SANAA, Yemen – Authorities flooded the streets of Yemen's capital with 2,000 police Wednesday to try to halt six days of Egypt-style demonstrations against the president of 32 years, a key U.S. ally in battling al-Qaida. One person was killed when police and protesters clashed in the southern port of Aden in the first known death during Yemen's political unrest.
The police, including plainclothes officers, fired in the air and blocked thousands of students at Sanaa University from joining thousands of other protesters in the capital of the Arab world's most impoverished nation.
A call spread via Facebook and Twitter urging Yemenis to join a series of "One Million People" rallies on a so-called "Friday of Rage" in all Yemeni cities, seeking the ouster of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
"We will remain in the streets until the regime departure," according to a statement posted on Facebook. Copies signed by a group named the Feb. 24 Movement were distributed among youth via e-mail. The group is taking that name because organizers hope to have their biggest protest on that day next week.
Taking inspiration from the toppling of autocratic leaders in Egypt and Tunisia, the protesters are demanding political reforms and Saleh's resignation, complaining of poverty, unemployment and corruption.
Saleh has tried to defuse protesters' anger amid the unprecedented street demonstrations by saying he will not run for another term in 2013 and that he will not seek to set up his son, Ahmed, to succeed him in the conflict-ridden and impoverished nation.
Protesters still chanted slogans against the president's son Wednesday.
Saleh has become a key U.S. partner in battling al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist network's offshoot in Yemen. The group's several hundred fighters have battled Saleh's U.S.-backed forces and have been linked to attacks beyond Yemen's borders, including the failed attempt to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in December 2009. The U.S. military plans a $75 million training program with Yemen's counterterrorism unit to expand its size and capabilities in the nation's mountainous terrain.
It's a difficult balancing act for Saleh, who has been criticized as being too close to the United States.
Yemeni state TV reported that Saleh has been holding meetings since Sunday with heads of tribes to prevent them from joining the anti-government protests.
Witnesses said police chained Saana University's iron gates in order to prevent students from streaming into adjacent streets. They said at least four protesters were wounded in scuffles with police.
Demonstrations also took in the cities of Aden and in Taiz, where thousands shouted, "Down ... down with Ali Abdullah Saleh."
Riot police in Aden fired live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas in fierce clashes with thousands of demonstrators, and a security officer said a 23-year-old protester was killed when he was shot in the head.
Five others were wounded, at least one seriously, according to a medical official, who like the security officer spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The protesters, who included students and workers, set tires ablaze in the Mansoura district, witnesses said. Heavy gunfire rattled residents, and many closed their shops and stay home.
Protesters have been camping in Safir Square in central Taiz, about 270 miles south of Sanaa, saying they will not leave until Saleh steps down. Just like in Cairo's Tahrir Square, protesters have organized a makeshift camp in the city center, with medical teams, cleaning crews and security to protect them from outside attacks, said Ghazi al-Samie, a lawyer and activist.
Al-Samie said thousands have joined the protests in recent days in Yemen's second-biggest city.
About 120 judges held a protest in front of the Ministry of Justice in Sanaa, calling for an independent judiciary and better salaries. It was the first demonstration by judges in Yemen.
Saleh's government is weak — its control barely extends beyond the capital and is dependent on fragile alliances with powerful tribes — and it faces other serious challenges.
For more than six years, government forces have been battling a sporadic armed rebellion in the north. A secessionist movement by once-independent southern Yemen also is heating up.
Yemen's main source of income — oil — could run dry in a decade, and the country is also rapidly running out of water. Much of the population suffers from malnutrition.
Yemen has been the site of anti-U.S. attacks dating back to the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Aden harbor, which killed 17 American sailors. Radical U.S.-born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, thought to be hiding in Yemen, is suspected of having inspired some attacks, including the deadly 2009 shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110216/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen








