Purge

A hard-line deputy of Iran's supreme leader announced steps Sunday to purge Iranian universities of Western influences even as the government faced accusations of "fascism and totalitarianism" leveled by the country's former president. Hamid Reza Ayatollahi, head of a government body that oversees universities, announced a plan to revise humanities curricula to bring them more in line with Islamic principles. "Many of the syllabuses taught to students majoring in humanities are not in line with Iranian and Islamic culture and therefore their revision is a must," Ayatollahi said in a statement published by Iranian news agencies.

Egypt fired more than 600 high-ranking police officers Wednesday in a purge aimed at appeasing thousands of antigovernment protesters in Cairo's Tahrir Square amid deepening divisions over wiping away the remnants of former President Hosni Mubarak's regime. The move came on the same day the military council ruling the country announced that parliamentary elections planned for September would be delayed until October or November. The postponement will help new political parties challenge the more experienced Muslim Brotherhood, which was expected to win at least 25% of the seats in parliament.

The Iraqi commission charged with removing former members of the outlawed Baath Party from office announced Thursday a sweeping purge of Iraq's security forces, in a move likely to heighten political tensions before national elections next month. Ali Lami, executive director of the Accountability and Justice Commission, said he had sent the names of 580 members of the security forces to the Ministries of Defense, Interior and National Intelligence. He said the individuals should be removed from their posts because of alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

The country's former ruling party announced the dissolution of its leadership committee and has voiced support for the new government, state television reported Thursday, as thousands rallied against the party in the capital and other cities. The national unity government also approved a blanket amnesty law for outlawed political parties and exiled dissidents, state television reported. In addition, all Cabinet members who were members of the former ruling party resigned from it. For 23 years, President Zine el Abidine ben Ali's Constitutional Democratic Rally held sway over political and public life in Tunisia.

Dumping troubled assets for pennies on the dollar may not be the way to bolster a sliding stock price, after all. Shares of Merrill Lynch & Co. slumped Tuesday to their lowest closing price in nearly 10 years as investors continued to fret about how much the soft economy and a still-steep overhang of bad debt could weigh on the brokerage giant. The stock slid 92 cents, or 3.7%, to $23.82, falling below its previous multiyear closing low of $24.33 set July 28 -- just before Merrill announced plans to unload mortgage assets once valued at $30.6 billion for $6.7 billion, or 22 cents on the dollar.

Senior Communist Party officials are gathering in the capital from around China for a special party meeting, which is expected to authorize a purge of General Secretary Zhao Ziyang and some other leaders who have supported him, diplomatic sources said Friday. Zhao, who infuriated party hard-liners by advocating conciliation in dealing with student protests, apparently came out on the losing end of a power struggle against Premier Li Peng and Deng Xiaoping, China's paramount leader.

A conservative Chinese leader Friday indirectly denounced Communist Party chief Zhao Ziyang's reformist faction for plotting "schemes and intrigues" against the party, amid reports that Zhao and as many as six other moderates were targeted for a purge. The public attack was another indication that the conservatives had gained an upper hand in the leadership power struggle that was provoked by the student-led pro-democracy movement. "The dogs are biting the dogs, fighting for a bone," said one Beijing resident, describing the fiercest power struggle in a decade.

None of the lovely tributes to the late Jake Zeitlin, the book-seller's bookseller, touched on his passionate politics. In the gloomiest days of the McCarthy era, I served with Jake on the Democratic County Central Committee. Some timid committee members tried to purge a Democratic club because some of its members hadn't always been Democrats. Jake, as always, fighting political as well as literary litmus tests joined a tiny group of us who stood off the image-conscious worry birds.

Yes, by all means, let's investigate Vernon's religious beliefs, and use them as a weapon against him. We must purge Los Angeles of this too-prevalent belief in the existence of God. After we remove the last vestiges of Christianity from city government, we can set to work on the greater task of purging our citizens of it. I recommend a law requiring all Christians to wear large yellow crosses on their clothing, so we can spot them from a...

This country's new dictator ousted 17 top officers loyal to the previous military ruler Saturday as he consolidated his grip on Africa's most populous nation. Earlier, Gen. Sani Abacha, who seized power from a military-installed civilian government Nov. 17, swore in a new Cabinet that includes some pro-democracy activists. But the general, a key figure in three military coups in 10 years, remains in full control of the country, as evidenced by his latest military purge. Spokesman Brig. Gen.

