Bloody clashes in Tahrir Square as Egypt tensions mount (AFP)

CAIRO (AFP) – Bloody clashes between protesters and anti-riot police that raged overnight in Cairo's Tahrir Square erupted in new scuffles on Wednesday amid mounting frustration with Egypt's military rulers over the pace of reform.

The health ministry said there were 1,036 injured in the clashes. Those included 120 who were hospitalised and most of whom were later released.

By Wednesday evening calm had been restored in central Cairo as protesters made their way to Tahrir Square-- the epicentre of protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak-- in response to calls for an open-ended sit-in to push for reforms.

Dozens were arrested in connection with the clashes, including an American and a Briton, state media reported.

A military source said the two were not among 50 protesters who had been referred to the military prosecution earlier on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns called for an "open and inclusive" process in Egypt after talks with Field Marshall Hussein Tantawi, the head of the ruling military council.

Burns said that during talks with officials, he emphasised "American support for an open and inclusive political process in Egypt, the importance of following through on their commitment to lift the emergency law before the elections, the importance of protecting freedom of expression and freedom of assembly."

Hours after bloody overnight clashes, hundreds of angry protesters gathered in front of the interior ministry headquarters in central Cairo, burning tyres and pelting police with stones, a security official said.

Egyptian stocks fell on Wednesday as the clashes raised fears of widespread unrest, with main EGX-30 index closing down 2.03 percent at 5,283.81 points.

Witnesses said the overnight disturbances were some of the most violent in months in the square, which was the focal point of protests that forced veteran president Hosni Mubarak from power in February.

Police fired tear gas and protesters threw stones, amid scenes reminiscent of demonstrations during the uprising.

Protesters accused loyalists of the ousted leader of stirring up the violence after municipal councils they dominated across the country were dissolved by court order on Tuesday.

Activists have called for an open-ended sit-in in the square. The ruling military council warned of a plot to destabilise the country.

The April 6 Movement said a protest to push for democratic reforms that was scheduled for July 8 "will begin today and a sit-in will carry on until there are clear signs that the demands are met."

But the army called on protesters not to give in to "schemes" aimed at sowing chaos.

"The regrettable incidents in Tahrir Square... are designed to destabilise the country and pit the revolutionaries against the police," the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces said.

The clashes "have no reason behind them except to destabilise Egypt's security and stability in accordance with a carefully thought out and organised scheme," the council said.

The interior ministry blamed families of victims killed in the uprising saying some of them stormed a theatre where a memorial service was being held for those who died, which led to clashes with security.

But activists said police beat the families who had been barred from joining the service prompting activists back to the streets.

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

Witnesses told AFP that buses unloaded young men armed with sticks and knives, and accused loyalists of the old regime of stirring up the trouble.

After protests erupted against Mubarak's rule on January 25, the authorities deploying hired thugs in a bid to quell the unrest.

Tuesday's clashes broke out just hours after a Cairo court ordered the dissolution of municipal councils across the country, all of which were dominated by members of Mubarak's now disbanded National Democratic Party.

"I don't think the timing of these clashes is a coincidence," one witness told 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.

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

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Sea spat raises China-Vietnam tensions (AFP)

HANOI (AFP) – Vietnam protested to China Thursday after what it claimed was a "premeditated" attack on an exploration ship in its waters, but Beijing hit back, warning its neighbour against violating its sovereignty.

The latest incident comes against a backdrop of increased anti-Chinese sentiment in Vietnam, where hundreds of people staged a rare protest Sunday over the activities of Chinese ships in disputed waters.

With ties between Beijing and Hanoi at their lowest ebb in years owing to territorial spats over potentially oil-rich waters, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung vowed to protect Vietnam's "incontestable" sovereignty.

Hanoi said a Chinese fishing boat "intentionally rammed" the exploration cables of a vessel, chartered by state energy giant PetroVietnam, conducting a seismic survey inside its 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone Thursday.

