Egypt police clash with youths; over 1,000 hurt (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – Police in Cairo fired tear gas on Wednesday at hundreds of stone-throwing Egyptian youths after a night of clashes that injured more than 1,000 people, the worst violence in the capital in several weeks.

Nearly five months since a popular uprising toppled long-serving authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's military rulers are struggling to keep order while a restless public is still impatient for reform.

The latest clashes began after families of people killed in the uprising that ousted Mubarak held an event in a Cairo suburb late on Tuesday in their honor.

Other bereaved relatives arrived to complain that names of their own dead were not mentioned at the ceremony. Fighting broke and moved toward the capital's central Tahrir Square and the Interior Ministry, according to officials.

The Health Ministry said 1,036 people were injured, among them at least 40 policemen.

The ruling military council said in a statement on its Facebook page that the latest events "had no justification other than to shake Egypt's safety and security in an organised plan that exploits the blood of the revolution's martyrs and to sow division between the people and the security apparatus."

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf told state TV he was monitoring developments and awaiting a full report on the clashes.

A security source quoted by the state news agency MENA said 40 people were arrested, including one U.S. and one British citizen, and were being questioned by military prosecutors.

Some said those involved were bent on battling police rather than protesting. To others, the violence seemed motivated by politics.

"The people are angry that the court cases against top officials keep getting delayed," said Ahmed Abdel Hamid, 26, a bakery employee who was at the scene overnight, referring to senior political figures from the discredited Mubarak era.

By early afternoon, eight ambulances were in Tahrir, epicenter of the revolt that toppled Mubarak on February 11, and the police had left the square. Dozens of adolescent boys, shirts tied around their heads, blocked traffic from entering Tahrir, using stones and scrap metal.

Some drove mopeds in circles around the square making skids and angering bystanders. "Thugs, thugs... The square is controlled by thugs," an old man chanted.

"I am here today because I heard about the violent treatment by the police of the protesters last night," said Magdy Ibrahim, 28, an accountant at Egypt's Banque du Caire.

TREATING WOUNDED

The clashes unnerved Egypt's financial market, with equity traders blaming the violence for a 2 percent fall in the benchmark EGX30 index, its biggest drop since June 2.

First-aid workers treated people mostly for inhaling tear gas in overnight violence. A Reuters correspondent saw several people with minor wounds, including some with head cuts.

Mohsen Mourad, the deputy interior minister for Cairo, said the security forces did not enter Tahrir overnight and dealt only with 150-200 people who tried to break into the Interior Ministry and threw stones, damaging cars and police vehicles.

The Muslim Brotherhood's political party warned Egyptians that remnants of Mubarak's rule could exploit violence to their ends. Presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei called on the ruling military council to quickly clarify the facts surrounding the violence and to take measures to halt it.

U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns, visiting Cairo, said he hoped an investigation into the clashes would be "fair and thorough."

Young men lit car tyres in the street near the ministry on Wednesday, sending black plumes of smoke into the air.

"There is lack of information about what happened and the details are not clear. But the certain thing is that Egyptians are in a state of tension and the reason behind this is that officials are taking time to put Mubarak and officials on trial," said political analyst Hassan Nafaa.

Sporadic clashes, some of them between Muslims and the Christian minority, have posed a challenge to a government trying to restore order after many police deserted the streets during the uprising against Mubarak. In early May, 12 people were killed and 52 wounded in sectarian clashes and the burning of a church in Cairo's Imbaba neighborhood.

A hospital in central Cairo's Munira neighborhood received two civilians and 41 policemen with wounds, bruises and tear gas inhalation, MENA said. All were discharged except one civilian with a bullet wound and a policeman with concussion, it said.

Former interior minister Habib al-Adli has been sentenced to jail for corruption but he and other officials are still being tried on charges related to killing protesters. Police vehicles were stoned by protesters at Sunday's hearing.

The former president, now hospitalized, has also been charged with the killing of protesters and could face the death penalty. Mubarak's trial starts on August 3.