He is the rare Mexican lawman feared by organized crime. Tijuana's secretary of public security has chased out major drug traffickers, purged his force of corrupt cops, and helped set the stage for the return of investment and tourism. It may not be enough to save his job. Instead, Julian Leyzaola may fall victim to partisan politics. The uncertainty over his future illustrates the limits of Mexican President Felipe Calderon's ability to manage the nearly 4-year-old offensive he launched against drug cartels.

Spiraling drug-war violence in Mexico's wealthiest region has claimed the life of a prominent mayor — kidnapped Sunday and found dead Wednesday — and prompted demands from panicked residents for army protection. Edelmiro Cavazos was mayor of Santiago, a picturesque tourist town near Monterrey, Mexico's third-largest city and an industrial hub. He was grabbed from his gated home late Sunday by at least 15 gunmen wearing uniforms of a defunct police agency who arrived in a convoy of sport-utility vehicles, with patrol lights flashing.

The Iraqi commission charged with removing former members of the outlawed Baath Party from office announced Thursday a sweeping purge of Iraq's security forces, in a move likely to heighten political tensions before national elections next month. Ali Lami, executive director of the Accountability and Justice Commission, said he had sent the names of 580 members of the security forces to the Ministries of Defense, Interior and National Intelligence. He said the individuals should be removed from their posts because of alleged ties to Saddam Hussein's Baath Party.

Possible gaps in safety protocols at the Kleen Energy power plant are at the center of the investigation into an explosion Sunday that killed five and injured 12. The blast occurred during the process of purging an underground, high-pressure natural gas pipeline that runs about 800 to 1,000 feet through the facility. Sources familiar with the purging operation and the construction and maintenance of the pipeline reported several concerns, including that welding operations weren't entirely halted and other ignition sources may have been present during the purging Sunday morning.

Several hundred women, many holding aloft pictures of relatives killed by drug lords or Taliban militants, held a loud but nonviolent street protest today, demanding that President Hamid Karzai purge from his government anyone connected to corruption, war crimes or the Taliban. "These women are being very brave," said the protest leader, her face hidden by a burka. "To be a woman in Afghanistan and an activist can mean death. We want justice for our loved ones!" Afghan police, in riot gear, monitored the rally as it worked its way slowly through muddy streets to the United Nations building here, but they did nothing to disrupt the event.

A hard-line deputy of Iran's supreme leader announced steps Sunday to purge Iranian universities of Western influences even as the government faced accusations of "fascism and totalitarianism" leveled by the country's former president. Hamid Reza Ayatollahi, head of a government body that oversees universities, announced a plan to revise humanities curricula to bring them more in line with Islamic principles. "Many of the syllabuses taught to students majoring in humanities are not in line with Iranian and Islamic culture and therefore their revision is a must," Ayatollahi said in a statement published by Iranian news agencies.

The strong language used recently by Chinese leaders to denounce their political opponents exemplifies an intolerance of dissent not seen in that country since the days of the 1966-76 Cultural Revolution, U.S. analysts said Saturday. Among the most striking examples they noted was a reported speech to the Communist Party's Politburo by former President Li Xiannian, who used a hallmark phrase from that tumultuous era in describing the clash as a "struggle between two headquarters."

One of Roman Catholicism's most tantalizing secrets came to an anticlimactic end Monday as the Vatican unveiled a 62-line handwritten account by Lucia de Jesus dos Santos of what she saw as a 10-year-old shepherd in a pasture near Fatima, Portugal, on July 13, 1917. The text describes a radiant Virgin Mary, a flaming sword and a "Bishop dressed in White," presumed to be a pope, who leads a sad procession of priests and nuns up a mountain through a half-ruined city strewn with corpses.

Iran's president has conducted a purge of the nation's intelligence ministry, sweeping aside ranking officials with decades of experience in favor of loyalists, a lawmaker, several news websites and a former intelligence chief's son said. The move, chronicled by news outlets today, underscores the deep rifts and disarray within the highest echelons of the country's security apparatus in the wake of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed June 12 reelection. Analysts say the purge flushes away decades of intelligence experience.

Despite the Chinese government's intent to keep the 1989 crackdown in Tiananmen Square out of public discourse, audio recordings and excerpts of a memoir by the Communist Party chief who was purged for opposing it have begun circulating quietly on the Internet. Before his death in 2005, Zhao Ziyang secretly recorded 30 hours of tapes that have been turned into a memoir, "Prisoner of the State: The Secret Journal of Premier Zhao Ziyang."