Copts, Muslims clash in Cairo

At least one person killed as Egyptian Christians protesting the torching of a church clash with Muslims in the capital. Last Modified: 08 Mar 2011 23:57 GMT

Coptic protesters had gathered in Cairo to demonstrate against the burning of a church last week [Reuters] At least one person has been killed in clashes between Christian Copts and Muslims in the Egyptian capital Cairo, a hospital official has said. The death of Mina Fares Hanna on Tuesday occurred in the working-class district of Moqattam. It comes as at least 1,000 Copts gathered to protest the burning of a church last week. It was the second burst of sectarian fighting in as many days and the latest in a string of violent protests over a variety of topics as simmering unrest continues nearly a month after mass protests led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin, reporting from the capital Cairo, said that Christians were demanding "an end to what they describe as discrimination by the state." "The military intervened to prevent further clashes, but the episode underscores the simmering tension between the two communities," he said. Fighting broke out mid-afternoon, and people threw rocks from both sides. Witnesses said soldiers at the scene fired shots into the air to disperse the crowds. The protest outside Cairo's radio and television building also came a day after at least 2,000 Copts demanded the re-building of the torched church, and that those responsible be brought to justice. The Shahedain [Two Martyrs] church, in the Helwan provincial city of Sol, was set ablaze on Friday after clashes between Copts and Muslims left at least two people dead. The violence was triggered by a feud between two families, which disapproved of a romantic relationship between a Christian man and a Muslim woman in Sol. There are around 7,000 Christians in Sol, out of a total population of 50,000. "Problems escalated in the village when a group of Muslims headed to the burned out church and conducted a mass prayer there," Maged Ibrahim, a local resident told state television. On Monday, Egypt's ruling military council vowed to have the church rebuilt and prosecute those behind the arson attack. History of animosity There is a long history of animosity between Copts and Muslims in Egypt, though there have been recent signs of a rapprochement following a deadly New Year's Day bombing of a church in Alexandria and during the recent popular uprising that unseated long-time president Mubarak. Twenty-one people died and dozens more were wounded when what was believed to be a suicide bomber blew himself up just after midnight on New Year's as worshippers left a church in the port city of Alexandria. No one has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after an al-Qaeda-linked group said it was behind a deadly church hostage-taking in the Iraqi capital of Baghdad,and threatened Coptic Christians as well. But as Copts celebrated their Christmas on January 7, thousands of Muslims gathered at churches across the country, forming human shields to protect them as they worshipped. And during anti-Mubarak protests in Cairo in January, there were also cases of Copts doing the same for Muslims as they prayed in Tahrir Square. Christians, who make up about 10 per cent of Egypt's 80 million population, complain of systematic discrimination and have been the target of several sectarian attacks.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Yemeni police fire on protesters

