SYRIA: Tanks launched against two more towns.
The Syrian military widened its crackdown on anti-government demonstrators Tuesday, dispatching tanks to at least two more locations: the eastern border town of Deir al-Zour and the town of Maarat al-Nouman.
The moves came as Syrians continued to trickle across the border into Turkey, where more than 8,500 refugees are living in tent camps set up by the Turkish authorities. Hundreds more are reported to be waiting on the Syrian side of the border, fleeing the crackdown on the town of Jisr al-Shughour, which government tanks overran Sunday.
LIBYA: Area near Gadhafi compound hit; U.K. weighs length of mission.
A NATO airstrike hit an area near Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi’s compound in the capital again Tuesday. A column of gray smoke could be seen rising from the area around Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound shortly before dawn. In London, the head of the Royal Navy, Adm. Mark Stanhope, warned that the British fleet — a key contributor to the Libya mission — will be unable to maintain the pace of operations if the mission drags on until the end of the year.
UNITED STATES: War Powers limits raised against Obama.
House Speaker John Boehner urged President Barack Obama on Tuesday to explain the legal grounds for the continued U.S. military involvement in Libya and set a Friday deadline for the commander in chief’s response. The Ohio Republican said in a letter to the White House that the administration clearly will be in violation of the 1973 War Powers Act this weekend.
EGYPT: Three secular parties formed.
Egyptian political activists announced Tuesday the formation of three new parties, the first groups with no religious affiliation to emerge from the popular uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak. The new parties, two of them liberal and the other social democratic, have attracted a following among Egypt’s protesters, who were seeking to find a counterbalance to the country’s largest Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood, in advance of elections set for September.
TUNISIA: Trial in absentia planned for deposed leader.
Tunisia’s deposed president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, will be tried in absentia next week on charges of embezzlement and drug trafficking, an official said Tuesday. The June 20 trial will be open to the public, said the Justice Ministry spokesman.
Denver Post wire services
