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egyptbrf President Hosni Mubarak resumed his duties on Thursday, almost six weeks after undergoing an operation in Germany to remove his gallbladder and a benign growth. He led a meeting with several government ministers in Sharm El Sheikh, where he has been recuperating since his return to Egypt about three weeks ago. Mr. Mubarak, who turns 82 next month and has ruled Egypt for almost three decades, did not announce whether he planned to run for another term in the presidential election next year. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Iran's leadership has once again equivocated after agreeing to a deal that would ease its nuclear standoff with the West. But this time, that may be as much a product of the nation's smoldering political crisis as it is a negotiating tactic, political analysts and Iran experts said. Tehran has yet to state publicly why it objects to the deal, in which it would ship its low-enriched uranium out of the country for additional processing and eventual return as fuel rods for a civilian reactor. But Iran experts say the very caustic, and very public, nature of the debate in Iran over the proposed nuclear deal suggests that the deep divisions cemented by the summer's disputed presidential election have complicated, if not undermined, the ability to resolve such a major issue. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

As Iran continues to manage the aftershocks of its contested presidential election, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps has moved aggressively to tighten its grip on society, most recently with its takeover of a majority share in the nation's telecommunications monopoly. The nearly $8 billion acquisition by a company affiliated with the elite force has amplified concerns in Iran over what some call the rise of a pseudogovernment, prompting members of Parliament to begin an investigation into the deal. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Iran's Parliament began formally reviewing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's nominees for his cabinet on Sunday in a process that has highlighted deep divisions among Iran's leaders and the president's own diminished standing. But while the parliamentary vetting of Mr. Ahmadinejad's 21 nominees has proved contentious, it may also serve the political needs of a leadership that has struggled since a disputed presidential election in June to maintain credibility for the Islamic Republic's system of government, political analysts said. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The rancorous dispute over Iran's presidential election could turn into a win-win for Arab leaders aligned with Washington who in the past have complained bitterly that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was destabilizing the region and meddling in Arab affairs, political analysts and former officials around the region said. The good-news thinking goes like this: With Mr. Ahmadinejad remaining in office, there is less chance of substantially improved relations between Tehran and Washington, something America's Arab allies feared would undermine their interests. At the same time, the electoral conflict may have weakened Iran's leadership at home and abroad, forcing it to focus more on domestic stability, political analysts and former officials said. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports on the victory of President Hosni Mubarak in the first multicandidate race for president in Egypt.

Reports on the decision of the Egyptian electoral commission not to abide by a court ruling authorizing nongovernmental organizations to monitor the coming election for president.

Reports that the Muslim Brotherhood, the banned organization that is Egypt's largest and most powerful opposition force, has urged voters to take part in the country's first multicandidate election for president in Cairo.

Reports on the arguments of the opposition leaders toward the parliament's approval of a constitutional amendment that opens presidential elections to multiple candidates in Egypt.

Iranian officials stepped up efforts to crush the remaining resistance to a disputed presidential election on Wednesday, as security forces overwhelmed a small group of protesters with brutal beatings, tear gas and gunshots in the air. Intelligence agents shut down an office of a defeated presidential candidate, saying it was a ''headquarters for a psychological war.'' The nation's leadership cast anyone refusing to accept the results of the race as an enemy of the state. Analysts suggested that the unyielding response showed that Iran's leaders, backed by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had lost patience and that Iran was now, more than ever, a state guided not by clerics of the revolution but by a powerful military and security apparatus. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Iran's government continued to move aggressively on Tuesday to crush popular protests over a disputed presidential election, setting up a special court for demonstrators, detaining hundreds of independent and opposition journalists and activists, and sending a force of police officers and militiamen onto the streets. The comprehensive crackdown left the center of Tehran eerily quiet, given the huge demonstrations and clashes of recent days. It seemed perhaps a moment of pause for protesters to regroup or reconsider, after at least 17 demonstrators had been killed. Arrests and intimidation left the opposition with no visible leadership, even amid mostly anonymous calls on the Internet for more demonstrations and even a general strike in coming days. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

CAIRO -- Egyptians went to the polls on Wednesday to choose their first freely elected president, hoping to recapture the promise of a popular uprising that defined the Arab Spring, end 15 chaotic months of military rule and perhaps shape the character of political Islam across the region. In scenes unthinkable at any time in this country's vast history, millions of Egyptians waited patiently in long lines, often holding scraps of cardboard against the desert sun, debating with their neighbors which of the five leading contenders deserved their vote. ''It is like honey to my heart,'' said Mohamed Mustafa Seif, 36, an accountant voting in downtown Cairo. ''For the first time in my life, I feel like I have a role to play. My vote could possibly make a difference.'' [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The direct confrontation over Iran's presidential election was effectively silenced Friday when the main opposition leader said he would seek permits for any future protests, an influential cleric suggested that leaders of the demonstrations could be executed, and the council responsible for validating the election repeated its declaration that there were no major irregularities. Rather than address the underlying issues that led to the most sustained, unexpected challenge to the leadership since the 1979 revolution, the government pressed its effort to recast the entire conflict not as an internal dispute that brought millions of Iranians into the streets, but as one between Iran and outside agents from Europe, the United States and even Saudi Arabia. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]