(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed and Sherine El Madany; Writing by Edmund Blair and Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Peter Graff)

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Egypt police clash with youths; over 1,000 hurt (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) - – Police in Cairo fired tear gas on Wednesday at hundreds of stone-throwing Egyptian youths after a night of clashes that injured more than 1,000 people, the worst violence in the capital in several weeks.

Nearly five months since a popular uprising toppled long-serving authoritarian leader Hosni Mubarak, Egypt's military rulers are struggling to keep order while a restless public is still impatient for reform.

The latest clashes began after families of people killed in the uprising that ousted Mubarak held an event in a Cairo suburb late on Tuesday in their honor.

Other bereaved relatives arrived to complain that names of their own dead were not mentioned at the ceremony. Fighting broke out that gravitated to the capital's central Tahrir Square and the Interior Ministry, according to officials.

The Health Ministry said 1,036 people were injured, among them at least 40 policemen.

The ruling military council said in a statement on its Facebook page that the latest events "had no justification other than to shake Egypt's safety and security in an organised plan that exploits the blood of the revolution's martyrs and to sow division between the people and the security apparatus."

Prime Minister Essam Sharaf told state TV he was monitoring developments and awaiting a full report on the clashes.

A security source quoted by the state news agency MENA said 40 people were arrested, including one U.S. and one British citizen, and were being questioned by military prosecutors.

Early in the morning young men, many stripped to the waist, were still hurling stones at police near the ministry as commuters went to work.

Some ordinary Egyptians said those involved were bent on battling police rather than protesting. To others, the violence seemed motivated by politics.

"The people are angry that the court cases against top officials keep getting delayed," said Ahmed Abdel Hamid, 26, a bakery employee who was at the scene overnight, referring to senior political figures from the discredited Mubarak era.

By early afternoon, eight ambulances were in Tahrir, epicenter of the revolt that toppled Mubarak on February 11, and the police had left the square. Dozens of adolescent boys, shirts tied around their heads, blocked traffic from entering Tahrir, using stones and scrap metal.

Some drove mopeds in circles around the square making skids and angering bystanders. "Thugs, thugs... The square is controlled by thugs," an old man chanted.

The clashes unnerved Egypt's financial market, with equity traders blaming the violence for a 2 percent fall in the benchmark EGX30 index, its biggest drop since June 2.

First-aid workers treated people mostly for inhaling tear gas during the overnight violence. A Reuters correspondent saw several people with minor wounds, including some with cuts on their heads.

Some people still gathered in Tahrir on Wednesday said they were angered by the way the police handled the crowd overnight.

"I am here today because I heard about the violent treatment by the police of the protesters last night," said Magdy Ibrahim, 28, an accountant at Egypt's Banque du Caire.

Mohsen Mourad, the deputy interior minister for Cairo, said the security forces did not enter Tahrir overnight and dealt only with 150-200 people who tried to break into the Interior Ministry and threw stones, damaging cars and police vehicles.

SECTARIAN CLASHES

Young men lit car tyres in the street near the ministry on Wednesday, sending black plumes of smoke into the air.

Sporadic clashes, some of them between Muslims and the Christian minority, have posed a challenge to a government trying to restore order after many police deserted the streets during the uprising against Mubarak. In early May, 12 people were killed and 52 wounded in sectarian clashes and the burning of a church in Cairo's Imbaba neighborhood.

U.S. Undersecretary of State William Burns, visiting Cairo, said Egyptians had achieved their political aspirations peacefully and he hoped the investigation into the latest clashes would be fair.

"It is extremely important ... to continue peacefully those kind of aspirations. We hope the investigation that will be announced will be a fair and thorough one," he told reporters.

A hospital in central Cairo's Munira neighborhood received two civilians and 41 policemen with wounds, bruises and tear gas inhalation, MENA said. All were discharged except one civilian with a bullet wound and a policeman with concussion, it said.

