New political clashes erupt in Cairo
CAIRO, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Teargas floated over Cairo Saturday after protesters took on police to protest new President Mohamed Morsi granting himself even more authority.
Most of the confrontations happened around Tahrir Square, where a day earlier, thousands of protesters converged to denounce Morsi's decree, with many saying it bordered on dictatorship, demonstrators told CNN.
Saturday's demonstrations saw scores of people with breathing difficulties from the gas, the Egypt Independent reported. Officials at Mounira Public Hospital said 32 people were being treated for injuries and five people were in critical condition from gunshot wounds, although there were no police reports of shots being fired.
By late morning, state television quoted the Interior Ministry as saying 210 protesters had been arrested, 44 of them juveniles.
Ahram Online quoted protesters shouting that the 61-year-old Morsi, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, is no better than the autocratic former President Hosni Mubarak, who was unseated last year.
Morsi was elected in June.
His proclamation Thursday said until a new constitution can be approved in about six months, neither parliament nor the courts can overturn anything he has done or will do in the interim.
Yasser Arafat to be exhumed Tuesday
JERUSALEM, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Medical samples of the remains of former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat will be taken from his burial site in Ramallah next week, Palestinian officials said.
Arafat died eight years ago at age 75 in France of indeterminate causes after medical treatment outside Paris.
At the time, his widow, Suha, requested no autopsy be done. She has since given permission for the testing.
France ordered a new homicide investigation in August when traces of radioactive polonium were found on Arafat's clothing.
Palestinian and French officials will oversee the exhumation and take samples Tuesday, and the remains will then be reburied in the mausoleum in Ramallah with military honors, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency said.
The Palestinian ambassador to Russia, Faed Mustafa, said Russia will send forensic experts to examine the samples.
Arafat was confined to his compound in Ramallah for more than two years by Israel before he went to France for medical treatment, the Voice of America said.
Palestinians claim Israel broke cease-fire
RAMALLAH, West Bank, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- A Palestinian ambassador to the United Nations is alleging Israel broke a cease-fire by opening fire on 20 farmers in a field in the Gaza Strip Friday.
Riyad Mansour made the complaint that Israel broke a 2-day-old cease-fire that followed eight days of shooting and shelling between the two sides, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported.
A 20-year-old man was killed and 19 others were wounded in Friday's incident, Mansour said.
At least 170 Palestinians and six Israelis were killed in the eight-day conflict, the report said.
Palestinian Authority President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas has kept his distance from the issue in Gaza, which is run by the rival Hamas party, the BBC said.
Instead, he has asked for a vote of the U.N. General Assembly to grant Palestinians observer status that would that open doors to international court proceedings against Israel, the report said.
Observers told the BBC said it appears Abbas has the necessary two-thirds majority at the United Nations to gain non-voting status.
At least 7 dead, 18 hurt in Pakistan blast
BANNU CHUNGI, Pakistan, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- At least seven people, including three children, were killed and 18 were injured in a bomb attack on a Shiite religious procession in Pakistan, officials said.
The bomb went off near a Muharram procession Saturday at Bannu Chungi in Dera Ismail Khan district, Geo News reported.
Bomb disposal squad officials said 17-22 pounds of explosives were used to make the bomb, which had been placed in a garbage can near the procession.
No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet, CNN reported.
Pakistan has taken precautionary measures to increase security for the religious observance, which culminates Saturday.
Interior Minister Rehman Malik temporarily blocked cellphone service in some cities where intelligence indicated the possibility of bombs being detonated by cellphones. Malik also banned motor bikes for two days in some cities.
Afghan forces repel Taliban attack
GHAZNI, Afghanistan, Nov. 24 (UPI) -- Security forces in Afghanistan's eastern Ghazni province prevented a Taliban plot to attack a religious ceremony, local officials said.
Taliban militants were allegedly planning to detonate a large amount of explosives near participants in the ceremony in Ghazni Saturday, Khaama Press reported.
Provincial security chief Zalawar Zahid said the militants were trying to transport more than 3,000 pounds of explosives planted inside 28 barrels from Wazirabad to Ghazni, but security forces intervened.
Coalition forces seized a cache of weapons and explosives Friday belonging to a Taliban group from Deh Yak district, Zahid said, adding that it was one of the biggest Taliban arms caches ever found in the district.
