his first public appearance since the vote, Tsvangirai endorsed official results released thus far and said any talks on a smooth transition could occur only after the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission's final announcement of the tally.

President Robert Mugabe's party has lost its majority in parliament after 28 years in power, election officials announced Wednesday, as the aging Zimbabwean leader faced a more damaging blow: the virtual certainty of a runoff in the presidential race that he has scant hope of winning.

A former Roman Catholic bishop who championed the downtrodden and challenged the long-entrenched political elite was elected Paraguay's president Sunday, ending six decades of one-party rule in this South American nation. Fernando Lugo, 56, dubbed "the bishop of the poor," was leading by 10 percentage points with more than 90% of the results in, electoral officials said. He had about 41% of the vote to about 31% for his chief opponent, Blanca Ovelar of the ruling Colorado Party.

The election of Fernando Lugo as president of Paraguay signals the latest advance of the left in Latin America and the end of more than six decades of rule by a political party best known for a longtime anti-communist dictatorship. Lugo, a bespectacled former Roman Catholic bishop, appears to be among the more moderate left-leaning leaders of South America, where only two major nations, Colombia and Peru, continue to be run by conservatives.