"There is lack of information about what happened and the details are not clear. But the certain thing is that Egyptians are in a state of tension and the reason behind this is that officials are taking time to put Mubarak and officials on trial," said political analyst Hassan Nafaa.

Former interior minister Habib al-Adli has been sentenced to jail for corruption but he and other officials are still being tried on charges related to killing protesters. Police vehicles were stoned by protesters at Sunday's hearing.

The former president, now hospitalized, has also been charged with the killing of protesters and could face the death penalty. Mubarak's trial starts on August 3.

(Additional reporting by Dina Zayed and Sherine El Madany; Writing by Edmund Blair and Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Peter Graff)

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Protesters clash with police in Cairo

Protesters throw stones at riot police during clashes in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, during the early hours of June 29.NEW: At least 26 officers are injured, the Ministry of Interior saysPolice use tear gas and rubber bullets to break up a protestDemonstrators were marking the deaths of protests in Egypt's revolutionTahrir Square was the heart of the revolt against then-President Hosni Mubarak

Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Police fired tear gas and rubber bullets early Wednesday to break up a demonstration by relatives of those killed in Egypt's revolution.

Clashes in Cairo's Tahrir Square between protesters and authorities have left at least 26 officers injured, the Ministry of Interior said.

In addition, at least five protesters were wounded in the tear gas and rubber bullet firing, and ambulances continued to transport protesters to medical attention. Some demonstrators were throwing rocks.

About 1,000 people turned out Tuesday night to commemorate the victims of the January-February uprising that drove longtime Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak from power. Police began using tear gas on demonstrators who would not leave the square.

Authorities were trying to block entrances to the area, as more people were being asked on the Internet to join the protesters.

At least five people were seen bleeding from their heads amid the clashes, which continued into Wednesday's early-morning hours.

The human rights group Amnesty Amnesty International has estimated at least 840 people were killed and more than 6,000 wounded during the three-week revolution. The military-led government that took over when Mubarak resigned has been prosecuting several former officials accused of ordering security forces to fire on protesters.

A police officer accused of killing 20 protesters during a January 28 demonstration has been sentenced to death, and ex-Interior Minister Habib El Adly faces capital charges in the deaths of demonstrators. El Adly and other officials in Mubarak's government have also been convicted on corruption charges, and the ailing Mubarak could be put on trial as well.

Egypt's military rulers have set parliamentary elections for September, and an administrative judge ordered the dissolution of local city councils that anti-Mubarak activists had denounced as corrupt. But sporadic protests have continued in the months since Mubarak's ouster as Egyptians have demanded speedier reforms and economic improvements.

Journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.

CNN

Police clash with protesters in Cairo (AFP)

CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) – Egyptian security forces fired tear gas at protesters in Cairo during violent clashes that left several injured, an AFP photographer said.

Tahrir Square, the epicentre of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak, was sealed off as police continued to fire tear gas into the early hours of Wednesday and a thick white cloud hung over the square.

Hundreds of protesters had gathered there and the numbers were still swelling, witnesses said.

One protester, speaking on a loudspeaker from the square's main mosque, urged others to stay put and called on police to withdraw and stop attacking them.

A reporter for Egyptian satellite channel al-Hayat had described the scene as "a street war between riot police and protesters."

According to the interior ministry, the trouble started when a group of people stormed a theatre where a memorial service was being held for those killed in the uprising that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February.

A security official said the group then headed to the state TV and were joined by hundreds who began to throw rocks before heading to Tahrir Square.

But activists said the families of the victims had been denied entry to the memorial in Cairo and were beaten by police.

"After being denied entry .... clashes erupted between protesters and security guards at the theatre. The police showed up and started beating the families of martyrs," pro-democracy activist Arabawy wrote on his blog.

Nearly 850 people were killed during the popular revolt that brought Mubarak's 30-year rule to an end.

Witnesses told AFP that buses unloaded young men armed with sticks and knives, accusing remnants of the old regime of stirring chaos.

When protests erupted on January 25 to demand Mubarak's ouster, the veteran leader's loyalists used hired thugs to beat back protesters.

