With riot police out in force on the streets of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the oath of office Wednesday and began a second term as Iran's president. Ahmadinejad, 52, was formally sworn in before Iran's parliament as security forces guarded the building and the streets nearby in anticipation of possible protests. He vowed to promote religion and morality, and support righteousness and spread justice. "I will guard the power that the people have entrusted in me as the sacred trust," ...

Iran's supreme leader endorsed President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for a second term in office on Monday, state-run Press TV reported. Under Iran's constitution, the incoming president must receive the supreme leader's approval before being sworn into office. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's endorsement is the first step in that process. Ahmadinejad will be sworn in as president Wednesday in a ceremony to be held in parliament. The incumbent was declared the winner of the June 12 election with almost two-thirds of ...

A sailor accused of killing another sailor was found dead in his cell in a southern California military jail, officials said Friday. Petty Officer Jonathan Campos was found dead in the brig at the Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego, a military statement said. The cause of death was self-inflicted asphyxiation, according to the statement. Campos had been charged with murder in the June 30 shooting death of Seaman August Provost. Provost was killed while he was standing ...

Crying "Death to the dictator!" supporters of Iran's opposition movement charged once more into the breach on July 30, defying a government ban on protests by gathering in the thousands at Iran's largest cemetery to honor slain victims of the government's crackdown. The protest was timed to coincide with the traditional Shi'ite practice of observing the 40th day of mourning following a death — the deceased in this case being Neda Agha-Soltan, the young woman whose videotaped shooting at ...

No one is ever going to accuse the French of knee-jerk exuberance. Case in point: the reaction to Monday's announcement by government officials that France's main unemployment index actually shrank in June — the first reversal in rising joblessness since April 2008. Did the French cheer the news as a rare ray of light in an otherwise recession-blackened sky? Not a chance. Pundits and economists were quick to pooh-pooh the announcement as either a fluke or statistical sleight of hand, ...

The Iranian government has released 140 people arrested in the aftermath of the Islamic republic's disputed presidential election, a semi-official news agency reported Tuesday. Kazem Jalali, spokesman for the parliament's national security and foreign policy commission, said the detainees posted bail and were freed from northern Tehran's Evin Prison during an inspection of the prison by a task force made up of commission members, the Iranian Labour News Agency (ILNA) reported. However, Jalali said Tuesday's visit did not prompt the ...

Iranian opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi and a fellow presidential candidate are requesting a permit to hold a commemoration ceremony for those killed in the fallout after the June 12 elections, according to a post on Moussavi's Web site Sunday. At least 20 protesters were killed and more than 1,000 were arrested in Tehran in the first few days after the election, according to human rights groups. Moussavi, a reformist and chief rival to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and fellow candidate ...

A week of U.S. diplomatic maneuvering in the Middle East began Sunday with special envoy George Mitchell meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before heading to Israel. Top U.S. defense officials, including Defense Secretary Robert Gates, also will be in Israel this week to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and security counterparts. Netanyahu, who has been at odds with President Obama's government on some key issues, welcomed the U.S. visitors. "These important visits are part of a thick and ...

Human rights supporters in dozens of cities around the world plan to rally Saturday to show solidarity with Iranians seeking democracy and civil rights, one of the organizing groups said. United4Iran said it expects protests at Iranian embassies and other sites to condemn the Iranian government's violent response to citizens who claim the June 12 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was fraudulent. Hundreds of thousands of Iranians took to the streets after the election, and many were met with brutality ...

Behind the wheel of a sport utility vehicle, deposed Honduran President Jose Manuel Zelaya on Thursday started his journey from Managua, Nicaragua, to the country's border with Honduras. A caravan of Zelaya supporters and reporters headed north to the city of Esteli, close to the Honduran border. From there, Zelaya would finalize his plans to cross back into Honduras, he said at a news conference before departing. The ousted president stated his intention to return to his homeland this week, ...