Colombia: Union protest teacher deaths

A trade union group says 2 more teachers are killed -- one in May, one in JuneThey were both members of the Teachers' Association of CordobaColombia is the world's deadliest country for trade unionists, the group says49 of the 90 union members killed worldwide in 2010 were from Colombia

(CNN) -- Two teachers in Colombia have been killed in as many months, a prominent alliance of trade unions said Friday, calling on the government there to do more to bring those responsible to justice.

Dionis Alfredo Sierra Vergara and Alejandro Jose Penata Lopez were both members of the Teachers' Association of Cordoba, according to a statement from the International Trade Union Confederation, or ITUC, the world's largest federation of trade unions.

Sierra Vergara, a primary school teacher, was reportedly killed on May 15. Citing an eyewitness, the union confederation said he received a call on his cell phone. Where he went outside to answer it, Sierra Vergara was attacked and shot three times.

Penata Lopez was murdered on June 20, according to the ITUC. He disappeared after he left school. His body was found later having shown signs of torture, having reportedly been hung with barbed wire.

The men were the latest trade unionists apparently targeted in Colombia, which the ITUC calls the most dangerous country in the world for union members.

In the department of Cordoba, alone, 20 teachers have been killed since December 2008, according to the ITUC. At least six of those teachers -- including Sierra Vergara and Penata Lopez -- were reported slain this year.

"The context of almost total impunity for these murders has led to an alarming humanitarian crisis in the education sector and has put teaching and trade union actions at risk," the trade union alliance said Friday. "(It) clearly refutes the Colombian governments' statements in international forums about human rights' improvements."

According to the group's 2011 survey of 143 countries, Colombia is the deadliest country in the world for trade unionists.

Of the estimated 90 trade union members killed in 2010, 49 of them were in Colombia. Another 20 people were reported to have escaped attempted attacks that year in the South American nation.

CNN

Cleric decries Bahrain protest leaders' sentences (AP)

MANAMA, Bahrain – Bahrain's top Shiite cleric on Friday sharply criticized the life sentences given to eight opposition leaders for their role in anti-government protests in this Gulf kingdom.

Sheik Isa Qassim's sermon is the latest signal that Shiite leaders could snub Sunni rulers' appeals for dialogue next month amid the crackdown in Bahrain, which is home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The cleric called the mass trials of Shiite opposition figures unfair and appealed to the nation's Sunni rulers to overturn the sentences.

"This is not an environment for a political solution, when people are suffering," the cleric said during the Friday sermon in Diraz, an opposition stronghold northwest of the capital, Manama. "These sentences and abuses are like a dam preventing people from participating in dialogue."

A special security court on Wednesday convicted 21 opposition figures of plotting to overthrow the royal family. Eight leaders received life sentences and 13 others got long prison terms.

In a statement Friday, Bahrain's government defended the sentences, saying that the activists were convicted of "plotting to violently topple Bahrain's government" and "passing sensitive information to a terrorist organization in a foreign country."

Authorities claim that Iran was behind the protests they say were aimed at overthrowing the 200-year-old monarchy. Sunni rulers across the Gulf fear that any Shiite gains in the country could open new footholds for influence by Shiite power Iran. Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states sent troops to help quell the revolt.

Shiite leaders in Bahrain repeatedly have denied any ties to Iran and accuse leaders of using the fears of Iranian string-pulling to wage crackdowns. At least 31 people have died in the unrest and hundreds have been detained since February.

Bahrain's ruling dynasty has proposed opening talks with opposition delegates July 1, but the outreach has met a cool reception from Shiite leaders demanding that authorities roll back security measures and halt the trials against activists.

The security court was set up under martial law that was imposed in March to quell protests, and has promoted criticism from Bahrain's Western allies.

The U.S. had expressed concern about the severity of the sentences and the use of the military-linked security courts. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also has urged Bahrain's government to allow political activists to appeal their sentences.

Fourteen of the 21 convicted are in custody while the rest were sentenced in absentia.

The security court has presided over a series of cases linked to the protests, including issuing two death sentences against men accused of killing police officers during the demonstrations.

Earlier this month, it sentenced a 20-year-old woman to a year in prison for reading poetry critical of Bahrain's king.

A trial is scheduled to resume next week for more than 30 doctors and nurses accused of supporting the protests. Some of the medical personnel claim they were abused while in custody.

Yahoo! News

Spaniards protest for economic reform

Madrid (CNN) -- Tens of thousands of protesters converged on central Madrid Sunday as the so-called May 15 movement pushing for political and social change in Spain again took to the streets.

Madrid's was the first major demonstration of the day and drew some 37,000 people, Spain's state-run news agency reported, citing a consulting firm it hired to estimate the size of the crowd.

Protests were planned in 55 other Spanish cities later in the day and had gotten underway in Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia and other cities, Spanish media reported.

The protests focused again on Spain's 21% unemployment rate and on the government's economic austerity measures. But on Sunday, they also rallied against European Union efforts to stabilize the euro, with many protesters worried that could lead to more austerity measures across the EU.

The movement takes its name from the opening round of large protests on May 15 of this year. On Sunday, it unveiled a new tactic in Madrid, when six columns of marchers started in the north, south, east and west of the capital. They walked noisily through neighborhoods, carrying banners and shouting slogans and quickly adding more protesters in a steady march to the Neptune plaza near the parliament building.

GPS: The perils of public debt

A throng of riot police stood by to protect the national parliament, days after violent scuffles occurred between demonstrators and police outside the Catalonia regional parliament in Barcelona last week.

"This capitalistic system doesn't work. It's an unfair system and a lot of people are in a very bad situation, without money," said Eva Fernandez, a social worker who was marching with the "northern" column down Madrid's main boulevard, la Castellana, on Sunday.

Protesters on June 12 dismantled a sprawling tent camp in Madrid's central Puerta del Sol plaza, nearly a month after it sparked large nationwide demonstrations and similar encampments in other cities to demand changes in Spain's political and economic system.

"The main thing we've achieved so far is to gain legitimacy to be able to protest and demonstrate in the streets," said Josua Serrano, a communications worker also marching in the "northern" column. "This civil disobedience is being practiced in a lot of countries now through nonviolent direct action. So people are going to the street without fear."

Before May 15, a series of citizens groups across Spain used social media networks like Facebook to call for protests on May 15. The large response seemed to surprise even the organizers, as tens of thousands of people turned out in Madrid, Barcelona and other cities.

The crowds have been dominated by young people, but also included retirees and families with young children. Demonstrators had a long and varied list of demands, but an underlying current was a call for change in Spain's political and economic system, to make it -- according to the protesters -- more democratic.

The movement gained force, with daily demonstrations involving thousands of people nationwide, in the run-up to May 22 municipal and regional elections. The conservative Popular Party was the big winner in that vote and now is poised, many analysts say, to win national parliamentary elections over the ruling Socialists. Those elections are expected no later than next March.

But the protesters have said repeatedly that neither of the two main parties represents their interests. Several protesters told CNN they voted for smaller parties which are farther left than the Socialists.

The protests of the May 15 movement have been largely peaceful, with police standing by. But there were scuffles, arrests and minor injuries at various flash points, including in Barcelona last week.