Tuesday's clashes erupted just hours after a Cairo court ordered the dissolution of local councils, which were dominated by Mubarak's National Democratic Party.

"I don't think the timing of these clashes is a coincidence," said one witness to satellite channel ON TV.

"It came just after the dissolution of the local councils, a decision which I'm sure will make many people (from the old regime) very angry," the witness in Tahrir Square said.

Television footage showed protesters chanting: "the people demand the fall of the Field Marshal," referring to Hussein Tantawi, the head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took power when Mubarak stepped down.

Protesters who first took to the streets to demand the overthrow of Mubarak, began shifting their anger towards the ruling military council, accusing it of using Mubarak-era tactics to stifle dissent.

Activists have called for a massive rally on July 8 aimed at keeping up the pressure for democratic reforms.

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Lebanon sends troops after residents clash on Syria (Reuters)

BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanon's army clamped down on two sectarian districts of a northern city on Saturday after a rally in support of anti-government protestors in Syria triggered deadly clashes between rival gunmen.

Troops manned checkpoints and searched cars and houses in Tripoli's Bab al-Tebbaneh neighborhood, a Sunni Muslim stronghold, and Jabal Mohsen neighborhood, whose residents hail from the same Alawite sect as Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The communities' long-running feud erupted into violence on Friday after dozens of people took to Tripoli's Nour Square to show support for a three-month-old Syrian revolt that has drawn bloody crackdowns by Assad's government.

Security sources said between four and seven people, among them a boy and a soldier, were killed as street fighters attacked each other with assault rifles and grenades. At least 48 people were wounded.

In a statement, the army said it had "returned the situation to normal" and was enforcing a ban on residents carrying guns.

"The army leadership affirms (that) it will not be lax with those who toy with security and who were the reason behind both civilian and military casualties."

Assad's domestic challenges have been watched warily in neighboring Lebanon, where sectarian tensions have often been inflamed by Syrian involvement.

Damascus's clout was especially strong during the Syrian military presence in Lebanon between 1976 and 2005, which also helped the standing of the small local Alawite community.

Since last month, northern Lebanon has seen an influx of Syrians fleeing an assault by Assad's forces on the border village of Tel Kelakh.

(Writing by Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Dan Williams)

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North, south Sudan clash before split: south army (Reuters)

KHARTOUM/JUBA (Reuters) – South Sudan's army said it clashed with northern troops in the disputed Abyei border region on Wednesday, in the latest sign of deteriorating relations in the build-up to the secession of the south in July.

Long-standing tensions between northern and southern-aligned groups along the shared border have come to a head less than a month before the independence of the oil-producing south.

Southerners overwhelmingly voted to declare independence from the north in a January referendum promised in a 2005 peace deal that ended decades of civil war with the north, fought over religion, ethnicity, oil and ideology.

A return to full north-south conflict could have a devastating impact on the region by sending refugees back across borders and creating a failed state in the south at birth.

The south's army said its troops clashed with northern soldiers in Abyei on Wednesday more than three weeks after the northern military seized the fertile, oil-producing area.

A spokesman for the northern army said he had no information about any clashes on Wednesday.

The northern army has also been fighting southern-aligned armed groups in Southern Kordofan -- a northern, oil-producing state that surrounds Abyei on the ill-defined north-south border -- since June 5.

OBAMA CALL

President Barack Obama urged Sudan's government to halt military operations in Southern Kordofan and called for a ceasefire.

"There is no military solution," Obama said, appealing directly to leaders on both sides in an audio message issued through the U.S. government-funded Voice of America network.

Analysts have said the north may be trying to assert its authority along the north-south border to stamp out any remnants of southern support ahead of the split.

The division of Africa's largest country is a highly sensitive subject for the Khartoum government of President Omar Hassan al-Bashir which stands to lose around a third of its territory and up to three quarters of its oil reserves when the south leaves.

The United Nations on Wednesday said air strikes on Southern Kordofan may have killed as many as 64 people and caused tens of thousands to flee.

