Yemeni forces have clashed with Islamist militants in the southern city of Zinjibar, leaving 15 people dead more than a week after hundreds of militants seized control of the city.
The fighting Tuesday comes amid increased calls for Yemen's president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to accept a peace deal put forward by the Gulf Cooperation Council that would end his 33 years in power.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in Washington Monday that an "immediate transition is in the best interest of the Yemeni people." Clinton noted that President Saleh is currently out of the country, receiving medical treatment in Saudi Arabia for wounds suffered during Friday's rocket attack on his compound.
The Saudi government is also urging acceptance of the Gulf peace accord. And the European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said Saleh should act "in the best interests of his people" and enable the country to "move on."
Ashton noted that the Yemeni president had offered to sign the accord three times in recent weeks.
Yemen's acting leader, Vice President Abd al-Rab Mansur Hadi, was quoted as saying Saleh is "making a strong recovery" and will return to the country within days. But there have been suggestions the Saudi government may block his return.
Clashes had diminished in Saleh's absence, although opposition tribesmen say government snipers in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, have killed at least three supporters of tribal leader Sheikh Sadiq al-Ahmar.
Monday's shootings came a day after the vice president ordered government forces to vacate opposition-controlled areas of the capital, while al-Ahmar began to evacuate his militia from government buildings and called for an end to the fighting.
Nearly 400 people have been killed since the popular uprising against Saleh began in January.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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Syria is pledging to mount a "firm and decisive" response to what state television called the "massacre" of 120 security personnel in the northwestern city of Jir al-Shughour.
The report Monday could not be confirmed since foreign journalists are not allowed in the country. Syrian opposition activists are disputing the casualty count, suggesting it will serve as an excuse for a new government onslaught.
Syria's interior minister, Ibrahim al-Shaar, says any response will be "in accordance with the law."
The area around Jir al-Shughour, near the border with Turkey, is the latest region to join an anti-government uprising aimed at ending the 11-year authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
A government spokesman admitted that security forces have lost control of areas in and around the town.
Syria is blaming the unrest on armed terrorist gangs supported by foreign "agitators."
Rights groups say at least 1,100 people have been killed in the government's crackdown against the anti-government campaign that began in March. More than 10,000 have been arrested.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Syrian state television is reporting the deaths of 120 security personnel in the northwestern city of Jir al-Shughour in what it is calling a "massacre."
The report could not be confirmed since foreign journalists are not allowed in the country. Syrian opposition activists are disputing the casualty count, suggesting it will serve as an excuse for a new government onslaught.
Syria's interior minister, Ibrahim al-Shaar, has pledged a "firm and decisive" response "in accordance with the law."
The area around Jir al-Shughour, near the border with Turkey, is the latest region to join an anti-government uprising aimed at ending the 11-year authoritarian rule of President Bashar al-Assad.
A government spokesman admitted that security forces have lost control of areas in and around the town.
Syria is blaming the unrest on armed terrorist gangs supported by foreign "agitators."
Rights groups say at least 1,100 people have been killed in the government's crackdown against the anti-government campaign that began in March. More than 10,000 have been arrested.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Libyan rebels say they have seized the western mountain town of Yafran from forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi after NATO airstrikes last week destroyed key government military targets, enabling opposition forces to advance.
Ethnic Berber fighters, who have joined the anti-government rebellion, retook Yafran, about 100 kilometers southwest of Tripoli, on Monday. Pro-Gadhafi forces had attacked the western mountain region after local Berbers rose up against government troops at the beginning of the uprising.
Media reports say government forces have left the town and that rebel flags could be seen along with defaced images of Gadhafi. Last Thursday, British warplanes destroyed two government tanks and two armored personnel carriers in Yafran.
Diplomatic efforts are continuing Tuesday, as a special envoy sent by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev is set to meet with members of the rebel Transitional National Council in the eastern city of Benghazi.
China's foreign ministry says one of its diplomats based in Egypt also recently held talks with the rebel group. The ministry said in a statement Tuesday that Libya's foreign minister is making a three-day visit to Beijing, but did not offer any details about the trip.
China and Russia both abstained when the U.N. Security Council voted in March to establish a no-fly zone over Libya, and have called for a negotiated solution to the conflict.
NATO planes have kept up pressure on the Mr. Gadhafi, targeting sites around Tripoli on Monday.
In the rebel-held east, Libyan forces fired rockets into the front-line town of Ajdabiya. The Associated Press reported that after the strike, opposition fighters pursued government forces west to Brega, where two rebels were killed by loyalist shelling.
