Oman protesters unmoved by sultan's offer

By the CNN Wire Staff

February 28, 2011 -- Updated 1938 GMT (0338 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Demonstrators in Oman's second city close routes to the port and industrial area
• NEW: They demand more freedom, a new constitution and prosecution of security officials
• Clashes were reported in the Omani industrial town of Sohar
• The sultan orders hiring of 50,000 people after weekend protests

(CNN) -- Anti-government protesters in Oman refused to end protests Monday, despite orders from the sultan to hire 50,000 people and pay a stipend to people who are out of work, sources in the Gulf state told CNN.

Demonstrators in the town of Sohar have blocked routes to the port and the industrial zone, prompting port staff to leave work, two sources in the town said.

Protesters demands include greater freedom of expression, higher salaries, a clampdown on government corruption, a new constitution, and the prosecution of security officials whose actions led to the death of demonstrators.

It's the third day of demonstrations in Oman's second city, a key port.

Oman is not a major oil producer, but a significant share of the world's oil shipping passes through the Strait of Hormuz, along the Omani coast. Oil prices did not appear to be spiking on Monday's Omani unrest.

Witnesses did not report any clashes between security and the protesters, saying the two sides were keeping apart.

There were reports of attacks on property over the weekend, but on Monday the protesters organized committees to protect buildings and handle traffic, CNN's sources said.

Fifteen young protesters submitted their demands in writing to officials Monday, with promises that the demands would passed to the sultan.

There have been calls for demonstrations in the capital Muscat on Tuesday.

Sultan Qaboos bin Said ordered the hiring of 50,000 citizens in the aftermath of weekend protests that left at least one person dead and 11 others injured, state-run media reported Sunday.

The ruler also issued royal orders saying job-seekers who register with the Ministry of Manpower will be paid 150 rials (about U.S. $390) per month until they find jobs, according to the Oman News Agency.

After reports of multiple deaths on Sunday, Ahmed Al Saidi, the minister of health, said there had only been one death.

The protests started Saturday and were ongoing Monday, said Zamzam al Rashdi, editor-in-chief of the state-run Oman News Agency. A supermarket was burned Monday morning, she said.

Sunday's demonstration started peacefully before a couple of groups split off and started attacking a supermarket and a police station, and members from the Shura Council, al Rashdi said.

One of the targeted buildings was the Walli House, where the governor who represents the sultan in Sohar lives, a witness told CNN.

CNN's Caroline Faraj, Jennifer Fenton and Victoria Brown contributed to this report.

Vietnam activist Nguyen Dan Que held for uprising call

Following the fall of the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, unrest has spread in the Middle East

A veteran Vietnamese activist has been arrested after calling for a Middle East-style uprising in the country.

Nguyen Dan Que, 69, was later released but faces further questioning after an alleged internet appeal for the overthrow of the communist government.

Mr Que was detained in Ho Chi Minh City on Saturday. The democracy advocate has spent a total of 20 years in jail.

Following the fall of the presidents of Egypt and Tunisia, unrest has been spreading throughout the Middle East.

Analysts say the popular uprisings have also unnerved authoritarian governments further afield.

Mr Que urged young Vietnamese to follow the lead of the Arab world, reports said.

During a raid on his home, police allegedly seized thousands of anti-government documents, including an "appeal to all people" which called on the public to rise up against the government, the Tuoi Tre newspaper said.

The family of Mr Que confirmed he had been released but told the BBC he had been asked to attend daily "interrogation sessions".

Mr Que has been in and out of jail since 1978, after calling for a multi-party political system.

He was last detained in 2003, after writing a series of internet articles criticising government curbs on journalists.

He was sentenced to 30 months in jail for "abusing democratic rights to infringe upon the interests of the state", and was released in 2005 under an amnesty.

In 1990 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for his involvement in a political reform movement - but was granted amnesty in 1998 on the understanding he would resettle in the US - but he stayed in Vietnam.

