Hundreds of Yemeni troops defect to rebels (Reuters)

ADEN/SANAA (Reuters) – At least 26 Yemeni government soldiers and 17 Islamist militants linked to al Qaeda were killed on Wednesday in heavy fighting for control of a stadium near the southern city of Zinjibar, officials said.

The military setback, following reports that 300 of his soldiers had defected to the opposition, was another blow to President Ali Abdullah Saleh as recovers in Saudi Arabia from injuries sustained in an attack on his palace in early June.

Yemen, the poorest Arab state and a neighbor of the world's largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia, has been shaken by months of protests against Saleh's three-decade rule, a resurgent wing of al Qaeda and a separatist rebellion in the south.

The United States and Saudi Arabia fear that al Qaeda may use the chaos to launch attacks in the region and beyond.

Yemeni officials said the militants seized control of the stadium from government forces, who have been using the facility -- built recently to host a regional football tournament -- to support troops fighting to dislodge the militants from Zinjibar.

An official said losing the stadium, located near a military base from which government forces had been launching attacks on Zinjibar, exposed a military base that had been used to launch attacks on the militants in Zinjibar. A counter offensive to retake the position was in progress, he said.

"The militant control of the field will leave the back of the camp from the east exposed," the official said.

Yemeni officials had been reporting successes against the estimated 300 militants who seized control of Zinjibar in May in the midst of a groundswell of popular protests against the nearly 33-year autocratic rule of Saleh.

His opponents say his forces handed over the city to the militants to bolster his argument that his departure would lead to an Islamist takeover of the Arabian Peninsula state.

Yemeni air force planes had killed at least 10 gunmen in attacks on Zinjibar earlier on Wednesday, a local Yemeni official said. One strike mistakenly hit a bus traveling from Zinjibar to Aden, the official added, killing five passengers and wounding 12 other people.

DEFECTION

Earlier in the day, opposition officials reported that more than 300 members of Yemeni security forces, including 150 from the Republican Guards led by Saleh's son Ahmed, had defected to rebels.

"From the podium of the Square of Change in Sanaa, an announcement has been issued that 150 soldiers from the Republican Guards, 130 Central Security soldiers and 60 policemen have joined the revolt," an opposition message said.

No government officials were immediately available to comment on the report.

If confirmed, the mutinies would be a serious reverse for Saleh, who has spent the past three weeks receiving medical treatment in Riyadh for wounds suffered in the June 3 attack.

The defections are the latest in a series by security forces since the anti-Saleh uprising began in February. Most prominent was the defection in March of Brigadier General Ali Mohsen, who has since sent in his troops to guard protesters in Sanaa.

The protests have culminated in battles between Saleh loyalists and gunmen from the powerful Hashed tribal federation in Sanaa that brought the country to the verge of civil war.

Months of unrest have cost Yemen $4 billion, a senior Yemeni official said on Wednesday, adding the Arab state was in talks with potential donors to help plug a gap of $1.5 billion in government commitments for projects funded by Sanaa.

"We are talking with the IMF, the World Bank and donor countries, whether Gulf Arab states or others. There may be some discussions next week with the IMF," Abdulla al-Shater, deputy planning and international cooperation minister, told reporters on the sidelines of a financial conference in Saudi Arabia.

Yemen has been largely quiet with a ceasefire in place since Saleh was injured in the attack, which investigators say was caused by explosives planted in the palace mosque where he and several senior government officials were praying

Saleh, 69, who has not been seen in public since the attack, has resisted pressure from the United States and Saudi Arabia to hand over power to his deputy, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, under a Gulf nations' initiative to end the crisis.

Hadi has been running the country in Saleh's absence, but the opposition wants the president to officially hand over power to him to pave the way for new elections.

Officials have said the president will soon make his first public appearance since the attack with a recorded message to be broadcast on Yemeni state television.

OFFICER KILLED

In further violence, a bomb killed a colonel when it exploded in his car on Tuesday night in the port city of Aden, a security source said on Wednesday.

The source said that Colonel Khaled al-Yafi'i was the commander of a military outpost guarding the Aden Free Zone business park's entrance.

The outpost was targeted by a car bomb on Friday that killed four soldiers and a civilian and injured 16 other people.

No one has claimed responsibility for the colonel's killing, but Islamist militants affiliated with al Qaeda are active in southern Yemen.

(Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif in Jeddah; writing by Sami Aboudi; editing by Richard Meares)

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Syrian forces round up hundreds near northern town (Reuters)

AMMAN (Reuters) – Syrian troops rounded up hundreds of people in a sweep through villages near Jisr al-Shughour on Monday, fleeing residents said, after President Bashar al-Assad's army retook the rebellious town.

Nearly 7,000 Syrians have already fled the region around Jisr al-Shughour, seeking sanctuary in neighboring Turkey, while thousands more are sheltering close to the frontier in rural areas just inside Syria, activists say.