In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he would use the occasion of a defense ministers meeting Wednesday to repeat calls for the alliance to step up involvement in the Libya operation.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague told reporters in London on Sunday that the campaign against pro-Gadhafi forces is intensifying. But he rejected suggestions that it has strayed from the U.N. mandate to protect civilians.
Hague defended the use of British and French attack helicopters, which were employed Saturday for the first time. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov warned, however, that use of the helicopters puts NATO "one step" closer to a ground operation.
Russia abstained when the U.N. Security Council voted in March to establish a no-fly zone over Libya. It repeatedly has called for a negotiated solution to the conflict.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sent a special envoy, Mikhail Margelov, to Benghazi, where he plans to meet Tuesday with members of the rebel Transitional National Council.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
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Israel plans to file a complaint at the United Nations accusing Syria of inciting violence along its boundary with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. On Sunday, Israeli troops fired at pro-Palestinian demonstrators who tried to breach the fence. Syria says at least 23 people were killed.
Israeli soldiers on Monday repaired the parts of the barbed wire that Israel said protesters cut as they tried to enter Israeli-controlled territory in the Golan Heights.
A number of demonstrators continued to camp on the Syrian side of the fence Monday, but reports say Syrian police started blocking any more of them from approaching the barrier.
Dead protesters
Syrian television on Monday showed the funerals of the dead protesters. A relative of one of the dead accused Israel of using disproportionate force.
The mourner says Israeli snipers fired at unarmed demonstrators who used - in the mourner's words - "only stones and flags" to confront Israeli security forces.
The demonstration was part of a larger series of protests Sunday that Palestinians held to mark the anniversary of Israel's 1967 war with Jordan, Egypt, and Syria that resulted in the Israeli capture of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula.
Organizers said their strategy was to use nonviolent means. Some protesters said they hope to gain international support by demonstrating peacefully and letting Israel appear as the aggressor.
Dispute over victims
Israel countered Syrian reports that Israeli soldiers killed protesters during Sunday's violence in the Golan Heights. The Israeli army says 10 people died in the boundary area -- but not as a result of Israeli gunfire.
An army official says protesters hurled firebombs that struck old Syrian landmines and caused them to explode - resulting in the deaths.
Israeli officials defended their troops' use of live fire and said soldiers were instructed to shoot only at the feet of those who tried to breach the border fence.
Did Syria incite protests?
Speaking on Israeli radio, Defense Minister Ehud Barak accused Syria of inciting the demonstrations along the Golan fence to deflect attention from the Assad leadership's crackdown on Syrian anti-government demonstrators.
He said the responsibility for the violence and loss of life falls on Syria, where he said 1,200 people have been killed in the last three months. Barak said Syria could be encouraging the unrest along the border because it diverts attention from the uprising at home. He said Israel has no choice but to protect its border.
May 15 protest
The Golan Heights boundary had been tense but largely peaceful for decades until May 15 when demonstrators breached the fence and entered Israeli-held territory. In that incident, Israeli forces also opened fire. At least four demonstrators were killed.
Palestinian activists say they plan to hold more demonstrations in the months leading up to September, when leaders will seek full membership in the United Nations as an independent Palestinian state.
Palestinian leaders say they are pushing ahead with the plan out of frustration, following the collapse of peace talks with Israel last September.
Video footage of clash
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Yemen's youth activists are promising to back the country's acting leader, who took over from wounded President Ali Abdullah Saleh while he is in Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. But the protesters' call for democratic change could be drowned out by a variety of competing voices.
Activists mingled with ordinary residents Monday on the streets of Sana'a in a continuing celebration of Saleh's departure.
Vice-President Abd al-Rab Mansur Hadi said on Monday that President Saleh will return to Sana'a "in days" and resume his responsibilities. But protesters, like Amer al-Khamisi, believe this marks the end of the president's nearly 33-year rule.
He says that Saleh is gone and will not come back, adding the president "is in the past" and the oppression is over. Attack that wounded Saleh
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The president was wounded in an attack on the presidential palace Friday, which the government blamed on members of the al-Ahmar clan who battled troops for two weeks in the capital.
In the aftermath, the vice-president and clan leader Sadeq al-Ahmar agreed to pull back their forces, but in scattered violence Monday, at least three more al-Ahmar fighters were killed.
Youth Revolution claims victory
While violence precipitated Saleh's departure, Wassim al-Qorashi, a spokesman for the National Organizing Committee of the Youth Revolution was among those claiming victory for the change under way.
