WORLD AT A GLANCE
Deadly clashes in Syria
Syria became the latest country to face the wave of pro-democracy
demonstrations. This is evidence that the wave of unrest which unseated
Hosni Mubarak in Egypt has not subsided.
By Friday night, it was reported that at least 19 protesters have
been killed during anti-government rallies in the southern Syrian city
of Deraa. Residents near the Al Omari mosque said they had seen at least
13 bodies in that area and more are reportedly wounded.
The BBC reported: "Officials said only a member of the security
forces and an ambulance worker had been killed. Deraa has been a focus
of unrest since anti-government protests erupted across Syria in
mid-March. The protests have posed an unprecedented challenge to
President Bashar al-Assad's 11-year rule."Thousands are reported to have
staged rallies following Friday prayers in Deraa. Eyewitnesses said
security forces had opened fire on crowds chanting pro-democracy
slogans," the BBC's Lina Sinjab reported.
Another activist in Deraa told AFP by telephone that demonstrators
leaving three mosques had marched to the city's main court, but were
confronted by "security forces dressed in civilian clothing" who fired
tear gas to disperse them.A resident quoted by Reuters reported seeing
"pools of blood and three bodies" in the Mahatta area of Deraa.Also in
Deraa, protesters smashed a stone statue of Basil al-Assad - President
Assad's late brother - Reuters reported, citing a witness.Last month,
protesters in Deraa tore down a statue of President Assad's father -
former President Hafez al-Assad.
NATO warplanes hit rebel convoy
According to a report which appeared last Saturday in The New York
Times, NATO acknowledged on Friday that its warplanes had hit a rebel
convoy the day before, killing at least four people, and after some
confusion eventually expressed regret over the accident.
At a news conference in Naples, where NATO has its operational
headquarters, Rear Adm. Russell Harding, the British deputy commander of
the air campaign, said the alliance had not been forewarned - as the
rebels' commander, Gen. Abdul Fattah Younes, contended on Thursday -
that the rebels were using tanks at the time the attack took place.
The military movements in the area where the attack took place were
also "very fluid" at the time, he said, according to news reports, with
vehicles going backward and forward.
"I am not apologizing," he said of the incident, the second case of
friendly-fire deaths in a week. "The situation on the ground was
extremely fluid and remains extremely fluid, and until yesterday we did
not have information" that the rebels planned to deploy tanks.
But later, Secretary General of NATO, Anders Fogh Rasmussen,
expressed his remorse over the mix-up. "This is a very unfortunate
incident," he said at NATO headquarters in Brussels. "And I strongly
regret the loss of life." Admiral Harding said that, in the past 48
hours, NATO warplanes had flown 318 sorties and struck 23 targets in
several parts of Libya. That brought the total, since the alliance
assumed overall command of the operation from the United States last
week, to more than 1,500 sorties, striking anti-aircraft missile
defences, tanks, munition dumps and loyalist forces seeking to advance
into Misurata, he said.
Rebels in the hotly contested area between Brega and Ajdabiya in
eastern Libya said they would paint the tops of their vehicles pink to
help avoid future friendly-fire accidents.
Aftershocks hit Japan
A strong earthquake shook northern Japan on Thursday evening,
triggering tsunami alerts and renewed fears for the safety of the
already damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Thursday's aftershock
knocked out external power at three more nuclear facilities. About 3.6
million households are still without power since the March 11 earthquake
and the tsunami which caused 12,596 confirmed deaths, while a further
14,747 people are listed as missing and presumed dead.
Japan's public broadcaster NHK issued warnings of a tsunami of up to
three feet along more than 300 miles of coastline north of Tokyo.
Workers at the Fukushima nuclear plant were evacuated by the operator,
Tokyo Electric Power Co., which said there were no reports of injuries
among the emergency crews at the plant after the earthquake.
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