Violence surges in Syria; 30 dead
BEIRUT— Violence surged Tuesday in Syria as activists reported at least 30 people killed, including four soldiers who had defected, in several towns and cities.
In the northern province of Idlib, near the Turkish border, a roadside bomb struck a minibus, killing at least eight passengers, according to the Local Coordination Committees. The activist group said the device was planted by Syrian security forces loyal to the government of President Bashar Assad. It was not possible to independently confirm their report. It was the second such attack in the region in two days.
The Syrian state news agency blamed the attack on terrorists.
YEMEN: Presidential elections could be delayed.
Adding to fears of a worsening political crisis in Yemen, a top government official hinted that presidential elections set for February that would mark the formal end of President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule could be delayed.
During an interview broadcast Tuesday on Al Arabiya, Yemen’s foreign minister, Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, said it would be “difficult” to hold the elections on Feb. 21 as planned because security in the country was deteriorating. Opposition figures quickly criticized his comments, and a spokesman for Yemen’s vice president said there would be no delay, according to CNN.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, during a visit to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, expressed concern when asked about any delay in Yemen’s election. And more explicitly than any U.S. official so far, she said Saleh should not only step down, but leave the country.
EGYPT: Activists steaming over treatment of Mubarak.
Hosni Mubarak, on trial for his life, is ferried to court by helicopter from a presidential hospital suite. His sons and co-defendants swagger in wearing designer track suits and no handcuffs. His security chief is treated with near reverence by police in the courtroom.
For activists in Egypt, such scenes only deepen their feeling that the authoritarian system the ousted president oversaw remains largely in place.
In court Tuesday, Mubarak’s defense began its arguments. His chief lawyer, Farid el-Deeb, depicted him as an unjustly maligned victim who tried to improve Egypt during 29 years in power.
The courtroom erupted when he said that Mubarak in fact supported the revolution.
“Lies, lies!” and “Execution for Mubarak!” screamed the lawyers representing the families of protesters killed by police during the revolution.
Denver Post wire services