The incident was "premeditated and carefully calculated" as China aims to bring an undisputed area into the territorial row, foreign ministry spokeswoman Nguyen Phuong Nga told reporters.

"This is unacceptable to Vietnam," she said, adding the foreign ministry had met Chinese embassy officials Thursday afternoon "to express our opposition to such acts".

Two Chinese fishing enforcement vessels and other fishing boats arrived to assist the Chinese boat, Nga said, adding that the collision had damaged the Vietnamese ship.

She said the area in question falls completely under Vietnamese sovereignty according to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

But, in apparent reference to the same incident, China gave a different version of events in a report carried by official news agency Xinhua early Friday.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Chinese fishing boats were chased away by armed Vietnamese ships on Thursday morning.

According to Beijing's account, during the incident the fishing net of one of the Chinese boats became tangled with the cables of a Vietnamese oil exploring vessel, which was operating illegally in the area.

The oil exploration boat continued dragging the Chinese vessel for more than an hour with Chinese fishermen forced to cut off the fishing net, the report said.

Hong said Vietnam's oil exploration in the area and the actions of the Vietnamese vessels had grossly infringed Chinese sovereignty.

The incident comes just two weeks after three Chinese marine surveillance vessels severed the exploration cables of the Binh Minh 2, another Vietnamese oil survey ship inside the 200 nautical mile zone, according to Hanoi.

Vietnam said it has since deployed eight ships to "escort" the Binh Minh 2 -- without saying what kind of vessels -- a move analysts say raises the stakes in the dispute.

After the May 26 incident, China said Vietnamese vessels were operating "illegally" and urged the country to "refrain from creating trouble".

Beijing says it is committed to peace in the South China Sea, but its more assertive maritime posture has caused concern among regional nations.

Tensions have also risen this year between China and the Philippines, another claimant to the Spratly islands, where Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also say they have a stake.

US Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned last weekend that clashes may erupt in the South China Sea unless nations with conflicting territorial claims adopt a mechanism to settle disputes peacefully.

Hundreds of people held a peaceful anti-China protest outside Beijing's embassy in Hanoi on Sunday, the largest action of its kind since 2007. Protests are rare in authoritarian Vietnam.

Tensions have also spread to the Internet.

In the past few days a number of Vietnamese websites have been hacked including one connected with the foreign ministry, with information in Chinese and images of the Chinese flag left behind, Nga said.

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After Tensions with North, South Korea Ponders Its 63-Year-Old Draft (Time.com)

If Private Jeon is celebrating inside, his disciplined military exterior doesn't show it. Dressed in khaki with black, wide-rimmed spectacles, the 22-year-old is due to finish his 21 months of military service next month, an obligation for almost all of South Korea's 25 million men. "It's good experience for my job," Jeon says during an educational tour of the Demilitarized Zone, the barb-wired no-man's land that has divided the Korean peninsula for 58 years and counting. "Frankly," he adds, "I don't like the military culture. But there's a lot of economic uncertainty."

A national duty and, in theory, an equalizer in a nation with a growing income gap, South Korea's mandatory military service has become an issue of much debate following last year's sinking of the Cheonan Navy vessel and shelling by the North that killed four people on Yeonpyeong Island close to the maritime border. In response, hawks called on the government to increase the period of service from 21 to 24 months, while other segments of society said Seoul should continue a long-standing policy under which compulsory military service is scheduled to be reduced. At 687,000 strong, South Korea's military is the sixth-largest in the world, requiring all healthy men to serve between the ages of 19 and 36. (See pictures of the shelling of Yeonpyeong.)

So far, President Lee Myung-bak has not increased or reduced service. Instead, in December, he froze the current term at 21 months while his government grappled with why last year's attacks happened and what the government and military should do about it. Seoul's military spending has risen nearly 6% this year to $27.7 billion and the government has passed a host of military reforms. But in the end, Seoul did nothing to retaliate - a decision that did not go down well with the average South Korean. A poll by daily newspaper Chosun Ilbo at the end of last year found a majority of people feel the government's response was inadequate.

