At least 24 killed and 200 injured as Christians clash with Egyptian military in Cairo

At least 24 have died after fierce clashes erupted between Christians and the Egyptian military in Cairo yesterday.

A further 200 were injured in the rioting, sparked by a protest over a recent attack on a church in the South of the country.

Thousands gathered as the protest spread from outside the state television building along the Nile to nearby Tahrir Square.





Anger: Coptic Christians throw stones at a military vehicle.Victim: A protester is injured during the clashes with the military.Huge numbers: Thousands of Coptic Christians took part in the march.Before the clashes: The demonstrations began peacefully outside the state television station in central Cairo

Libyan Forces Seize Key Locations in Sirte After Intense Battles

Libyan forces from Misrata said they wrested control of key buildings in Muammar Qaddafi's hometown of Sirte from his supporters, after several days of intense street fighting that left scores dead and ...

Coptic Christian protesters clashed with security forces in Cairo yesterday 24 deaths

Coptic Christian protesters clashed with security forces in Cairo yesterday

Riot-hit Britain plans to put prisoners to work

Britain wants to put more prisoners to work in an attempt to rehabilitate a “growing feral underclass” blamed for riots that swept English cities two months ago, Justice Secretary Ken Clarke said today.

Manchester, hosting the annual conference of the ruling Conservatives, was one of a number of English cities hit by rioting and looting that rippled out from London after police shot and killed a black suspect in August.

Clarke, a veteran viewed as a moderate in the centre-right party, won backing for his plan from a group of business executives led by Richard Branson, chairman of travel and entertainment company Virgin Group.

India PM says guru protest crackdown was inevitable

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said today said he had no alternative but to send police to forcibly end a peaceful anti-graft protest by a popular yoga guru and thousands of his followers, hours after the country’s top court asked the government to justify its actions.

Around 600 police used batons and tear gas early yesterday to break up a mass hunger strike led by Swami Ramdev (picture) in New Delhi, detaining the TV star before putting him on a plane to his home state. Dozens of followers and police were injured.





The Supreme Court’s questioning of the government action followed widespread criticism of the raid as another sign that the government and its 78-year-old prime minister were out of touch with millions of corruption-weary Indians.

Television channels quoted Singh as saying the raid was unfortunate, but that there was no alternative. He added there was no “magic wand” to end corruption, according to the reports.

A man tried to throw a shoe today at ruling Congress party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi as he criticised the guru during a news conference. The man was beaten up by onlookers and the incident highlighted how polarised India has become with the controversial raid.

Tapping into spiralling voter anger about corruption as Asia’s third largest economy booms, Ramdev has called on the government to pursue billions of dollars in illegal funds abroad and introduce tough anti-corruption legislation.

Ramdev, usually clad in a saffron-coloured robe slung loosely over his bare chest, pledged to fast until his demands were met, adding to a series of planned protests announced by opposition parties and civil society groups.

In recent months, the Supreme Court has become more active in reprimanding the government, particularly over its handling of corruption accusations against its ministers.

“They are displeased over lathi (baton) charging people who were sleeping. It was a peaceful thing until the cops intervened,” said D.H. Pai Panandikar, head of Indian think-tank RPG Foundation.

Ramdev’s campaign was the latest embarrassment for a Congress Party-led coalition hit by graft scandals, including allegations of kickbacks at the Commonwealth Games and a telecoms scam that may have cost the government up to US$39 billion (RM117 billion) in revenues.

The handling of the protest is sure to further distract the government from working on reforms needed to modernise the economy, which analysts say is growing at around 8 per cent not because of government action, but despite it.

Parliament’s next session is due to start in July.

“Another disruptive session is inevitable and the continuation of policy paralysis in government; something the country can ill-afford when it is facing up to the serious macroeconomic challenges in high inflation and decelerating growth,” Anil Padmanabhan, deputy managing editor of business newspaper Mint, wrote in an editorial.

The opposition Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said today it would hold nationwide peaceful protests against the crackdown and has demanded an emergency session of parliament to discuss the raid.

“The government has lost the moral authority of the country,” BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad told CNN-IBN, attacking Singh’s record in office since 2004.

Congress criticised Ramdev as promoting unrest.

“Such anarchic and communal elements must be taken head on,” Congress leader Dwivedi said before the shoe incident.

Singh has so far resisted calls for his resignation, and his party is unlikely to force him out because it does not have a credible successor lined up.

Congress, re-elected in 2009 and not due to face national polls until 2014, can also count on its allies in parliament to carry on backing it, because they too would be punished in a snap election. A key Congress ally was kicked out of power in the southern state of Tamil Nadu in local elections last month.

