YEMEN: Looting at munitions facility triggers deadly blast.
Yemen’s chaos deepened Monday when people looting a munitions factory set off an accidental explosion that killed at least 78 people in an area torn from government control by Islamist militants exploiting the president’s rapidly dwindling power.
On Sunday, armed men whom residents described as religious militants seized the towns of Jaar and al-Husn, a hilltop overlooking them, and the factory that makes Kalashnikov assault rifles, ammunitions and explosives used to build roads in the mountainous southern province of Abyan, where Yemen’s al-Qaeda branch has been active.
Later, dozens of impoverished men, women and children entered the facility and looted anything of valued that remained.
Residents told al-Jazeera satellite network that someone may have dropped a lit cigarette next to the remaining explosives, setting off a massive blast that could be heard 10 miles away.
SYRIA: Armed forces fire into air to disband protesters.
The political crisis in Syria deepened Monday as the armed forces in the restive southern city of Daraa fired live ammunition in the air to disperse hundreds of pro-democracy protesters who had taken to the streets.
By late afternoon, hundreds of protesters had staged a sit-in on the square, uncertain whether the army would try to disperse them during the night. More than 60 people have been killed in recent protests in the city, human-rights groups say. It was unclear whether there were any casualties Monday.
EGYPT: Emergency laws to be lifted before elections.
Egypt’s military rulers announced that the country’s hated emergency laws will be lifted before parliament elections set for September.
The laws have been in place since 1981, when Hosni Mubarak took power. They give police near- unlimited powers of arrest and allowed indefinite detentions without charges. The old regulations also curtailed rights to demonstrate and organize politically.
JORDAN: 25 captured protesters freed.
A judicial official said 25 protesters blamed for Jordan’s most violent unrest in three months of pro- democracy demonstrations have been released. The official refused to say why they were freed. But the government is trying to ease tension with the opposition, who accuse it of ordering police to use unjustified force to disperse a peaceful protest calling for reforms.
Denver Post wire services
