Date: Aug 16, 2011
Source: Associated Press
 
Latest developments in Arab world's unrest

SYRIA
More than 5,000 Palestinian refugees flee a camp in the besieged Syrian city of Latakia after President Bashar Assad's forces shell the city during a broad military assault to root out dissent, the U.N. says. UNRWA, the U.N. agency that aids Palestinian refugees, says the Palestinians fled after Latakia came under fire from gunboats cruising off the coast and ground troops attacking the city over the weekend. It is not known where the refugees are seeking shelter.
___
JORDAN
Jordan's prime minister tells his Syrian counterpart to end the bloody crackdown on anti-government protesters immediately. The remarks by Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit are the first official Jordanian condemnation of Assad's brutal response to the five-month-old uprising against his regime.
___
EGYPT
The judge trying ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters who toppled his regime orders a halt to the live broadcast of his trial after a chaotic session in which lawyers pushed, shoved and scuffled to get on television. Showing the hearings live on state television was a nod by Judge Ahmed Rifaat to activists who complained that the military rulers now in charge of the country are dragging their feet bringing Mubarak and stalwarts of his regime to justice.
___
LIBYA
Moammar Gadhafi's forces push rebels back from the center of the strategic city of Zawiya in fierce fighting to try to prevent the opposition from consolidating a major advance to within 30 miles of the capital Tripoli. Also, Libyan Interior Minister Nassr al-Mabrouk Abdullah flies to Cairo on his private plane with nine family members, apparently defecting.