U.S. Sen. Jim Webb obtained the release Saturday of American John Yettaw, who had been sentenced to seven years of hard labor in Myanmar for visiting detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Webb will accompany Yettaw to Bangkok, Thailand, Sunday on a military aircraft, his office said.
Webb also met for about 40 minutes Saturday with Suu Kyi, a witness said. It was not known what they discussed.

Dutch voters, after rejecting a draft constitution for Europe four years ago, delivered a solid bloc for anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders to take to Europe’s parliament, exit polls showed Thursday.
Underscoring skepticism over further European integration, Wilders’ right-wing Freedom Party appeared set to win four out of 25 contested seats in elections for the European Parliament being held over the next four days.
Wilders, who says the Koran incites violence, said he would stop Turkey’s bid to join the bloc, an issue that causes deep fissures among the 27 European Union member …

ROME — Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said Thursday that he had used a state plane to ferry personal guests to his private villa — but that there was nothing improper as he and other government officials were flying on the jet.
Rome prosecutors earlier in the week launched an investigation into whether the premier allegedly abused his powers by arranging for partygoers — including a dancer and singer — to use government aircraft and for official security escorts to travel to his villa on the island of Sardinia.

Beleaguered by Labor Party plotters hoping to unseat him and by the prospect of disastrous local election results for Labor that are expected on Friday morning, Prime Minister Gordon Brown chose on Thursday to send out aides avowing to reporters, anonymously, that there was “no chance” he would resign.
The prime minister’s move, reported by the BBC and the Web sites of several British newspapers, surprised nobody, given Mr. Brown’s trademark as a political pit bull. He has a reputation for fighting his corner with a tenacity born of the decade …

Italians are always scornful about the obsession of the “Anglo-Saxon” media with the private lives of the rich and famous, but for the past month the Italian newspapers have been preoccupied with one subject and one subject only: the relationship between Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and a young woman from Naples called Noemi Letizia.
Mr Berlusconi has been caught out telling numerous lies about the relationship and refuses to explain them. And with important elections pending, his popularity, at an all-time high only six weeks ago, may be eroding.

Moldova’s parliament has failed to elect a new president – increasing the possibility the country will have to hold a new general election.
The last election sparked violent scenes as protesters claimed the Communist Party victory was fraudulent.
The Communists needed 61 votes in the 101-seat parliament to elect their candidate Zinaida Greceanii – but only mustered 60 amid an opposition boycott.

Violent protests, accusations of fraud, and a forced recount following Moldova’s election in early April were to little avail for demonstrators. The April 22 recount confirmed the Communist Party’s win announced on election day, April 5. Moldovans’ resistance to the initial outcome comes as little surprise, as Gallup has consistently found a majority of Moldovans lacking confidence in the honesty of their elections — including 59% in the most recent survey.

Horst Koehler has been chosen for a second five-year term as Germany’s president.
The re-election of Koehler hands a boost to the ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, in the run-up to parliamentary elections in September.
Koehler, a former head of the International Monetary Fund, received 613 votes from the 1,224 members of the federal assembly in the vote held on Saturday.

Horst Köhler, born 22 February 1943 in Skierbieszów, Poland) is a German politician (CDU) and economist who serves as the current President of Germany.

A recount of votes cast in Moldova’s election has confirmed an emphatic win by the ruling Communist Party, Russian media quote an official as saying.
Electoral Commission secretary Yuri Chokan said no fraud had been found, despite opposition claims that the election was rigged.
Judges ordered a recount after a week of protests against the Communist win.
But the main opposition parties boycotted it, saying it was a “trick” to distract attention from fraud.