World News

Election observers expressed concern on Tuesday over the harassment of political parties and funding delays as voters began to register for Sudan's first multi-party elections in 24 years.

Iranian police said on Tuesday any illegal rallies on Nov. 4 would be "strongly confronted" and only anti-U.S. protests were considered legal, the official IRNA news agency quoted a police statement as saying.

Iranian police said on Tuesday any "illegal" rallies on Nov. 4 would be strongly confronted and only anti-U.S. protests were considered legal, the official IRNA news agency quoted a police statement as saying.

Rokaya Mohamed, an elementary school teacher, would rather die than take off her face veil, or niqab, thrusting her to the forefront of a battle by government-backed clerics to limit Islamism in Egypt.

Sudanese began registering on Sunday for the country's first multi-party elections in 24 years, but opposition parties threatened to boycott the April poll unless democratic reforms are passed.

A research body in Egypt's main centre of Sunni learning has backed a ruling on when a Muslim woman should lift her "niqab", the veil that virtually hides the whole face, the official MENA news agency reported on Saturday.

Choosing a possible successor to Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, 81, is not on the agenda for a ruling party conference this weekend, a party official said, despite silence on the issue fueling speculation it might be.

ABU DHABI (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday, launching a rapid series of meetings with Palestinian and Israeli officials to keep up pressure for a new Mideast peace deal.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has yet to say whether he will run for president in a 2011 election, and the resulting uncertainty has fuelled concerns over whether he can secure a smooth succession in his lifetime.

The United States will be ready to respond if Iran fails to take tangible steps soon to meet its commitments over its nuclear program, President Barack Obama's national security adviser warned on Tuesday.

The deaths of 77 children at Sudan's main orphanage has sparked an investigation, officials said on Tuesday, in a case that has lifted the lid on the plight of abandoned infants in Africa's largest state.

Egypt's prime minister said on Tuesday it was still too early to expect President Hosni Mubarak to decide whether to run again for president in a 2011 election, and sought to reassure investors over the issue of succession.

Sudan's opposition parties walked out of parliament on Monday after President Omar Hassan al-Bashir's party refused to back down over its plans to allow the intelligence service wide powers, parliamentarians said.

Gaza schools damaged by Israeli bombing will be exposed to the cold and rain this winter unless Israel relaxes its blockade to permit the import of windows, doors and building materials, officials said.

Iran's top authority said on Monday the perpetrators of recent attacks in the region aimed to sow discord among Muslims and were linked to foreign countries.