Neither Singh nor party leader Sonia Gandhi have made any statement since the protest controversy began last week and there is increased talk of infighting between Congress and ministers over the debacle.

The handling of the protest has renewed questions about how government works in the world’s largest democracy. Singh is widely seen as a weak leader with most key decisions taken by Gandhi and her core group of advisers, a setup increasingly criticised as ineffective.

The crackdown has drawn condemnation from opposition parties on the left and right, as well as civil society and the media.

“The midnight police swoop on yoga exponent and telestar ‘Baba’ Ramdev and his supporters was arbitrary, brutal and anti-democratic,” influential newspaper The Hindu said in an editorial.

Opposition parties called on Gandhi and Singh to apologise.

“Its critics are entirely right to ask why, if the fasting Baba is a charlatan as the government now claims he is, more ministers were sent to receive him at the Delhi airport than has been assigned to greet any visiting potentate, whether Barack Obama or Hu Jintao,” The Economic Times wrote in an editorial.

Ramdev has announced he is going back to fasting against corruption, and popular social activist Anna Hazare has also said he would start a fast on June 8 in the capital.

Hazare carried out a successful fast in April, striking a chord with millions of Indians and forcing the government to make concessions on an anti-graft bill that effectively gives India an independent ombudsman to battle corruption.

Hazare later said he would pull out of negotiations with the government over the bill to protest against Ramdev’s treatment.

Fierce Fighting as Clashes in Southern Yemen Kill 19 - Yemen opposition vows to keep out injured Saleh

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen suffered injuries, far more extensive than previously known in an attack on his presidential palace last week, with burns over 40 percent of his body, Yemeni officials and ...

Clashes in Yemen's south have killed at least 19 people, as the violence and unrest that has engulfed the nation for months shows no signs of ending. Yemeni forces clashed with Islamist militants in the southern city of Zinjibar Tuesday, ...

News crew films Western troops liaising with gunmen Are these men SAS helping Libyan rebels?

An Arab television channel has broadcast pictures which it says show Western special forces on the ground in Libya.

Footage by the Al Jazeera television channel shows a group of six Western-looking men – described as ‘possibly British’ – talking to rebel fighters near the besieged port city of Misrata.

With their peaked caps, wraparound sunglasses and assault rifles, the group certainly appear different to the rag-tag rebel army battling Colonel Gaddafi’s forces.

 Talks: South African President Jacob Zuma has arrived in Tripoli to meet Colonel Gaddafi

Elusive: The armed men quickly walk out of shot once they see the Al Jazeera camera

Special forces: The Western men are seen here walking away from the car and the pick-up truck, with the unarmed man in the pink T-shirt possibly an intelligence officer

Libya’s Gaddafi survives air strikes, son killed

Spokesman Mussa Ibrahim, who took foreign journalists on a guided tour: “This is not permitted by international law. It is not permitted by any moral code or principle.Libyans in Benghazi celebrate May 1, 2011, following news that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son was killed.

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi survived a Nato air strike on a Tripoli house that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren, a government spokesman said today.

Libyan officials took journalists to the house, which had been hit by at least three missiles. The roof had completely caved in in some areas, leaving mangled rods of reinforcing steel hanging down among chunks of concrete.

“What we have now is the law of the jungle,” government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim told a news conference. “We think now it is clear to everyone that what is happening in Libya has nothing to do with the protection of civilians.”

Gaddafi, who seized power in a 1969 coup, is fighting an uprising by rebels who have seized much of the eastern part of the country. British and French-led Nato forces are permitted under a United Nations resolution to mount air attacks on Gaddafi forces to protect civilians.

Inside one part of the villa hit late on yesterday, a beige corner sofa was virtually untouched, but debris had caved in on other striped upholstered chairs. The blasts had been heard across the city late yesterday.

A table football machine stood outside in the garden in a wealthy residential area of Tripoli. Glass and debris covered the lawns, and what appeared to be an unexploded missile lay in one corner.

Nato hits Gaddafi convoy in East Libya

Libyans celebrate in Benghazi following news that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s son was killed in a Nato air strike.

A Nato air strike destroyed 45 vehicles of Muammar Gaddafi’s forces after they had killed at least five civilians in fighting in two east Libyan towns, an oil official and a rebel spokesman said today.

Gaddafi forces entered the towns of Jalu and Awlijah, south of the eastern frontline near Ajdabiyah, early yesterday and opened fire, killing at least five civilians and wounding more than 10, the rebel military spokesman said.

AbdelJalil Mayouf, information manager at Agoco oil company that controls rebel-held oilfields in the area, said that after that attack a Nato air strike destroyed a convoy of 45 vehicles belonging to pro-Gaddafi forces as they left Jalu.