Monday's wave of arrests followed an army assault on the northwestern town, with troops backed by helicopters and tanks regaining control one week after authorities said 120 security personnel were killed in fighting they blamed on "armed groups."

Some residents said the killings followed a mutiny, or a refusal by some troops to shoot protesters who had joined nationwide demonstrations calling for an end to Assad's rule.

Refugees from Jisr al-Shughour, sheltering on the Syrian side of the border with Turkey, said the military was combing villages to the east of the town and arresting hundreds of men between the ages of 18 and 40, in a pattern seen in other military crackdowns since the unrest started in March.

One person who escaped from Jisr al-Shughour, called Khaled, said two mosques had been hit by tank shelling and the bodies of three fleeing residents, a man, a woman and a child laid on a road 2 km north of the town near a packing material factory.

Mustafa, a 39-year-old mason who fled on Sunday, said there were nine bodies in Jisr al-Shughour and seven on the outskirts.

"This would be a relatively light death toll," one activist in Damascus said. "The shelling and firing have been indiscriminate and we have been fearing a higher death toll,"

Syrian rights groups say 1,300 civilians have been killed since the start of the uprising. One group, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, says more than 300 soldiers and police have also been killed.

ARMY TAKES CONTROL

The government says the protests are part of a violent conspiracy backed by foreign powers to sow sectarian strife.

Army units "have taken total control of Jisr al-Shughour and are chasing remnants of the armed terrorist gangs in the woods and mountains," the Syrian news agency said on Sunday.

It said a soldier and two armed men were killed in clashes around the town. The army defused explosives planted on bridges and roads, and uncovered mass graves containing mostly mutilated bodies of 10 security men killed and buried by armed groups.

Syria has banned most foreign correspondents, making it difficult to verify accounts of events.

A man identifying himself as a Syrian army defector, whose comments were streamed on the Internet and translated by Britain's Sky News television, said anti-government forces had set traps to delay the military advance and let people escape.

"We waited to get about 10 percent of the population out. The remaining 90 percent had already managed to leave," the man, identifying himself as Lieutenant-Colonel Hussein Harmoush, told the online Ugarit News video news channel.

Thousands of people from the town of 50,000 people, located on a vital road junction, had already fled to Turkey, about 20 km (12 miles) away, before Sunday's assault.

Turkey has grown increasingly critical of Assad in recent weeks and has now set up four camps to accommodate refugees.

In a sign of tensions between the countries, which had close trade and political ties before the crisis, supporters of Assad protested outside the Turkish embassy in Damascus on Sunday.

Turkey's Anatolian news agency said some people climbed the embassy walls and hung a Syrian flag, and Syrian security forces prevented some protesters from trying to lower the Turkish flag.

A resident said the crowd, which had earlier marched past the French and British embassies, then tore down tourist posters on the outside wall of the Turkish embassy.

France, with British support, has led efforts for the United Nations Security Council to condemn Assad's repression of the protests. Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said last week Assad had lost the legitimacy to rule Syria.

Assad, who inherited power when his father died in 2000, has offered some moves aimed at appeasing protesters, lifting a 48-year state of emergency and promising a national dialogue -- steps which have been dismissed by many activists.

The privately-owned Al-Watan newspaper said on Monday a committee formed to investigate the unrest had imposed a travel ban on the former governor of Deraa, where protests broke out on March 18, and its head of security. It said there would be "no immunity for people who committed crimes."

Residents said the army unit attacking Jisr al-Shughour was commanded by Assad's brother Maher and employed the same tactics used to crush protests in other areas.

The United States has accused Syria's government of creating a "humanitarian crisis" and urged it to halt its offensive and allow immediate access by the International Committee for the Red Cross to help refugees, detainees and the wounded.

(Writing by Dominic Evans; Editing by Peter Millership)

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Poet leads hundreds in cross-country peace caravan (AP)

MEXICO CITY – Mexican poet-turned-activist Javier Sicilia has set off on a cross-country caravan with hundreds of fellow demonstrators to demand an end to drug-related bloodshed.

The caravan of about a dozen buses has set out from Cuernavaca, a resort and industrial city south of Mexico City where Siclia's son and six others were killed on March 28. The group is scheduled to arrive June 10 in violence-plagued Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso.

Organizers say they plan protest events in at least eight Mexican states along the way.

More than 35,000 people have died in drug-related violence since December 2006.

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Hundreds of Georgia hospital patients exposed to TB

Atlanta (CNN) -- Nearly 700 patients and 100 employees at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta have been exposed to tuberculosis after coming in contact with a hospital employee carrying the disease, a hospital spokesman said Thursday.

The Georgia Department of Community Health and the hospital have identified 680 patients who were exposed to tuberculosis between November and February, said hospital spokesman Lance Skelly.