At least 75 pro-democracy demonstrators injured in the shooting as calls for president Saleh's ouster gain momentum. Last Modified: 08 Mar 2011 22:39 GMT Security forces in Yemen have opened fire on peaceful protesters in the capital Sanaa on Tuesday, wounding at least 75 people demonstrating for an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule. Three of the wounded were in a serious condition, according to medical sources. Policemen and security agents in civilian clothes opened fire as they tried to prevent people from joining thousands of protesters who have camped out for weeks in front of Sanaa University, the epicentre of the demonstrations. Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from the capital Sanaa, said the security forces were "clearly given orders to disperse the crowd." "This is a dramatic turn of events that will likely raise tensions. The protesters were trying to move to Tahrir Square, and the government seems to have panicked," he added. Our correspondent points out that the shooting comes few weeks after president Saleh pledged to protect peaceful protesters. There was no immediate government comment. Police brought out water cannon and placed concrete blocks around Sanaa University, the rallying point for anti-Saleh protest that had been quiet in recent days, after weeks of fierce clashes across the country between government loyalists and protesters that killed at least 27 people. Separately, around 10,000 protesters marched in the city of Dhamar, 60 km (40 miles) south of Sanaa, residents said by telephone. Dhamar is known for ties to Saleh and is the hometown of Yemen's prime minister, interior minister and head judge. "Leave! leave!" the protesters shouted in Dhamar, just two days after Saleh loyalists there held a similar-sized rally. Protesters also pelted a municipal official with rocks. Burgeoning protests fuelled by anger over poverty and corruption, and a series of defections from Saleh's political and tribal allies, have added pressure on him to step aside this year even as he pledges to stay on until his term ends in 2013. Prisoners killed Meanwhile, three prisoners at a Sanaa prison were reported killed and four others injured, Sharif Mobley, an inmate, told Al Jazeera via phone. Dozens more were injured as a consequence of the unrest, which began on Monday, when around 2,000 prisoners staged riots, taking a dozen guards hostage. The inmates set their blankets and mattresses on fire before occupying the prison's main courtyard, an official who declined to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media said. The guards fired tear gas and gunshots into the air but failed to subdue the prisoners, the official added. "At the moment there is no violence, there is no fighting," Mobley said on Tuesday morning, "but the situation is really looking very bad". "The offices of the prison official have been burned down and the guards have all left and are now outside," he said. "Authorities are outside the prison gates and we are inside the prison. We don't want to make any problems and are afraid for our lives." Al Jazeera's Hashem Ahelbarra, said the "situation has not yet been contained". "We have been told by different sources and inmates that the situation is really delicate ... inside the jail. It is has [also] become very tense in the capital," said our correspondent. Yemen has been rocked by protests inspired by recent uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia that ousted those nations' leaders. Many protesters are angry at widespread corruption in a country where 40 per cent live on $2 a day or less and where university graduates without connections struggle to get jobs. Youth unemployment is rampant. Yemen is also riven with regional strife, with Shia rebels in the north and separatists in the south demanding fairer political participation. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Libya Live Blog - March 9

By Al Jazeera Staff in

Africa

on March 8th, 2011.

Fierce fighting continues as rebel fighters battle pro-Gaddafi forces [Reuters]

Show oldest updates on top

As the uprising in Libya continues, we update you with the latest developments from our correspondents, news agencies and citizens across the globe. Al Jazeera is not responsible for content derived from external sites.

Blog: Feb17 - Feb18 - Feb19 - Feb20 - Feb21 - Feb22 - Feb23 - Feb24 - Feb25 - Feb26 - Feb27 - Feb28 - Mar1 - Mar2 -Mar 3 - Mar4 - Mar5 - Mar6 - Mar 7 - Mar8

AJE Live Stream - Special Coverage: Libya Uprising - Twitter Audio - Tweeting revolutions

(All times are local in Libya GMT+2)

• Timestamp:

  5:00am

  Gaddafi speaks in the capital Tripoli, after the opposition National Council gives him 72 hours to step down. He says that the rebels fighting government forces have been brainwashed by al-Qaeda.

• Timestamp:

  4:46am

  Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi appears on state television, saying that "misguided and mad groups" are responsible for the continued violence in the country.

• Timestamp:

  4:40am

  Nic Robertson of CNN tweeted that Libya’s deputy foreign minister said a no-fly zone would be a declaration of war against Libya. The Libyan official also demanded that the UN accept Libya’s new ambassador to United Nations.

• Timestamp:

  3:20am

  Libyan leader, Muammar Gaddafi, made another fleeting appearance around at a hotel where more than 100 foreign journalists had waited for hours. Just when they thought he would speak to them, his handlers took him to a private room in the hotel for an interview with a Turkish television.
  
  The journalists thought he would make a statement, or, as Al Arabiya television predicted, make one of his long, rumbling speeches. Yet when Gaddafi sneaked out of a side door, many, including NBC’s Richard Engel, took to the social networking site Twitter to express their disappointment.

  "Another reporter said:"We waited all day to watch Gaddafi walk through a lobby. Who's crazy? Him or us?"

• Timestamp:

  1:18am

  Libyan state television releases video footage of what they say is a captured member of the country's rebel forces.
  
  He says there are no mercenaries among pro-Gaddafi forces, and that Libya is targeted by Western countries in a bid to control its oil.
  
  Experssing remorse for his alleged membership of the opposition, he also denies that air raids on eastern cities have occurred, and that "fanatic groups from outside Libya" are fighting in the country's east.

• Timestamp:

  12:40am

  AFP - Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said that any decision to impose a no-fly zone over Libya should be taken by the United Nations and "not the United States".