Rebel chief pained by bloodshed in Gaddafi family - Russia says Nato may be targeting Gaddafi

Rebel chief Mustafa Abdel Jalil said today he felt “pain and sorrow” even for Muammar Gaddafi’s family following a Nato air strike on his house in Tripoli, but blamed the Libyan leader for the violence.

Gaddafi survived the air attacke on the dwelling but his youngest son, Saif al-Arab, and three grandchildren were killed, according to a government spokesman.

Abdel Jalil, speaking in comments broadcast on the Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel, also offered amnesty to Gaddafi supporters who abandon the Libyan leader and join the rebels.

“We feel pain and sorrow for any bloodshed, even when Gaddafi’s house was bombed last night. We feel pain for any blood that is shed unjustly,” Abdel Jalil said.

“But the blood of Gaddafi’s sons is not more precious than the blood of Libyan men and women,” he added.

Abdel Jalil said Gaddafi was to blame for the civil war.

“He bombed our cities and villages with rocket launchers and planes. He shed blood and killed children ...,” he said.

Abdel Jalil urged Gaddafi supporters to join the rebels.

“You must abandon him and you will live with us in peace and security. Anyone who abandons Muammar Gaddafi in these moments will have peace and security for him and his family and will live with us in prosperity in the future.”

Libyan forces pound Misrata as 1,000 evacuated by sea

A chartered ship evacuated nearly 1,000 foreign workers and wounded Libyans from Misrata today as government artillery bombarded the besieged city that has come to symbolise the struggle against Muammar Gaddafi’s rule.

“We wanted to be able to take more people out but it was not possible,” said Jeremy Haslam, who led the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) rescue mission.

“Although the exchange of fire subsided while we were boarding ... we had a very limited time to get the migrants and Libyans on board the ship and then leave.”

A rebel spokesman said bombardments pounded Misrata for a fifth day today after shelling killed 17 people and wounded about 100, mostly civilians, yesterday.

Egypt's Mubarak Detained for Investigation - Egypt's Mubarak and two sons detained - Mubarak in intensive care with heart problems

Egypt’s Mubarak detained over graft, protest probe

Hosni Mubarak was ordered detained for 15 days today, a move that may help quell protests and quash suspicions that Egypt’s ruling army generals had been shielding their former commander from investigation.

Mubarak, toppled on February 11 after mass demonstrations against his 30-year rule, was admitted to hospital yesterday suffering what state media called a “heart crisis”. There were conflicting reports about the seriousness of his illness.

The public prosecutor had summoned Mubarak for questioning on Sunday over the killing of protesters and embezzling of public funds. His two sons, Alaa and Gamal, were also summoned for questioning over graft and ordered detained, state TV said.

“Former President Hosni Mubarak was detained for 15 days for investigation,” state television reported in a brief headline.

Gang-raped for two days, tortured and strangled: Libyan woman finally reveals full horrific details of attack by Gaddafi's thugs

* Iman al-Obeidi says she was held hostage by gang of 15 men, including a cousin of Colonel Gaddafi

A Libyan woman who publicly accused a gang of pro-Gaddafi militiamen - including Colonel Gaddafi's cousin - of gang-raping her has, for the first time, revealed the horrifying details of her alleged attack.

Iman al-Obeidi claimed she was forced into a militia car at a checkpoint, driven to a 'palace' and brutalised by 15 drunk men over a two-day period.

After bursting into a hotel full of foreign journalists to reveal her ordeal more than two weeks ago, the 28-year-old has been charged with slander by the Libyan government and she claims the regime is refusing to allow her to leave Tripoli to return to her family.

Interview: Iman al-Obeidi finally spoke to a CNN reporter about her ordeal after being detained by Gaddafi's troops.Ordeal: She described being raped by 15 men over two days before finally escaping

Intimidation: A Libyan government official grabs al-Obeidi as she reveals details of her attack to journalists

Scuffle: Sky News reporter Lisa Holland, bottom left, and FT journalist Charles Clover, back, attempt to protect al-Obeidi as she is threatened by government minders as she tries to tell her story

UN, French attack Gbagbo heavy weapons in Ivory Coast

A UN vehicle patrols on the northern outskirts of Abidjan April 9, 2011


UN and French helicopters attacked forces loyal to incumbent Ivory Coast leader Laurent Gbagbo late last night, damaging the presidential residence and destroying heavy weapons that UN chief Ban Ki-moon ordered silenced.

Gbagbo has refused to step down since UN-certified elections last November showed his rival Alassane Ouattara won, reigniting a civil war that has claimed over a thousand lives and uprooted over a million people.