Silvio Berlusconi: Italy PM's tax fraud trial resumes

The Italian leader faces four trials in the coming weeks

Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi has gone back on trial in Milan but, as expected, has not appeared in court.

The tax fraud case involving his Mediaset business empire is the first of four legal battles facing the Italian leader over the next few weeks.

The trial was suspended in April 2010 because of a law, now partially struck down, granting him temporary immunity.

Two related cases restart in March and he is in court for sex with an under-age prostitute and abuse of power.

Mr Berlusconi, 74, has denied all the allegations against him. He argues that he has been targeted as part of a left-wing campaign by Milan magistrates.

Monday's trial involves allegations that Italy's largest private broadcaster Mediaset inflated the price of rights to broadcast US movies bought via two offshore companies controlled by Mr Berlusconi.

Prosecutors say some of the money declared was skimmed off to create illegal slush funds.

The government's immunity law was partially removed last month by Italy's Constitutional Court. It ruled that individual judges should themselves decide whether Mr Berlusconi had a "legitimate impediment" as an elected official that prevented him from taking part in the hearings.

Although the prime minister did not turn up for Monday's trial in Milan, his lawyers did not attempt to invoke any "legitimate impediment" for his absence from the courtroom, the Ansa news agency reported.

They said he would probably appear at the next hearing on 11 April, Ansa said.

The Italian leader is due to go on trial five days earlier on a charge of paying for sex with 17-year-old nightclub dancer Karima el Mahroug. Prostitution is legal in Italy, but sex with girls younger than 18 is not. He is also accused of trying to persuade police to release her from custody in an unrelated theft case.

Iran: Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi 'arrested'

Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi had previously been under house arrest

Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, and their wives, have been taken from their homes by security forces, reports suggest.

Mr Karroubi's son told the BBC he had heard his father had been moved, but did not know where he had been taken.

A website close to Mr Mousavi claims the men have been taken to Heshmatiyeh jail in Tehran.

Iranian government officials denied the report, the semi-official Fars news agency said.

It comes ahead of planned protests that are due to be held on Tuesday.

Fars quoted an unnamed official in Iran's judiciary as denying that the men had been taken.

"The two are currently in their homes and there have only been restrictions on their contacts," the official said.

'Security vans'

Both Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi have called for demonstrations in Iran in the light of the recent uprisings in Tunisia and in Egypt.

Earlier this month the two men, along with their wives, were detained in their respective homes in Tehran as protests were staged on the streets of the capital.

On Monday one of Mr Karroubi's sons told BBC Persian service he had been told his father had been "taken by security forces to an unspecified location".

Mr Mousavi's Kaleme website reported that the men and their wives "have been arrested and were transferred to the Heshmatiyeh prison of Tehran".

"According to credible sources, the arrest and the transfer to jail is sure but the date when it occurred is still uncertain," it said.

A neighbour said that he had seen eight security vans outside Mr Karroubi's home late on Thursday night. Shortly afterwards the vans then left the area along with one car, he said.

Earlier on Monday, Iran's state prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejehi was quoted by the official Irna news agency saying that the country's authorities have restricted the two men's meetings and phone calls.

"Should circumstances arise, other measures will be taken," he added.

Thousands of supporters of Mr Mousavi and Mr Karroubi took to the streets of Tehran on 14 February, amid clashes with security forces which left two dead.

Some 1,500 people were detained, opposition groups said, but official figures put the number at 150.

Following the clashes, Iranian MPs called for the two opposition leaders to be tried and executed.

New Zealand falls silent in Christchurch quake memorial

1 March 2011 Last updated at 01:41 GMT

Engineers say at least a third of the buildings in the centre of Christchurch will need to be demolished

New Zealand has held a two-minute silence exactly a week after the devastating Christchurch earthquake.

The quake struck at 1251 local time (2351 GMT) at shallow depth, when the South Island city was at its busiest.

The death toll currently stands at 154, but officials say it could rise as high as 240 as dozens of people are missing.