Qorashi said the first stage of the revolution has ended, but his group will continue to struggle until all of their demands are achieved. It's a note of caution about the future that political observers believe is well placed.
"What we are actually seeing in Yemen right now is rivalries between elite factions, rivalries between political actors at the absolute top levels of Yemen's political elite," explained Kate Nevins, who runs the Middle East and North Africa program at Chatham House. "And if the vice president doesn't have the support of one of these factions, it will be a very hard job for him to get everyone of to the negotiating table."
Those factions include Saleh's family, who hold key positions in the nation's security apparatus, members of the al-Ahmar clan, which leads the Hashid tribal federation, rival tribal groups, powerful generals, northern rebels and southern secessionists.
Activists' role
Nevins, of the London-based research center, believes that even against this formidable backdrop, it's possible for pro-democracy activists to play a role in the nation's future.
"We are seeing a very impressive, very organized youth movement come out of the pro-democracy protest and there are leadership figures emerging from this movement," Nevins said. "Now, if Saleh is to not return to Yemen, we have a situation where there might be a move towards a nation unity government."
Not that whoever is to lead Yemen will have an easy job. The youth movement was inspired by popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world, but the similarities with Yemen, according to Nevins, quickly end.
"It doesn't have the formal institutions that Tunisia and Egypt have, so whoever comes into power or whichever group comes into power after Saleh will be inheriting a very complex system.," said Nevins. "We're also facing an issue where the economy is collapsing, Yemen is losing its foreign currency reserves. It's running out of fuel. It's running out of water. There's a massive food crisis. And it has some of the highest levels of malnutrition in the world. So there are a lot of problems to be dealt with."
Al-Qaida factor
Yemen also has an active branch of the al-Qaida terror network, which is why neighboring Saudi Arabia and the United States are playing considerable roles both openly and behind-the-scene to find some kind of stability for Yemen at this volatile time.
Five U.S. soldiers and and at least 13 Iraqis were killed on Monday in separate attacks in Iraq.
It was the deadliest day for American troops in Iraq in more than two years and comes months before most U.S. soldiers are scheduled to withdraw.
American authorities did not release details of the U.S. deaths. But Iraqi officials told Western media that the incident happened in Baghdad when rockets hit a U.S. installation.
Iraqi officials also said a suicide attacker detonated a bomb-laden car in the city of Tikrit, killing at least 13 Iraqis and wounding more than 15 others.
The blast happened Monday outside a compound that houses several palaces built during the rule of the late Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Officials say an Iraqi army colonel and several soldiers are among the dead.
The attack follows a series of coordinated bombings in Tikrit last Friday that killed 21 people.
Tikrit was Saddam's hometown and is located about 130 kilometers north of the capital, Baghdad.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and AFP.
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The daughter of imprisoned former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori has conceded defeat following a closely-fought runoff against former leftist army officer Ollanta Humala.
Keiko Fujimori Monday said she recognized Mr. Humala's triumph in Sunday's election and she salutes his victory. Fujimori also said she wished Mr. Humala luck.
With about 90 percent of the vote counted, Mr. Humala had a lead of about 2.7 percent over Fujimori.
The latest presidential campaign focused largely on continuing Peru's rapid economic growth of recent years, while ensuring that the poor also see some of that increased prosperity.
Peru's stock market plunged nearly nine percent Monday, prompting authorities to halt trading.
In the first round of balloting in April, Humala won 32 percent of the vote, falling short of the majority needed for an outright win. Fujimori, a conservative candidate, took 24 percent.
Participating in elections is mandatory for Peru's nearly 20 million eligible voters.
Some voters expressed concern that if Fujimori won, she would try to free her father, who is serving a 25-year prison sentence for his role in death squad killings in the 1990s. Fujimori has apologized for mistakes and crimes committed while her father was president from 1990 to 2000.
Humala led an uprising against Alberto Fujimori in 2000. Humala also lost a runoff election to current President Alan Garcia in 2006. Humala was outspoken during that campaign about his admiration for Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but has since distanced himself from the leftist leader.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
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A day after police in India broke up an anti-corruption protest led by a yoga guru, the government faced more protests and questions by the Supreme Court about the police action. This is the second popular campaign held in the capital against graft in the past two months.
Slamming the government for crushing the hunger strike led by yoga guru Baba Ramdev, senior leaders of the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party held a demonstration in New Delhi.
