Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the era of puppet regimes has passed, and that revolutions in the Middle East are against the US-supported dictators in the region.

Addressing people in Iran's southwestern city of Bushehr during his 86th provincial trip, the Iranian chief executive said there is massive pent-up energy against satanic forces in the region. 

“We have always said, and we say it again, freedom of speech, and the right to determine the destiny, and the right to ask for justice and spirituality is the right of all nations,” President Ahmadinejad said. 

He further pointed out that the recent revolutions in the Middle East have all been against dictators who had abandoned their nations, referring to the revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia. 

"The dictator move away from their nations, and thereby become hated by their nations. And the more they do so, the more they become dependent on the arrogant powers," he said. 

Thousands of pro-democracy Bahrainis have gathered in the capital Manama to protest the recent killing of two demonstrators by security forces.

Several hundred people took part in a funeral procession on Wednesday for Fadel al-Matrook, 31, who was shot dead a day earlier in clashes with security forces, Reuters reported. 

"We are requesting our rights in a peaceful way," twenty-year-old university student Bakr Akil said. "I am optimistic that our big presence will achieve our demands." 

Some 2,000 protestors -- demanding regime change in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom -- spent the previous night in tents at the Pearl Roundabout in the heart of Manama. 

Matrook was one of around 4,000 demonstrators who had attended a procession on Tuesday for another slain protester, 27 year-old Ali Abdulhadi Mushaima. 

Tunisia has lifted its curfew, but extended the state of emergency, which has been in place since former President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali fled the North African country.

The curfew had also been in place since January 13, the day before the ousted president left office in the wake of nationwide pro-democracy protests, the Associated Press reported Tuesday. 

The Tunisian Interior Ministry, in a statement, urged the police and the military to maintain vigilance against attempts to sow discord between them in the fragile North African country. 

"To prevent anything that may harm the security of the state and to ensure the security of citizens and protection of public and private goods, it was decided to extend the state of emergency from Tuesday, February 15 until further notice," the statement noted. 

The state of emergency was imposed on January 14 when Ben Ali fled Tunis to seek refuge in Saudi Arabia as the month-long popular revolt fueled by pro-democracy protests against unemployment, living costs and the government, gained momentum.

Egypt's military rulers have ordered a panel of civilian experts to amend five articles in the country's suspended constitution within ten days.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces have instructed an eight-member panel of jurists and scholars to revise articles it sees fit to guarantee Egypt's democracy, a Press TV correspondent reported. Sobhi Saleh, a panel member and former lawmaker from the Islamist opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, said the armed forces want to hand over power as soon as possible and they want amendments to the constitution. 

The committee will be chaired by Tareq el-Beshry, a respected former head of the Egyptian supreme constitutional court, the report added. 

The panel “must finish its work in a period of no longer than 10 days after the date of this decision," and must also eliminate articles giving presidents unlimited terms in office, the army said in a statement.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the sanctions that the UN has imposed on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear program have had no effect on the country's economy.

In a live television address on Tuesday night, President Ahmadinejad downplayed the sanctions and stated that Iran's economy is flourishing. 

The Iranian president said that in the modern world, where economies are so competitive, such punitive measures are pointless. 

He went on to say that the sanctions imposed on the country may have caused prices to increase in a few cases, but they will decrease in the near future. 

Ahmadinejad noted that these sanctions will eventually benefit the national economy, since Iran has attained self-sufficiency in many areas. 

In June 2010, the UN Security Council imposed a fourth round of US-engineered sanctions on Iran's financial and military sectors. 

Fifteen female and two male US veterans have filed a lawsuit against the federal government, accusing the Pentagon of ignoring reports of sexual assault and rape by US military soldiers.

The lawsuit, which names US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor Donald Rumsfeld as defendants, has turned the spotlight on 17 sexual assault cases, which the plaintiffs believe military commanders failed to prevent and respond to properly, a Press TV correspondent in Washington reported on Tuesday. 

The plaintiffs filed their class-action suit in the federal court on Tuesday, calling for an objective third party to handle sexual assault complaints, and urging the US military to change the way sexual assault cases are handled. 

In one incident, a female US army sergeant has spoken about her ordeal in the US military in 2002 when she was raped by fellow service members in Korea -- an event that changed her life forever. 

US Army General David Petraeus is said to leave his post as the commander of the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan before the end of the year, a report says.