Disputes over the nation's mandatory military service - a policy that has been in place for the full 63 years of the country's existence - have been brewing for years. Civic and human rights' groups, students, the political opposition, women's organizations, men who have been deemed healthy enough to serve and critics of some privileged few who have not have all asked who should serve, the extent to which objectors should be tolerated and whether those that do their time deserve bonuses upon re-entering the job market. The policy of compensating soldiers returning to work, abolished in 1999 on sexual equality grounds, is now gaining popularity again: A Gallup Korea poll at the end of May found nearly 80% of South Koreans are in favor of reinstating the payment.

Meanwhile, dodging the draft has become something of an art. Conscientious objectors and the rich and famous have gone to extraordinary lengths to escape the draft, an act which carries a minimum 18 months in prison. Some have opted for last-minute full-body tattoos that disqualify them for service; others have lost extreme amounts of weight to fail the medical exam, faked personal records or even changed their nationality. At present, 850 South Koreans are in jail for dodging the draft, including many Jehovah's Witnesses who say it is contrary to the 'love thy neighbor' doctrine, according to Amnesty International.

A number of celebrities and family members of the rich and powerful have in the past tried to elude military service by the use of doctored medical records and even bribes, among other means. South Korea's biggest pop sensation Rain is due to serve in September, and it's not yet clear whether he'll swap his trademark sunglasses and snappy suits for combat boots and khakis. His entourage recently started to bar journalists' questions on the issue.

The backdrop to these shenanigans, however, is more serious. South Korea has in the past year has conducted a greater number of military exercises with the U.S. in and around the DMZ, leading to a series of verbal threats by the North. Popular support for military action against its northern neighbor has risen dramatically in recent months. After the sinking of the Cheonan in March 2010, less than 30% of South Koreans backed a military response. That figure rose significantly after the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island to nearly 70%, according to a December poll by Chosun Ilbo. (See rare photos from inside North Korea.)

At Hongik University in Seoul, the verdict on military service is almost unanimous among male students. "I hated it," says 25-year old math major Lee Sung-hwan. But despite the usual complaints that all cadets have to wear the same clothes and short hair cuts and can't see their girlfriends, Lee believes military service in South Korea is more necessary than ever. Why? "Because of North Korea," he says.

Not surprisingly, it's at the DMZ - both a macabre tourist destination and a very real frontline - where the thousands of young men who comprise South Korea's military might are most visibly on display. The DMZ serves as a temporary home to servicemen enlisted as glorified tour guides in and around sites that attract about five million tourists per year. These draftees are the face of the South Korean military to the world and the enemy - and are, unsurprisingly, tall and easy on the eye. "Is he handsome?" asks a Chinese tour guide in Mandarin as a young, gangly soldier walks onto a tour bus to check passports and ID cards before crossing into the DMZ. A handful of (mostly female) tourists on the bus have a look. "Handsome," they reply.

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Obama, Netanyahu meeting likely to highlight tensions

Barack Obama's speech on the Middle East may make for a tense Friday meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.The leaders meet during a week the White House has focused on the Middle EastPre-1967 borders of Israel should be starting point on a future Palestinian state, Obama saysNetanyahu: The basis for such borders would leave Israel "indefensible"

(CNN) -- U.S. President Barack Obama will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday at the White House in a session that could highlight tensions between the allies.

The leaders will meet a day after the president laid out his vision for the Middle East and North Africa in a speech at the State Department -- a message that was not enthusiastically received by the Israeli government.

In the speech, Obama said the pre-1967 borders of Israel should serve as the basis for negotiations in the formation of a future Palestinian state.

Those borders could be based on "mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states," the president said.

Before leaving for Washington, Netanyahu reacted coolly to the president's speech. He said the basis for such borders would leave Israel "indefensible" by putting major population centers beyond those borders.

The White House has been focused on Middle East issues this week, with Obama also meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II on Tuesday.

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