The Star Online: World Updates
The Star Online: World Updates |
- Eight killed, Yemenis hope for UN pressure on Saleh
- U.S. lawmakers say alleged Iran plot was "very real"
- Global "Day of Rage" mostly peaceful, Rome clears up
| Eight killed, Yemenis hope for UN pressure on Saleh Posted: 16 Oct 2011 11:40 AM PDT SANAA (Reuters) - Eight Yemenis, including five protesters, were killed in a new upsurge in violence in the capital on Sunday, hospital officials and witnesses said, and President Ali Abudllah Saleh said he expected China and Russia to block U.N. moves to end his rule. The two countries joined forces to veto a European-sponsored resolution against Syria earlier this month but were not expected to block the resolution on Saleh which is due to go to the Security Council this week, diplomats in New York have said.
Yemeni security forces fired on protesters, killing at least five people in the capital Sanaa on Sunday, hospital officials said, in violence which took the death toll in two days to at least 20. Two brothers and a nephew died in a separate incident in Sanaa when a shell fell on their house in al-Qaa neighbourhood, witnesses said. They said the shell exploded during clashes between security forces and anti-government fighters. Witnesses said security forces attacked the protesters when they tried to enter Zubayri Street, which lies between areas controlled by government forces and dissident general Ali Mohsen. Residents said the authorities feared protesters could block off the street, a major throughway for traffic. "Until now, we have four martyrs and 13 injured by bullets," said Dr. Muhammad al-Qubati, head of a field hospital set up by protesters on Sixty Street in the capital Sanaa, where thousands have camped out for months demanding Saleh end his 33 years in office. Security forces also killed a 52-year-old woman during protests in the southern city of Taiz, medical officials said. SURGE IN VIOLENCE Violence in Yemen, strategically located at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, has surged over the last two days, with security forces killing at least 12 on Saturday while al Qaeda insurgents blew up a gas pipeline, halting the impoverished nation's gas exports. U.N. Security Council members are considering a resolution expected to urge Saleh to hand over power under a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) peace plan. Saleh says he is ready to step down but wants to ensure that control of the country is put in safe hands. "Some friendly states, permanent members of the (Security Council) such as China and Russia, will not take a hardline position like some other permanent members," Saleh said in comments broadcast on Yemeni state television. Speaking at a meeting of his security and military chiefs in Sanaa, he said Western permanent members of the Security Council based their decisions on information gathered solely from the opposition. "They consider the opposition as being aggrieved and that it should be supported," he said. Britain has been drafting the resolution in consultation with France and the United States and intends to circulate it to the full 15-nation Security Council shortly after a closed-door meeting on Tuesday. Yemeni officials have said the attack on the pipeline on Saturday was in retaliation for the killing of the head of the media department of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula in an air raid on militant outposts in Yemen last week. The U.S. and Saudi Arabia, which shares a border with Yemen, fear al Qaeda is trying to take advantage of the country's political vacuum to expand its territory in the south of the Arabian Peninsula, near a strategic shipping strait used by tankers carrying some 3 million barrels of oil a day. (Reporting By Mohammed Sudam; writing by Nour Merza; editing by Sami Aboudi and Philippa Fletcher) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| U.S. lawmakers say alleged Iran plot was "very real" Posted: 16 Oct 2011 11:40 AM PDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The heads of the intelligence committees in the U.S. Congress said on Sunday an alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi ambassador should be taken very seriously, with one warning that the United States and Iran could be on a "collision course." Pushing back against questions about whether the plot was a serious effort endorsed by top Iranian officials, House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said it appeared amateurish only because the United States was able to thwart it so early in the planning stages.
"We were very fortunate," Rogers said on ABC's "This Week" program. "We got to see this, we the U.S. government got to see this unfold from the beginning." Rogers and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said the United States should respond aggressively but stopped short of calling for military action against Iran, instead pushing for tougher economic sanctions. Feinstein said she was initially skeptical when she was first briefed about the alleged plot in early September but now believed "it's very real." U.S. authorities said on Tuesday they had broken up a plan by two men linked to Iran's security agencies to assassinate Saudi Ambassador Adel al-Jubeir in Washington. One of the suspects was arrested last month and the other is at large. President Barack Obama said on Thursday that Iran -- already at odds with Western governments over its nuclear program -- would face the toughest possible sanctions and the United States would not take any options off the table. "Our country should not be looking to go to war," Feinstein told the "Fox News Sunday" program. "We should be looking to stop bad behavior, short of war." Feinstein and Rogers said the United States should push Russia and China to get behind sanctions, arguing the two powers have scuttled past efforts to crack down on Iran over its nuclear ambitions. "Put pressure on the Chinese and the Russians and say, listen, you're either going to stand with the nation that is engaged in nation-state terrorism or you're going to stand with the rest of the international community," Rogers said. Asked whether there should be a military response, Rogers said the option should not be taken "off the table." "I think there are a lot of things that we should do to make sure that they understand this is unacceptable," he said. Feinstein said Iran is "escalating" its nuclear development programs and the assassination plot is one more reason to act now to make clear Tehran must change its policies. "Absent that at one time or another, if you project out a number of years, we are on a collision course," she said. (Reporting by Dave Clarke; Editing by Cynthia Osterman) Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. | ||
| Global "Day of Rage" mostly peaceful, Rome clears up Posted: 16 Oct 2011 11:09 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - The global "Day of Rage" against the world's financial system won some limited sympathy from political and economic leaders on Sunday, after protests that were peaceful everywhere but Italy.
