Yemeni block port protest against the agreement with the resignation of Saleh - Ha'aretz

Tens of thousands of Yemenis intensified protests Wednesday by blocking access to a key as mediators of Gulf port appeared close to sealing an agreement for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to relinquish power.

The demonstrators distrust plan of the Council of the Gulf Cooperation, supported by the Government and the opposition group main, because it gives Saleh, a window of long months to resign and grants him and his family immunity from prosecution.

"People want a beginning, not an initiative," the demonstrators shouted outside Red Sea port of Hodeida, where ongoing marine operations not affected.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh of the Yemen

Clashes flared in South Yemen between security forces and demonstrators hostile to the Government which has blocked roads with burning tires.

A protester and a soldier were killed, said hospital and local officials. Earlier reports put the toll at two soldiers.

The agreement to end political crisis of the Yemen was to be signed in Riyadh Sunday, three months after that Yemenis first took to the streets to demand the overthrow of the Saleh, inspired by the revolts that toppled leaders in Egypt and Tunisia.

The balance of power has tipped against Saleh, who was an ally key to West against al-Qaida, after weeks of violence, military defections and political reversals.

Hodeida, organizer of the demonstration Abdul Hafez Muajeb said the coast guard welcomed protesters and had raised a banner saying they would not use weapons against the people.

"We close the port because its revenues are used to finance the thugs," said manifesting Muaz Abdullah, referring to the civil security men that often use daggers and bats to disperse demonstrations.

The participation rate large demonstrations show capacity of mainly young demonstrators, including students, tribes, and activists, to act as deal with potential spoilers of the Gulf. They have promised to stay in the streets until their demands are met.

It is not clear that parties of the opposition, composed of the Islamists, Arab nationalists and leftists who have been in recent years, in and out of Government could halt the protests even if necessary for the transition agreement.

Washington and neighbors oil giant Saudi Arabia want the impasse resolved. They fear that a descent more bloodshed in the State of the Arabian peninsula would offer more room for a wing based at the al-Qaeda Yemen to operate.

Violence torches

The agreement of the Gulf provides Saleh to appoint a Prime Minister of the opposition, which would then form a Government of transition before the presidential election two months after his resignation. But the window of a month for Saleh to resign sparked fears that may offer potential sabotage times.

Mohammed Basindwa, a senior leader of the opposition considered top candidate, the head of a transitional Government said he only expected an agreement to be signed without further negotiations, and said Saleh was not expected to attend the meeting in Riyadh.

Saleh, who ruled for 32 years, would sign the agreement in Sanaa, while the opposition would sign in Riyadh in the presence of a delegation from the Government, said Basindwa.

Requested A will it was confident Saleh would resign after window day the30, Basindwa, said: "the United States and the European Union and the Gulf States ensure that all parties will paste to implement the agreement."

Other clashes broke out in the main town in the South of Aden, the closure of young demonstrators tried to enforce a general strike that paralyzed the city of port that most businesses and schools, said a local government official.

Strikes are also underway in Taiz, which saw some great anti-Saleh events, and Ibb, South of Sanaa.

Elsewhere in the South, armed men killed more than two dead soldiers and injured five in an attack on a military control post which was attributed to al-Qaida loyalist, said a local official.

About 130 protesters were killed, as swept disorders, to the Yemen where about 40 percent of its 23 million people live on e2 per day or less, and a third face chronic hunger.

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Syrian army "attacks protest hub" - BBC News

Last updated at 07: 26 GMT, April 25, 2011 Deraa has been at the epicentre of recent protests in the army of the Syria Syria launched an attack against the city of the South of Deraa, with tanks used for the return of the troopsAccording to activists and non-verified video footage.

An activist was quoted as saying that security forces were "pulling in all directions", and there were unconfirmed victims.

Deraa is where Syrian anti-Government protests began five weeks ago.

New aggression follows reports of repression and arrests in other regions of the country.

An activist for the rights of said human Reuters news agency that security forces had also stormed the suburbs of Damascus in the Duma Monday, to open fire on civilians and stop dozens of people.

