EGYPT

Militias clashed with government security troops in Tripoli, Libya on Tuesday, casting a blow to the country's attempt at forming a new government.

The chief prosecutor in the trial against Hosni Mubarak lambasted the former Egyptian president during an hour-long argument that The Associated Press called the harshest assessment of Mubarak's rule ever heard in an Egyptian courtroom.

Crude prices started their jolly ride to the top in February last year when simmering discontent in the Middle East erupted into several violent anti-government protests.

Israeli and Palestinian negotiators will meet this week after more than a year of deadlock in peacemaking, officials said Sunday, but both sides played down prospects of any imminent resumption of talks.

Bahraini police fired tear gas and sound grenades after hundreds of Shi'ite youths demonstrated on Sunday against the death of a 15-year-old protester a day earlier in the Sunni-ruled Gulf island kingdom, residents and activists said.

The H5N1 strain of the flu is extremely dangerous, killing up to 60 percent of people who contract it.

For John Salemme, the mention of Egypt brings to my mind one thing: a lonely, tearful train ride on New Year’s Eve.

Egyptian prosecutors and police raided offices of 17 pro-democracy and human rights groups Thursday - including several funded by the United States - in what rights defenders described as a campaign against them by the military rulers.

The best Twitter feeds to follow in the new year.

A small group of committed programmers has taken it upon themselves to build a central network for Occupy groups and protesters around the world, Wired reported on its Threat Level blog. It's partly a function of not wanting Facebook to have access to private activist messages, but it's also an attempt to simplify communications among the many groups.

Ex-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak appeared in court on Wednesday.

The Muslim Brotherhood's party, leading in a parliamentary election, wants to boost tourist numbers to Egypt and will not take steps that would harm the industry, a party official told a rally in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Oh Baby! A very pregnant Beyonce is reportedly getting ready to check in to a New York Hospital to give birth any minute now, according to multiple reports. Beyonce confirmed in September that she was six months pregnant, so she would be due around this time.

Who will be the five people to shape 2012? It could be anyone on list, or it could be none of them. Such is the state of geopolitics at this important moment in history.

From stories of Scott Olsen at Occupy Oakland and the riots in Tahrir Square, to a hilarious cache of old photos and LOTR's Eye of Sauron in a glass door's reflection, reddit has broken some of the biggest stories of the year, and given us plenty of hilarity in between. Here, see the top scoring links of 2011 as voted by reddit users.

Controversial Egyptian blogger, Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, whose nude photographs shocked her country, has asked those of her countrywomen who wish to remove their veils to send her photographs of their faces, to be published online.

The Egyptian economy, battered after months of uncertainty and violence that has followed the political upheaval in that country, is hovering dangerously close to crisis status.

The incredible events of 2011 will likely influence global history for decades to come.

National Geographic Films, which is associated with the hit documentary March of the Penguins in 2005, is shutting down, according to two individuals with knowledge of the independent studio.

Occupy Wall Street registers as one of the biggest surprises of 2011. Despite constant criticisms that it lacked a concrete set of goals or demands, Occupy Wall Street's broad critique of economic injustice resonated with a country still grappling with the fallout from the financial crisis. A timeline of the movement.

Commenting on the shocking photograph of a woman, stripped by soldiers, during the clashes between Egypt's armed forces and anti-military protesters, Egyptian Sheikh Khaled el-Gendy said that the woman was responsible for whatever happened, by being in the protest in the first place.