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Kuwait's top court ordered the dissolution of parliament on Sunday and called for fresh elections, a ruling likely to herald fresh political volatility in the U.S.-allied Gulf Arab state. The Constitutional Court made its ruling after throwing out opposition challenges to changes to the electoral system decreed by the emir, hereditary ruler of the oil-exporting country, head judge Youssef al-Mutawa told reporters. Political stability in Kuwait, owner of more than six percent of global oil reserves, has traditionally depended on cooperation between the government and parliament, the oldest and most powerful legislature in the Gulf Arab states. The development is a blow to opposition politicians who boycotted a parliamentary election in December in protest at the electoral rules. The election was the fifth since 2006 and political upheaval has held up economic development and reforms.   "This verdict today is the worst decision," former opposition MP Waleed Tabtabie w

The Czech Republic's deputy premier said on Sunday some in the governing coalition are considering the option of ditching Prime Minister Petr Necas after one of his closest aides was charged with bribery and ordering illegal surveillance. _0"> Necas has been under pressure to resign since the biggest police operation against corruption in two decades led to the detention of his long-standing aide Jana Nagyova along with five other suspects. Two partners in Necas's centre-right coalition, which has a wobbly majority in parliament, have been increasingly uneasy about staying in government with Necas, who has insisted he has done nothing wrong and will not quit. Asked on Czech television if the coalition could continue until a regular election next year under a different prime minister, Deputy Prime Minister Karolina Peake said: "It is one of the options."   The three coalition party leaders were due to meet at 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) Sunday to discuss the fate o

Nelson Mandela continues to recover in hospital from a lung infection but remains in a serious condition, South African President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday. _0"> Mandela has been in a Pretoria hospital for a week, the fourth time the 94-year-old former president and anti-Apartheid leader has been admitted to hospital since December.   "We are grateful that he continues to get better," Zuma said. "Over the last two days, although he remains serious, his doctors have stated that his improvement has been sustained." Zuma was addressing a gathering for Youth Day in eMadadeni in the KwaZulu-Natal province in remembrance of the 1976 Soweto youth uprisings against apartheid. Mandela's repeated bouts of illness have reinforced a creeping realization among South Africa's 53 million people that they will one day have to say goodbye to their first black president. Mandela, popularly known by his clan name "Madiba", has a history of lung problem

A powerful Indian regional party pulled out of the main opposition alliance on Sunday, a split that could hobble the rise of a controversial Hindu nationalist leader who hopes to oust the ruling Congress party in elections due by May 2014. The Janata Dal (United) party, based in the eastern state of Bihar, announced it would end a 17-year-old alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after the BJP promoted firebrand leader Narendra Modi to lead its election campaign.   The exit could hamper the chances of the Hindu nationalist BJP finding enough allies to mount a convincing challenge to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's administration, whose second term has been plagued by scandals and a worsening economy. It could also encourage a rag-tag of regional parties - with fickle leaders and diverse local agendas - to form their own so-called third front coalition, which, if they were successful, could present a risk for Asia's third-largest economy. Nitish Kumar, the chief m

President Robert Mugabe accused political rivals of seeking to delay elections in Zimbabwe because they fear defeat, after regional leaders urged his ruling coalition to ask the courts to extend a July 31 deadline for holding the vote. His rivals said reforms to restrictive media and security laws were essential for any fair election to be held and that it was Mugabe's party that was not ready to go the polls.   Mugabe, Africa's oldest leader at 89, last week used a presidential decree to bypass parliament and fast-track changes to election laws and declare the voting date, drawing a sharp rebuke from Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai. In a clear sign that Mugabe's ZANU-PF party would not give ground on reforms, Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa denied any need for either media or security reforms demanded by the MDC party of Tsvangirai, the president's arch-rival. Tsvangirai has previously said Mugabe should approach the courts to extend the election deadline. Mu

Swiss President Ueli Maurer said on Sunday he doubted Edward Snowden's claims about his activities as a CIA man in Geneva and would back a criminal investigation into the secrets leaker if Swiss prosecutors called for one. _0"> Ex-CIA operative Snowden broke cover in spectacular fashion earlier this month, unmasking himself as the source of leaks about U.S. government surveillance programs.   He had previously worked in the U.S. mission to the United Nations in Geneva between 2007 and 2009. He told the Guardian newspaper that he had a "formative" experience in the Swiss city when the CIA deliberately got a Swiss banker drunk and encouraged him to drive home. When he was arrested, a CIA operative offered to intervene and later recruited the banker. "It does not seem to me that it is likely that this incident played out as it has been described by Snowden and by the media," Maurer was quoted as saying in the Der Sonntag and SonntagsBlick newspapers.

France's interior minister has condemned as racist an assault on six Chinese students by drunken locals in the Bordeaux wine-producing region that left one seriously injured. _0"> The attack comes amid reports that wealthy Chinese tourists are being increasingly targeted by muggers in Paris. It will do little to ease tensions between France and China , locked in a trade dispute ranging from solar panels to wine.   The assault in the village of Hostens, 50 km (30 miles) south of Bordeaux late on Friday came after one of the Chinese, who have been living in France for two months to study wine-making, complained about the noise a group of locals were making in the street. One student in her twenties was rushed to hospital in Bordeaux after being struck in the face with a bottle when the locals tried to break into the students' house, local newspaper Sud Ouest reported. Two suspects have been arrested. Interior Minister Manuel Valls' office issued a statement say