Ramdev's peaceful protest was broken up in a pre-dawn raid Sunday by police, who used batons to disperse the tens of thousands of people who had gathered in New Delhi.
BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani demanded the government convene a special parliamentary session to explain the crackdown.
Advani says the protesters, including children and women, were sitting peacefully when police moved in.
The Supreme Court also stepped in, asking the police and the government to explain their action against the protesters.
Baba Ramdev began his hunger strike to demand the government bring back money illegally stashed overseas, and introduce tough anti-corruption legislation. He wants the death penalty for corrupt officials.
Police has said Baba Ramdev did not have permission to hold such a large protest, and the massive gathering could have posed a law and order problem. The government says the guru went back on promises to call off the hunger strike.
The government's action took many by surprise, and has been criticized by many political observers. It followed negotiations between the guru and top ministers that appeared to be making headway.
Ramdev is continuing his campaign in Haridwar, the Hindu holy town in northern India where he was taken by police after being detained.
He vowed Monday to build his campaign into a national movement.
He says he has the backing of millions of people deeply upset with corruption.
The yoga guru's protest began two months after the government was caught unaware by massive popular support for another anti-graft campaign started by social activist Anna Hazare in April.
A former top police official, Kiran Bedi, who was on the frontlines of that protest, announced plans for another one this week.
"It will be peaceful and it will be asserting your own democratic right to make a peaceful protest," Bedi said.
Political analysts say the decision to break up the protest will bring the government under more pressure as it confronts a huge ground swell of anger against corruption. The several graft scandals being investigated involve kickbacks amounting to billions of dollars in the organization of last year's Commonwealth Games and the distribution of telecom licenses.
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Thailand has released nearly 100 refugees of the Ahmadiyah Muslim minority after six months in detention. The group of religious minorities, including women and children, fled persecution in Pakistan only to be arrested in Bangkok. Their release is the biggest-ever secured by a Thai refugee activist group.
The 96 refugees were jubilant after Thai immigration police released them from a Bangkok detention center.
"We are so happy, Kingdom of Thailand. We are, no have words what we say, we only say thank you very much," said Rana Haroon Siddique, one of the men released on bail.
Siddique and others were freed after the Thai Committee for Refugees worked with Ahmadiyah Muslim groups and other activists to help pay more than $150,000 in bail money.
The Ahmadiyah practitioners fled to Thailand from Pakistan, where they are persecuted as heretics to Islam. Earlier this year, police in Bangkok arrested the 96 during several immigration raids from December to February.
Those in detention included women and more than 30 children, as well as a pregnant woman who gave birth in detention. Refugee rights groups said they were being held in unsanitary and overcrowded conditions with more than 150 people sharing cells meant for a maximum of 40 people.
The U.N. Refugee Agency, the UNHCR, welcomed their release. Spokeswoman Kitty McKinsey said they should not have been arrested in the first place.
"We welcome anyone getting out of detention,"she said. An immigration detention center is no place for any person, particularly elderly people, sick people, babies, children. We welcome any step that gets refugees out of detention. We do not think refugees should be locked up simply for being refugees in the first place."
McKinsey says they worked with the detained group to fast-track their applications. She says all but two now have been recognized as refugees by the United Nations.
Thailand does not recognize refugees, making everyone without proper documentation subject to arrest and prosecution.
Police Lieutenant General Wiboon Bangthamai is commissioner of the immigration bureau. While he gave no indication authorities are planning to relax their stringent immigration policy, he indicated the dialogue with activists could help speed up the processing of refugees in detention.
He says, according to the law, if they enter Thailand illegally they must be arrested, but he says Thai authorities will continue to work with human-rights organizations on the issue.
While they are on bail, the Ahmadiyah are being housed in Bangkok until they are resettled to a third country.
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A new documentary about a school in a remote rainforest in Indonesia highlights how education is helping indigenous people to stand up for their rights. In addition to learning to read and write, the students also learn how to organize themselves against outsiders. The students are confronting both the developers who want to cut down their tribe's forests and the conservationists opposed to tribal foraging, hunting and fishing practices.
The documentary Guru Rimba, which means jungle teacher, is a profile of the teacher and students in a unique school located in the rainforests on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
The film starts off showing the new teacher's difficult journey to reach the remote classroom and it then shifts to focus on the lives of the children living in the school. From there it pivots again to show how the students are leading the efforts of the 3,000 Orang Rimba or jungle people in the Anak Dalam tribe to protect their land.
