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Pakistan issues arrest warrant for Musharraf


Associated Press
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 13:20 UTC
Image
© Unknown
Benazir Bhutto, photographed at Chandini Restaurant, Newark, CA
Former president under scrutiny over assassination of ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto

Islamabad - A Pakistani court issued an arrest warrant for ousted military leader Pervez Musharraf on Saturday over allegations he played a role in the 2007 assassination of an ex-prime minister and rival. It was a major setback for the onetime U.S. ally, who was plotting a political comeback from outside the country.

Musharraf, who has not been charged, described accusations that he had a hand in the attack on ex-Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto as a smear campaign by a government led by her aggrieved husband.

The stunning allegation that Musharraf - a self-declared opponent of Islamic militancy - was linked to extremists accused in the attack was likely to keep him out of Pakistan, at least in the short term.

His possible arrest abroad did not appear imminent, but Pakistan's information minister, Firdous Ashiq, Awan said the government will contact Interpol about seeking Musharraf's detention if the court requests it.

Musharraf's spokesman said the former leader was in Dubai, with no plans to go to Pakistan. Speaking from London, where Musharraf has lived in self-imposed exile, Fawad Chaudri quoted him as saying that the accusations were "absurd and ridiculous."
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Family

True socialism: Liberation Square, Ciaro - a brief glimpse into what a self-organising psychopath-free society looks like


BBC
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 12:23 UTC
Cairo's central Tahrir Square was the focal point for anti-Mubarak protesters during 18 days of demonstrations. As the protest neared its peak, the BBC's Yolande Knell took a tour of the area. Explore the protesters' camp...

Image
© BBC
Liberation Square, Cairo [Click on image to enlarge]
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Pistol

Taliban behind assault killing 16, injuring 45 in Kandahar, southern Afghanistan


Press TV
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 12:08 UTC
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Clouds of smoke rising above Kandahar following the attacks.
At least 16 people have lost their lives and several others have been wounded in a series of attacks in the troubled southern Afghanistan.

Afghan officials say 15 of the victims are police officers as the attacks mainly targeted the police headquarters. Forty-five people have been injured in the attacks.

One intelligence agent is also reported to have been killed in Kandahar Province.

The provincial governor says a number of militants armed with guns and grenades were involved in the attacks.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack.

Violence has been at its worst in Afghanistan since the US-led invasion in 2001.

The Afghan interior ministry has declared 2010 the deadliest year for civilians since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001. The ministry's spokesman said more than 2,000 civilians lost their lives in violence across Afghanistan.
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Stormtrooper

Egyptian police forces shot dead 10 protestors in El-Arish port just as Mubarak resigned


Press TV
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:29 UTC
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At least 10 protesters have been killed and scores injured in the Egyptian city of El-Arish on the day that saw the historic overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Hours before Mubarak announced his resignation, government vigilantes clashed with pro-democracy protesters who surrounded a police station in the Egyptian city of El-Arish late Friday to free prisoners held by the regime, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Government forces then fired tear gas and live bullets to break up the demonstrators, killing at least 10 protesters and injuring 50 others.

Protesters, who were increasingly incensed by Mubarak's refusal to cede power in his televised speech a day earlier, eventually managed to secure the release of their friends and relatives during the melee, while twelve police officers surrendered to the crowd.
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Che Guevara

Pro-democracy rallies held in Yemen


Press TV
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 11:24 UTC
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A Yemeni woman holds a sign that reads in Arabic "Where is the happy Yemen?" during an anti-government protest in Sana'a.
Thousands of Yemenis have taken to the streets of the capital, Sana'a, urging President Ali Abdullah Saleh to follow the example of ousted Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak.

The Saturday rally, which was approximately attended by 4,000, saw demonstrators chanting, "After Mubarak, it's Ali's turn," AFP reported.

"Get out, Get out Ali" and "The people want the regime to fall," some shouted.

Yielding knives and batons, hundreds of Saleh's supporters, attacked the protesters, injuring at least two of them, DPA said.

Mubarak handed power over to the Supreme Council of the Egyptian Armed Forces on Friday, giving in to 18 straight days of pro-democracy protests.
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Che Guevara

Algerian protesters clash with police as Arab dictatorships start playing nice in face of pan-Arabian uprising

Martin Chulov
The Guardian
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 10:59 UTC
  • 400 arrested as officers enforce no-protest ban in Algiers
  • Up to 5,000 protesters rally in Yemeni capital of Sana'a
  • Arab leaders make concessions to avoid repeat of Egypt
Image
© Reuters
The government banned the protest apparently
Algerian police have beaten back around 2,000 demonstrators who tried to rally in central Algiers as aftershocks from the Egyptian revolution rumbled throughout the Middle East.

