Must-Reads from Around the World: February 21, 2012

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A Yemeni woman shows her ink-stained thumb after casting her ballot at a polling station in Sanaa on February 21, 2012 as the country votes in the presidential election that brings an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 33-year hardline rule

Ballot for One – Yemen heads to the polls on Tuesday to replace long-time ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh. Interestingly, the only candidate on the ballot is Vice President Abd-Rabbua Mansour Hadi, who took power after Saleh stepped down in November. Voting in the capital of Sana’a has been peaceful, CNN reports.  Violence has marred voting in the south, where at least six people have been killed in incidents at polling stations. The southern separatist movement  called for a day of “civil disobedience,” the BBC reports.

Tamil Tragedy  – Caravan magazine presents a vivid account of how Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority – trapped for decades in a protracted war between Sri Lankan armed forces and insurgents belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam – have been battling to rebuild their lives since the end of the war in 2009.

Nuclear No-No – The Obama administration is contemplating large cuts to the U.S.’s nuclear arsenal, reports the Washington Post. Republicans have denounced the proposal as “reckless lunacy,” but the Atlantic stresses the need for a new nuclear strategy that ends the perpetuation of an anachronistic Cold War-era arms race.

Billionaire President – Mikhail D. Prokhorov, a billionaire who owns 20 Jet Skis, a 200-foot yacht and a mansion outside Moscow, is Russia’s new – and rather unusual – candidate for presidency. His campaign has touched a chord with a small but distinct group of voters hungry for a fresh face, the New York Times writes. But opposition-inclined voters haven’t quite figured him out, says the Moscow Times, and political observers wonder if he is a Kremlin puppet.

Second Chance – Greece received a second bailout early Tuesday following more than 13 hours of talks in Brussels. The 130 billion euros of aid brings the total spent to assist the beleaguered economies of Greece, Portugal and Ireland to 386 billion euros, Bloomberg writes.  TIME’s Michael Schuman doubts the bailout will truly put an end to the debt crisis and threat to the Euro Zone.

Hacking Conspiracy – Philip Campbell Smith, a man alleged to be involved with hacking computers for the now-defunct News of the World, has been convicted of conspiring to illegally access private information for profit in a separate case; the Guardian reports. Smith’s conviction did not involve allegations of hacking on behalf of media clients, but raises further concerns about computer hacking for the tabloid.