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China police stop spread of Egypt news: activist

February 10, 2011 1 comment

By Agence France-Presse

BEIJING — Police in southwest China have barred activists from distributing leaflets about anti-government protests in Egypt and Tunisia, deeming the news too sensitive, one dissident said Wednesday.

Activists in Guizhou province tried to hand out information about the demonstrations over the weekend, but police told them this was an “unusual period” and gave them 3,000 yuan ($450) to stop, Chen Xi told AFP.

The police paid the money to compensate for losses incurred from the printing costs, and when the activists tried to distribute more information in Guiyang city on Monday, police again barred them from doing so, Chen said.

“We do this (hand out leaflets) all the time but the Read more…

Israel’s Chief of Staff urges readiness for all-out war

February 9, 2011 Comments off

Israel’s Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi
The Israeli army chief has urged Tel Aviv to make preparations for an all-out war over the recent developments across the Middle East, a report says.

Israel’s Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Gabi Ashkenazi has said that given the recent revolution protests across Middle East, Israel must prepare for a battle in several theaters, Ynetnews quoted him as saying on Monday.

The outgoing military chief also said, “The connection between the different players requires us to contend with more than one theater.”

Ashkenazi warned of the transpiration of a “radical camp” in the Middle East, adding that “the moderate camp among the traditional Arab leadership is weakening.”

“Because of this spectrum, we must prepare for a conventional war…it would be a mistake to prepare for non-conventional war or limited conflicts and then expect that overnight the forces will operate in an all-out war,” he went on to say.

In December 2010, Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom threatened Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with a new war, saying that Tel Aviv would have to “respond and respond with all our force” if the Palestinian resistance fighters did not stop firing their home-made rockets into Israel.

In late December 2008, Israel launched a devastating war against the coastal Palestinian territory where more than 1,400 Palestinians — mostly civilians — were killed in three weeks of relentless Israeli land, sea and air strikes.

Thousands rally against government in Yemen

January 27, 2011 Comments off

SANAA, Yemen – Tens of thousands of people are calling for the Yemeni president’s ouster in protests across the capital inspired by the popular revolt in Tunisia.

The demonstrations led by opposition members and youth activists are a significant expansion of the unrest sparked by the Tunisian uprising, which also inspired Egypt’s largest protests in a generation. They pose a new threat to the stability of the Arab world’s most impoverished nation, which has become the focus of increased Western concern about a resurgent al-Qaida branch, a northern rebellion and a secessionist movement in the south.

Crowds in four parts of Sanaa have shut down streets and are chanting calls for an end to the government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who has been in power for nearly 32 years.

“We will not accept anything less than the president leaving,” said independent parliamentarian Ahmed Hashid.

Opposition leaders called for more demonstrations on Friday.

“We’ll only be happy when we hear the words ‘I understand you’ from the president,” Hashid said, invoking a statement issued by Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali before he fled the country. Read more…

Egypt on the boil, Mubarak’s son flees

January 26, 2011 1 comment

Egypt‘s longtime President Hosni Mubarak’s son Gamal, seen as his likely successor, has reportedly fled to Britain, along with his family following a Tunisia-inspired protest. The 48-year-old younger Mubarak boarded from an airport in western Cairo a private jet bound for London with his wife and daughter, and nearly 100 pieces of luggage, the US-based Arabic website Akhbar al-Arab reported.

Thousands of Egyptians defied a ban on protests by returning to Egypt’s streets on Wednesday and calling for Hosni Mubarak to leave office, and some scuffled with police. Activists had called on Egyptians to take to the streets again to end Mubarak’s 30-year rule after Tuesday’s “Day of Wrath” involving anti-government protests across Egypt in which three protesters and one policeman were killed. The three protesters died in the city of Suez, and the policeman was killed in Cairo.

Police used riot trucks on Wednesday to break up a crowd of as many as 3,000 people who had gathered outside a Cairo court complex, one of the places where demonstrations had started on Tuesday. Police arrested at least 500 people across Egypt on Wednesday. Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside the morgue in Suez demanding the release of one of the three bodies, witnesses said. Protesters said he was killed by several gunshots and demanded an autopsy.
“The government has killed my son,” the Suez protesters outside the morgue chanted. “Oh Habib, tell your master, your hands are soiled with our blood,” they said, referring to interior minister Habib al-Adli.

Hundreds of protesters also gathered outside Cairo’s journalists’ syndicate, where the authorities allow regular protests. Police beat some with batons when they tried to break a cordon. Protesters on buildings threw stones at police below. The state news agency said 90 people were arrested while trying to gather in Tahrir square in central Cairo, the focus of the biggest demonstrations. A judicial source said 64 people were detained in Alexandria.

The interior ministry had earlier banned all protest meetings. “No provocative movements or protest gatherings or organisation of marches or demonstrations will be allowed, and immediate legal procedures will be taken and participants will be handed over to investigating authorities,” the state news agency MENA cited the ministry as saying.

One opposition group, the Sixth of April Youth, called on its Facebook page for more protests on Wednesday “and after tomorrow, until Mubarak goes”. Facebook has been a key means of communication for protesters, but Egyptians said the site was blocked on Wednesday. Twitter confirmed its site was blocked on Tuesday, although users could still access it via proxy sites. The Internet has been the main platform for some of the most vociferous criticism of Mubarak. agencies