Patients will begin getting tested for tuberculosis next week, Skelly said. To date, no patients or employees have reported symptoms of tuberculosis, he said.

The hospital and the department began notifying people about the exposure this month, after an Emory employee was diagnosed in April with the infectious disease, he said. The employee did not know he had tuberculosis when he came in contact with employees and patients, the hospital said.

The hospital took extra precautions by contacting patients who were in the hospital for 90 days before the day the employee is known to have developed the disease, Skelly said. "That is a major reason the numbers are so much higher."

All hospital employees are screened for the disease and must receive screenings each year, it added. A hospital statement did not say whether the employee had been screened.

About 11 million people in the United States are infected with latent tuberculosis, which is symptom-free and is not contagious.

Of those, 5 to 10 percent go on to develop active tuberculosis, which can be spread to others through the air, such as through coughing or sneezing. It can be fatal if not properly treated.

Symptoms of tuberculosis include chest pain, a bad cough (possibly with blood), weakness and a fever. While tuberculosis usually impacts the lungs, the kidneys, brain and spine may also be affected.

Both the number and rate of tuberculosis cases has been on the decline since 1993, according to the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The number of reported deaths nationwide dropped from 644 in 2006 to 544 in 2007, the most recent year for which such data is available, the CDC said.

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NATO: Hundreds escape from Afghan jail

NEW: Police capture eight of the escapeesThe Taliban claims to have facilitated the prison break by digging a tunnelA Taliban spokesman says the overnight escape took place over 4 and 1/2-hour periodIn June 2008, up to 1,000 prisoners escaped from the same prison

Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- More than 400 prisoners escaped early Monday from a jail in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar, officials said.

The Taliban, which claimed responsibility for facilitating the escape, said 541 prisoners fled. NATO's International Security Assistance Force said the number was closer to 470

It was the second prison break at the facility.

In June 2008, up to 1,000 prisoners -- almost half of them Taliban members -- escaped the prison after a raid by militants. A large truck bomb was detonated against the side of the compound, permitting the escape.

The Kandahar governor's office said police have launched a wide operation for Monday's escapees and had recaptured eight.

A Taliban spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, said its members spent five months digging a 320-meter (1,049-foot) tunnel to the prison. The escape took place over a four and a half-hour period, Mujahed said.

"We are aware of reports that a tunnel was involved," NATO said in a statement.

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Oklahoma fires force evacuation of hundreds of homes

Oklahoma fires force the evacuation of more than 1,000 homes By the CNN Wire Staff STORY HIGHLIGHTS NEW: It has burned approximately 3,500 acresNEW: A large fire west of Lawton, Oklahoma, is about 65% contained In nearby Texas, a firefighter dies after flames hit his truck (CNN) -- Strong winds whipped up two wildfires in southern Oklahoma on Friday, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,000 homes.

The first fire, a large grass fire, burned west of Lawton, which is about 80 miles southwest of Oklahoma City. It forced people in approximately 900 homes and the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company to evacuate, according to Comanche County officials.

Roughly 50 firefighters were working to battle the blaze, officials said in a statement Friday night, but helicopters could not be brought in because of the strong winds. The fire, which was about 65% contained, has burned some 3,500 acres.

Seven structures, including barns, sheds and outbuildings, have been lost so far, officials said. One home was damaged.

The National Weather Service issued a high wind warning for Lawton on Friday, warning of possible early evening gusts of up to 60 miles per hour. The weather service said strong winds would likely complicate fire-fighting efforts.

Crews were also battling a second blaze in northern Comanche County that was about 65% contained Friday night, officials said. Evacuations were issued for about 130 homes in that area. Four unoccupied structures have been destroyed in the fire, which has scorched about 2,200 acres, officials said.

The American Red Cross opened an evacuation shelter to help house families forced from their homes.

Meanwhile, in northern Texas, a firefighter died when flames hit his truck, said Marq Webb, spokesman for the Texas State Lone Star Incident Management Team. The firefighter was a local firefighter from Eastland County, he said.

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Independent groups expected to rake in hundreds of millions

Outside groups' influence in 2012STORY HIGHLIGHTS Democratic third-party groups aim to raise up to $200 million in outside money for 2012
Democrats say they were trounced by GOP-aligned third-party groups in 2010 races
Groups grew after Supreme Court ruling allowing unlimited contributions by corporations
Conservative insists labor unions already help Democrats dominate outside spending RELATED TOPICSBarack ObamaPolitical PartiesU.S. Presidential ElectionKarl Rove Washington (CNN) -- As President Barack Obama kicks off the 2012 money race with a series of well-publicized re-election fundraisers in Chicago, Democratic operatives are quietly crisscrossing the nation to raise big money for new independent expenditure groups.

