TEHRAN (AP) ― Iran’s parliament is set to summon President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for questioning over an economic scandal and his polices after the required number of lawmakers signed a petition Sunday, the latest salvo in a long battle between the president and his rivals.Ahmadinejad would be the first president to be hauled before the Iranian parliament, a serious blow to his standing in the conflict involving the president, lawmakers and Iran’s powerful clerics.At least 73 lawmakers signed the

LONDON (AP) ― Ships sailing under Britain’s flag will be permitted to carry armed guards on some perilous routes to combat the threat from pirates, the prime minister said Sunday.David Cameron said Britain was reversing its opposition to the use of weapons aboard ships, amid mounting concern about the risks of vessels and crew being seized by pirates ― particularly off Somalia’s coast.Cameron’s office said the use of weapons on British-flagged ships is banned under firearms laws, but that new ru

TOKYO (AP) ― A Japanese government panel says it will take at least 30 years to safely close the tsunami-hobbled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, even though the facility is leaking far less radiation than before and is considered relatively stable.The plant, site of the world’s worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986, was severely damaged by Japan’s March 11 earthquake and tsunami. It suffered power outages, meltdowns and explosions that released radioactive material and forced te

PARIS (AFP) ― A French art expert Thursday unveiled evidence he says proves that a silver statuette of a “wounded woman” is an unknown work by Auguste Rodin, depicting his lover and disciple Camille Claudel.The unsigned statue, 22.5 centimeters tall, depicts a female figure, standing but stooped as if in pain, with a draped fabric over one arm and clenched between her thighs.“All the clues point to Rodin,” Gilles Perrault, a leading expert on the 19th-century master, told a press conference as h

DOHA (AFP) ― Qatar’s annual film festival gave its top award to filmmaker Merzak Allouache’s production of “Normal,“ a movie that follows disillusioned Algerian youth in the wake of the “Arab Spring” revolutions. The award, which carries a bonus of $100,000, was announced at the third annual Doha Tribeca Film Festival awards ceremony Saturday, alongside seven other prizes, including, best Arab documentary film, best Arab short film, and best performance by an Arab actor. The winners were chosen

ROME (AP) ― Jackson Rathbone, a star of the “Twilight” movies, likened the wildly popular series about love between a human and a vampire to the story of Romeo and Juliet, as the next-to-last film in the saga was screened Sunday at Rome’s film festival.Speaking to reporters about “The Twilight Saga ― Breaking Dawn Part 1,” Rathbone called the love between Bella and Edward “almost as mythological as the Romeo and Juliet story,” referring to Shakespeare’s play about star-crossed lovers.A co-star,

PITTSBURGH (AP) ― The Pittsburgh Steelers found a way to beat Tom Brady: Don’t let him get the ball.Ben Roethlisberger passed for 365 yards and two touchdowns and the Steelers finally solved their Brady problem with an emphatic 25-17 victory over New England.Roethlisberger completed 36 of 50 passes and led the Steelers (6-2) on a series of clock-chewing drives, effectively keeping Brady and the NFL’s top-ranked offense off the field. Pittsburgh held the ball for more than 39 minutes and survived

Hundreds of thousands take part in parade through St. LouisST. LOUIS (AP) ― A red sea of fans jammed downtown St. Louis Sunday to honor the World Series champion Cardinals and send a clear message to Albert Pujols: Please stay.An official crowd estimate was not immediately available for the parade down the streets of St. Louis and the celebration at Busch Stadium, but city officials expected several hundred thousand, and it was clearly that, if not more. The crowd was so large that people were p