"There is a growing sense of panic among some of the displaced populations who find themselves trapped by the ongoing violence and the ethnic fault lines," the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a report.

In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said the situation in Southern Kordofan was deteriorating and that a "humanitarian corridor" should be created for aid deliveries.

"The problem is that the fighting is spreading by the day," said Fatoumata Lejeune-Kaba.

"POLITICAL RUMOURS"

Some civilians were being targeted at checkpoints, she said.

"We even have unconfirmed reports -- people are telling us about torture, harassment, sometimes summary executions at checkpoints ... It is difficult for us to confirm that, but that is what displaced are telling us," she added.

Northern official Rabie Abdelati on Tuesday dismissed allegations of arbitrary torture, arrest and killing in Southern Kordofan as "political rumors."

Both north and south still have to resolve a list of issues ahead of the split, including how they are doing to share the country's oil wealth, the position of their border and the status of Abyei.

Abyei was a key battleground in the civil war and a symbol for both the mostly Muslim north and the south, where most follow Christian and traditional beliefs.

"SPLA and SAF clashed in Abyei in the area of the Kiir bridge (on Wednesday)," southern army spokesman Philip Aguer said, referring to the north's Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the south's Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA).

The river, known as Kiir in the south and Bahr al-Arab in the north has become a frontline between northern and southern troops since Khartoum occupied the region.

Aguer said there had been casualties, but did not release any numbers.

The north says it moved into Abyei after southern soldiers attacked its troops in the area. The north has also accused southern-backed groups of trying to start a revolution in Southern Kordofan, the north's main oil state and home to some groups that sided with the south during the civil war.

After talks in neighboring Ethiopia over the weekend, both sides announced on Monday they had agreed "in principle" to pull their troops out of Abyei and deploy Ethiopian peacekeepers.

Southern minister Deng Alor told reporters in Addis Ababa the north was now holding up discussions over the withdrawal of northern troops with last minute conditions.

"Bashir has agreed to withdraw, but the problems are over his request to administer Abyei and over the status of the Ethiopian troops," Deng Alor, south Sudan's minister for regional cooperation, told reporters in Addis Ababa.

(Additional reporting by Fredrik Dahl in Geneva and Aaron Maasho in Addis Ababa; Writing by Andrew Heavens)

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Greeks strike, clash with police over austerity (Reuters)

ATHENS (Reuters) – Stone-throwing Greeks clashed with police and tens of thousands of protesters marched on parliament on Wednesday to oppose government efforts to pass new austerity measures for the debt-stricken euro zone state.

Unions representing half the five-million-strong workforce also launched a nationwide strike, shutting ports, schools and other basic services in the Mediterranean state.

Prime Minister George Papandreou must push through a new five-year campaign of tax hikes, spending cuts and sell-offs of state property to continue receiving aid from the European Union and International Monetary Fund and avoid default.

He not only faces public protests and resistance from a conservative opposition that has surpassed his Socialist party in opinion polls, but a few backbenchers in his own parliamentary grouping are also threatening to reject the plan.

Political analysts said he would be able to push through the package with support from his PASOK party and possibly a handful of opposition deputies, but that protests had introduced some uncertainty. One PASOK deputy defected on Tuesday, reducing the party's number of seats in parliament to 155 out of 300.

Thousands of activists and unionists converged on the central Syntagma square on the parliament's front steps to try to stop lawmakers from entering to debate the bill they hope to pass by the end of the month.

"Thieves, traitors!" many chanted. "Where did the money go?"

"These measures are not taking us anywhere. They only lead to unemployment, hunger and poverty," said Panayotis Dounis a 60-year-old pensioner. "We wouldn't be here if the politicians had made sacrifices as well. We are absolutely disappointed."

About 1,500 police closed a large part of the city center and erected two-meter metal barricades in front of the assembly, creating a corridor to hold back protesters as lawmakers drove up to the building in official limousines.