All told, these Democratic third-party groups aim to raise up to $200 million in outside money -- that's in addition to the $1 billion Obama's fundraisers set as their campaign goal. The number and size of the independent expenditure groups ballooned last year, thanks in part a Supreme Court ruling that allows unlimited contributions by corporations.

Obama heads home to kick off fundraising

There is some irony here: Obama has denounced these secretive third-party groups as tools of "powerful interests that marshal their power every day in Washington to drown out the voices of everyday Americans." But now Democrats say, after they were trounced in the 2010 midterm elections by GOP-aligned third-party groups --- including those founded by Karl Rove and the Koch brothers --- they have no choice but to join them.

Obama re-election campaign touts small-dollar contributions

Monica Dixon, the executive director of Majority PAC, one of these new groups, says, "We were just outgunned and outmanned last cycle. We didn't do a good job of supporting our candidates against this barrage of money that was spent against them. And so this cycle we are engaged. We are going to raise the money to defend our candidates against these attacks."

Analysis: Why Obama really announced today: M-o-n-e-y

Among the new Democratic groups are four SuperPACS, which are expected to be up and running by the end of this month. They are:

• House Majority PAC, which launched this week, is focused on helping Democrats regain control of the House of Representatives. It's run by three strategists previously involved in House campaigns and is planning ads that target vulnerable Republicans during the April congressional recess.

• Majority PAC was put together by some of the Democratic Party's most seasoned Senate campaign operatives. It will focus on ensuring that Democrats keep control of the Senate. They've begun raising money and choosing targets. Their goal, one operative says, is to start defining Republicans early in the cycle.

• A group dedicated to supporting Obama's re-election bid will open later this month. Helmed by former White House deputy press secretary Bill Burton and Sean Sweeney, former top aide to ex-Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, it aims to compete with American Crossroads --- the Rove-founded group --- which plans to raise $120 million this cycle.

• And a fourth group, American Bridge 21st Century, will provide opposition research and communications for Democratic races for Congress and the presidency. Founded by conservative-turned-liberal activist David Brock and chaired by former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, it has a more far-reaching goal. In a statement to CNN, Rodell Mollineau, its president, says he hopes hopes to build the group "into an enduring political research and communications powerhouse."

Chris Harris, spokesman for American Bridge, tells CNN, "We are investing in a massive war room so we can define (GOP) candidates before they define themselves."

Organizers say the groups -- which are banned from coordinating with the campaigns -- are working with one another. Sources familiar with their plans tell CNN that American Bridge aims to raise $20 million to $30 million, the Burton-Sweeney presidential effort would try to raise $120 million, and in order to be competitive, Majority PAC would need to bring in $50 million to $100 million. There are no early projections for House Majority PAC's numbers.

Steven Law, president of the conservative outside group American Crossroads, insists that Democrats already dominate outside spending -- thanks to labor unions. "For years now the unions have perfected the art of doing outside campaign ads, outside voter turnout activity," Law said, adding, "We created American Crossroads to be a counterpoint to what the unions and other groups like Moveon.org have done very effectively for the last several elections."

He predicts liberal groups will outspend conservatives this cycle. But Democratic fundraisers laugh that off, saying Republicans can raise far more money from deep-pocketed donors.

Apparently, it's a race to lower expectations.

Many new Republican-aligned groups popped up last election, including the American Action Network, supported by top Republican fundraiser Fred Malek and former Sen. Norm Coleman on its board.

Other major players on the conservative side: the Chamber of Commerce, Americans for Prosperity and the Club for Growth, all of which made major investments in the midterm campaign ads against Democratic candidates.

American Crossroads and affiliate Crossroads GPS is the behemoth on the scene. Co-founded by Rove, it raised $71 million and in its first year last cycle and saturated the airwaves in some hotly contested campaigns. For the coming election, it says it hopes to raise $120 million. The group tells CNN within weeks it will air ads related to the federal budget fight.

"This is one election where literally everything is at stake: the White House, the Senate majority, the House majority and even the courts for potentially a generation so everybody's very engaged and interested. And they want to continue to play and hopefully affect the direction of the country in a positive way," American Crossroads' Law says.

One independent conservative group last weekend started airing a commercial in some key battleground states critical of the president. The spot, titled "Barack Obama's Legacy of Failure," was sponsored by the Campaign to Defeat Barack Obama.

Conservative group puts out anti-Obama TV ad

A number of these groups on both sides of the aisle are affiliated with highly secretive organizations known as 501(c)(4) groups ( a reference to their designation in the tax code), which don't have to report their donors to the Federal Election Commission.

Groups not directly affiliated with political parties accounted for $298.5 million in political spending during the 2010 midterms, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks the influence of money in politics.

This time around, expect even more.

"The numbers will dwarf the roughly $300 million in outside spending we witnessed in 2010. The only question that remains is, by how much?" said Dave Levinthal, a spokesman for the center.

CNN political research director Robert Yoon contributed to this report.

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