Security forces are supposed to be rounding up suspected organizers protest despite the lifting of the State of emergency, last week.

Demonstrators started to call for political reforms last month, but many require now that President Bashar al-Assad resign.

Reported the at least 350 people were killed.

"Cut power".

Activist Abdullah al-Harriri told the AFP news agency that hundreds of security personnel were entered Adraa Monday, supported by tanks and other armoured vehicles.

Continue reading the main story Owen Bennett Jones BBC News, Beirut

These last days of opposition activists have been describing Adraa as liberated territory and two members of Parliament and a local religious leader resigned Saturday to protest against the massacre of demonstrators there.

By sending troops, the Government has demonstrated its determined to regain control of the city. Elsewhere in Syria, in uniform and plainclothes security personnel were patrolling through the streets of towns and villages.

Last week in an attempt to appease protesters, the Government lifted a State of emergency. That is not to stop protests and since the Government uses force to suppress demands for greater freedom.

"Men are pulling in all directions and advancing behind the armour which is their protection", he said.

"The electricity is cut off and telephone communications are virtually impossible."

A resident said diffuser Arabic al-Jazeera that five people had been killed.

Foreign journalists have been prevented from entering the country, making it difficult to verify the information.

But the BBC Owen Bennett-Jones at the nearby Lebanon, explains the use of tanks was not reported elsewhere in Syria and would mark an increase in the Government's response to protests.

According to the latest reports that the Government is absolutely determined to use force to suppress the protest movement, he said.

Death by Jabla

These days activists of the opposition have been describing Adraa as liberated territory and two members of Parliament and a local religious leader resigned Saturday to protest against the massacre of demonstrators there.

Deraa has had the most victims of any city in Syria.

Earlier, at least four people were reported killed in Jabla, a town in the Northwest of 80,000, after security forces opened fire there later Sunday.

At least 95 people were reportedly killed the Syria Friday and another 12 summers Saturday, as a lament came under fire.

Authorities have reacted erratically demonstrations - sometimes promising to allow more democracy and freedoms and other times open fire on demonstrators.

Human Rights Watch campaign group called for an investigation of the United Nations and the international sanctions against the Syria after the massacres of Friday.

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Opposition Leader Besigye arrested in Uganda protest - New York Times

KAMPALA, Uganda - figurehead opposition here was arrested Monday and charged with incitement to violence, as a third day of street protests in the capital of Uganda has ended in the shrouds of tear gas and rubber bullets.

"Walk to work" protests are a campaign against the spirals of fuel and food prices led by the former candidate to the Presidency, Kizza Besigye.

Despite the meagre size of protests - rarely numbering more than a few hundred people in a country more $ 30 million - they got an overwhelming response by the security forces Government, sending tear gas through a crowd of spectators and dormitories of the University. Demonstrators were beaten and fired on, raise more political tensions.

Mr. Besigye was dragged on the back of a pickup truck by several police officers Monday, his right hand in a sling after be slaughtered by the military police with a Thursday rubber bullet, and a distribution on the second day of the walk to the work of the demonstrations. Demonstration on Monday was the third at the time where the riots broke out in a number of universities in Kampala.

A spokesman of the police, Judith Nabakooba, said the protests in Kampala had dissipated by the beginning of the afternoon and 98 people, including the leading political figures, have been arrested.

"The situation has been limited," said agent Nabakooba. She also said there were demonstrations in the nearby town of Jinja, on the Nile, but those too had been pacified.

Mr. Besigye, who won just over 20% of the vote in February, vowed earlier this month that he could walk at his home on the outskirts of Kampala from the town centre every Monday and Thursday to raise attention to the high prices of the products that he said are stimulated by the corruption of the Government.

Mr. unexpected cited Besigye a supplementary budget of 250 million just before the February elections, the recent secret fighter acquisition Russian for about $ 750 million, as well as lucrative but oil contracts signed by the Government after the discoveries of oil wells in the West of the country.

Mr. Besigye vowed on Monday that he could walk to work again on Thursday.

On Saturday, President Yoweri Museveni said that Uganda should not complain about the increase in food prices, and that the Government would crush any demonstration, including walking to work the movement.