CNN

Greeks protest for 19th day, utility union to strike (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) – More than 20,000 Greeks protested against austerity measures in Athens on Sunday and workers at state-owned utility PPC announced strikes to oppose government plans to sell the company.

In the 19th straight day of demonstrations against a new austerity campaign the Socialist government hopes to pass this month, protesters gathered in front of parliament in Athens' central Syntagma square, shouting "Thieves! Thieves! Thieves!"

Having failed to meet fiscal targets under Greece's 110 billion euro ($160 billion) bailout by the European Union and International Monetary Fund, the government wants to raise taxes and slash spending more than planned this year in a bid to avoid default.

It has slated more measures through 2015 to cut the fiscal deficit to 1.1 percent in 2015 from 10.5 percent of gross domestic product last year, including a plan to sell state assets worth 50 billion euros.

A central part of the sell-offs is state energy producer PPC. But labor unions, opposition parties and some backbenchers of Prime Minister George Papandreou's ruling PASOK party oppose selling some Greek state-owned firms.

"We are against the sell-off of the country. We will not close our eyes," the GENOP DEH union of PPC workers said in a news release late on Saturday. "The union has decided to start 48-hour strikes from Monday June 20."

The mid-term austerity plan includes an extra 6.4 billion euros of cuts for this year, almost doubling originally agreed steps that have added to a 5.5 percent economic contraction in the first quarter and driven unemployment over 16 percent.

It has sparked daily protests and caused Papandreou's party to fall behind the conservative opposition in opinion polls. The government aims to begin discussion of the plan this week in parliamentary committees and approve it by the end of June.

Demonstrators have become frustrated with what they say are corrupt politicians who refuse to crack down on wealthy tax-evaders and instead try to solve debt problems by taxing less well-off Greeks.

On Sunday, they jeered at the parliament building and waved banners that read: "We won't leave if they don't leave," and "We don't owe anything, we won't pay anything."

Unions representing hundreds of thousands of workers in the public and private sectors are planning a nationwide strike on Wednesday, June 15.

(Reporting by Lefteris Papadimas; Writing by Michael Winfrey; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Yahoo! News

Clashes at Moscow gay rights protest

Russian police detain American gay rights activist Dan Choi on Saturday in central Moscow.Saturday's demonstration came after requests to hold a gay rights parade were rejectedClashes broke out between gay rights activists and ultra-Orthodox protestersEuropean Court of Human Rights has previously fined Russia for banning gay parades

(CNN) -- More than 30 people were arrested Saturday in central Moscow during the sixth attempt by gay rights groups to hold a parade in the city.

According to the group, Gay Russia, far right groups clashed with activists who were gathered in front of the Kremlin wall and city hall.

A total of 18 gay activists and 14 anti-gay activists were arrested, according to Moscow City police.

A police spokesman told CNN that the group did not have permission to gather publically for a parade.

Three prominent gay rights activists, Americans Dan Choi and Andy Thayer, and France's Louis-George Tin, were among those detained.

"We have been asking for the last six years to gather. We are being deprived of a very simple right that is taken for granted in democratic countries," Nikolai Alexeyev, Head of Gay Russia, chief organizer of the Moscow Gay Pride Parade told CNN.

Alexeyev said as soon as activists took out their banners and flags, dozens of members of an ultra-Orthodox group attacked the activists.

Gay rights flags and banners that read 'Russia is not Iran' were displayed in the crowd.

Last week the city denied the group a parade permit due to "a number of complaints", Moscow's deputy mayor, Luydmila Shevtsova said, according to reports from national new agency Ria Novosti.

Representatives of religious groups, ultra-nationalists and the Moscow City Parent Committee had filed complaints against the parade.

This past October, the European Court of Human Rights fined Russia for banning gay parades in the capital.

CNN's Arkady Irshenko contributed to this report

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Thousands protest in Syria, defying crackdown (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Thousands of people demonstrated across Syria on Friday calling for freedom in defiance of a military crackdown that has killed hundreds, witnesses and activists said.

A rights group said at least one person was killed when security forces opened fire at a demonstration in the town of Sanamin, south of Damascus. Activists in the central city of Homs said security forces fired on at least two protests there.

Syria has barred most international media since the protests broke out two months ago, making it impossible to verify independently accounts from activists and officials.

Reports from rights campaigners said there were protests in several cities, from Banias on the Mediterranean coast -- where the army had deployed this month to crush demonstrations -- to Qamishli in the Kurdish east of the country.

"The sound of gunfire is being heard now in Banias. The demonstration erupted although around 1,000 people from the city and around it have been detained in the last few weeks," said a spokesman for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

A witness said security forces fired teargas on protesters in the city of Hama, where around 20,000 people had gathered in two separate areas, a witness said. Security forces also used teargas to disperse around 1,000 protesters in the town of Tel just north of Damascus, another witness said.

The main weekly Muslim prayers on Fridays are a rallying point for protesters because they offer the only opportunity for large gatherings, and have seen the worst death tolls in unrest which rights groups say has killed at least 800 civilians.

The United States, which has condemned the crackdown as barbaric, imposed targeted sanctions against Assad this week and President Barack Obama warned Syria must move away from "the path of murder and mass arrest."

"The Syrian people have shown their courage in demanding a transition to democracy," Obama said in a speech on U.S. policy in the Middle East and North Africa. "President Assad now has a choice: He can lead that transition or get out of the way."

Despite strong words from the White House, the West has so far taken only small steps to isolate Assad when compared to its bombing campaign against Libya's leader Muammar Gaddafi, also accused of killing protesters.

Before the prayers, a witness told Reuters by telephone he saw security forces and checkpoints between many Damascus suburbs, apparently aimed at preventing protesters from marching into the capital.

A resident in the suburb of Hajar al-Aswad reported people demonstrating there and calling for "the overthrow of the regime," the slogan of Arab uprisings which have toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

ASSAD'S CHALLENGE

The two-month uprising has posed the gravest challenge to Assad's rule. In response, he has lifted a 48-year state of emergency and granted citizenship to stateless Kurds, but also sent tanks to several cities to suppress the protests.

Since the protests first broke out in March, they have spread across southern towns, coastal cities, Damascus suburbs and the central city of Homs. The two main cities of Damascus and Aleppo have remained relatively quiet.

Syrian authorities blame most of the violence on armed groups, backed by Islamists and outside powers, who they say have killed more than 120 soldiers and police. They have recently suggested they believe the protests have peaked.

Western powers, fearing instability across the Middle East if Syria undergoes a dramatic upheaval, at first made only muted criticisms of Assad's actions, but then stepped up their condemnation and imposed sanctions on leading Syrian figures.

The U.S. Treasury Department said it would freeze any assets owned by Syrian officials that fell within U.S. jurisdiction, and bar U.S. individuals and companies from dealing with them.

The sanctions also applied to Syria's vice president, prime minister, interior and defense ministers, the head of military intelligence and director of the political security branch, but it was unclear which assets, if any, would be blocked.

An EU diplomat said the European Union was also likely to extend its sanctions on Syria next week to include Assad.

Damascus condemned the sanctions, saying they targeted the Syrian people and served Israel's interests.

"The sanctions have not and will not affect Syria's independent will," an official source was quoted as saying on state television on Thursday.

