Protests

An audio recording attributed to al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden denounces Somalia’s new president, and urges Somalis to topple him. The recording appeared Thursday on Web sites used by al-Qaida-linked militant groups. The speaker says Somalis should fight and dethrone President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, who the recording claims is “paid by the enemies”...
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Pakistan sealed off city exits to activists trying to march on the capital and stopped a key lawyer from boarding a flight Saturday, widening a crackdown on protests that has sparked turmoil. President Asif Ali Zardari, whose popularity ratings are at rock bottom, is locked in a standoff with the main opposition leader Nawaz...
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Tibetan groups are calling for urgent intervention in Tibet by U.N. human rights bodies. They appealed to the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva. Representatives of several Tibetan groups in exile say tensions remain high in Tibet. The groups say China has responded to the 50th anniversary of the occupation of the country...
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Riot police in Malaysia have fired tear gas to disperse thousands of people in Kuala Lumpur, who protested against the use of English in local schools. Some 124 people were reportedly held, as the demonstrators tried to march to the royal palace in the capital. The ethnic Malay protesters demanded a return to Malay...
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China’s state-run media has said a Tibetan monk made up allegations that police shot another monk who set himself on fire to protest against Chinese rule in his homeland. Activist groups reported police shot the monk when he protested in the flashpoint area of Aba in southwest China’s Sichuan province last week, and residents...
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Protesters gathered outside the New York Post’s Manhattan office last night chanting “shut the Post down” after they claimed a cartoon in the tabloid compared President Obama to a chimpanzee. The Post’s Editor-in-Chief insists his cartoonist was simply mocking the authors of the fiscal stimulus Bill as no better than a team of trained...
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A key opposition leader in Madagascar has called for more protests against the president, a day after security forces killed 28 of his supporters. Andry Rajoelina, who was dismissed last week from his post as mayor of the capital, Antananarivo, spoke as he visited injured supporters in hospital. He is locked in a power...
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