Riot police fired several rounds of tear gas at dozens of masked youths who pelted them with rocks and a few petrol bombs. Several activists also hurled oranges at Papandreou's car as he drove past, a police official said.

Several groups in the protest clashed between themselves. Police said one person was injured and they detained 40 people.

"CRUEL AS A TIGER"

The new austerity package foresees 6.5 billion euros ($9.4 billion) in tax hikes and spending cuts this year, doubling measures agreed with bailout lenders that have pushed unemployment to a record 16.2 percent and extended a deep recession into its third year.

The plan includes: new luxury taxes; a crackdown on tax evasion; tax hikes on soft-drinks, swimming pools, restaurant bills and real estate; and cutting the Mediterranean state's 750,000-strong public work force by a fifth.

With those and other measures worth total savings of 28 billion euros through 2015, it also aims to raise 50 billion euros by selling off state-owned firms.

Papandreou appealed for national consensus on the laws, on which hang the EU and IMF release of a further 12 billion euros in aid next month that Athens needs to pay off maturing debt or face default.

"We are at a historically crucial moment ... and I believe that national consensus is important for the country's interest," Papandreou told President Karolos Papoulias during a meeting. "We will proceed with the responsibility for the necessary decisions to see the country exit the crisis."

Papandreou was planning to talk to party leaders later on Wednesday and then make a statement, a government official said.

On Tuesday, euro zone finance ministers failed to reach agreement on how private holders of Greek debt should share the cost of a new bailout for Athens worth an estimated 120 billion euros before a June 23-24 summit.

The European Central Bank opposes such a move, saying that if such participation is involuntary it could be deemed default that could shock markets and put weaker euro states at risk.

The lack of agreement pushed the cost of insuring Greek debt against default to a new record high on Wednesday, while shares in Greek banks fell 7 percent on fears of political uncertainty.

The PASOK deputy who defected said he could not back the package. "You have to be as cruel as a tiger to vote for these measures. I am not," George Lianis said in a letter to Parliament Speaker Filippos Petsalnikos on Tuesday.

Another PASOK member said he would vote against it. But analysts said the party, which still holds a majority, would pass the package by the end of the month before working on another set of laws on how to implement it.

"My gut feeling is that at the end of the day they will get enough MPs... I'd say there is a 70 percent chance that it will go through," said Diego Iscaro, IHS Global Insight.

"The other option (voting it down) would be quite destabilizing. That will drive MPs to vote for it."

The cabinet is also expected to survive the turmoil in the short term. A poll on Sunday showed 62 percent of Greeks expect the government to call early elections before its term ends in 2013, although 59 percent thought they did not need a vote now.

(Additional reporting by Yannis Behrakis, Ingrid Melander, Harry Papachristou and Yiorgos Karahalis; Writing by Michael Winfrey; editing by Mark Heinrich and Elizabeth Piper)

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Rebels, Gadhafi forces clash at Zawiya

Misrata, Libya (CNN) -- Government forces clashed with rebels in the Libyan city of Zawiya Saturday, said a rebel spokesman, one day after heavy fighting took place in the western city of Misrata.

There were no immediate reports of casualties in Zawiya, spokesman Ahmed al-Hawaary told CNN. He said fighting began early in the morning. Rebels surrounded a group of forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in the western part of the city, he said, adding that government forces control the eastern areas of Zawiya and the roads leading to Tripoli.

Zawiya is about 31 miles (50 kilometers) west of the capital city.

Rebels remain in control of some neighborhoods in Zawiya's city center and the west, al-Hawaary said.

The spokesman reported that NATO bombarded positions of forces loyal to Gadhafi in Zawiya, damaging equipment. It was not clear if anyone was injured or killed in those attacks, he said.

NATO intervened in March in the monthslong civil war under a U.N. mandate to protect civilians as Gadhafi tried to crush the revolt against him.

CNN could not independently confirm al-Hawaary's account of the clashes, which came one day after heavy fighting in Misrata.

Misrata has borne the brunt of the fighting in Libya for the past two months. More than 1,000 people are believed to have been killed there since early February, including 707 residents.

