Manila residents waded through waist-deep floodwaters and dodged flying debris Tuesday as a powerful typhoon struck the Philippines, killing at least 16 people and sending waves as tall as palm trees crashing over seawalls.
U.S. intelligence agencies are investigating reports that al Qaeda-aligned groups played a key role in the deadly commando-style attack near the Israeli resort town of Eilat last week.
Egypt and the United States are postponing a major military exercise this year as Egypt's military deploys troops to secure the Sinai Peninsula.
Egypt's government, meeting a key demand by protesters, fired nearly 700 top police officers Wednesday to cleanse the discredited and widely unpopular force, state television reported.
A majority of Americans say they favor cutting U.S. foreign aid. So they should, especially for Egypt. The former president, Hosni Mubarak, left behind a political structure molded in his image. In fact, the soft transfer of power from Mr. Mubarak to the armed forces revealed Egypt's inability to break free from the repressive features of military rule. The result: post-Mubarak Egypt has morphed into a dictatorless tyranny.
Egyptians are preparing to vote Saturday on constitutional amendments that critics say would put a Band-Aid on an illegitimate document and ensure government rule by Hosni Mubarak's former party and the Muslim Brotherhood.
On Egypt's first day in nearly 30 years without Hosni Mubarak as president, its new military rulers pledged Saturday to eventually hand power to an elected civilian government and outlined its first cautious steps in a promised transition to democracy. It reassured the world that it will abide by its peace deal with Israel.
As Egypt's army led a hoped-for drive to democracy, President Obama sent his senior military adviser to the Mideast to reassure allies Jordan, also facing rumblings of civil unrest, and Israel, which sees its security at stake in a wider Arab world transformation.
"A revolution is not a tea party."
