TEHRAN (AFP) ― Iranian riot police fired tear gas and paintballs at anti-government protesters in Tehran, websites and witnesses said Monday, while an Iranian news agency said a bystander had been shot dead.Fars news agency said a number of other people had been wounded by the gunfire and blamed the outlawed former rebel group, the People’s Mujahedeen of Iran.Some opposition websites said that men

World News Feb. 15, 2011

DUBAI (AFP) ― Within less than a month, popular uprisings toppled the long-time presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, and revolts could spread to other Arab countries if they do not implement reforms quickly, analysts say.“The Arab leaders are in a race against time: Either they quickly adopt liberal changes, or they suffer the same fate as (the leaders) of Tunisia and Egypt,” said Anwar Eshki, the dir

World News Feb. 14, 2011

CAIRO (AP) ― He survived assassination attempts and wave after wave of Mideast crises, a solid ally of the West whose stable image reassured many Egyptians. Hosni Mubarak ended his presidency as a symbol of what was wrong with Egypt: the repression, the corruption, the lost hopes of a swelling, impoverished class.Mubarak, in power for nearly three decades, was such a fixture that his exit from pow

World News Feb. 13, 2011

DUBAI (AP) ― Less than a month after the world watched Tunisia celebrate the collapse of the country’s strong-arm ruler, the scenes in central Cairo on Friday offered an even more potent display of the newfound power of the Arab street: fist-pumping crowds cheering the end of President Hosni Mubarak.The downfall of Mubarak ― one of the mainstays of Middle East politics and Western policies in the

World News Feb. 13, 2011

CAIRO (AFP) ― The United States urged Egypt to immediately lift an emergency law and launch democratic reforms as protestors staged the biggest show of defiance against President Hosni Mubarak in a three-week-old revolt.But Mubarak’s newly appointed deputy, Vice President Omar Suleiman, warned that hasty reforms could spell “chaos” in the Arab world’s most populous nation.In Cairo, hundreds of tho

World News Feb. 9, 2011

CAIRO (AFP) ― Its wings clipped by a popular revolt, Egypt’s regime is seeking a way out of crisis through national dialogue, but pressure from the street and division among key players could discredit the process.On Sunday, Vice President Omar Suleiman began talks with members of the opposition and announced measures aimed at placating the protesters staging massive protests demanding the end of

World News Feb. 9, 2011

DUBAI (AFP) ― The dramatic events in Tunisia and Egypt have pushed Arab leaders to promise political and economic reforms but the momentum for change now hinges on the outcome of the Egyptian uprising, analysts say.“In one month, the Arab world has changed more than it had done in years,” said Ziad Majed, a lecturer on the modern Middle East at the American University of Paris.“Today, fear has cha

World Feb. 6, 2011

CAIRO (AP) ― Foreign governments stepped up their warnings Sunday about travel to Egypt, with several urging their citizens to evacuate as soon as possible amid uncertainty over where the Arab nation is headed after nearly a week of mass protests.The fears of foreign tourists mirrored those of many Egyptians.Dozens with the means to do so rented jets or hopped aboard their own planes in a mad dash

World Jan. 31, 2011

CAIRO (AP) ― Would-be looters broke into Cairo’s famed Egyptian Museum, ripping the heads off two mummies and damaging about 10 small artifacts before being caught and detained by army soldiers, Egypt’s antiquities chief said Saturday.Zahi Hawass said the vandals did not manage to steal any of the museum’s antiquities, and that the prized collection was now safe and under military guard.With mass

World Jan. 31, 2011

The worst outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in Asia for at least 50 years may get more severe as Lunar New Year holidays spark a surge in travel, threatening to spread the virus that has decimated South Korea’s livestock. The magnitude of the outbreak is “unlike anything that we’ve seen for at least half a century,” Juan Lubroth, chief veterinary officer at the United Nations’ Food and Agricultur

World Jan. 28, 2011

State of the Union address demands N.K. abandon nukesWASHINGTON (AP) ― U.S. President Barack Obama highlighted America’s close ties with South Korea in his annual State of the Union policy speech Tuesday, praising South Korean progress and development and calling on Congress to ratify a newly negotiated trade agreement with Seoul.“To help businesses sell more products abroad, we set a goal of doub

World Jan. 26, 2011