Thursday’s global agenda: Human rights in the spotlight

{mosads}Vote like an Egyptian: The first democratic presidential elections in Egypt’s history continue today. The polling appeared to be proceeding smoothly as millions of people voted, many for the first time.

Poaching’s costs: The Senate Foreign Relations Committee holds a hearing on the global implications of ivory poaching in Africa. Save the Elephants Founder Iain Douglas-Hamilton is slated to testify, as are Global Financial Integrity Managing Director Tom Cardamone and John Scanlon, the secretary general of the Geneva-based Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Drone strikes: A U.S. drone strike in Pakistan reportedly killed 10 militants despite Pakistan’s request that the covert operations stop. Most of the men killed were Uzbek fighters with the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, according to local residents.

Musical chairs: The Syrian National Council has accepted the resignation of its Paris-based president, Burhan Ghalioun, further complicating efforts to unify the groups opposed to President Bashar al-Assad.

Faltering Europe: Euro-zone leaders failed to signal any significant new steps to stimulate their sputtering economies during a summit meeting in Brussels on Wednesday.

Liberian mission: U.S. Army Brig. Gen. Hugh Van Roosen has been selected to be chief of staff of the United Nations Mission in Liberia. UNMIL is gradually handing over responsibility for domestic security to Liberia’s government following a 20-year U.N. presence in the civil war-racked country.

Rising son: Equatorial Guinea’s President Teodoro Obiang Nguema has named his son Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue, who is wanted in France on money-laundering charges, to vice president in charge of national defense and state security. 

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