Petraeus, who was appointed less than eight months ago, will leave his post as the head of the US and NATO forces by the end of 2011 as part of a reshuffle plan that would see the departure of top five US diplomats in Kabul, including its Ambassador Karl Eikenberry, and Lieutenant-General David Rodriguez, deputy to Petraeus, the London-based Times reported Tuesday.

"General Petraeus is doing a brilliant job but he's been going virtually non-stop since 9/11 [and] he can't do it forever," Pentagon Secretary Geoff Morrell said. 

"This is a heck of a demanding job, he will have to be rotated out at some point," he further explained. 

With the administration of US President Barak Obama struggling to curb the nine-year old militancy in Afghanistan, the speculation has raised serious concerns over the fate of the prolonged war and the future war strategies in the war-wracked country. 

The military junta currently ruling Egypt says that the continuation of nationwide strikes and protests would be disastrous, but the people are still pressing for their demands to be met.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which assumed power after former president Hosni Mubarak stepped down on Friday, asked public sector employees and policemen to end their walkouts and protest rallies and promised to fulfill the “aspirations” of the people, AFP reported.

Hundreds of current and retired police officers held a rally in front of the Interior Ministry in central Cairo on Tuesday, complaining about the injustice of the ousted government.

Thousands of Egyptian union members and other workers are also staging strikes across the country over low pay and corruption. 

Human rights groups says hundreds of Egyptian people have gone missing in the recent popular revolution that toppled former president Hosni Mubarak.

A leading human rights group said on Tuesday that some people were being held by the armed forces.

"There are hundreds of detained, but information on their numbers is still not complete ... The army was holding detainees," AFP quoted Gamal Eid, a lawyer who heads the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, as saying.

The group says it was still receiving "information relating to the disappearances of many youths and citizens."

Eid urged the military to publish a list of detainees' names and to guarantee their rights.

Reports say at least 500 people were arrested in the recent popular protests that toppled the ruling regime.

But an estimated 17,000 political prisoners were already locked up in Egyptian prisons, which are notorious for the use of torture.

Egypt has also been the US destination of choice for its extraordinary rendition program -- the practice of taking terror suspects to a country where torture is used in an attempt to extract confessions.

Activists have demanded the release of political prisoners, the lifting of a 30-year-old state of emergency and the disbandment of military court. They say demonstrations will continue until the army accepts the reforms.

They are demanding a clear timetable for the transfer of power to a civilian government. source

China has overtaken Japan as the world's second-biggest economy.

Japan's economy was worth $5.474 trillion (£3.414 trillion) at the end of 2010, figures from Tokyo have shown. China's economy was closer to $5.8 trillion in the same period.

Japan has been hit by a drop in exports and consumer demand, while China has enjoyed a manufacturing boom.

At its current rate of growth, analysts see China replacing the US as the world's top economy in about a decade.

Two security guards and an insurgent were killed in an attack in the Afghan capital Kabul, officials say.

Reports said the blast occurred just inside a shopping complex in the city centre after an attacker carrying explosives was challenged by guards.

A gun battle which broke out following the explosion has now ended.

It is the second attack in less than three weeks in the heavily fortified Afghan capital, after nine died in an attack on a supermarket on 28 January.

The Taliban told the BBC they had carried out that attack.

Monday's attack is thought to have begun when an attacker was challenged by security guards as he attempted to gain access to the shopping precinct, says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Kabul.

When Washington's red-walled Opera House drew in friends and fellow travellers from the world over to pay tribute last week to veteran American diplomat Richard Holbrooke, President Barack Obama set them a challenge.

"He made a difference. Let us now carry that work forward in our time," Mr Obama declared as he ended his eulogy for the Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, following his sudden death of a heart attack last month.

But who would fill this larger-than-life figure's big dusty boots?

Names mentioned by several people close to this process are obvious choices on Washington's rollcall of the best and brightest.

But many tried-and-tested troubleshooters are said to be demurring, citing other commitments, advancing age, or the daunting scale of the task.

How will the approaches championed by Mr Holbrooke move forward, including a strong civilian role alongside the growing military juggernaut and its powerful four-star, all-star General David Petraeus?

"The essence of the challenge is getting the balance right between the military and the political, civilian and diplomatic aspects," reflected former deputy Secretary of State Strobe Talbott, a close friend of Mr Holbrooke, who now heads the Brookings Institution.