TEHRAN (AP) ― There’s a Persian saying used to describe an under-the-radar political effort: “Driving at night with the lights off.’’ Allies of embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may be doing just that as they campaign in Iran’s hinterlands in hopes of scoring a comeback in next month’s parliamentary elections.The voting March 2 should ― momentarily, at least ― shift attention from Iran’s international standoffs over its nuclear program back to the country’s internal power plays: The ruling

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Afghan forces will be “good enough” to take over their country‘s security by the end of 2014, even though only a small number of them now operate independently from NATO-led troops, a top U.S. general said Wednesday.Lieutenant General Curtis Scaparrotti, deputy commander of U.S. forces and the head of the NATO-led force’s joint command, acknowledged that Afghan army and police still had a way to go before overseeing security without major assistance from foreign troops.But he

The transfer of thousands of U.S. Marines to Guam will not require the prior closure of a base on the southern Japan island of Okinawa, the United States and Japan announced Wednesday in a compromise they hope will break a stalemate over opposition to the large U.S. military presence there.The annou

BEIJING (AP) -- Police in eastern China are hunting for a knife-wielding man who broke into a middle school Wednesday and stabbed two students before fleeing, local officials said.The victims were not seriously wounded and no motive was given for the attack, which echoes a string of such assaults ag

When students return to the school where two teachers were jailed last week for alleged lewdness, they’ll have new teachers in their classrooms, a new principal in the front office and new workers serving lunch.In a move that experts said was unprecedented, the entire 120-member staff at Miramonte E

CAIRO (AP) ― Egypt’s military leader told electoral officials Monday to speed preparations for presidential elections after a new eruption of street protests demanding that the ruling generals move more quickly to hand power to an elected government.The military rulers had previously promised to hold presidential elections for their successor by the end of June. But Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council, asked election commission officials “to quickly finish lega

SAO PAULO (AP) ― Soldiers clashed with supporters of striking police in Brazil’s third-largest city on Monday, firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the feet of people trying to join officers occupying the Bahia state legislature building.The murder rate in Salvador, Bahia has more than doubled since the strike began a week ago ― but violence has quickly diminished since troops were sent in over the weekend.About one-third of the state’s 30,000 police are on strike, authorities say. The U.S. Emb