More than 170 people have been killed in Sana’a, Yemen this week in dramatic and costly clashes with government forces. Just this morning, soldiers opened fire as a crowd of roughly ten thousand marched in the capital chanting: “Freedom! Freedom! The people want the butcher tried!” One protester riding atop a minivan with a megaphone was shot in the head and killed. In Taiz, the second-largest city, three more were killed and one wounded in more clashes. On Saturday, 17 protesters were killed when government forces stormed the main opposition camp in Sana’a.
Late on Saturday, the 15 nations of the Security Council renewed their call to end the violence in Yemen, asking all sides to “reject violence, including against peaceful and unarmed civilians, and show maximum restraint.”
This morning I started a brand new Twitter list for keeping up to date with Yemen, you can follow it here. And feel free to suggest Twitterers to add to the list.
Read the news stories at AFP, Al Jazeera, Al Ahram, and Al Arabiya.
Photos: Muhammed Huwais/AFP; Reuters via Al Arabiya; Khaled Abdullah/Reuters; Khaled Abdullah/Reuters
Libya: The International Response
- This is the list of countries that currently recognizes the NTC: Albania, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Britain, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Maldives, Malta, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Nigeria, Palestinian Authority, Panama, Portugal, Qatar, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United States. /Al Jazeera Live Feed
- China has not recognized the NTC, but essentially sends its best wishes, saying: “We have always attached significance to the important role of the National Transitional Council in solving Libya’s problems, and maintain contact with it.”/BBC Live Feed
- Russia’s Dmitry Medvedev has said that they would consider formal relations if the NTC proves that they can provide a “new democratic start.”/Reuters
- The European Union is working to unfreeze Libyan assets and remove sanctions, and is pursuing a UN resolution in the initial stages to do so./Al Jazeera Live Feed
- The US is also working to unfreeze the Libyan assets they hold./US Dept of State
- NATO’s Admiral Giampaola di Paolo says that “ the game is not over yet. Therefore we will continue the mission to uphold the UN resolution” And also that ”there may be other boots on the ground, but not Nato.” /BBC Live Feed
- NATO, which has been striking in and around Tripoli today, also says that it is not their job to find Gaddhafi. /BBC Live Feed
Photo: Libyan children celebrate in Janzour. Photo Credit: Ismail Zitouny/Reuters
Bus Force One?: Meet Obama’s new armored bus
The shiny, black armored bus, bristling with secret communications technology, with flashing police-style red and blue lights on the front and the back, made its debut on President Barack Obama’s three-day tour of Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
The vehicle was commissioned by the Secret Service, which has always hired buses for election campaigns and retrofitted them to provide suitable protection for presidents and rival party nominees. (Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images)
life:
CHAOS IN THE STREETS — On Aug. 6, 2011, a small protest outside a police station in Tottenham, just north of London, spiraled into some of the worst violence in years in the British capital. More than 170 people were arrested after two days of rioting and looting, and ensuing clashes between groups of young people and authorities spread to the capital’s outer boroughs — in what police are calling “copycat criminal activity” — including Brixton, Enfield, Islington and Walthamstow.
Pictured: A Carpetright store in London burns on Aug. 6.
see more — London Looting: Scenes of Violence