Demonstrations in Algiers quickly turned to running clashes with police who had been ordered by the government of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to enforce a no-protest ban. Police took up positions throughout the centre of the city hours after the tumultuous scenes in Cairo, which are likely to have significant ramifications across the region.

Even before Egypt's Hosni Mubarak had stepped down, the 12-year regime of Bouteflika had been considered to be under most threat from the popular uprisings now galvanising the Arab states. Wedged alongside Tunisia, where President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali was rolled 30 days ago, and near Egypt, which fell on Friday, the unstable nation has many of the characteristics of both - a disenfranchised youth and rising prices of basic goods, such as sugar and cooking oil.
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Cult

Vatican has defrocked three Boston-based priests for abuse

Conor Lodge and Carla Gualdron
Boston Herald
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 10:48 UTC
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The Vatican has ousted three men from the priesthood years after they were accused in sex , the Archdiocese of Boston said yesterday.

"These men are no longer to function, or present themselves as priests, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying," said archdiocese spokeswoman Kelly Lynch.

In 2002, Frederick J. Cartier was accused of sexually abusing a minor in the early 1970s. By the time the allegation was received, Cartier had been out of ministry for more than 20 years, the archdiocese said.
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Arrow Up

Produce prices skyrocket overnight

Wayne Havrelly
KGW.com
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 10:08 UTC
Get ready to pay double or even triple the price for fresh produce in the coming weeks after the worst freeze in 60 years damaged and wiped out entire crops in northern Mexico and the southwestern U.S.


The problem started less than a week ago, when our nation was focusing on the Superbowl and sheets of ice falling from Texas Stadium.

Farmers throughout northern Mexico and the Southwest experienced unprecedented crop losses. Now devastation that seemed so far away, is hitting us in the pocketbooks.
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Light Saber

Hosni Mubarak resigns - and Egypt celebrates a new dawn

Chris McGreal & Jack Shenker
The Guardian
Sat, 12 Feb 2011 04:58 UTC
Image
© Tara Todras-Whitehill/AP
Egyptians celebrate the end of Mubarak-era
President surrenders power to army and flies out of Cairo
Egypt rejoices as 18 days of mass protest end in revolution
Military pledges not to get in way of 'legitimate' government

When it finally came, the end was swift. After 18 days of mass protest, it took just over 30 seconds for Egypt's vice-president, Omar Suleiman, to announce that President Hosni Mubarak was standing down and handing power to the military.

"In the name of Allah the most gracious the most merciful," Suleiman read. "My fellow citizens, in the difficult circumstances our country is experiencing, President Muhammad Hosni Mubarak has decided to give up the office of the president of the republic and instructed the supreme council of the armed forces to manage the affairs of the country. May God guide our steps."

Moments later a deafening roar swept central Cairo. Protesters fell to their knees and prayed, wept and chanted. Hundreds of thousands of people packed into Tahrir Square, the centre of the demonstrations, waving flags, holding up hastily written signs declaring victory, and embracing soldiers.
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Star

Mideast nations brace for Egypt spillover


NBC News
Fri, 11 Feb 2011 23:55 UTC
Image
© Amr Nabil/AP
An Egyptian reacts in the street after President Hosni Mubarak resigned and handed power to the military in Cairo, Egypt, on Friday, Feb. 11.
After Mubarak's departure, anti-government rallies in the works in nearby countries

From the oil-rich Gulf states in the east to Morocco in the west, regimes throughout the Middle East could not help but worry they could see upheavals similar to Egypt's.

If it could happen in 18 days in Egypt, where Mubarak's lock on power had appeared unshakable for nearly 30 years, could it happen anywhere? Only a month earlier, Tunisia's president was forced to step down in the face of protests.

"Egypt is going to have a big, big impact around the region," said Salman Sheik, director of The Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. "It is - as it always has been - a bellwether for what happens elsewhere. It's wrong, though, to get into a count about what country could be next. The real impact is already being seen in reforms that are coming from countries feeling the pressure."

Zaki Bani Rusheid, a leading Islamist figure in Jordan, described "a new dawn, new stage" emerging.

"This is a new future painted by bloody hands of Egyptians and Tunisians that knocked on the doors of freedom."

Leaders across the region have made a variety of concessions and also tightened security.

Anti-government protests have erupted in recent weeks with demonstrators complaining of corruption, lack of services and rising prices. More are being planned.
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