(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Peter Graff)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Saleh calls for early election as Yemenis protest (Reuters)

SANAA (Reuters) – Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh called Friday for early elections in an apparent bid to stave off Gulf and Western pressure to leave office, as thousands rallied for and against his three-decade rule.

Saleh has twice backed out of a Gulf Arab-brokered transition deal, most recently last Wednesday, despite diplomatic wrangling by U.S., Gulf and European officials.

Washington and Riyadh, both targets of foiled attacks by al Qaeda's Yemen-based wing, are keen to end a stalemate that has pushed fractious Yemen further onto the brink of chaos and could give the militant network more room to operate.

Saleh in March called for a presidential election by the end of this year, but in his Friday speech he did not give any time frame or details on a plan for an election, leaving some skeptical it may be a tactic to buy time.

"We call for an early presidential election to prevent bloodshed, to protect our family dignity and for a smooth democratic path," he told a cheering crowd of tens of thousands of supporters waving his picture and Yemeni flags.

Security analyst Theodore Karasik, of the Dubai-based INEGMA group, said: "I think it is a ploy to further delay the inevitable, to make it look like he is trying to leave power, but I don't think that is his full intention."

But Saleh appeared to lay the groundwork for his followers to prepare to relinquish some control over government.

"Your General People's Congress will remain both in power and out of power and they will educate them (the opposition) in how to be a responsible opposition. No cutting roads, no cutting tongues, no treachery."

Protesters are increasingly frustrated their three months of daily protests have failed to dislodge Saleh. They have begun blocking roads and staging mass strikes that have ground commerce to a halt in several cities.

Yemen also faces severe power and fuel crises since tribesmen blockaded the oil- and gas-producing Maarib province a few weeks ago. Loss of its exports, the government's main source of income, are likely costing Yemen some $3 million a day.

GULF BLOC MEETS SUNDAY

Gulf foreign ministers are planning to meet Sunday to discuss Yemen's political crisis, but have made no mention of another deal signing, although Yemeni officials in the opposition and government said they may try again to ink the twice-thwarted deal Sunday.

In the capital Sanaa and Taiz, to the south, protesters called on Saleh to end his nearly 33 years in power.

"Zayani, Zayani, we need another president," they shouted, referring to Abdullatif al-Zayani, secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), who has headed mediation efforts.

Saleh first refused to sign the GCC deal in April when he said he would only sign in his capacity as ruling party leader, not president. Last Wednesday he backed out in objection to the opposition's inclusion of a politician he did not want to be among those who would sign the deal.

Yemen, where half the 23-million people own a gun, and already facing regional rebellions, has become a concern for regional stability among its Gulf neighbors, particularly neighboring oil giant Saudi Arabia, and the United States, which has seen Yemen as an ally against al Qaeda.

In his widely anticipated speech on U.S. policy in the Arab world, President Barack Obama said Thursday that Saleh needed to "follow through on his commitment to transfer power."

On the streets of Sanaa, Obama's words received mixed reviews. Some protesters were optimistic that his call for a transition meant the U.S. president was on their side. Others argued he did not go far enough in confronting Saleh.

"The American position is still weak toward President Saleh. We were waiting for Obama to call on Saleh to leave immediately," Samir Abdullah said.

(Additional reporting by Sara Anabtawi in Dubai; Writing by Erika Solomon)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Thousands protest Spain austerity cuts

Protesters set up a camp for the night at a demonstration in Madrid's Puerta del Sol plaza on Tuesday, May 17.Thousands return late Tuesday to Madrid's central Puerta del Sol plazaA few hundred demonstrators camp out overnightDemonstrators are protesting Spain's 21 % unemployment rate

Madrid, Spain (CNN) -- Protests against Spain's economic crisis took a new turn Wednesday as social media networks fueled calls for demonstrators to take to the streets before local elections a few days away.

Thousands returned late Tuesday to Madrid's central Puerta del Sol plaza -- where the main protests began Sunday.

A few hundred demonstrators camped out there overnight, while similar but smaller protests were held in Barcelona and other Spanish cities, a protest organizer said.

"The economy and unemployment are key to the protest because that binds all of us together," said Jon Aguirre Such, a spokesman for the Real Democracy Now, one of many groups convening the demonstrations.

"In this crisis, while some have gotten rich, most people have less income," Aguirre said.

Demostrators are protesting Spain's 21 % unemployment rate and a record 4.9 million jobless.

Protesters say a plethora of temporary labor contracts offer few or no job benefits. In addition, some are protesting against the political and financial establishment that they say is to blame.

The protests come in the closing days of the campaign for local elections set for Sunday. Spain's 8,000 cities and towns will elect mayors, along with 13 (out of 17) regional presidents and parliaments.

Opinion polls in Spanish media predict major gains for the opposition conservatives over Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's ruling Socialist party.

Zapatero, squeezed by the nation's prolonged economic crisis, announced last month he won't seek a third term in national elections due by March 2012.

For the past few years, as Spain's rate of unemployment remained tenaciously high, most of the protests were organized by major trade unions.

But the latest protests appear to be grass-roots movements fueled by social networks, sparking more attention.

Elena Ortega, who says she's managed to find only a part-time secretarial job, helped spread the word on Facebook about the protests on Wednesday.

"If this is happening, it's because the unions weren't doing what was needed, when it was needed. They haven't delivered," she said.

She said she's worried about her 20-year-old son, who has only found temporary jobs in the past four years.

"Forty percent of our young people are unemployed and don't have a chance," Ortega said.

The movement does not appear to be linked to the unions or political parties, the traditional protest heavyweights in Spain, said Economist Fernando Fernandez of the IE Business School in Madrid.

"I think we really don't know what we're seeing," Fernandez said.

"This is the very beginning of a new movement. I don't expect it to become a very large social response or protest against the unemployment perspective in Spain."

But hours later, on Tuesday night, several thousand protesters returned to Madrid's central plaza. By Wednesday morning, dozens remained in their overnight encampment.

The social media networks call for renewed protests on Wednesday evening in Madrid and three dozen other Spanish cities. The aim is to continue the protests at least through the elections on Sunday, Aguirre said.

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

10 die as Afghans protest NATO killings

Workers relax in Kabul on Wednesday, the morning after a NATO strike killed four insurgents, including two armed females.NEW: At least 70 are injured in clashes between protesters and police, official saysProtesters say NATO killed civilians in a Tuesday attackThe international alliance says it killed four insurgents

(CNN) -- At least 11 people were killed and 70 injured Wednesday during protests against a NATO raid that killed civilians in northern Afghanistan, local officials said.

Protesters clashed with police during the demonstrations attended by about 4,000, said Gov. Abdul Jabar Taqwa of Takhar province.

They were protesting an attack Tuesday night that NATO said killed four insurgents, including two armed females.

However, a deputy governor said the victims of the attack included a man, his wife and a guest not linked to any insurgent group.

"They were ordinary and innocent residents of the village," said Farid Zaki, the deputy governor. "These night raids are creating mistrust between the people, the Afghan government and international forces."

The combined Afghan and coalition force operation targeted "the facilitator" of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan facilitator in Taloqan district, according to NATO.