Cities from east Asia to Europe and north America saw rallies on Saturday denouncing capitalism, inequality and economic crisis, but riot police were busy only in Rome. The city cleared up on Sunday, a day after masked "Black Bloc" protesters torched cars, attacked banks and hurled rocks. "They must be condemned by everyone without reservation," Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said. "Yesterday we once again showed the world the anomaly of Italy and today, again, we have to feel shame," La Stampa newspaper said. Mayor Gianni Alemanno said the capital would long suffer the "moral damage" of the rampage. Many Italians asked why police had managed to arrest only 12 of the violent demonstrators. Tens of thousands of other "indignant ones" had marched peacefully against the government of deeply indebted Italy. On Sunday a small group of peaceful protesters gathered by a church near where some of the violence took place to continue a sit-in. "We are the real indignant ones," one said. "They stole our day". Berlusconi's Defence Minister Ignazio La Russa said the leftist opposition shared blame for the mayhem because its rhetoric implied "everything is justifiable as long as we get rid of Berlusconi, the 'evil of Italy'". Lisbon and Madrid also saw tens of thousands march on Saturday. Spanish outrage has been fuelled by multi-million-euro payouts for top staff at failed regional banks, amid high unemployment and harsh spending cuts. But most turnouts worldwide were lower. "People don't want to get involved. They'd rather watch on TV," said Troy Simmons, 47, protesting in New York, where the Occupy Wall Street movement that inspired the global day of unrest began. In New York a few dozen were arrested for minor offences. Chicago police said they arrested about 175 protesters in a downtown plaza where some had set up tents and sleeping bags. Other cities across the United States and Canada saw modestly sized and peaceful demonstrations. "I am going to start my life as an adult in debt and that's not fair," student Nathaniel Brown said in Washington. "Millions of teenagers across the country are going to start their futures in debt, while all of these corporations are getting money fed all the time and none of us can get any." CATHEDRAL CAMPSITE The wave of protest was not quite all over on Sunday. Around 250 protesters set up camp outside St Paul's Cathedral on the edge of London's financial district, promising to occupy the site indefinitely to show their anger over the global economic crisis. The group had tried to take over the area in front of the nearby London Stock Exchange on Saturday. After being thwarted by police, the group moved to the cathedral and put up 70 tents. Some said they would stay there as long as possible. "People are saying enough is enough, we want a real democracy, not one that is based on the interests of big business and the banking system," said protester Jane McIntyre. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he had some sympathy. "It is true that a lot of things have to be faced up to in the Western world and there have been too many debts built up by states, and clearly in the banking system a lot has gone wrong," he told BBC TV. "However, protest won't be the answer to that. The answer is (for) governments to control their debts and deficits. I'm afraid protesting the streets is not going to solve the problem." European Central Bank President Jean-Claude Trichet said the financial system could not be left in such a fragile state. "It is our task to make the world financial system much more solid ... that is how I interpret part of the message that comes from this movement," Trichet said in an interview. But he said authorities should not "demolish" the banks, as they financed three-quarters of the economy. Trichet said the European Union's treaty should be changed to prevent one member state from destabilising the rest of the bloc, and urged stronger euro zone governance. A dozen tents housing around 40 protesters also appeared in front of Trichet's ECB headquarters in Frankfurt. ASIANS GRUMBLE, QUIETLY The rallies tracked the sun from the Asia-Pacific region westwards on Saturday, but the first demonstrations in the east made ripples rather than waves. Protesters gathered in their hundreds in Japan and across Southeast Asia. Wealthy Singapore didn't even manage that. The pro-government Sunday Times appeared to take pride in the non-turnout after a call to gather in the financial centre failed to materialise. "What's missing in this picture?" it asked above a picture of three policemen patrolling an almost empty Raffles Place. In a region where many countries are still booming, protesters' grievances were less to do with economics than in Europe and north America. "Anti-capitalism is not my cause but anti-authoritarianism is definitely my cause and as citizens ... we came here to stand up for our rights," said lecturer Wong Chin Huat, 38, at a small protest in Kuala Lumpur. In Tokyo, many gathered to complain about radiation leaks from the Fukushima nuclear power plant, seven months after an earthquake and tsunami. Some analysts say the world faces a systemic rise in anger, protest and volatility that could last decades, and that rich-world unrest shares some roots with the Arab Spring. "One word: accountability," Professor Hayat Alvi of the United States Naval War Collegen said. "This is the season of demanding accountability and the application of the rule of law, especially targeting the ruling political elites and the economic elites as well." Copyright © 2011 Reuters Full content generated by Get Full RSS. |
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