Fighting began there Friday at dawn and continued past midnight, leaving at least 31 people dead and more than 160 injured as rebels thwarted efforts by government forces to enter the city from the west and south.

The casualties were the heaviest in a month, said Dr. Khaled Abu Falgha with the city's Hekmah Hospital.

Relative calm returned Saturday, though rebels stepped up security at various checkpoints in the city and its outskirts. Many told CNN they feared forces loyal to Gadhafi could try to infiltrate their ranks.

Misrata is about 130 miles (209 kilometers) east of Tripoli.

The Misrata rebels' media committee released a statement Saturday claiming that Gadhafi forces fired rockets on the Dafniya area, damaging farmhouses and crops. No immediate casualties were reported.

The rebels also said a number of government forces were captured and that some 300 of Gadhafi's soldiers were killed in clashes in Zlitan on Friday.

CNN could not independently confirm those claims.

CNN

Egypt to put 48 on trial for church clash (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's public prosecutor said it had referred 48 Muslims and Christians to criminal court on Saturday for their roles in sectarian violence that led to the burning of a church in the Cairo district of Imbaba on May 7.

The clashes, in which 12 people were killed and 52 wounded, were sparked by rumors that Christians had abducted a woman, Abeer Fakhry, who had converted to Islam.

Among the charges against the 48 were incitement to sectarian violence, premeditated murder, terrorism and arson, the prosecutor said.

Such clashes have posed a challenge for Egypt's new military rulers, under pressure to impose security and revive the ailing economy while seeking to avoid the tough security tactics against Islamists used by ex-President Hosni Mubarak.

Prosecutor's office spokesman Adel Said said that before the clashes a number of Muslims had gathered outside a mosque in Imbaba to incite people to search buildings near a church to find the woman.

As the crowd moved to the church, rumors spread among Christians in the neighborhood that the crowd was planning to attack the church. They formed groups to protect the church, and some fired guns at the crowd of Muslims, the spokesman said.

Some Muslims were also carrying weapons, and they responded with gunfire of their own. Another rumor that a Muslim cleric had been killed further provoked a group of Muslims to attack and set the church ablaze, he added.

The prosecutor said 22 of those referred to criminal court were in custody and orders had been sent out for the other 26 to be arrested. No date has yet been set for the first hearing.

Interfaith relationships often cause tension in Egypt, where Christians make up about 10 percent of its 80 million people.

(Writing by Patrick Werr; editing by Andrew Roche)

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13 killed in clash on Mexico-U.S. border lake

Officials search Falcon Lake, Texas, for the body of American David Hartley in 2010.Mexico's Navy says a shootout occurred around an island used to store marijuanaTwelve suspected members of the Zetas drug gang and one member of Mexico's Navy are killedFalcon Lake is between Texas and the Mexican state of TamaulipasIt drew attention last year after an American was reportedly shot there

(CNN) -- Twelve suspected members of the Zetas drug gang and a member of Mexico's Navy were killed in a shootout on an island in a lake that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border, authorities said Monday.

The Mexican Navy said the shootout occurred Sunday on Falcon Lake, located between Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, after troops patrolling the area spotted a camping area on an island.

The suspected drug traffickers used the island for storing marijuana to be transported by boat to the United States, the Navy said in a statement.

After the shootout, the Navy said it seized guns, ammunition and bullet-proof vests from the island.

Falcon Lake drew the attention of law enforcement authorities on both side of the border last September after an American man on a personal watercraft was reportedly ambushed by attackers and shot in the head.

2010: 'He took a bullet for me,' Falcon Lake victim's wife says

Tiffany Hartley told police that she and her husband were riding water scooters on the lake on September 30 when they were attacked.

Her husband's body has not been found, and the case has remained unsolved.

"It didn't happen in the United States," said Zapata County, Texas, Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez.

Suspects in Falcon Lake killing identified

And Mexican authorities, he told CNN last month, have "somewhat of a zero solvency rate, and a zero conviction rate."

