Riot police in Bahrain fired tear gas and stun grenades Thursday to disperse thousands of opposition supporters gathered near the square that was the epicenter of the nation's Shiite-led demonstrations earlier this year, an activist said. The violence is a setback to efforts by the tiny island's Sunni rulers trying to open reconciliation talks with the Shiite opposition in the Gulf kingdom. Activist Nabeel Rajab said the protesters at Manama's Pearl Square chanted: "Down, down Hamad" – a...

With Obama insisting the "noose is tightening" around Muammar Gaddafi's regime, the embattled Libyan leader has unveiled a new tactic by which to portray an image of internal solidarity: women at arms. As the Guardian is reporting, a government-sanctioned "graduation ceremony" for women who had been given weapons training in defense of the regime was held in the town of Bani Walid. Invited and escorted by government minders, the journalists arrived to find 500 women of all ages clapping, singing...