FRI 29 - 3 - 2024
 
Date: Sep 22, 2011
Source: Associated Press
 
Latest developments in Arab world's unrest
LIBYA
The U.S. ambassador to Libya returns to Tripoli to lead a newly reopened American Embassy in a post-Moammar Gadhafi era. Ambassador Gene Cretz arrives in Tripoli a day before plans to raise the U.S. flag over the embassy building in the Libyan capital. It was about eight months after he left for consultations in Washington in January after WikiLeaks posted his scathing opinions of Gadhafi's personal life and habits in a classified 2009 diplomatic cable.
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SYRIA
Syrian security forces move against several schools and detain students who demonstrated against President Bashar Assad's regime, while troops shoot dead at least four people in central Syria. Dozens of students are detained in the southern village of Jassem. Also, security forces surround several schools in the Damascus suburbs of Harasta, Arbeen and Zamalka, activists say. Students have been demonstrating against Assad's regime since Sunday, the first day of the school year.
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YEMEN
Yemeni government forces fire mortars at tens of thousands of mourners at funerals held for protesters killed in clashes and attacked an opposition base, shattering a cease-fire negotiated a day earlier to end the Arab nation's latest bout of deadly violence. The two attacks kill 16 people. The mourners gathered for funeral prayers for anti-government protesters killed in a deadly, three-day government crackdown in which the death toll topped 80 — a sudden spike in violence explained by protesters' impatience with their longtime president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who they say is dragging his feet instead of signing a deal to step down.
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OMAN
A court in Oman orders the one-month closure of a prominent newspaper and sentences two of its editors to jail after the country's justice minister accused them of slander. The case has stirred complaints about media clampdowns in the Gulf-Arab nation, which faced small but significant pro-reform protests earlier this year.
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UAE
International rights groups call on the United Arab Emirates to release from custody five political activists who campaigned for democratic reforms in the oil-rich Gulf country. The activists, including a blogger and an academic, were detained in April after they signed an online petition demanding constitutional changes and free elections. The rights groups say authorities should drop the charges against the activists and release them ahead of parliamentary elections, scheduled for Saturday.
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BAHRAIN
Traffic is brought to a crawl on many Bahrain highways after calls by pro-reform groups to flood the roads with cars in a show of strength before parliamentary elections later this week. Shiite-led protesters are seeking to send a message of defiance to Sunni authorities after warnings of harsh responses to any attempts at disrupting Saturday's voting in the Gulf kingdom. The traffic jams hit during the morning commute.
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TUNISIA
The head of the European Union's mission to Tunisia says 150 observers will be sent to monitor the different phases of upcoming elections. Michael Gahler says another 15 members of the European Parliament will come three days before the Oct. 23 elections to observe the vote for a constitutional assembly. Tunisians overthrew their long-serving dictator in January after a monthlong popular uprising that sparked similar demonstrations across the Arab world.


 
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