"The facilitator acquires, constructs and moves weapons and explosives throughout the province," NATO said in a statement. "He is currently heavily involved in the movement and procurement of weapons for imminent attacks."

CNN's Mohammed Jamjoom and Matiullah Mati contributed to this report

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Freedom Riders inspire Arab protest leaders

Freedom Riders flee a bus burned by an Alabama mob in 1961. The group now has a new fan base -- Arab protest leaders.Freedom Riders celebrate 50th anniversary
Epic civil rights campaign made international headlines
Young civil rights activists endured mobs and prison
Veteran activists discover they are popular in Middle East

(CNN) -- Joan Mulholland was watching television one day when something flashed across the screen that gave her chills.

Unarmed young men and women blocked rows of tanks. Giddy demonstrators placed flowers in soldier's bayonets. Protesters sang "We Shall Overcome" -- with an Arabic accent.

The images hurled the retired schoolteacher back to another moment in spring when she was a teenager risking her life for change. In May 1961, Mulholland joined the "Freedom Rides." She was part of an interracial group of college students who were attacked by mobs and imprisoned simply because they decided to ride passenger buses together through the Deep South.

"So much of what has happened in Egypt is like deja vu," says Mulholland, who appears on PBS Monday at 9 p.m. in a mesmerizing documentary called "Freedom Riders."

"The pictures that have been in the news have been almost interchangeable with the civil rights movement here years ago," she says about the Egyptian protests that toppled a dictator. "I've seen so many visual parallels that I'm starting to save pictures in a scrapbook."

The Freedom Riders were called communists and outside agitators. As they commemorate the 50th anniversary of their rides this month, another group of people in the Middle East is calling them something else -- inspiration.

Several leaders in the protests sweeping the Middle East say they are using the same nonviolent playbook Freedom Riders and other civil rights activists used years ago to resist oppression.

Dalia Ziada, North Africa director of the American Islamic Congress, a group that promotes interfaith tolerance, says some Egyptian protesters took heart from the disciplined nonviolent resistance activists once displayed during civil rights campaigns like the Freedom Rides.

A comic book on the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. is spreading across the Mideast.

"It was inspirational," she says. "I realized that no matter how long it takes, nonviolent tactics lead to success in the end. This made me and all my colleagues here in Egypt stand strong in the face of police brutality during revolution time.''

Reading MLK in Arabic

At first glance, there seems to be little connection between Freedom Riders and the "Arab Spring," a wave of civil uprisings sweeping the Middle East. The series of protests are being driven by people from various ideologies that have nothing to do with nonviolence.

Yet there are signs that the seeds of nonviolent resistance that Freedom Riders and other civil rights activists planted years ago in America are being scattered throughout the Arab Spring.

And some are now starting to sprout:

A 50-year-old comic book explaining the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s philosophy of nonviolent resistance has been adopted by Egyptian protesters and distributed throughout the Mideast.

The comic book, republished in Farsi and Arabic by the American Islamic Congress, has attracted so much attention that Georgia Rep. John Lewis, a Freedom Rider leader, has marveled publicly over its impact.

Ethan Zuckerman, founder of Global Voices, an international group of journalists that hosts conferences for Arab bloggers, says many Arab protesters have deliberately shunned violence.

"The protests began, at the very least, as explicitly nonviolent events," he says. "In many of the marches, not just in Tunisia and Egypt, but in Bahrain and Syria, protesters have chanted 'Peaceful, peaceful', making it clear that any violence from the military was an overreaction."

The New York Times ran a recent profile on Gene Sharp, an elderly American author of books like "The Politics of Nonviolent Action" who has discovered that his books are popular reference guides for protesters in Egypt and Tunisia.

One of the Freedom Rider leaders, Bernard Lafayette Jr., has already established three nonviolent training centers in Palestinian territories.

He says many Arabs can relate on a visceral level to the brutality Freedom Riders and other civil rights activists faced.

Freedom Rider Joan Mulholland after being arrested at age 19 for riding with black passengers on an interstate bus.

"There's a direct connection," Lafayette says. "They've gotten a chance to see the film footage and a chance to read the history of the movement in the U.S. and the success we've experienced."

One of those Palestinian leaders inspired by Lafayette is Sami Awad, executive director of the Holy Land Trust, a Palestinian nonprofit group that works to develop nonviolent approaches to ending what it calls the Israeli occupation.

Awad says he was inspired by the civil rights movement as a teenager. His uncle, a nonviolent activist, constantly invoked the movement's leaders and tactics.

"I even remember reading children's comic books, with stories of MLK, even in Arabic, that my uncle would smuggle into Palestine with other materials on nonviolence because they were illegal under Israeli occupation," he says.

Awad says the contemporary footage of Arab protesters confronting Arab dictators reminds him of the old civil rights films he has watched.

"Seeing the people of Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen and Syria break the barrier of fear and be willing to stand in front of armies and tanks with open arms in nonviolence brings back immediate memories of what happened in the South during the '60s," he says.

'We were past fear'

Some of the Freedom Riders who broke through their own barriers of fear 50 years ago still sound amazed at their actions, the PBS documentary reveals.

Most didn't have any support except for one another. Their parents didn't approve. Nor did leading civil rights leaders. Federal and state officials warned them they couldn't protect them.

They stepped on the bus anyway for perhaps the same reason some Arab youths joined the crowds in their country -- they didn't want to miss history.

"It was like a wave or a wind that you didn't know where it was coming from or where it was going, but you knew you were supposed to be there," said Pauline Knight-Ofosu, a Freedom Rider, in the PBS documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker Stanley Nelson.

Courage, though, can evaporate once someone gets hit with a club upside the head. But that didn't happen to most of the estimated 400 students who eventually joined the Freedom Rides, the documentary says.

Though mobs burned a bus and beat riders, and state officials sentenced some to state prison, the Freedom Riders kept coming.

Joan Mulholland says there's a link between her Freedom Rider activism and Arab protests.

Some admitted, though, that there were moments when they doubted their decision.

Ivor "Jerry" Moore recalled walking into an Alabama bus station and locking eyes with a reporter as they both realized a mob was coming for Moore.

"Our eyes met and when he looked away, my very guts shook," Moore said in the film. "He must have thought we were doomed."

The mob attacked Moore and might have killed him if a photographer hadn't distracted them by taking their picture.

Mulholland, who traveled from her hometown in Arlington, Virginia, for the Freedom Rides, said their determination eventually eclipsed their fear.

"We were past fear. If we were going to die, we were going to die, but we can't stop," she said in the documentary.

What happened to the Freedom Riders afterward?

Their rides, first organized by James Farmer and a civil rights group called CORE, made international headlines. They attracted the support of King and embarrassed the Kennedy administration into acting.

At one point in the documentary, the camera captures then-Attorney General Robert Kennedy at a press conference where he defensively said that life for blacks was getting better.

There is no reason in "the foreseeable future that a Negro couldn't be president of the United States," he said.

Three months after Kennedy made that statement, while hundreds of Freedom Riders were in jail, Barack Obama was born.

So much of what has happened in Egypt is like deja vu.
--Joan Mulholland, Freedom Rider

The Freedom Riders eventually forced the federal government to issue a sweeping desegregation order for bus and rail stations. Five months after they began, they were victorious.

