World / Nation Briefs April 15, 2012

Cheney gives first speech since heart transplant

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - Former Vice President Dick Cheney walked onstage without any assistance and spoke for an hour and 15 minutes without seeming to tire in his first public engagement since he underwent a heart transplant three weeks ago.

He sat in a plush chair throughout the long chat with daughter Liz Cheney and looked decidedly healthier than recent appearances where he has been gaunt and used a cane.

Cheney even threw in a couple of political plugs amid much reminiscing at the Wyoming Republican Party state convention in Cheyenne on Saturday.

He said the presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is going to do a "whale of a job." He said it's never been more important than now to defeat a sitting president and the Republican Party should unite behind Romney.

"He has been an unmitigated disaster to the country," Cheney said of President Barack Obama.

Iran, Western powers hail latest nuclear talks

ISTANBUL - In a rare show of unity, Iran and the world's big powers on Saturday hailed their first nuclear meeting in more than a year as a key step toward further negotiations meant to ease international fears that Tehran may weaponize its nuclear program.

The one concrete reflection of progress was an agreement to meet again on May 23 in Baghdad, a venue put forward by Iran.

But huge hurdles still lie in the way of a common understanding of what Iran should do to end suspicions of its nuclear activities. Those barriers may prove insurmountable considering the differences between Tehran and the six nations trying to persuade it to compromise on its nuclear efforts.

Robin Gibb has pneumonia, currently in coma

LONDON - Former Bee Gee Robin Gibb is in a coma after contracting pneumonia, a statement on his official website said Saturday.

The statement, which confirmed media reports that the singer was gravely ill, said "we are all hoping and praying that he will pull through."

The Press Association news agency reported that family members including wife Dwina and brother Barry were at Gibb's bedside in a London hospital.

Gibb's publicist, Doug Wright, declined to comment, but Gibb's son has acknowledged that the 62-year-old musician is seriously ill in a hospital.

Gibb was hospitalized last year for stomach and colon problems. He has not specified the exact nature of his illness - widely reported to be cancer - but told the BBC he had a growth on his colon that was removed.

Kim Jong Un speaks publicly for first time

PYONGYANG, North Korea - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has spoken publicly for the first time at a massive celebration marking the 100th birthday of national founder Kim Il Sung.

Kim gave the speech praising his grandfather Sunday as tens of thousands gathered in Pyongyang's main square for meticulously choreographed festivities that came two days after a failed rocket launch.

Washington and others say the launch was a covert test of long-range missile technology.

A new twist in Egypt's presidential race

CAIRO - Egypt's election commission disqualified 10 presidential hopefuls, including Hosni Mubarak's former spy chief and fundamentalist Islamists, from running Saturday in a surprise decision that left a field of moderates in the race for the country's first post-revolutionary leader.

The elimination of the three most powerful and controversial candidates could go in two directions with just weeks to go before the vote, observers said. It could plunge the Arab world's most populous nation into a new political crisis, or just the opposite, defuse it.

Farouk Sultan, the head of the Supreme Presidential Election Commission that was appointed by Egypt's military rulers to oversee the vote, said that those barred from the contest included Mubarak-era strongman Omar Suleiman, Muslim Brotherhood chief strategist Khairat el-Shater and hard-line Islamist Hazem Abu Ismail. He did not give reasons.

- The Associated Press