Bahrain protesters swamp business district

A Bahraini anti-government protester flashes victory signs at a military helicopter hovering over Manama. Pro-democracy protesters have poured into Bahrain's central business district as reports said Saudi forces were preparing to help the government restore order in the strategic Gulf kingdom.

Bahraini anti-government protesters stand close to makeshift roadblocks in Manama. Pro-democracy protesters have poured into Bahrain's central business district as reports said Saudi forces were preparing to help the government restore order in the strategic Gulf kingdom.

Map of Bahrain. Pro-democracy protesters have poured into Bahrain's central business district as reports said Saudi forces were preparing to help the government restore order in the strategic Gulf kingdom.

Bahraini anti-government protesters walk towards makeshift roadblocks in Manama, a day after Bahraini police clashed with demonstrators trying to occupy Manama's banking centre. Pro-democracy protesters have poured into Bahrain's central business district as reports said Saudi forces were preparing to help the government restore order in the strategic Gulf kingdom.

Tear gas is fired by Bahraini police among protestors gathered close to Pearl Square, the epicentre of anti-government protests in Manama. Pro-democracy protesters have poured into Bahrain's central business district as reports said Saudi forces were preparing to help the government restore order in the strategic Gulf kingdom.

AFP - Pro-democracy protesters poured into Bahrain's central business district Monday as reports said Saudi forces were preparing to help the government restore order in the strategic Gulf kingdom.

The Financial Harbour business complex was blocked off by protesters a day after more than 200 people were injured there in clashes between riot police and demonstrators, residents said.

It was the worst day of violence in the tiny Gulf kingdom since seven people were killed at the start of anti-regime unrest in mid-February.

Bahrain -- home of the US Fifth Fleet -- has become a regional financial hub as it seeks to diversify its economy away from dependence on diminishing oil revenues.

Thousands of demonstrators poured into the banking district -- a symbol of wealth and privilege -- and police appeared to have deserted the area, witnesses said. An unidentified military helicopter hovered in the sky.

Opposition parliamentarian Ali al-Aswad said a government official had informed MPs that Saudi security forces had been invited into the city to help quell the unrest.

Bahrain is joined to Saudi Arabia by a causeway across the Gulf.

"A government source told us during the night that the issue is serious and a decision (to invite foreign forces) has been taken," he told AFP.

He said the opposition would resist any such intervention as a foreign invasion.

"If Gulf forces enter Bahrain the people of Bahrain will deal with them as if they were occupation forces. We won't allow any foreign interference, either regional or Arab in Bahrain," he said.

Britain's Foreign Office cited reports that the Saudi National Guard will enter Bahrain as it urged Britons to avoid all travel to the mainly Shiite archipelago, where the Sunni monarchy is under mounting pressure to reform.

"The risk of further outbreaks of violence has increased," it said in the note issued late Sunday.

The website of Bahrain's Alyam newspaper, which is close to the Al-Khalifa royal family, said forces from the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council were expected to enter Bahrain to help boost security.

Witnesses said Shiite-led protesters continued to hold a sit-in at Pearl Square just outside the financial district, while others were blocking the main highway leading to the business district.

Most workers seemed to be following a trade union call for a general strike to protest violence by the security forces.

Crown Prince Salman late Sunday reiterated the government's offer of national dialogue on deep-rooted reforms but not at the expense of security and stability, state news agency BNA reported.

In a major concession to the opposition demands, the prince supported the creation of a parliament with full powers and pledged to tackle corruption and sectarian tensions.

But he warned that "legitimate demands should not be carried out at the price of security and stability."

The United States condemned the violence, amid claims -- dismissed as lies by the government -- that armed pro-regime thugs are intimidating students and opposition activists.

"We urge the government of Bahrain to pursue a peaceful and meaningful dialogue with the opposition rather than resorting to the use of force," White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

King Hamad also reiterated an offer of dialogue with the main opposition groups, which have refused to negotiate until the government resigns and dissidents are released from jail.

The mainstream opposition says it is not trying to overthrow the royal family but more radical Shiite elements have said they want to end the dynasty that has ruled the country for more than 200 years.

Australia also strongly advised its citizens Monday not to travel to Bahrain, "due to the unpredictable security situation and threat of terrorist attack."

