CAIRO - A lawyer acting for the families of those killed in Egypt's uprising against Hosni Mubarak on Monday told the court trying him that there had been a "conspiracy of silence" by those seeking to shield the former president.

SANAA - Yemen's outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh called on Monday for a high turnout in a vote to elect his successor after a year of unrest as a southern-led boycott campaign turned deadly.

TEHRAN, Iran - UN nuclear inspectors starting a two-day visit to Tehran on Monday sought to meet Iranian nuclear scientists and visit a key military facility as they try to gauge allegations that Iran is pushing toward making an atomic weapon.

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Egypt has agreed to help ease Gaza's chronic power shortages as part of a three-stage plan that would eventually hook up the isolated territory to the regional grid, a Palestinian energy official said Monday.

MUSCAT - It is mandatory for all Indian expatriates currently residing in Oman or planning residence in the sultanate to get documents issued in India attested by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi or its designated authority in the states.

MANAMA - Bahrain's lower criminal court on Monday dropped all charges against former opposition lawmaker Mattar Matter.

Israel is coming under increased pressure from Washington and Europe to hold off from attacking Iran over its disputed nuclear drive

CAIRO - Egypt's "Facebook Revolution" that toppled Hosni Mubarak last February may have been boosted by Internet social networking, but his downfall was inevitable anyway, a communications expert said on Sunday.

President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday that foreign parties were funding "armed terrorist groups" to destabilise Syria and intent on blocking any political solution

TEHRAN - Iran deployed warplanes and missiles on Monday in an "exercise" to protect nuclear sites threatened by possible Israeli attacks and warned it could cut oil exports to more EU nations unless sanctions were lifted.