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Iraqis protest against the presence of U.S. troops

Radical imam Moqtada al-Sadr supporters demonstrate troops Saturday in Baghdad against the US presence in Iraq.Protesters want us troops outGates raises the prospect of some remainingThere soldiers were demonstrations throughout the Friday Iraq

Baghdad (CNN) , tens of thousands of demonstrators in Baghdad marked the eighth anniversary of the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime with a protest Saturday against the presence of American troops.

The demonstrators, followers of anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rally around Mustansriya Square, where they called us all the troops of is to withdraw from Iraq at the end of the year.

The demonstrators carried the Iraqi flag and banners, with some chanting "Baghdad is a free country, America get out!" and "not for" Occupation, not for America.

One banner read "no, not America," while another said: "Yes, Yes for Koran."

US troops are scheduled to depart from the Iraq end of the year under a bilateral agreement between the Iraqi Government and the United States.

But if increases in violence and instability persists in Iraq, it is possible that the two countries could agree to maintain US troops in Iraq, which has now approximately 47,000 US soldiers. The figure is down from a peak of 171 000 in 2003.

This prospect of US troops in Iraq disrupts many citizens, including thousands who support al-Sadr, a religious appeal of base in the cities and neighbourhoods in Iraq.

Sheikh Salah al-Obaidi, a cleric who has read a statement by demonstrators on behalf of al-Sadr, raised the possibility of US troops remain in Iraq, in the next year and beyond.

"If the invasion forces decide not to leave our country." What happens if they decide to stay? What happens if the US and other troops decide to remain in our land? .... You keep silent? "Al-Obaidi said, Declaration of reading al-Sadr singing of"God is great.""

"If they decide to stay in our country, while we have to do two things: first is to climb the armed resistance and lift the freeze on the Mehdi Army," al-Obaidi said. "".

He was referring to the suspension of August 2007 of the activities of the army of Mehdi, al-Sadr militia.

US military commanders have cited this move as of the main reasons for a decline in violence throughout the Iraq, where the forces of Al-Sadr fought US troops at the height of the war.

Emotions in the street was fuelled by the remarks of U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who made an unannounced visit this week to the Iraq and the presence of US troops discussed with senior officials, including Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

"My message to them was if there must be a presence or they still need help, we are open to that possibility." But it will have to ask, and the clock is ticking in Washington because we have many ongoing around the world and we offer you to make decisions, "Gates said.

"It would obviously be a presence that is a fraction of the size of that which we have here now, but it's really up to the Iraqis at this time."

Friday, the demonstrators in Baghdad and other provinces also focused on the fall of the regime Hussein and grievances arising from the war, including opposition to the US troops presence.

It is a change of theme in recent weeks, when Iraq demonstrators rallied on the same issues are considering that sparked demonstrations across the Arab world.

People were upset about corruption, unemployment, lack of basic services and restrictions on freedom of expression.

Demonstrators in the Sunni district of Adhamiya called for the release of the detainees and compensation for the "victims of the occupation."

"Some of the shouting demonstrators, no to occupation, step of foreign troops," witnesses said.

To place Baghdad Tahrir, about 300 demonstrators carrying banners and Iraqi flags, shouted, "we do not accept life in an occupied country anymore.".

One of the banners read, "Non-American and Iranian occupation." This includes a reference to the Shiite influence of the Iran with the masses and the Government of Iraq.

Women in pictures of their sons and husbands, who have disappeared or were killed during the war.

"In this war, so many women lost son and many others have become widows, only Iraqi step but also American women." "We are those who have paid the price of this war," said Shima Kareem, who was among the demonstrators.

Also proven hundreds in Fallujah, in the largely Sunni province of Anbar in the West and Samarra, in the province of Salahuddin in the North to demand the release of the detainees, compensation for the families of the victims and the departure of US troops.

Since 2003, 4,421 US troops have died in Iraq, according to military figures counted by CNN.

An invasion of the Iraq by the United States in March 2003 has led to the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime on April 9. The iconic reversal of the statue of the former leader Firdous in Baghdad place symbolizes the fall of the regime.

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