Polls open for twice-delayed election in Benin

After a last-minute rush to get all voters registered, Benin opened polling stations Sunday for its presidential election. President Boni Yayi, who came into office in 2006, is seeking a second term but is currently embroiled in a financial scandal.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Benin holds presidential polls Sunday after chaotic preparations led to two earlier postponements, and some claim scores of people remain off the voter list despite a last-minute rush to register them.

President Boni Yayi, who came into office in 2006 pledging to crack down on corruption but now finds himself under fire over an alleged Ponzi scheme that left thousands without their savings, will be seeking a second term.

His main challenger, Adrien Houngbedji, backed by many of the traditional political elites in the small West African nation, has pushed for a third postponement of the election, arguing that voter registration should continue.

This time however, the United Nations and African Union has not joined calls for a delay, as they did ahead of the second postponement.

The head of West African bloc ECOWAS said Saturday the country was "less tense" than the week before.

"I am very, very pleased with what I have seen so far," ECOWAS chief James Victor Gbeho said.

Not everyone shared his opinion, however.

The country of some 9.2 million people will use an electronic voter register for the first time, but the process of compiling it led to opposition claims that more than a million people had been left off.

Others said that number was exaggerated and the figure was much lower.

A mop-up voter registration was originally to be held last Wednesday and Thursday, but was extended through to Saturday when crowds mobbed sign-up centres and equipment broke down.

Registration centres remained open deep into the night to accommodate the crowds who showed up. Those who had still been unable to sign up protested when soldiers arrived on Saturday to remove the equipment.

"They must be able to vote like all Benin citizens, and that is not the case today," the head of a district of the economic capital Cotonou, Charles Houessin, said after the registration period closed Saturday.

"It's a serious problem."

But while some warned that the chaotic preparations were a recipe for riots and disorder for Sunday's vote, a spokesman for the electoral commission said the vast majority of voters were signed up and he foresaw no major problems.

"We are ready," said Honorat Adjovi. "We cannot register everyone, but I can tell you that the maximum has been done."

The electoral list was not the only problem in the run up to the vote.

When the African Union and UN joined calls for a second postponement more than a week ago, they pointed out that electoral cards were still being distributed and voting station agents had not been designated and trained.

Yayi ruled out a third postponement in his final pre-election rally on Friday.

He faces a strong challenge from Houngbedji, 69, who has run in every presidential election since the start of multiparty democracy in 1990.

The 58-year-old president, an economist who worked at the Central Bank of West African States, has had anything but a smooth ride during his first five-year term.

He has been hit by a series of corruption scandals, most prominently involving an alleged Ponzi scheme by a firm he was accused of assisting. Yayi denies any wrongdoing.

Besides that, Benin was the hardest-hit by devastating West African flooding last year, according to the United Nations.

In Benin alone, floods destroyed 55,000 homes, killed tens of thousands of livestock and affected some 680,000 people, the UN said. At least 46 people were reported dead.

But despite the problems with election organisation as well as persistent corruption, Benin politics is seen as having advanced significantly over the last two decades.

The 2006 election won by Yayi was generally viewed as free and fair by international observers.

Polls were to open at 7:00 am (0600 GMT) and close at 4:00 pm (1500 GMT). Final results were not expected until several days later.

A third major candidate, Abdoulaye Bio Tchane, could help force a runoff, which would be held two weeks later.

Dozens injured in Casablanca protest

Dozens of protesters were wounded on Sunday after police dispersed a pro-reform protest in Casablanca, Morocco's largest city. The violence comes on the heels of King Mohammed VI's promises of sweeping democratic reforms.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Dozens of protesters were injured, some seriously, Sunday during a clash with security forces who tried to storm the headquarters of a left-wing party in Casablanca, witnesses and and reporters said.

The protesters had sought refuge in the offices of the Unified Socialist Party (PSU) after the security forces broke up a peaceful demonstration calling for political reforms.

A violent confrontation ensued during which a reporter said he witnessed police beating a pregnant woman and some young girls. "It was unusually violent," he said.

"We were meeting in the political office and were about to publish a communique praising the king's speech last Wednesday when the security forces tried to break in," Mohamed Bouaziz, a PSU leader, told AFP.

"The Casablanca governor gave the order," he said. "I consider this a serious political mistake and an action directed against His Majesty (King Mohammed VI), who promised to strengthen individual freedoms."

Earlier, security forces sealed off Mohammed V Square, the site of most demonstrations in the city, and forcefully kept protesters and pedestrians away, an AFP journalist and witnesses said.