"It was the first unambiguous victory for the civil rights movement," says Raymond Arsenault, author of the book "Freedom Riders," on which the PBS series is based.

"They showed you could go into Alabama and Mississippi and win. They were willing to die to make a point."

Arsenault says he sees the same spirit in the Egyptian protesters.

"All they had was their courage and commitment. They didn't have weapons, huge amounts of funding or international support. It was the same with the Freedom Riders."

He says many Freedom Riders went on to become "shock troops" for other civil rights campaigns.

A half-century later, the wave they joined is still surging, he says.

"They had no reason to believe they could pull it off," Arsenault says. "Their elders in the movement were telling them that they were crazy and were going to set the movement back. But they weren't waiting for the courts or their leaders. They wanted freedom now, not freedom later."

CNN

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Prosecutor seeks Gaddafi arrest over protest deaths (Reuters)

THE HAGUE (Reuters) – An international prosecutor on Monday sought an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi accusing him of committing crimes against humanity by killing protesters during an uprising against his 41-year rule.

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, International Criminal Court prosecutor, also asked judges, who now need to see if there is enough evidence to issue warrants, for the arrest of Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam and his spy chief Abdullah al-Senussi.

Moreno-Ocampo signaled his action earlier this month when he said he would seek three arrests for the "pre-determined" killing of protesters in Libya after the U.N. Security Council referred the violence to the Hague-based court in February.

"The office gathered direct evidence about orders issued by Muammar Gaddafi himself, direct evidence of Saif al-Islam organizing the recruitment of mercenaries and direct evidence of the participation of al-Senussi in the attacks against demonstrators," Moreno-Ocampo said at the ICC on Monday.

Thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the North African oil-producing desert nation, the bloodiest of the revolts which have convulsed the Middle East in what has been called the "Arab Spring."

The prosecutor moved with unprecedented speed in his investigation into the early violence in the uprising against Gaddafi's rule, with the request for arrest warrants coming just 2-1/2 months after the Security Council referral.

He added the office of the prosecutor also documented how the three held meetings "to plan the operations" and Gaddafi used his "absolute authority to commit crimes in Libya."

Libyan officials have already denounced the ICC prosecutor's action, saying the court is a creation of the West for prosecuting African leaders.

"IMPATIENTLY WAITING"

Rebels welcomed the prosecutor's move.

"We have been impatiently waiting for such a decision. It is an important decision," said Belkacem, a rebel spokesman in the besieged city of Misrata. "Gaddafi hasn't stopped killing our brothers in all areas across Libya."

Libyan officials deny killing civilians, saying instead they were forced to take action against criminal armed gangs and al Qaeda militants. They say a NATO bombing campaign is an act of colonial aggression aimed at grabbing Libya's oil.

Moreno-Ocampo said the swiftness of his investigation stems from global consensus that the crimes committed in Libya had to be investigated, although judges will now need to decide whether there is sufficient evidence to proceed with the warrants.

He said the office of the prosecutor documented how the three named held meetings "to plan the operations" and Gaddafi used his "absolute authority to commit crimes in Libya."

The ICC has no police force and relies on member states to enforce arrests. Despite NATO bombing operations intended to protect civilians, Libya has been plunged into civil war, seriously complicating efforts to arrest ICC suspects.

Moreno-Ocampo had said his request for warrants would be based on "strong evidence," which would include photographs, video footage and the testimony of government insiders.

Libya is not an ICC member state and is therefore not obliged to arrest the court's suspects.

"The request for these warrants is a reminder to all in Gaddafi's regime that crimes will not go unpunished and the reach of international justice will be long," British Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

Three months after a revolt began against Gaddafi's four-decade rule, fighting between rebels and government forces on several fronts has come to a near-standstill and Gaddafi is refusing to bow to efforts to force him from power.

EXILE FOR GADDAFI

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, asked about the possibility of arranging exile for Gaddafi, said: "If we talk about it now, we'll burn this possibility."

"We're obviously working with the United Nations on finding exactly this way out," he told Canale 5 television on Monday.

"A political way out that would remove the dictator and his family from the scene and allow the immediate creation of a government of national reconciliation," he said.

NATO warplanes, acting under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians, have stopped government troops advancing on rebel strongholds but the collapse of Gaddafi's rule, which many Western governments seek, has not materialized.

After a series of air strikes on his Bab al-Aziziyah compound in Tripoli, Gaddafi taunted the Western military alliance, saying in an audio recording that he was in a place where NATO could not reach him.

Responding to remarks at the weekend by a senior British commander that NATO needed to broaden its range of targets, a spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron said on Monday: "Targets are a matter for NATO."

The spokesman said: "We are not seeking to broaden or change the, or seek a new, U.N. resolution."

NATO said it conducted 147 air sorties on Saturday, 48 of them strike sorties that aim to identify and hit targets but do not always deploy munitions. Targets included surface-to-air missile launchers, ammunition stores and artillery pieces.

The uncertain direction of the Libyan conflict poses a dilemma for Western governments. They face voters who are impatient for quick results and want to avoid a repeat of the long-drawn-out fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.

An inconclusive outcome is likely to limit Libyan oil exports, keeping world prices high, and drive thousands more migrants to risk death crossing the Mediterranean to Europe.

Previous NATO bombing campaigns, especially in Kosovo in the late 1990s, showed that more aggressive targeting carries with it the risk of civilian casualties.

In Tripoli -- where foreign reporters operate under restrictions on their movement -- the outward signs were that Gaddafi's administration was holding firm.

Security officials in North Africa and elsewhere warn al Qaeda's north African branch could exploit the chaos of a long conflict in Libya to acquire weapons and recruit followers.

(Reporting by Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Tarek Amara and Sylvia Westall in Tunisia, Mariam Karouny in Beirut and Silvia Aloisi in Rome, Aaron Gray-Block in The Hague, Matt Falloon and Adrian Croft in London, James Mackenzie in Rome, David Brunnstrom; Writing by Peter Millership; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Bahrain court adjourns trial of protest activists (AP)

MANAMA, Bahrain – Bahrain's special security court on Monday adjourned until next week the trial of 21 opposition leaders and political activists, mostly Shiites, accused of plotting against the state.

The suspects — 14 in custody and the others charged in absentia — are accused of attempting to overthrow the 200-year-old Sunni dynasty and of having links to "a terrorist organization abroad." That is an apparent reference to Iranian-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, which Bahrain's rulers have claimed was involved in the strategic island kingdom's Shiite-led protests earlier this year.

Authorities are seeking to prosecute opposition leaders and others after months of clashes and protests in Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

The 21 accused are being tried in a special security court set up under martial law. Last month, the court sentenced four people to death for killing two policemen during the unrest.

Among those on trial are Hassan Mushaima, the leader of Al Haq movement. He was among the first opposition leaders arrested after emergency rule was declared in March to quell weeks of anti-government protests.

Mushaima returned from self-imposed exile in late February and immediately joined in street protests that were inspired by revolts against autocratic leaders in Tunisia and Egypt. He and fellow Haq member Abdul Jalil al-Singace were among 25 Shiite activists on trial last year on charges of trying to overthrow the nation's Sunni rulers.