While the film struggles to maintain a coherent narrative, it features rarely seen footage of the children who attend the jungle school. It also provides a unique insight into how the modern world is threatening the indigenous people's traditional way of life.
Filmmaker Vivian Idris lived for weeks at a time in the mosquito-infested jungle and was given rare permission to film the students at the school.
"The most rewarding part, of course, also to be able to be part of their society," said Idris. "I mean, to sit with them, to sleep with them, to eat with them, you know."
Idris says she was restricted for the most part from filming women. Girls are also not permitted to attend school which is located away from the villages. The boys who attend live at the school and study for weeks at a time.
The school was founded by anthropologist Butet Manurung over a decade ago. She says it took a year to overcome the suspicions of the indigenous people who saw no benefit to education and even believed pencils and pens to be taboo.
"They cannot even hold the pencil," she said. "They think it is an evil. Because every time they went to the market and selling their stuff, people in the market always have their pens, and then counting, and then always come up with the numbers they don't like."
The indigenous people live in a designated national park area called Bukit 12. Manurung's educational outreach program was originally funded by Warsi, an environmental organization. Manurung eventually left Warsi because she did not agree with its conservationist curriculum advocating against any farming or even small land use projects in the park.
"I come with a different opinion,"she said. "I thought they need to know about life skills. They need to know what their right is and I want them to go for it by themselves."
The Orang Rimba are caught between environmentalists and developers that are destroying Indonesian forests at the rate of 100 million hectares per year to make way mostly for lucrative palm oil farming.
Pengendum, a 20-year-old former student of the school, is now helping to organize the tribes to protect their way of life. He says the national park was made by the forest ministry without involving the jungle people and jungle people could be scattered because the rules do not involve us at all.
He says the school has given the Orang Rimba the academic skills and the confidence to stand up for their rights. And he hopes the documentary will tell their story to the world.
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United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has formally announced that he is seeking a second five-year term as the world's top diplomat. Ban could be reconfirmed as U.N. chief as early as this month.
For months now, U.N. corridors have been buzzing that the secretary-general would seek re-election, but when asked, Ban has always remained coy on the topic. On Monday, he told reporters he still has a lot of work to do and publicly announced his intention to run for a second term after his current term ends on December 31.
"This morning, I sent a letter to the membership of the General Assembly and the Security Council, offering humbly, myself for consideration for a second term as secretary-general of the United Nations," he said. "It has been an enormous privilege to lead this great organization. If supported by the member states, I would be deeply honored to serve once more."
Ban said the past four-and-a-half years have marked a period of extraordinary challenges for the United Nations and the international community, and throughout, the United Nations has been at the forefront trying to lead on a variety of issues and crises.
Earlier in the day, the secretary-general met with delegates from the 53 member-Asia Group, which must endorse his candidacy because the choice of secretary-general rotates by region and is still currently held by Asia.
China's U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong said Ban has demonstrated strong leadership and a vision for a better world and a better United Nations. He explained why the secretary-general has the backing of the Asian countries.
"We endorsed his decision for re-election for next term as secretary-general,"he said. "The reason is that he has led this organization to manage through stormy weather and troubled water and to let this organization play a more important role for international affairs."
Pakistan's Ambassador Abdullah Haroon told reporters that Ban announced his candidacy to the Asian Group during a lengthy speech in which he reported on his activities over the past four-and-a-half years. He also addressed personal letters to each head of state of the Asia Group asking for their support.
No other candidate has emerged to challenge Ban, and diplomats say it is likely the Security Council will recommend that he be reconfirmed for a second term as early as the end of this month. It is important he have the Council's support, particularly the five permanent members - each of whom has the power to veto his appointment - but that is not expected to happen.
Ban told reporters he would meet with ambassadors from other regional groups representing all of the U.N. membership on Monday and Tuesday to explain his vision and priorities for the next five years.
Ban Ki-moon took over the helm of the world body on January 1, 2007 from Kofi Annan. During his tenure he has made climate change, disarmament, gender inequality and peace and security among his top priorities.
A near-constant traveler, he has personally extended U.N. and international support to countries in crisis, visiting China and Haiti after devastating earthquakes and meeting survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, as well as going to conflict zones including Iraq, Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ivory Coast and the Gaza Strip.
Ban's critics say he has not been as outspoken as he should be on issues such as human rights and complain that his "quiet diplomacy" has failed in reigning in the world's dictators and despots.
Ban will turn 67 years old on June 13. Prior to becoming U.N. chief, he served as South Korea's foreign minister.
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