The activists were from the Islamist Justice and Charity movement, which is banned but tolerated in Morocco and is one of the north African country's most important political parties.

King Mohammed VI on Wednesday announced sweeping democratic reforms including an elected prime minister and broader personal freedoms in his first speech to the nation since demonstrations on February 20 calling for democratisation and less corruption.

The Moroccan press on Friday described the promised reforms, announced amid popular uprisings rocking the Arab world, as "historic" while speculating over the future of some members of the king's entourage.

New Israeli housing for West Bank

The Israeli government said Sunday that it has approved construction of several hundred new houses in the West Bank. The announcement comes a day after a deadly knife attack against an Israeli settler family.

By News Wires (text)

AP - Israel has approved the construction of hundreds of settler homes, the prime minister’s office said Sunday, in a stern message to the Palestinians after three children and their parents were killed in their sleep in a West Bank settlement over the weekend.

Israeli officials suspect Palestinian militants carried out the deadly knife attack, which could cool any Israeli plans to propose a new peace initiative. Israel’s move to build more settler homes antagonized the Palestinians and further complicated badly troubled peace efforts.

The settlement construction, approved Saturday night by the Cabinet’s ministerial team on settlements, would take place in major West Bank settlement blocs that Israel expects to hold on to in any final peace deal, the prime minister’s office said in a text message to reporters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under domestic pressure to respond harshly to the killings - is a member of that team.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to release this information to the media, said between 300 and 500 apartments and homes were approved for construction.

Palestinian opposition to settlement construction on lands they want for a future state has brought negotiations to a virtual standstill over the past two years, with Palestinians refusing to negotiate directly with Israel as long as it persists.

“We condemn this act of accelerated settlement construction,” senior Palestinian official Saeb Erekat said. “We urge the international community to intervene and implement the two-state solution. This is the only way out of this vicious circle of violence and counter-violence.”

Settler leader Dani Dayan called the government’s move “a very small step in the right direction.”

Although ground has been broken on as many as 500 apartments and homes since an Israeli moratorium on new West Bank settlement construction expired in late September, the government is holding up approvals on hundreds of other homes, to the settlers’ chagrin.

The attack Friday night in Itamar, home to some of Israel’s most radical settlers, was the deadliest against Israelis in years, and security forces were on alert Sunday for possible settler retaliation against Palestinians. The general security level around the country was raised, with an emphasis on the West Bank and Jerusalem, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

On Saturday, Netanyahu called on all Israelis “to act with restraint and not to take the law into their own hands.”

The military said suspects had been taken into custody in connection with the killings but would give no details.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a mostly defunct Palestinian militant group, took responsibility for the killings. But it was not clear if the group really was responsible because it frequently takes credit for attacks it didn’t commit in a bid to raise its profile.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the killings and Palestinian security forces were also searching for the perpetrators, Palestinian officials said. But in Gaza, ruled by Islamic Hamas militants, officials applauded the attack and residents celebrated the killings.

Developments on the diplomatic front could depend in part on whether the violence spreads.

U.S.-backed peace talks between the two sides collapsed last year amid disputes over continued Israeli construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, territory Palestinians envision as part of their future state.

Netanyahu had been expected to deliver a major policy speech soon, possibly proposing a Palestinian state within temporary borders as a way out of a longstanding negotiations impasse. Such a proposal is anathema to the Palestinians, who fear the temporary arrangement will become permanently entrenched.

With peacemaking at a standstill, the Palestinians are pushing for world recognition of an independent state - with or without a deal. Although that would not deliver them an actual state, it could isolate Israel.

The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv had no reaction to the settlement construction approval. But the Israeli government official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the U.S. was aware of the Israeli decision.

Eight dead in Diyala car bomb

At least eight soldiers have died after a car bomb exploded near an army headquarters in Iraq's volatile Diyala province according to security sources Monday. The blast is the latest in a string of attacks targeting security forces in the region.

By News Wires (text)

REUTERS - A car bomb attack on an Iraqi army unit in volatile Diyala province killed at least eight soldiers, security sources said on Monday, as the Iraqi government continues to battle a stubborn insurgency.

The blast took place near an army headquarters in Kanaan, 70 km (45 miles) northeast of Baghdad, killing eight soldiers and wounding 12, one source in Diyala's operations command said. Another source said 10 soldiers were killed and 13 wounded.