Also on trial are Abdulhadi al-Khawaja, the country's most prominent human rights activist; Ibrahim Sharif, a key Sunni leader in the kingdom's Shiite-led opposition; and Ali Abdul Emam, a blogger and founder of a popular discussion forum Bahrain-On-Line.

The defendants have entered not guilty pleas. The trial resumes Sunday.

The Bahrain News Agency also said on Monday the court has agreed to end solitary confinement for opposition leaders detained following the military crackdown in March.

Bahrain's majority Shiites, who have long demanded a greater political voice and rights, dominated the protests that began in February. They comprise about 70 percent of Bahrain's population, but are excluded from top government and security posts.

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Moroccan police disperse opposition protest (Reuters)

RABAT (Reuters) – Moroccan security services used truncheons to disperse a pro-democracy protest on the southern outskirts of the capital Rabat on Sunday, injuring several people, a Reuters reporter at the scene said.

Dozens of protesters belonging to the February 20 anti-government movement were attempting to hold a protest picnic in front of what they allege is a secret government detention center where Islamists are held.

Anti-riot police chased the protesters before the rally could begin, beating some with long rubber truncheons. A Reuters reporter said one man had been hit on the nose and a woman was hit in the stomach. There was no word on arrests.

"This is the latest in a series of violent interventions by the security forces which shows that the authorities no longer tolerate the group's peaceful protest," said Nizar Benmate of the February 20 movement.

The government's chief spokesman, Khalid Naciri, was quoted as saying by the private Atlantic radio station that the protest was broken up because it had been banned.

He also denied there was a secret detention facility in the vicinity, saying the building singled out by the protesters was a local government administrative office.

Moroccan officials deny allegations from opposition groups and some human rights campaigners that they run secret detention centers and say all detainees are treated in strict accordance with the law.

The authorities had announced on Saturday that the protest on the outskirts of Rabat was banned. Another protest set for Sunday evening in Morocco's commercial capital, Casablanca, has also been banned.

(Reporting by Souhail Karam; Writing by Matthew Bigg and Christian Lowe; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Heavy gunfire heard in Syrian protest town (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Heavy gunfire was heard in the Syrian border town of Tel Kelakh on Sunday, residents said, and authorities in neighboring Lebanon tightened security after hundreds fled from Syrian troops deployed to crush protests.

The town, just a few miles (km) from Lebanon's northern border, is the latest focus of an intensified crackdown by Syrian troops and tanks, sent to quell demonstrations against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad.

Hundreds fled across the frontier on Saturday, when activists said three Tel Kelakh residents were killed in shooting. A Lebanese security official said on Sunday border patrols had increased "to prevent illegal entry."

Assad has tried a mixture of reform and repression to stem protests against his autocratic 11-year rule, which broke out two months ago in the southern city of Deraa, inspired by uprisings across the Arab world.

The United States and European Union have condemned Assad's crackdown, in which rights groups say about 700 people have been killed by security forces, and imposed targeted sanctions on Syrian officials.

Assad lifted a 48-year state of emergency but also sent the army into the protest centers. With neither side emerging with a clear victory after more than eight weeks of unrest, the government promised on Friday to launch talks.

"The authorities say they want national dialogue and they conduct it with tanks," a woman who fled the porous border to the Lebanese side told Al Jazeera television.

Officials say the army has been deployed to counter "armed terrorist groups" backed by Islamists and outside powers who are responsible for most of the violence, during which 120 soldiers and police have been killed.

Troops backed by armor have now deployed in or around towns and villages across the southern Hauran plain, the central province of Homs and areas in the coast. The security grip has been also tightened in Damascus and its suburbs.

In a rare incident on Syria's frontline with Israel, state television said Israeli forces killed four Syrians taking part in an anti-Israel rally on the Syrian side of the occupied Golan Heights frontier on Sunday.

Israeli media reports said the incident occurred after dozens of Palestinian refugees infiltrated the Israeli-occupied side of the frontier from Syria during a demonstration to mark what Arabs call the "Nakba," or catastrophe, of Israel's founding in 1948.

Since coming to power on his father's death in 2000, Assad has reinforced Syria's alliance with Iran and continued to back militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah, while holding indirect peace talks with Israel and maintaining quiet on the Golan Heights.

TANK SHELLS

Tel Kelakh resident Mohammad al-Dandashi said in a telephone call he had counted the sound of 85 tank shells fired since Saturday. "They seem to be random and not targeting a particular neighborhood," he said as the sound of heavy gunfire could be heard in the background.

"They are punishing us for demonstrating against the regime," he said, adding that nearly 20 soldiers could be seen on a hospital roof.

A woman from Tel Kelakh died of her wounds on Sunday, bringing the death toll from the violence there to four in the last two days.

Hundreds, mainly women and children, had fled into Lebanon, including at least seven who were wounded and transferred to hospital.

Across the country, diplomats and activists say 7,000 people have been arrested since the protests broke out. Authorities say thousands have also surrendered and been released under an amnesty which expired on Sunday.

Opposition leader Riad Seif, who was arrested earlier this month, was released on Sunday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, adding that thousands of political prisoners remained in jail.

In their first statement since the protests erupted, 12 Kurdish parties said authorities needed to stop using violence against peaceful protesters.

Syria's main Kurdish parties said the authorities must take concrete steps to end repression and transform Syria into a democracy to solve the nation's political crisis, joining mainstream opposition demands.

"Syria is witnessing an awakening. The mass national movement for democratic change is calling for fundamental reform to end repression and single party rule," the statement said.

(Editing by Dominic Evans and Mark Trevelyan)

Yahoo! News

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Mob attacks Christian protest in Egypt

CAIRO (AP) — An angry mob attacked a group of mainly Christian protesters demanding drastic measures to heal religious tension amid a spike in violence, leaving 65 people injured, officials said Sunday.

A man stands in front of a church set on fire during clashes between Muslims and Christians May 8 in the Imbaba neighborhood of Cairo.

The Christian protesters have been holding their sit-in outside the state television building in Cairo for nearly a week following deadly Christian-Muslim clashes that left a church burned and 15 people dead.

More than 100 people rushed into the sit-in area, lobbing rocks and fire bombs from an overpass and charging toward the few hundred protesters sleeping in the area. Vehicles were set on fire and fires burned in the middle of the street.

Police and army troops fired in the air to disperse the crowd, and a tree was set on fire under the overpass.

The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the attackers had returned to avenge an earlier scuffle with the protesters who prevented a motorist from going through the area. A fight ensued, and the motorists fired blank rounds. The protesters chased the motorist and beat him badly.

Marc Mino, a protest organizer, told state TV the motorists had provoked the fight after refusing to be searched before entering the protest area, then provoking the protesters.

Medics said 65 were injured in Sunday's melee, two in critical condition. The security official said nearly 50 of the riot instigators were arrested.

A witness, Alfred Raouf, said armored vehicles later blocked traffic and pedestrians from going down from the bridge toward the protest area. The number of protesters at the sit-in shrunk, but those remaining insisted the strike would continue as their area was cordoned off by the security, Raouf said.