"So unfortunately, this case may remain open forever, even though the information and the evidence may be there," according to Gonzalez.

CNN

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Rival factions of Yemen's military clash

Mohammed Huwais, AFP/Getty Images

A Yemeni soldier who defected to the opposition is carried by anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa on Wednesday.

EnlargeCloseMohammed Huwais, AFP/Getty Images

A Yemeni soldier who defected to the opposition is carried by anti-government protesters demanding the resignation of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh in Sanaa on Wednesday.

State media on Wednesday described the attack as a

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Religion, rights and the workplace clash in Muslim teacher case

By Mustafa Ozer, AFP/Getty Images

Muslim pilgrims perform the final walk around the Kaaba (Tawaf al-Wadaa) at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on November 16, 2010.

EnlargeCloseBy Mustafa Ozer, AFP/Getty Images

Muslim pilgrims perform the final walk around the Kaaba (Tawaf al-Wadaa) at the Grand Mosque in the Saudi holy city of Mecca on November 16, 2010.

The local school board refused, but the Justice Department stepped in last December and sued on behalf of Khan, saying she was denied "reasonable accommodation" to perform a duty of her faith.

USA TODAY EDITORIALThis should not be a court battleSince then, a number of questions have arisen about the hajj and whether the Justice Department should have backed the teacher.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, which I'm not," Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show last Friday. "Teachers have summers off. ... Muslims are urged to travel to Mecca at least once in their lives. Not during a specific time frame, like the end of the school marking period."

On Tuesday, at a Senate hearing on the civil rights of American Muslims, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., accused the Justice Department of taking "the wrong case."

"Can she go on the hajj during the summer?" the senator asked Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights, who testified at the hearing. "Is there a requirement that she go for the three weeks that she chose during the middle of the school year?"

According to Islamic scholars, making the hajj during summer vacation would have required Khan, 29, to postpone her trip for nearly a decade.

The hajj commemorates the trials of the biblical patriarch Abraham, who Muslims consider a prophet, and takes place over five days during the 12th month of the Islamic year. The date of the annual pilgrimage shifts because Islam is guided by a lunar calendar; last year, 2.8 million Muslims from around the world traveled to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, Nov. 14-18.

Asking a Muslim to move the pilgrimage to summer is like asking a Christian to celebrate Christmas in July, says Sayyid Syeed, who directs interfaith and community affairs for the Islamic Society of North America.

Muslims can travel to Mecca throughout the year, but these trips are not considered a fulfillment of the hajj obligation.

"If she waits, and she gets sick and dies, how will she be able to explain why she did not do it? There is a compelling passion to go as soon as possible," said Syeed.

Along with believing in monotheism and Muhammad's prophecy, praying five times daily, giving alms, and fasting during the holy month of Ramadan, every Muslim is required to make the pilgrimage at least once. About 20,000 Americans complete the hajj yearly, according to Syeed.

According to the hadith, a collection of teachings by Prophet Muhammad and his companions, Muslims who do not make the hajj should not be considered Muslim.

Muhammad also said that those who have the health and "means" to undertake the journey but fail to do so "die on the branches of ignorance," said Shaykh Abdool Rahman Khan (no relation to Safoorah Khan), the resident scholar at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, Ill.

Before airplanes and boats, Muslims would set out by foot or camel on a trip that might take years and prove perilous. In many parts of the world, Muslims save for a lifetime before they have enough money to make the trip.

Their relative affluence puts pressure on young American Muslims to perform the hajj as soon as possible, even with lives crowded by family and work obligations.

"In American society, perhaps, people are confused about whether they should give up everything because (Islamic tradition) says so, or whether they can apply their own wisdom," Khan said.

Muhammad was referring to more than finances when he said all Muslims who have the "means" must perform the hajj as soon as possible, he said.

"You have to look at a variety of factors: Do you have enough security in what you are doing with your job and your family?" Khan said. "Practicing religion is not ignoring everything else. You have to balance it all."

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