“The operations are on going,” Hamadoun Toure, spokesman for UN mission in the country said late yesterday.

“We had targeted and hit several different places where we found heavy weapons, not only the areas around Gbagbo’s residence, but all places where we know that there are heavy weapons,” Toure said.

“We will review the situation tomorrow (Monday).” he added.

Ban said UN headquarters in Ivory Coast, Ouattara’s base and two civilian districts had been hit by machinegun, sniper and rocket-propelled grenade fire in recent days.

Thousands of Thai ‘red shirts’ commemorate Bangkok unrest

Thai anti-government "red shirt" protesters gather during a rally at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok's old quarter, April 10, 2011, to mark the one-year anniversary of a violent confrontation with the military in which 26 people were killed and more than 800 wounded.

Anti-government “red shirt” protesters hold pictures of people who died, including Reuters television cameraman Hiro Muramoto (right) and Italian freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi (second right) during a religious ceremony near the Democracy Monument.

Thousands of red-shirted, anti-government protesters gathered today in Bangkok’s old quarter to mark the one-year anniversary of violent clashes with the military in which 26 people were killed and more than 800 wounded.

“We are mourning the loss of innocent lives a year ago,” said protest leader Nattawut Saikua. “We are remembering the violence against Thai people last year. We are asking for justice.”

No one has been declared responsible for the violence that began on April 10 last year when soldiers fought with thousands of protesters near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok, near government buildings and the regional UN headquarters.

The red-shirted supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a graft-convicted populist billionaire ousted in a 2006 coup, said they would continue to hold protests until the government took responsibility for the violence.

Five soldiers and 21 civilians were killed, including Reuters television cameraman Hiro Muramoto, a 43-year-old Japanese national, on April 10 last year.

Witnesses reported seeing flashes of gunfire from troops but the government blamed civilian deaths on shadowy, unidentified black-clad gunmen who were filmed in the area.

Gbagbo's Capture May Set Ivory Coast's Economy on Long Road to Recovery

Ivory Coast's former president is calling for an end to fighting after he was captured on Monday by forces backing the country's president-elect.

African Union: Gaddafi ‘accepts peace roadmap’

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddaffi (right) in talks with African Union delegation, South Africa’s President Jacob Zuma (left), and Congo Republic President Denis Sassou Nguesso (second left).

Muammar Gaddafi has accepted a roadmap for ending the civil war in Libya including an immediate ceasefire, the African Union said today, adding that the issue of his stepping down had also been discussed.

South African President Jacob Zuma, who led a delegation of African leaders at talks in Tripoli, earlier called on Nato to stop air strikes on Libyan government targets to “give ceasefire a chance”.
Nato officials were not immediately available for comment.

Rebels have said they will accept nothing less than an end to Gaddafi’s four decades in power, but Libyan officials say he will not quit.

Ramtane Lamamra, AU Commissioner for Peace and Security, said the issue had come up in the talks but declined to give details. “There was some discussion on this but I cannot report on this. It has to remain confidential.

“It’s up to the Libyan people to choose their leaders democratically,” Lamara said at a news conference in Tripoli.

Protesters pack Cairo square, pile pressure on army

Protesters hold up a caricature of ousted president Hosni Mubarak carrying “people's money” in Tahrir Square, Cairo, April 8, 2011


Protesters packed Cairo’s Tahrir Square today, piling pressure on the ruling military council to meet demands including the prosecution of Hosni Mubarak in one of the biggest demonstrations since he was ousted.

By early afternoon, the protest had swollen to more than 100,000. Thousands waved red, white and black Egyptian flags in scenes reminiscent of the height of the protests that toppled Mubarak and helped ignite revolts in other Arab countries.

“Oh Field Marshal, we’ve been very patient!” chanted some of the protesters, gathered in the square that was the hub of protests that toppled Mubarak from the presidency and left the army, led by Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, in charge.

“Tantawi, Tantawi get your act together or do you want a pool of blood?” chanted some of the protesters.

The military has enjoyed broad support since it took control of the country on February 11 but frustrations have grown over the pace of reform. Attention is now focussed on the perceived tardiness of legal steps against Mubarak and his entourage.

Mubarak and his family have been living in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh since he left Cairo on February 11.

Libya: 'Woman Who Claims Rape Is Now Free' Libyan woman claims rape by 15 soldiers Women protest against attacks by Gaddafi forces Libyan woman claims rape by 15 of Gaddafi's men Libyan Woman Accuses Gadhafi Troops of Rape

Above is an update of Eman al-Obeidy, the woman who burst into the foreign press dining room on Saturday telling of her gang rape by Qaddafi's men.