Religious clashes and a rising wave of crime have proved to be a major challenge for Egypt's military rulers in the days following the 18-day uprising that led to the Feb. 11 ouster of ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

Following the religious violence, the military vowed to respond firmly to instigators of violence and promised to respond to a number of the Christian demands, including reopening nearly 50 churches. But no trial date has been set for those responsible for the church burning or the violence last week.

Just hours before the Cairo violence, several suspected Islamic extremists bombed the tomb of a Muslim saint in the northern Sinai town of Sheik Zweid, said a security official, also declining to be identified because he wasn't authorized to release the information. The official said the eight or nine attackers fled the area. Muslim radicals have blown up at least five other Muslim shrines, because they believe the veneration of saints as a violation of Islam.

Meanwhile, doctors said Egypt's ex-first lady Suzanne Mubarak was in stable condition after treatment for a "panic attack" and has effectively been put under arrest in the hospital in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh pending further investigation of corruption allegations, officials said Saturday.

Suzanne Mubarak fainted and suffered chest pains following a three-hour interrogation Friday which ended with a decision to detain her for 15 days as prosecutors looked at the sources of her wealth. She has been accused of taking advantage of his position for personal gain.

Health Minister Ashraf Hatem said the 70-year old Suzanne Mubarak was in stable condition Saturday after a 24-hour monitoring period in the intensive care unit of the hospital in the Red Sea town of Sharm el-Sheikh. She is in the custody of the police, Hatem said, according to Egypt's state news agency MENA.

Later, a second team recommended she remain under observation for an additional 48 hours, according to the hospital's director, Dr. Mohammed Fatahallah. He said the team determined that Mrs. Mubarak still has high blood pressure and suffers from chest pains, and an angioplasty may be necessary. He was speaking to the Associated Press.

The continuing treatment makes it unlikely she will be transferred quickly to a Cairo women's prison facility, where she had been expected to be moved.

Earlier, a hospital official had told the Associated Press that Mrs. Mubarak on Friday "suffered from a sudden panic attack after hearing that she will be sent to prison." The hospital official spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not allowed to release the information before further tests were conducted.

Suzanne Mubarak's 83-year-old husband also is being treated in the Sharm el-Sheikh hospital, for a heart condition.

The former president had been questioned several times about allegations that he illegally amassed vast wealth, but Mrs. Mubarak was interrogated on Thursday for the first time on corruption charges.

The Mubaraks and other members of the former regime have been the subject of legal efforts to bring them to trial since the ex-president was forced to resign Feb. 11.

The process has been complicated by slow procedures and — in the Mubaraks' case — by health issues. Many in the protest movement have been critical of the current military rulers for being slow in pursuing corrupt officials, although many former regime members have been jailed.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

USATODAY.com

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Yemen troops fire on protest: Witness

The teachers say the government hasn't followed through with higher wagesMany were injured, witnesses said, and the death toll is expected to riseThe GCC-brokered agreement that calls for Saleh's departure is still in the works

(CNN) -- Security personnel in the Yemeni city of Taiz opened fire on a demonstration Sunday by thousands of teachers and killed two of the educators, witnesses and others said.

At least 50 people were injured, including 11 by gunfire, according to witnesses and members of field medical teams. The death toll is expected to rise because three people are in critical condition.

Thousands of teachers staged the march to call for the implementation of a wage increase and the departure from office of Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh.

A senior security official in Taiz who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media wouldn't confirm casualties or claims that security forces shot anyone.

But he said that protesters were carrying weapons. That assertion was staunchly disputed by the witnesses.

Saleh's impoverished and unstable nation has been wracked by anti-government protests and clashes between demonstrators and security forces for many weeks.

"We called for the march yesterday against this oppressive regime that will not give us our rights," Fuad Dahabah, head of the Teachers Syndicate in Yemen. "They fired on us as we were marching peacefully."

Dahabah, who also confirmed the death of the two teachers, said the syndicate announced in April that they joined the Yemeni protests because of oppression and because they have not yet been paid higher wages agreed upon in a signed deal with the government last year.

"Teachers were marching demanding their rights and salaries," said Abdul Karim Ali, one of the marchers.

Despite the firing of tear gas and bullets, the march continued, witnesses said.

The senior security official in Taiz told CNN that marchers were armed, attacked government forces, threatened locals, forced shop owners to close their businesses and closed main roads.

"We accept them expressing their opinion, but when they attack others we must step in," the official said. "Security forces would never use force; they would only do so if lives of other civilians were in danger."

Abdul Karim Ali rejected claims that protesters were armed saying this is the government's usual excuse to kill people.

"If we were armed why didn't any security forces get shot or killed. We protest peacefully and that is the best way to get our rights," Ali said.

The youth revolution committee in Yemen denounced the attack on teachers and demanded the international community intervene.

"The world is watching as Saleh continues to freely kill innocent unarmed protesters. These crimes will not be forgotten," said Riadh Abdullah, a leader in the youth committee, now in Sanaa.

A deal that would lead to Saleh's stepping down, brokered by the Gulf Arab nations, has been in the works.

The agreement stipulates that Saleh transfer power and leave office within 30 days of signing the deal.

It also provides immunity for him and those who served in his regime and calls for a unity government to be formed within seven days.

Saleh, who is unpopular in many quarters across Yemen, has been a U.S. ally in the fight against militants -- most prominently the Yemen wing of the al Qaeda terror network. Called al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the militant network has a strong presence in the country.

This week, a U.S. drone strike attempted but failed to take out Anwar al-Awlaki, the U.S.-born radical cleric based in Yemen tied to the AQAP.

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Witness: Syrian villagers in army protest

NEW: 4 women are killed in a nearby village, witnesses say26 people were killed Friday, a human rights group saysMass arrests are reported in BaniasIn Homs, funeral processions turn into anti-regime protests

(CNN) -- Syrian tanks and troops stormed a village near the Mediterranean city of Banias on Saturday, killing at least four women and injuring several others, witnesses said

Residents of Marquab formed a human chain to thwart the military but soldiers raided homes and opened fire, said witnesses who were not identified for security reasons.

A group of frightened and angry women fled to a mosque in the central square and demanded the release of family members who had been arbitrarily arrested, witnesses told CNN. The security forces opened fire.

Witnesses said the army then rolled into Banias. They reported heavy gunfire and severe damage to the city.

A teacher told CNN that "10,000 of us marched through the city of Banias yesterday carrying olive branches, and today our city is under siege."

A lawyer who was in the Marquab square reported men in army uniforms dispersed throughout the city and plainclothes snipers on rooftops. He asked why the international community was turning its back on his people.

"We have a crime in Syria called protests. The punishment is death," he said.

Communications were cut off and information was limited but Ammar Qurabi, chairman of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria, told CNN that authorities had made mass arrests of protesters in the Banias area.

The state-run Syrian news agency said security forces were continuing pursuit of "members of the terrorist groups" in Banias as well as the southern city of Daraa, the hub of Syria's six-week uprising.

''A number of wanted terrorist members were arrested and weapons and ammunition used by these groups in attacks against the army and citizens and in terrorizing people were seized," SANA reported.

A wave of nationwide protests against President Bashar al-Assad on Friday left at least 26 activists and 10 security officers dead.

The National Organization for Human Rights said it "holds the Syrian authorities fully responsible for the crimes committed against the defenseless Syrian people." The group urged the international community to apply pressure on al-Assad to stop "using the method of brutal repression against its citizens."

