Malaysia has launched a fleet of women-only taxis, an initiative that follows pink-colored train coaches and buses aimed at shielding women from harassment, reports said Sunday.Fifty women taxi drivers have started plying greater Kuala Lumpur on an on-call basis, and the government hopes the number

BEIRUT (AP) _ In an unprecedented move against an Arab nation, the Arab League on Sunday approved economic sanctions on Syria to pressure Damascus to end its deadly suppression of an 8-month-old uprising against President Bashar Assad.But even as world leaders abandon Assad, the regime has refused t

S&P’s downgrades rating as crisis lashes European heartBRUSSELS (AFP) ― Belgium fell in behind model eurozone pupils Italy and Greece on Saturday, its feuding politicians ending 19 months of deadlock with an 11th-hour budget deal that met EU strictures hours after a brutal downgrade.“There is an agreement,” French-speaking Socialist premier-to-be Elio Di Rupo’s spokeswoman Ermeline Gosselin said on the stroke of noon, as exhausted but elated politicians closed more than 500 days of struggling to

SANAA (AP) ― Yemen scheduled early presidential elections for early next year on Saturday in line with a power-sharing deal aimed at ending a nine-month political crisis, according to the country’s official news agency.The agreement would make President Ali Abdullah Saleh the fourth dictator pushed from power this year by the Arab Spring uprisings, although it has been rejected by many protesters because it would grant the reviled leader immunity from prosecution and does not include far-reachin

RABAT (AP) ― An Islamist Party is on track to become the largest party in Morocco’s new parliament with a dominant showing after two-thirds of the seats have been announced by the Interior Ministry.The Justice and Development Party has taken 80 seats, almost twice as many as the next most successful party, with 282 seats announced Saturday out of the 395 up for grabs in the nationwide vote Friday.Barring a massive upset, the PJD ― known by its French initials ― will be the largest party in the n

TEHRAN (AP) ― Iran will target NATO’s missile defense installations in Turkey if the U.S. or Israel attacks the Islamic Republic, a senior commander of Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saturday.Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Guards’ aerospace division, said the warning is part of a new defense strategy to counter what he described as an increase in threats from the U.S. and Israel.Tensions have been rising between Iran and the West since the release of a report earlier this mon

BOGOTA (AP) ― Colombia’s main rebel group executed four of its longest-held captives during combat Saturday between guerrillas and soldiers searching for the men, the government said.A fifth captive fled into the jungle and survived.President Juan Manuel Santos called the killing of a soldier and three police officers “a crime against humanity” and dismissed any suggestions that Colombia’s armed forces might be responsible.“They were held hostage for between 12 and 13 years and wound up cruelly

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) ― Rescue teams searched for survivors Sunday after a busy bridge collapsed in central Indonesia, sending a bus, cars and motorcycles crashing into the river below. Four people were killed and scores more were missing.Sutopo Purwo Nugroho, a spokesman for the country’s disaster management agency, said the sprawling concrete bridge on the remote island of Borneo was being repaired when Saturday’s accident occurred.Workers were tightening screws and bolts when a steel suppor

BEIJING (AP) ― China says joint police patrols with Thailand, Laos and Myanmar along the Mekong River will start next month.China suspended shipping through Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle after two Chinese cargo ships were attacked and 13 sailors killed in early October.The state-run Xinhua News Agency says the four countries agreed at a ministerial meeting in Beijing that the first joint patrol will be carried out before Dec. 15. It says the patrol will enable shipping to restart and guarante

RABAT (AP) ― It should be a moment of excitement: Moroccans are choosing a parliament in elections Friday prompted by the Arab Spring’s clamor for freedom.Yet there are few signs here that elections are even taking place.Posters and raucous rallies for candidates are absent in the cities and instead there are just stark official banners urging citizens to “do their national duty” and “participate in the change the country is undergoing.”“The parties have presented the same people for the past 30

CAIRO (AFP) ― Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Meshaal on Thursday hailed a new era of partnership between their rival movements at talks in Cairo aimed at cementing a stalled unity deal.But there was little indication of any concrete progress in resolving disputes which have blocked implementation of a reconciliation agreement signed six months ago.Speaking to reporters after their meeting, the two leaders said they had ironed out their differences and turned a new page in

TRIPOLI (AP) ― Libya’s transitional leaders swore on a Quran to uphold the ideals of the revolution that toppled Moammar Gadhafi as they took their oaths of office Thursday, another key step in the country’s hoped-for march toward democracy.The lineup of relative unknowns, almost all of them older men, will confront daunting challenges, like establishing control over the fractured nation after the ousting of Gadhafi’s 42-year regime, along with building up state institutions practically from scr