  "I think it's very important that it is not a US-led effort because this comes from the people of Libya themselves," she said.
  
  "We think it is important that the United Nations make that decision. This doesn't come from the outside. This doesn't come from some Western power or some Gulf country saying: 'This is what you should do.'"

Prime Minister Khalifa Bin Salman trying to divide Bahrain

CarlosLatuff

Sunnis and Shias United for Bahrain

CarlosLatuff

Calls for Reconciliation in Palestine - Gaza #WestBank

CarlosLatuff

China’s Wen pledges to address ‘great resentment’

Says govt would work hard to meet demands

Saturday, 05 March 2011

A Chinese man arrested after the Tunisia-inspired ‘Jasmine rallies’ taking place in Beijing

BEIJING (AFP)

Premier Wen Jiabao on Saturday acknowledged "great resentment" in China over growing income disparity, corruption and other problems, and vowed his government would work harder to meet public demands.

In a "state of the nation" speech opening the annual 10-day session of the nation's rubber-stamp parliament, Wen admitted his government had "not yet fundamentally solved a number of issues that the masses feel strongly about."

These included high consumer and housing prices, "significant problems concerning food safety and rampant corruption", and people being illegally kicked off their land to make way for unrestrained property development.

China will "effectively solve problems that cause great resentment among the masses," Wen told nearly 3,000 delegates at the National People's Congress (NPC) in a two-hour address at the Great Hall of the People in the heart of Beijing.

"We must therefore have a strong sense of responsibility toward the country and the people and work tirelessly and painstakingly to solve these problems more quickly to the satisfaction of the people," he said.

The NPC convened amid an increase in tension after a similar mix of issues helped spark unrest across the Arab world.

Topping the agenda is inflation and Wen pledged the communist leadership would step up its fight to contain rising prices of food, housing and other essentials, warning the problem "affects social stability".

"We must therefore make it our top priority in macroeconomic control to keep overall price levels stable," he said, reiterating the government's 2011 inflation target of around four percent.

Inflation has remained stubbornly high -- 4.9 percent in January -- despite a series of policy steps including three interest rate hikes in recent months.

The consumer price index rose by a more than two-year high of 5.1 percent in November. Inflation has a history of sparking unrest in China, with its hundreds of millions of poor farmers and low-paid workers scraping to get by.

Quick price jumps in the second half of 2010 will "likely have a significant carry-over effect on prices in the first half of this year," warned China's top economic planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission.

Wen indicated the government's macroeconomic offensive would continue, saying: "We will implement a prudent monetary policy."

Decades of blistering export-dependent growth have made China's economy the second-largest in the world.

But China has struggled to spread the wealth evenly among its 1.3 billion population and Wen referred repeatedly to that issue in his speech, lamenting the country's "large income gap".

Beijing now wants to follow a more sustainable, environmentally-friendly path under a revamped economic growth blueprint for 2011-2015 which calls for more balanced development that leaves fewer people behind.

The premier noted China's annual eight percent economic growth target for 2011 -- considered the minimum required to keep the economy growing fast enough to stave off social unrest.

That goal is routinely surpassed each year. Last year, the economy grew 10.3 percent.

But Wen also reiterated a pledge made last Sunday that China would aim for a less frenetic seven percent annual growth under the new five-year plan.

He pledged to create 45 million urban jobs over the next five years, "reduce the number of people living in poverty," increase incomes, raise minimum wages and basic pensions and hike the individual income tax threshold.

"We will continue to increase government spending used to help expand consumption, and increase subsidies to low-income urban residents and farmers," he said.

And Wen repeated government promises to curb property speculation, which is blamed for surging prices, and ensure a supply of low-income housing.

The government will work to "genuinely stabilize house prices and meet the reasonable demands of residents for housing," he said.

The urgency of appeasing disgruntled constituencies came into focus in the past two weeks with mysterious Internet calls for weekly Sunday "strolling" rallies in major Chinese cities.

They have largely fizzled under smothering security but the heavy police response revealed official concern over public dissatisfaction.

A mix of similar hot-button issues -- combined with a lack of democracy -- sparked popular uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and elsewhere in the Arab world.

China's powerless parliament approves whatever is submitted by the ruling Communist Party, which uses the annual session to outline its concerns and the overall policy direction for each year.