Seven of the 26 protesters were buried Saturday in the restive city of Homs, where thousands chanted anti-regime slogans in funeral processions.

Security forces and army units were present along Hom's main thoroughfares and city gates but did not interfere in the funeral procession, said a witness who did not want to be identified for security reasons. After the funerals, Homs was deserted with shops shuttered and people too frightened to leave their homes.

CNN has not been granted access into Syria and is unable to independently verify witness accounts.

But CNN has spoken with witnesses, some of whom have posted homemade videos and reported what they see via social networking sites. Human rights organizations have also compiled reports.

Demonstrations have broken out across provinces and cities in Syria over the past six weeks, with security forces relying heavily on the army and the regime's guard to disperse demonstrations.

Amnesty International estimates 500 people have been killed in the clashes. In the past seven days alone, Qurabi said 3,000 people have been arrested.

So many people were arrested that the army and security forces converted a central stadium in the city of Daraa into a makeshift prison, he said. Daraa has borne the brunt of the Syrian government's crackdown and human rights groups have called on al-Assad to lift a siege there.

The demonstrations and government crackdown have garnered widespread international attention from many nations, the European Union and the United Nations.

On Friday, the White House press secretary condemned the Syrian government's use of violence and mass arrests, and saluted "the courage of Syrian protesters for insisting on their right to express themselves, and we regret the loss of life on all sides."

In a statement Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she was troubled by the Syrian government's use of force and intimidation against its people.

"I am particularly troubled by ongoing reports of deaths of citizens at the hands of the Syrian government, including accounts (Friday) that at least 30 people were killed when Syrian security forces again opened fire on peaceful protesters throughout the country," Clinton said.

CNN's Salma Abdelaziz and Rima Maktabi contributed to this report.

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Indonesians protest working conditions

Labourers carry a fake coffin as they march towards the presidential palace during the May 1 rally in Jakarta.Protesters are demanding higher minimum wages and an end to outsourcingSome are pushing toward the presidential palace and setting tires on fireThousands of workers protest annually on May 1

Jakarta, Indonesia (CNN) -- Workers clogged the streets of the Indonesian capital on Sunday, chanting, "wages, land and jobs," and demanding the resignations of the nation's president and the vice president.

Protesters clashed with police during the May Day rallies in Jakarta as they pushed their way toward the presidential palace. When workers reached the front of the heavily-guarded palace, they burned tires.

At least 66 labor groups joined the protests, according to Syawal Harahap, an Indonesian metalworkers' union official.

Organizers had said earlier that about 50,000 workers would attend, though it was unclear how many protesters turned out.

The workers demanded higher minimum wages, an end to outsourcing by companies, union rights and the implementation of an already-legislated social security system for all Indonesians.

Thousands of workers hold protests every year on May 1 and often scuffle with the security personnel near the presidential palace.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono was not in the palace when protesters reached its entrance. He was scheduled to visit two factories just outside of Jakarta.

Protesters called for the resignations of Yudhoyono and Vice President Boediono.

Indonesia has no national minimum wage. Regional governments set the minimum wage in their own provinces or districts.

About 7,000 police officers were deployed for Sunday's rallies, Jakarta police said.

CNN Top Stories

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Moroccans protest draft constitution

In a peaceful demonstration Sunday in Casablanca, thousands called for an overhaul of Morocco's governance.Widespread corruption must be fixed first, groups sayProtesters also want end to political detentions

Casablanca, Morocco (CNN) -- Thousands of Moroccans held a peaceful demonstration nationwide Sunday, calling for a radical overhaul of the country's governance before a new constitution is unveiled in June by King Mohammed VI.

The march was organized by the Facebook youth movement Fevrier 20. The group said its members would not accept the present draft constitution because it was written by the king's own people. It denounced his decision to refer the new constitution to a committee he appointed.

King Mohammed announced last month he would give up some of his wide-scale powers and make the judiciary independent -- the latter a particularly hot subject in Morocco.

Protesters in Casablanca demanded much more and openly rejected the moves.

"We are not believing these speeches anymore. We are tired of this," said medical student Meryum, 17, who did not want to give her full name. "We are telling those who defend these speeches that we are sick of them. We only believe in real people today, like this, in taking part in real politics in Morocco. We are not going to stop until they hear us and get back our lost rights."

Many believe that bribery in Morocco needs to be tackled before any reforms can actually take place. The central theme of the march -- corruption -- was reiterated by most groups at the rally.

Morocco was recently ranked the 89th most corrupt country in the world by Transparency International.

Corruption accounts for a loss of about 2% of Morocco's GDP, officials have said. More important, it deters vital foreign direct investment from flowing into Morocco, they say.

Calls for an end to political detention and questions about the king's personal business activities were also on protesters' banners. There was visible resentment at the royal family's business operations, controlled by its holding company SNI. There were also groups protesting the prices of basic household items.

"I came here today because we are Moroccans and we want a democratic state ... we are not in a democratic state and we want democracy, liberty and dignity," said engineering student Tehani, 20, who did not want to give her full name and is a member of Fevrier 20. "We want a new constitution but a constitution who comes from 'la masse populaire,' not from one person," she told CNN at the rally in Casablanca. "We want a committee which represents all the Moroccans, we want a committee of a constitution which we choose."

"This manifestations of Morocco is a real message to the king that people really need real change in this country," added a young male student. He said he wished to remain anonymous when plainclothes policemen moved closer as demonstrators photographed his being interviewed by CNN.

According to local media, most large towns in Morocco had peaceful protests, with Casablanca's the biggest. Groups included unions, women, the unemployed, students, victims of human rights violations and Islamists.

CNN

This post was made using the Auto Blogging Software from WebMagnates.org This line will not appear when posts are made after activating the software to full version.

Quran-burning pastor jailed for refusing to pay $1 bond to protest at mosque

In Dearborn, Mich., anti-Islam Pastor Terry Jones and an assistant were ordered to jail tonight after they refused to pay a $1 peace bond to hold a rally at the largest mosque in North America, the Detroit Free Press reports.

After a two-day trial-like hearing, a jury sided with prosecutors and agreed that Jones would likely "breach the peace" with his planned rally outside the Islamic Center of America. Authorities argued that a riot could erupt.

Posecutors had estimated the cost of additional security at about $46,000. But the judge set the so-called peace bond at just $1.

Jones, 59, head a small, fundamentalist Christian congregation in Gainesville, Fla. He has gained notoriety for burning the Muslim holy book last month, leading to deadly riots in Afghanistan, including the killing of U.N. workers.

During the hearing, he said that he and and another pastor intended to protest jihad and Sharia law and did not plan to burn Qurans or images of the prophet Mohammed.

"We are not criminals," said Jones, dressed in faded blue jeans, a black Harley Davison T-shirt and worn motorcycle jacket. "All we want to do is exercise our First Amendment rights."

Counter-demonstrators have been holding their own rally today near the courthouse.

The Free Press, a sister paper to USA TODAY, is live blogging events.

See our earlier post today about Jones accidentally firing his .40-caliber handgun last night.

See photos of: QuranTags:QuranTerry JonesIslamic Center of America .div-wrapper

View the Original article