A lone protester steps into the path of an oncoming tank near Tahrir Square as demonstrations continued for a sixth straight day, January 30, 2011, in Cairo, Egypt. Could the popular revolt against authoritarian regimes of the Middle East ever spread to China, the world’s most populous nation? And if so, does the United States have a policy to deal with it? The ticklish question has been hovering... 

In this image from Egyptian state television, President Hosni Mubarak announces he will not run for a new term. President Hosni Mubarak defied a quarter-million protesters demanding he step down immediately, announcing Tuesday he would serve out the last months of his term and “die on Egyptian soil.” He promised not to seek re-election, but that did not calm public fury as clashes erupted... 

A mysterious Russian Space Forces (VKS) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that on 28 January our world was “officially” contacted by an extraterrestrial/ inter-dimensional intelligence source whose communication “beacons” descended upon the world’s holiest city of Jerusalem and the American State of Utah, home to The Church of Latter Days Saints (Mormons) delivering a rapid... 

A Somali pirate, hooded, arrives at South Regional Headquarters Korea Coast Guard in Busan, South Korea, on Sunday. Five Somali pirates captured during a raid on a hijacked cargo ship in the Arabian Sea were brought Sunday to South Korea, where they could face life imprisonment, the coast guard said. The men were arrested as South Korean commandos raided the South Korean-operated Samho Jewelry earlier... 

Soldiers in a central Nigerian city opened fire Saturday on university students protesting continuing violence between Christians and Muslims, witnesses said, with at least nine people killed in the ensuing violence. The shooting came as gas stations and farmers’ markets smoldered after late Friday violence that sparked when Christian students attacked Muslims trying to bury a corpse in Jos,... 

Causing a stink: The government of Malawi, led by Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, are planning to outlaw breaking wind. Breaking wind is set to be made a crime in an African country. The government of Malawi plan to punish persistent offenders ‘who foul the air’ in a bid to ‘mould responsible and disciplined citizens.’ But locals fear that pinning responsibility on the crime will be... 

Billions of dollars are being made by investors in a speculative “food bubble” that’s created record food prices, starving millions and destabilising countries, experts now conclude. Wall Street investment firms and banks, along with their kin in London and Europe, were responsible for the technology dot-com bubble, the stock market bubble, and the recent U.S. and UK housing bubbles.... 

China blocks "Egypt" searches. China blocked the word “Egypt” from micro-blog searches in a sign that the Chinese government is concerned that protests calling for political reform in the country could spill into China’s internet space. Skip related content Searches on Sunday for “Egypt” on micro-blog functions of Chinese web portals such as Sina.com and Sohu.com... 

As street protests sweep Egypt, neighbouring Sudan watches nervously, faced with its own political and economic malaise, opposition calls for popular uprisings and the likely secession of the south. 10,000 people have so far joined a Facebook group calling for anti-government protests across Sudan today, the day preliminary results are due out for the vote on southern independence that is widely expected... 

A clergyman lights candles at the site of the bomb blast at Domodedovo airport, near Moscow, Russia. Attacker who killed 35 is 20-year-old man from troubled Caucasus region. Russian investigators have said they now know the identity of the suicide bomber who claimed the lives of 35 people in an attack on Moscow’s busiest airport last Monday. The attacker is a 20-year-old man from the unsettled... 

“We’ll be looking for the occasional celestial flash,” said Joseph Lazio, a radio astronomer at JPL. “These flashes can be anything from explosions on surfaces of nearby stars, deaths of distant stars, exploding black holes, or even perhaps transmissions by other civilizations.” JPL scientists are working with multi-institutional teams to explore this new area of astronomy. An... 

According to Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the Muslim population in Spain will increase by around 82% by 2030. Currently, Muslims make up just over 1 million of the country’s population, which is expected to increase to about 1.9 million in the next two decades. Immigration is cited as the main reason behind the increase, as just this past year Muslims made up 13% of all newly arrived... 

Protestors call on Hungarian govt to repeal media law, ask premier to return to dissident past. Several thousand people have protested Hungary’s new media law and urged Prime Minister Viktor Orban to repeal or amend it. The law greatly expands the state’s power to monitor and penalize private news outlets. There are concerns it will be used against media critical of Orban’s centre-right... 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on Egypt’s government Friday to halt the use of violence against protesters, end “unprecedented” curbs on communication and begin implementing political and economic reforms. Clinton’s remarks represented an incremental toughening of the Obama administration’s stance in Egypt’s unfolding political crisis, but they fell short... 

The mood of revolt has spread beyond the Arab world to the Balkans. The Albanian opposition gearing up for another anti-government protest today and the police warning of a high risk of violence. The opposition Socialist Party said the rally was aimed at honouring the three victims of violent clashes in last week’s anti-government demonstration. Protesters have been calling on the government...