Parliament will grant Saleh legal protection; power to be handed to vice president SANAA (AP) ― Yemen’s embattled president agreed Saturday to a proposal by Gulf Arab mediators to step down within 30 days and hand power to his deputy in exchange for immunity from prosecution, a major about-face for the autocratic leader who has ruled for 32 years. A coalition of seven opposition parties said th...

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AP) ― Michel Martelly, a Haitian popular singer known by the stage name “Sweet Micky,” was officially declared the earthquake-devastated country’s next president, election officials said Wednesday. A spokesman for Haiti’s electoral commission, Pierre Thibault, said Martelly won the presidency with 67.57 percent of the vote, defeating rival candidate Mirlande Manigat. The announc...

European officials portray assistance as effort to fill rebels’ military gap PARIS (AP) ― Europe has moved closer to doing what it said it wouldn’t do in Libya ― directly jump into the bid to overthrow leader Moammar Gadhafi. France said Wednesday it has already sent military officers to work with Libyan rebels on the ground, in addition to stepping up airstrikes. Italy and Britain have said th...

NEW YORK (AP) ― Republican Tim Pawlenty disclosed his 2012 presidential aspirations on Facebook. Rival Mitt Romney did it with a tweet. President Barack Obama kicked off his re-election bid with a digital video emailed to the 13 million online backers who helped power his historic campaign in 2008. Welcome to The Social Network, presidential campaign edition. The candidates and contenders have ...

Polls show widespread dissatisfaction with how P.M.’s cabinet dealt with disaster TOKYO (AP) ― A blueprint for ending radiation leaks and stabilizing reactors at Japan’s crippled nuclear plant drew a lackluster response Monday, as polls showed diminishing public support for the government’s handling of the country’s recent disasters. The plan issued by Tokyo Electric Power Co. over the weekend,...

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Cairo (AP) ― Egyptian prosecutors ordered the detention of the former president’s powerful sons for 15 days allegations of corruption and the abuse of their authority are investigated, state television said early Wednesday. The move, the most dramatic in a series of investigations against top regime officials, comes just hours after former President Hosni Mubarak, 82, was hospit...

Detentions authorized as part of inquiry into use of force against protesters CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt’s ex-president Hosni Mubarak has been placed in detention for 15 days, prosecutors said Wednesday shortly after state media reported his two sons had also been detained. In a statement on the public prosecutor’s Facebook page, a spokesman said the prosecutor Abdel Maguid Mahmoud authorized the det...