Sunday, April 10, 2011

Will's Links


From Will at The Other News:

  • Egypt: Army crackdown in Cairo's Tahrir Square.Egypt's army has cracked down on protests in Cairo's symbolic Tahrir Square, leaving at least one person dead and dozens injured.The violence occurred overnight as the army tried to clear protesters calling for ex-President Hosni Mubarak and his family to be tried for corruption.The injured suffered gunshot wounds but the army denies using live rounds.Tahrir Square became the symbolic centre of protests that led to Mr Mubarak stepping down this year.Egypt's health ministry has so far confirmed that one person died overnight and says 71 people were hurt.Medical sources told news agencies that at least two people had died.Protesters have now returned to the square following the army withdrawal and are continuing demonstrations.In an apparent concession to the protesters the ruling military council announced on Saturday that it would replace a number of provincial governors appointed by Mr Mubarak - another demand of the demonstrators.However, the army also said it was "ready" to use force to clear the square and allow normal life to resume."Tahrir Square will be emptied of protesters with firmness and force to ensure life goes back to normal," Major General Adel Emarah, of the military council, told a news conference.The army had maintained a generally neutral role in the earlier mass demonstrations.But about 300 troops moved into the square at about 0300 local time (0100 GMT) on Saturday to break up a camp in the centre.Protesters say they were beaten with clubs and shots were fired.An army spokesman told Reuters news agency that only blanks were used.Three vehicles, two of them military, were set on fire during the unrest.The protesters were demanding a number of measures, including the resignation of the man who has replaced Mr Mubarak as interim leader, Field Marshal Mohamad Hussein Tantawi."Tantawi is Mubarak and Mubarak is Tantawi," they chanted.The military force finally withdrew and protesters began to reoccupy the square in daylight.Read and see the full story here.
  • WWIII to be launched?Arab League wants Gaza no-fly zone.Amr Mussa to ask UN that same sanction imposed on Libya be implemented against Israel. Meanwhile, Turkey strongly condemns 'excessive and disproportionate reprisals of Israel that have injured and killed civilians'.Arab League Chief Amr Mussa said Sunday that the organization would ask the United Nations Security Council to impose a no-fly zone over Gaza, which Israel has pounded with air strikes in response to rocket fire.Turkey on Sunday denounced what it termed Israel's "excessive and disproportionate" strikes on Gaza in retaliation for a Palestinian antitank missile attack last week. "We strongly condemn the excessive and disproportionate reprisals of Israel that have injured and killed civilians in Gaza," the Foreign Ministry said in a statement urging Israel to employ good sense and moderation. "The region cannot be allowed to enter into a new spiral of violence," it added.Relations between Israel and Turkey, once close allies, have sharply deteriorated in recent years amid Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's frequent outbursts against Israeli policies towards the Palestinians.Hmmmm.....Turkey ...Iran's henchman together with Hamas "Axes of evil"anyone?Read the full story here.
  • Obama to recall US troops from Europe.President Barack Obama has decided to reduce the US military’s permanent presence in Europe, in a move that goes some of the way towards enacting long-delayed Bush-era cuts.In a press release sent out late on Friday, the Pentagon said the number of brigade combat teams in the continent – which normally count for 4,000 soldiers each – would come down from four to three in 2015. That is the year when forces in Afghanistan are supposed to take the lead from Nato in the war in their country, where many of the troops from the BCTs have been deployed.Although the army said it had not yet decided which unit would be pulled out of Europe, it is likely to be one of two based in Germany – the 170th Brigade Combat Team in Baumholder or the 172nd Infantry Brigade based in Grafenwoehr.It comes despite congressional testimony last year from James Stavridis, the admiral who commands US forces in Europe, who said the four BCTs were “critical” to US interests. Richard Lugar, the senior Republican senator, has also questioned the administration’s plans, arguing in a recent letter to the Pentagon that the US’s “forward deployed military presence in Europe remains a principal manifestation of America’s ... commitment to Nato allies, especially at a time when many Nato allies have questioned US engagement on the European continent”.The decision continues a US drawdown from the continent that has seen a force of 300,000 during the cold war fall to fewer than 80,000 today. It also fits in with Mr Obama’s argument that the country’s allies should take greater responsibility for regional security, as in the case of the Nato operation in Libya.Read the full story here.
  • 61 Arrested At Paris Rally Against French Full-Face Veil Ban.PARIS (AP) – Police on Saturday arrested 61 people — including 19 women — for attempting to hold an outlawed Paris protest against France’s pending ban on face-covering Islamic veils, a top police official said.Fifty-nine people were detained while trying to demonstrate at Place de la Nation in eastern Paris, as were two others while traveling there from Britain and Belgium, said Nicolas Lerner, chief of staff for the Paris police chief.The arrests come amid in a rising, if small, groundswell of controversy over Monday’s start of an official ban of garments that hide the face, which includes Muslim veils such as the slit-eyed niqab and the full face-covering burqa.Women who disobey the law risk a fine, special classes and a police record.The demonstrators rallied in defiance of a ban of the protest ordered Friday by Paris police on the ground that a Muslim group’s call for the rally was “clearly an incitement to violence and racial hatred,” said Lerner.“The demonstration was not banned because of the practice (among some Muslim women) of wearing veils, but because of the speech,” he said, adding that Jewish groups and others had planned counter-protests — raising the prospect of public disorder.Most of the would-be protesters were released after being taken to police stations, though six remained in custody — mostly on suspicion of being in France illegally, Lerner said.The two would-be protesters who had tried to arrive from Britain and Belgium were known to French authorities. Police were under existing orders to stop and expel them, if they tried to reach France, Lerner said.Lerner identified the man who had traveled from Britain as Anjem Choudary, the head of Islam4UK until it was banned earlier this year by Britain’s government for glorifying al-Qaida. Several people associated with the group have been linked to terrorist acts.The protest was called by a group known as Unicite Tawhib, which has been linked to Internet sites that call for Islam to dominate France and the world, Lerner said.Hmmmm.......The Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, head of Al-Azhar, the highest seat of learning in the Sunni world.“The niqab is a tradition and has nothing to do with Islam,” said Sheikh Tantawi.Read the full story here.More here .

1 comment:

Atlanta Roofing said...

The protesters faced mounting criticism from other groups that took part in the revolt that toppled Mubarak. However Since Mubarak quit, protesters have held regular Friday demonstrations, the most recent one tens of thousands strong, demanding that he and other former regime officials face trial.