Ketika ditanya, Stanley berkata beliau tidak dapat mengulas sekiranya SNAP akan mengalah jika parti dalam Pakatan Rakyat akan meletakkan calon di kawasan itu.
Sementara itu, presiden MCLM Haris Ibrahim pula berkata, kerjasama itu dijalin bagi membebaskan masyarakat Sarawak daripada penindasan pentadbiran BN di bawah Ketua Menterinya, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud.
"Bagi UBF dan MCLM, kita masih belum berjaya mencapai pendirian bersama atas semua perkara asas.
Menurut majalah terbitan 16 Februari itu, jumlah kekayaan terkumpul mereka pada 21 Januari tahun ini RM206.27 bilion berbanding RM156.7 bilion setahun lalu.
Mereka adalah Tan Sri Syed Mokhtar Albukhary dari Yayasan Albukhary Foundation yang menerajui Kumpulan DRB-Hicom. Beliau menduduki tangga ketujuh dengan kekayaan RM8.84 bilion.
Pengerusi panel bebas itu, Prof Datuk Shamsul Amri Baharuddin, berkata pihaknya akan mengadakan satu atau dua lagi mesyuarat sebelum mendapatkan persetujuan sebulat suara daripada lapan anggota panel berkenaan mengenai perkara itu.
Beliau berkata berdasarkan statistik Suhakam dari tahun 2005 hingga tahun lepas, Sabah mencatatkan jumlah aduan paling banyak mengenai isu tanah di negara ini dengan 977 kes, diikuti Semenanjung Malaysia, 654 kes dan Sarawak 251 kes.
Menurutnya antara isu utama tanah yang dibangkitkan penduduk luar bandar kepada Suhakam ialah percanggahan kepentingan yang membabitkan pembinaan empangan, perladangan dan nasib penduduk yang ditempatkan semula setelah didapati menduduki hutan simpanan buat sekian lama.


Tanpa menunjukkan sebarang tanda-tanda semangat untuk mengharapkan pemilihan MCA diadakan, Ong berkata tumpuannya kini adalah pada konstituensi yang diwakilinya itu.
"Kita perlu melihat masalah besar yang memberi kesan kepada negara daripada memberi tumpuan kepada politik partisan.”
GOMBAK, 16 Feb: Pengerusi Pro-Mahasiswa Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Malaysia (Pro-M UIAM), Wan Mohd Hakimi Wan Ahmad (gambar) berkata, kemenangan tanpa bertanding di 13 daripada 26 kerusi yang dipertandingkan bukan alasan untuk pihaknya mendabik dada dan berpeluk tubuh.
Badan tersebut diminta antara lain membebaskan mahasiswa daripada cengkaman politik kepartian yang menggugat keharmonian perjalanan politik kampus, sehingga menjadikan pilihanraya kampus tidak adil dan tidak telus.
Di samping itu, mereka turut menuntut pihak pentadbiran universiti agar memberikan cuti kepada para pelajar pada hari penamaan calon dan pembuangan undi.





Pentadbiran UM menetapkan esok sebagai hari penamaan calon untuk 41 kerusi yang akan dipertandingkan kali ini.
"Saya berasa teraniaya dan terancam dengan kejadian ini. Saya mengesyaki ada unsur ugutan berikutan pilihan raya kampus yang semakin hampir," laporan polis itu dipetik.
Mereka berkumpul untuk mendapat penjelasan berhubung dua lagi tuntutan mereka, antaranya pelaksanaan sistem elektornik (4E) - proses penamaan, pengundian, bantahan dan rayuan dan melanjutkan tempoh berkempen.
Insiden pertama membabitkan sebuah rumah yang menjadi pusat operasi kumpulan Pro-Mahasiswa (Pro-M) diserang oleh mereka yang tidak dikenali dengan melemparkan objek berapi yang menyebabkan beberapa kain rentang di perkarangan rumah tersebut terbakar.
Perbuatan khianat itu disedari apabila penghuni rumah terbabit keluar untuk ke kelas pada hari ini.
GEORGETOWN, 18 Februari: Kerajaan Negeri Pulau Pinang mempertimbangkan cadangan untuk memberikan bantuan RM1,000 kepada setiap pelajar dari negeri ini yang hendak kembali melanjutkan pelajaran di beberapa buah universiti di Mesir tidak lama lagi.