MIDDLE EAST

TURKEY

| Ankara — Police in Ankara fired tear gas and used water cannons to disperse thousands of people protesting near government buildings Saturday as Turkey’s biggest wave of anti-government protests in decades entered its second week with no signs of waning. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s governing party, meanwhile, rejected calls for early elections, and dismissed the protests as an attempt by the opposition to topple the government. The protests, sparked by outrage over a violent police action to oust an environmental protest in Isanbul’s Taksim Square on May 31, have spread to dozens of cities across Turkey. Three people have died — two protesters and a policeman — and thousands have been injured so far.

IRAN

| Tehran — Iran’s former top nuclear negotiator, a candidate in next week’s presidential elections, vowed Saturday he will reset the country’s economy and reverse President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s foreign policy stance if elected. Addressing a campaign rally in Tehran, Hasan Rowhani said his priority in foreign policy would be to “reconcile” with the outside world and distance Iran from Ahmadinejad’s combative, hardline style. Rowhani is one of eight candidates approved by the Guardian Council, Iran’s election overseers, to run in the June 14 race to pick a successor to Ahmadinejad. dors and other breeds paraded around the famed Paris museum. Organizers of the canine-citizen march dubbed “My Dog, My City” estimate about 200,000 dogs live in Paris.

FRANCE

| Paris — Thousands of supporters marched in grief and anger Saturday to honor an anti-fascist activist who died after a brawl with far-right militants, as authorities opened a manslaughter probe against a 20-year-old man suspected of delivering the fatal blow. France’s Socialist government also took a first step toward banning a far right group that the suspect and four alleged accomplices had claimed ties with, according to the Paris prosecutor. The death of 18-year-old Clement Meric, a student at Paris’ prestigious Sciences-Po political science university, has renewed concerns that far-right groups are on the rise in France and across Europe.