SYRIA: State Department urges Americans to leave.
The State Department is telling American citizens to leave Syria as soon as they can and is ordering personnel at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus to leave the country. The department late Monday urged Americans to defer all travel to Syria and advised those already in the country to get out while commercial transportation is still available. It also ordered some nonessential U.S. Embassy staff and the families of all embassy personnel to leave Syria. It said the embassy would remain open for limited services.
EGYPT: Most citizens distrust U.S., poll finds.
Egyptians are deeply skeptical about the United States and its role in their country, but they are also divided in their attitudes about Islamic fundamentalists, according a poll released Monday by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.
Most Egyptians distrust the United States and want to renegotiate their peace treaty with Israel, the poll found. But only 31 percent say they sympathize with fundamentalists, while 30 percent say they sympathize with those who disagree with fundamentalists. An additional 26 percent said they had mixed views.
The poll is the first comprehensive look at attitudes of Egyptians since protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to end his 30-year reign in February. The numbers reveal a society that overwhelmingly agrees that Mubarak was bad for the country but is divided about what the future should look like.
Although 75 percent were positive about the Muslim Brotherhood, which was officially banned under Mubarak and is now the strongest political organization in the country, almost as many — 70 percent — felt positively about the youth-based April 6 movement that was mostly secular and was one of the key organizers of the protests.
The poll found 39 percent of Egyptians believe the United States’ response to the upheaval in Egypt was negative, almost double the 22 percent who said it was positive. But many Egyptians — 35 percent — said that the United States’ impact on what happened in Egypt was neither positive nor negative, suggesting that to them, the U.S. might not have had much to do with the situation either way.
The pollsters conducted face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Egyptians across the country over a period of two weeks at the end of March and beginning of April. The survey has a margin of error of four percentage points.
YEMEN: Deal for president to depart seems to have failed.
Forces loyal to Yemen’s embattled president opened fire on protesters demanding his ouster, killing two and wounding dozens at demonstrations in two cities, activists say. Raising the prospects of more violence, a deal by Arab mediators to broker President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s departure after 32 years in power appears to have failed.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: Five pro-democracy activists detained.
The United Arab Emirates detained five activists who signed a pro-democracy petition last month on accusations of “opposing the government,” the state news agency said. The activists are being questioned on suspicion of “perpetrating acts that pose a threat to state security” and insulting the rulers of Abu Dhabi, including Crown Prince Sheik Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who is to meet President Barack Obama today.
Political activity is severely restricted in the UAE, an alliance of seven semiautonomous states, each ruled by a hereditary sheik.
BAHRAIN: Political protests hurting sports.
Three players from Bahrain’s national football team have been detained and six clubs have withdrawn from domestic leagues following widespread, anti-government protests, the Bahrain Football Association said Monday.
Meanwhile, the pro-democracy group Youth of Feb. 14 Revolution has launched a Face book campaign calling on Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone not to reschedule the Bahrain Grand Prix “until basic human rights and freedoms are restored.” Bahrain has until May 1 to decide if it wants to reschedule the race, which was canceled March 13 because of the unrest.
The moves are the latest illustration of the effects on sport of the anti-government protests that began Feb. 14 and have left 30 people dead.
The action against the footballers is part of a widespread government crackdown on dissent following protests that have resulted in journalists, bloggers, doctors, lawyers and activists being detained. More than 150 athletes, coaches and referees also have been suspended since April 5 for alleged involvement in protests. Denver Post wire services
