© BBC
Liberation Square, Cairo [Click on image to enlarge]
Liberation Square, Cairo [Click on image to enlarge]
Society's Child
Cairo's central Tahrir Square was the focal point for anti-Mubarak protesters during 18 days of demonstrations. As the protest neared its peak, the BBC's Yolande Knell took a tour of the area. Explore the protesters' camp...
Clouds of smoke rising above Kandahar following the attacks.
Afghan officials say 15 of the victims are police officers as the attacks mainly targeted the police headquarters. Forty-five people have been injured in the attacks.
One intelligence agent is also reported to have been killed in Kandahar Province.
The provincial governor says a number of militants armed with guns and grenades were involved in the attacks.
The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.
Violence has been at its worst in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.
The Afghan interior ministry has declared 2010 the deadliest year for civilians since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. The ministry's spokesman said more than 2,000 civilians lost their lives in violence across Afghanistan.
Hours before Mubarak announced his resignation, government vigilantes clashed with pro-democracy protesters who surrounded a police station in the Egyptian city of El-Arish late Friday to free prisoners held by the regime, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Government forces then fired tear gas and live bullets to break up the demonstrators, killing at least 10 protesters and injuring 50 others.
Protesters, who were increasingly incensed by Mubarak's refusal to cede power in his televised speech a day earlier, eventually managed to secure the release of their friends and relatives during the melee, while twelve police officers surrendered to the crowd.
A Yemeni woman holds a sign that reads in Arabic "Where is the happy Yemen?" during an anti-government protest in Sana'a.
The Saturday rally, which was approximately attended by 4,000, saw demonstrators chanting, "After Mubarak, it's Ali's turn," AFP reported.
"Get out, Get out Ali" and "The people want the regime to fall," some shouted.
Yielding knives and batons, hundreds of Saleh's supporters, attacked the protesters, injuring at least two of them, DPA said.
Mubarak handed power over to the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces on Friday, giving in to 18 straight days of pro-democracy protests.
- 400 arrested as officers enforce no-protest ban in Algiers
- Up to 5,000 protesters rally in Yemeni capital of Sana'a
- Arab leaders make concessions to avoid repeat of Egypt
© Reuters
The government banned the protest apparently
The government banned the protest apparently
Demonstrations in Algiers quickly turned to running clashes with police who had been ordered by the government of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to enforce a no-protest ban. Police took up positions throughout the centre of the city hours after the tumultuous scenes in Cairo, which are likely to have significant ramifications across the region.
Even before Egypt's Hosni Mubarak had stepped down, the 12-year regime of Bouteflika had been considered to be under most threat from the popular uprisings now galvanising the Arab states. Wedged alongside Tunisia, where President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was rolled 30 days ago, and near Egypt, which fell on Friday, the unstable nation has many of the characteristics of both - a disenfranchised youth and rising prices of basic goods, such as sugar and cooking oil.
The Vatican has ousted three men from the priesthood years after they were accused in sex , the Archdiocese of Boston said yesterday.
"These men are no longer to function, or present themselves as priests, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying," said archdiocese spokeswoman Kelly Lynch.
In 2002, Frederick J. Cartier was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the early 1970s. By the time the allegation was received, Cartier had been out of ministry for more than 20 years, the archdiocese said.
Get ready to pay double or even triple the price for fresh produce in the coming weeks after the worst freeze in 60 years damaged and wiped out entire crops in northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S.
The problem started less than a week ago, when our nation was focusing on the Superbowl and sheets of ice falling from Texas Stadium.
Farmers throughout northern Mexico and the Southwest experienced unprecedented crop losses. Now devastation that seemed so far away, is hitting us in the pocketbooks.
The problem started less than a week ago, when our nation was focusing on the Superbowl and sheets of ice falling from Texas Stadium.
Farmers throughout northern Mexico and the Southwest experienced unprecedented crop losses. Now devastation that seemed so far away, is hitting us in the pocketbooks.
© Tara Todras-Whitehill/AP
Egyptians celebrate the end of Mubarak-era
Egyptians celebrate the end of Mubarak-era
Egypt rejoices as 18 days of mass protest end in revolution
Military pledges not to get in way of 'legitimate' government
When it finally came, the end was swift. After 18 days of mass protest, it took just over 30 seconds for Egypt's vice-president, Omar Suleiman, to announce that President Hosni Mubarak was standing down and handing power to the military.
"In the name of Allah the most gracious the most merciful," Suleiman read. "My fellow citizens, in the difficult circumstances our country is experiencing, President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak has decided to give up the office of the president of the republic and instructed the supreme council of the armed forces to manage the affairs of the country. May God guide our steps."
Moments later a deafening roar swept central Cairo. Protesters fell to their knees and prayed, wept and chanted. Hundreds of thousands of people packed into Tahrir Square, the centre of the demonstrations, waving flags, holding up hastily written signs declaring victory, and embracing soldiers.
© Amr Nabil/AP
An Egyptian reacts in the street after President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday, Feb. 11.
An Egyptian reacts in the street after President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday, Feb. 11.
From the oil-rich Gulf states in the east to Morocco in the west, regimes throughout the Middle East could not help but worry they could see upheavals similar to Egypt's.
If it could happen in 18 days in Egypt, where Mubarak's lock on power had appeared unshakable for nearly 30 years, could it happen anywhere? Only a month earlier, Tunisia's president was forced to step down in the face of protests.
"Egypt is going to have a big, big impact around the region," said Salman Sheik, director of The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. "It is - as it always has been - a bellwether for what happens elsewhere. It's wrong, though, to get into a count about what country could be next. The real impact is already being seen in reforms that are coming from countries feeling the pressure."
Zaki Bani Rusheid, a leading Islamist figure in Jordan, described "a new dawn, new stage" emerging.
"This is a new future painted by bloody hands of Egyptians and Tunisians that knocked on the doors of freedom."
Leaders across the region have made a variety of concessions and also tightened security.
Anti-government protests have erupted in recent weeks with demonstrators complaining of corruption, lack of services and rising prices. More are being planned.
Mideast reactions to President Mubarak's resignation are pouring in
Dubai - Palestinians in Gaza let off fireworks, Tunisians drove through streets blaring car horns, and Lebanese fired guns in the air as people across the Mideast celebrated the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Friday.
Even in Israel, which had watched the Egyptian protesters' uprising against Mubarak with concern, a former Cabinet minister said Mubarak did the right thing.
"The street won. There was nothing that could be done. It's good that he did what he did," former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who knew Mubarak well, told Israel TV's Channel 10.
Moments after Egypt Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement of Mubarak's resignation, fireworks lit up the sky over Beirut. Celebratory gunfire rang out in the Shiite-dominated areas in south Lebanon and in southern Beirut.
Dubai - Palestinians in Gaza let off fireworks, Tunisians drove through streets blaring car horns, and Lebanese fired guns in the air as people across the Mideast celebrated the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak Friday.
Even in Israel, which had watched the Egyptian protesters' uprising against Mubarak with concern, a former Cabinet minister said Mubarak did the right thing.
"The street won. There was nothing that could be done. It's good that he did what he did," former Defense Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who knew Mubarak well, told Israel TV's Channel 10.
Moments after Egypt Vice President Omar Suleiman made the announcement of Mubarak's resignation, fireworks lit up the sky over Beirut. Celebratory gunfire rang out in the Shiite-dominated areas in south Lebanon and in southern Beirut.