However, Muthana al-Timimi, head of the security committee of the Diyala provincial council, gave the casualty figures as five dead and 10 wounded and said the blast was caused by a large quantity of explosives placed near government buildings, including the army headquarters.

Rescue workers were searching for survivors in the rubble, a witness at the scene told Reuters. The explosion damaged the army headquarters and nearby buildings, he said.

"I can see a big hole in the ground and three damaged buildings," said the witness.

Samira al-Shibli, a spokeswoman for the Diyala provincial governor, said three soldiers were killed and six wounded.

"It was a parked car bomb attack on an Iraqi army intelligence unit ... The sound of the blast was heard in all of the city of Baquba," she said. Another car bomb was discovered at the scene but was defused, she said.

Iraqi security sources and officials sometimes give conflicting figures of casualties.

Diyala is a province where al Qaeda and other Sunni insurgents still battle Iraqi security forces. A volatile mix of minority Kurds, majority Shi'ites and Sunnis has made it difficult to bring peace to Diyala.

Suspected Sunni insurgents and Shi'ite militia have stepped up assaults in recent months on Iraqi policemen and soldiers, seeking to undermine faith in the security forces before a full U.S. military withdrawal by the end of this year.

Opposition leader wins Niger's presidential election

Opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou won this weekend's presidential election with 58 percent of vote, the election commission said Monday.

By News Wires (text)

AFP - Veteran opposition leader Mahamadou Issoufou won elections intended to return Niger to civilian rule after a military coup, taking 57.95 percent of the vote, the election commission announced Monday.

Issoufou, 59, defeated former prime minister Seini Oumarou, 60, who took 42.05 percent of the votes cast in a run-off election on Saturday, electoral commission chief Gousmane Abdourahamane announced.

Voter turnout was 48.17 percent, down from 51.56 percent in the first round on January 31, he said.

Oumarou is a former ally of president Mamadou Tandja, who was toppled in a military coup in February 2010 after he attempted to extend his rule beyond the constitutional limits.

Shooting, tear gas reported at Yemeni protest

From Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN

March 14, 2011 -- Updated 1001 GMT (1801 HKT)

An injured protester is carried into a mosque yard after police fired live rounds and tear gas in Change Square, a witness said.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Anti-government protesters wanted to enter Change Square
• Security forces set up a road block
• Protesters forced their way in
• Security forces responded by shooting and lobbing tear gas, witnesses say

(CNN) -- For the second time in two days, security forces fired live ammunition and lobbed tear gas during protests in Change Square outside Sanaa University on Sunday, Ala'a Al-Khowlani, a witness at the scene, said.

Other witnesses told CNN that at least 10 people were injured.

The clashes began after pro-government demonstrators and security forces set up a road block preventing anti-government protesters from entering Change Square, witnesses said. While protesters were allowed to leave, they were not allowed to re-enter.

Anti-government protesters demanded they be allowed in, and tensions heightened when they forced themselves through the road block, witnesses said. After the protesters made their way in, the shooting started and tear gas was used, they reported.

According to Al-Khowlani, some believe that security forces and police dressed as civilians were shooting into the crowd from nearby rooftops.

In Aden City on Sunday, four protesters were injured by security forces gunfire, witnesses there said.

One day earlier, three people in Aden City died from gunshot wounds when security forces tried to disperse an anti-government rally, a medical official with the group Youth for Change said. A fourth person was killed in Dar Saad, in Aden Province, when a group of anti-government protesters stormed a government complex and set a police station on fire, the medical official said.

A Yemeni Interior Ministry official acknowledged that one person was killed by security forces, but said those who raided the complex were gang members and not protesters.

Regarding the killings in Aden City, a security official called the demonstrators "separatists" rather than protesters, and would not comment on the alleged shootings by security forces.

"The government is trying to keep people as safe as possible," the official said.

Across Yemen, high unemployment fuels much of the anger among a growing young population steeped in poverty. The protesters also cite government corruption and a lack of political freedom.

On Thursday, President Ali Abdullah Saleh -- who has promised not to run for president in the next round of elections -- pledged to bring a new constitution to a vote by the end of the year and transfer government power to an elected parliamentary system.

Human Rights Watch released a statement Saturday, calling on countries that support Saleh to make aid contingent on the government stopping its attacks on demonstrators.

"President Saleh has once again broken his promise to end attacks on peaceful protesters, and those who supply his government with weapons risk complicity in this bloodshed," said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at the rights organization.