Frequent aftershocks have been hampering rescue efforts. The cost of the 6.3-magnitude quake is expected to reach NZ$20bn ($15bn; £9.3bn).

On Monday afternoon, the whole country fell silent to mark the moment the deadly earthquake struck seven days ago.

Rescuers downed their tools for two minutes before resuming their work.

At a police briefing earlier in the day, Superintendent Dave Cliff said the death toll was likely to climb higher than the previous estimate of 200.

"We need to start considering the figure of around 240 but (it's) not locked in stone, because we're still getting information in," Mr Cliff said.

Prime Minister John Key has promised a major inquiry, saying there were legitimate questions about why so many buildings had collapsed.

He said there was still a glimmer of hope survivors could be found. However, rescuers have not pulled out anyone alive from the rubble since Wednesday.

The prime minister also announced an initial NZ$120m package of subsidies that will pay the salaries of people who cannot return to work because of the quake damage.

"A vibrant city provides jobs for its people and this is a broken city, one that needs to be repaired," Mr Key said.

Identification process

Families and friends have begun burying their loved ones. The first funeral service was held on Monday for the youngest victim so far - baby Baxtor Gowland, born just after last September's quake.

He was one of two babies killed in the disaster.

Only eight of the dead have been officially named. Police have warned that some bodies might be beyond recognition.

Specialists from Britain are preparing to join the task of identifying the victims.

A multi-national team of more than 600 rescuers is continuing to search through the wreckage of collapsed buildings.

Engineers say at least a third of structures in the centre of Christchurch will need to be demolished. Hundreds of damaged suburban homes may also have to be pulled down.

The opening of new cracks in a cliff overlooking some outer suburbs and continuing aftershocks have kept residents nervous.

People are still trying to leave the city, says the BBC's Phil Mercer in Christchurch. Power has been restored to most of the city but water supply remains a problem, with residents being urged to boil water for drinking or cooking because of contamination fears.

CLICKABLE Select the images for more details.

Brotherhood: Talk of revolution within the group is 'bizarre'

Mounir Adib

Tarek Salah

Hany ElWaziry

Mon, 28/02/2011 - 18:55

Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood representative Essam el-Arian speaks during a press conference after talks with the government,Cairo, February 6, 2011. Opponents of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's embattled regime dismissed as insufficient an offer to include them in political reform plans, and renewed their demands that he step down.

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Photographed by AFP

• 1

Young brotherhood group members to revolt and dissolve the bureau and the group’s Shura Council is strange and contradicts the group’s ethics, the Muslim Brotherhood’s Guidance Bureau said.

Young group members had called for an internal “revolution” by 30,000 members against the group leadership on 17 March. They demanded that former General Guide Mohamed Mahdi Akef lead the group for an interim period until new elections are held for the bureau and the council.

“We are not a group of old people as some may think,” said bureau member Abdel Rahman al-Barr. “Talk of a revolution is bizarre.”

Bureau member Saad al-Husseiny, for his part, denied meeting with representatives of the group young members. “Let’s see what happens on 17 March,” he said.

Meanwhile, other young members of the group launched a counter campaign on Facebook, accusing those calling for a revolution of attempting to incite discord within the group.

Authorities mull holding presidential elections before parliamentary ones

Mansour Kamel

Mon, 28/02/2011 - 18:08

A sanitation worker removes campaign posters for candidates who competed in the 2010 Parliamentary elections from off of a street wall following the elections, 7 November, 2010. High Elections Commission spokesman Sameh el-Kashef had announced that the National Democratic Party won 420 seats in the Parliamentary elections, while opposition parties won 15 seats and independents won 69 seats.

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Photographed by Staff

• 1

Sources say that the cabinet and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces are considering holding presidential elections before parliamentary ones, in response to demands by various political forces.

The sources explained that the president, in that case, would be sworn in before the Supreme Constitutional Court instead of parliament.

In related news, Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq met with Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa.