Egypt's Hosni Mubarak in hospital after 'heart attack'

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is in intensive care after suffering a heart attack, say state media.

He was taken ill while meeting prosecutors investigating the killing of hundreds of protesters and allegations of corruption, reports say.

The manager of the hospital in Sharm el-Sheikh said Mr Mubarak's condition was "almost stable".

Mr Mubarak, 82, stood down on 11 February following an 18-day popular uprising against his rule.

State TV quotes medical sources as saying that Mr Mubarak, had refused to eat or drink since being summoned by the public prosecutor on Sunday.

Mr Mubarak's two sons, Alaa and Gamal, are also under investigation and are being questioned at the prosecutor's office in al-Tor in South Sinai governorate, where the former president is said to have been when he suffered the reported medical emergency.Scuffles

"There is a state of confusion inside the hospital and only patients are allowed in," Ashraf Swaylam, a news reporter for the state-run station Nile TV, said earlier.

The hospital was accepting no patients except for emergency cases, another local media report said.

Protesters picketed the hospital, denouncing the president and carrying a sign reading "Here is the butcher", AP news agency reported. They scuffled with supporters of Mr Mubarak.

Mr Mubarak underwent gall bladder surgery in the German city of Heidelberg last year and there were reports that he had remained in poor health, although his aides had denied this.

A BBC correspondent says it is understood that the former president's doctors had asked Egypt's ruling military council for permission to send him back to Germany for treatment, but that this was refused.

Mr Mubarak has been banned from leaving the country, along with his sons and their wives, and the family's assets have been frozen.

In a pre-recorded audio message on Sunday, he broke his silence of the last two months to say his reputation and that of his sons had been damaged and he would work to clear their names.Square cleared

Correspondents say he has been keeping a low profile in Sharm el-Sheikh, a Red Sea resort, after fleeing to his holiday villa there when he was overthrown.

In a separate development, soldiers and police are said to have ended a five-day occupation of Cairo's Tahrir Square by hundreds of protesters.

They had been demanding civilian rule and swifter prosecution of disgraced former officials, principally Mr Mubarak.

There were clashes on the first night of the occupation and tensions had remained high.

source:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13053376

Bahrain: University students attacked as violence escalates

EI has condemned the suspension of higher education in Bahrain as the brutal repression of pro-democracy protesters demanding political reforms within the kingdom continues.

The protesters have been inspired by the recent uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, whose long-serving presidents were forced from power after weeks of demonstrations. Despite the king reshuffling his cabinet he has not replaced the prime minister of more than 40 years, Sheikh Khalifah ibn Salman al-Khalifah.

After eight weeks of protests, more than 1,000 troops from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and 500 from the United Arab Emirates have arrived in Bahrain at the invitation of the government. It is not clear whether soldiers from other Gulf states are taking part in the crackdown, but there are indications that the Saudi troops are being kept in reserve. This is the first time that an Arab government has called for outside military help during the wave of protests sweeping the region.

The Shi’a-led opposition platform has declared as ‘unacceptable’ all intervention by the armed forces of neighbouring countries of the Gulf Co-operation Council, a six-nation regional grouping which includes Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

With a population with a median age of 30 years, and a literacy rate of 91 per cent, Bahrain is a country with a successful educational record. Despite this, youth unemployment levels stand at 19.6 per cent.

Bahrain’s Shi’a Muslim majority has long complained of economic hardship, lack of political freedom and discrimination in jobs in favour of Sunni Muslims by the kingdom’s ruling Sunni Muslim minority. It has also called for the evolution of their nation from an absolute to a constitutional monarchy.

The General Federation of Bahrain Trade Unions (GFBTU) has called for a general strike on 15 March after a spate of violent attacks on university students, and the excessive use of force by riot police in the financial centre of the capital, Manama.

On Tuesday, at least two people were killed in clashes and more than 200 were injured. A trade union source reported: “Security forces have used both rubber bullets and live ammunition against the demonstrators. Men armed with knives, batons and revolvers, claiming to be government supporters, have stopped cars at crossroads and several trade union members have been beaten. The premises of political parties have been burnt down and we fear that there will be an attack on our own premises.”

A three-month state of emergency has been declared by King Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifa. The academic year of university institutions has also been suspended and the government has imposed a curfew and banned all demonstrations.

Riot police entered Manama's Salmaniya Medical Centre on Wednesday, as doctors reported that they were being prevented from reaching the hospital or treating patients.

One doctor stated that she and her colleagues were hiding from troops who had taken over the building and were shooting at people inside the hospital and threatening the doctors with live ammunition.

"They are all around us with their guns and they are shooting anybody," she said.

source:http://www.ei-ie.org/news/news_details/1700

Libya rebels defend oil port; look to West for help

Libya is the fourth biggest oil exporter in Africa after Nigeria, Algeria and Angola, producing around 1.8 million barrels a day, with reserves of 42 billion barrels

A Libyan jet streaked low over one of the country’s main oil terminals and rebel anti-aircraft guns unleashed a deafening salvo, but petrochemical engineer Ali al-Medan barely flinched.

“I had to come to work. What to do?” he said after the barrage fired by opposition fighters stationed outside the gates of the Harouge Oil Company in Ras Lanuf, the front line town in their battle against Moamer Kadhafi.

The 50-year-old had stopped on the way home from a day’s work to offer food and water to a motley group of a dozen insurgents manning anti-aircraft cannons mounted on the back of Toyota trucks.

Some wore camouflage while a couple sported oil company overalls.

Medan said production was continuing at the giant installation on the Mediterranean coast, even though exports through Ras Lanuf have largely dried up because of the fierce fighting raging a few kilometres (miles) away.

“Some people are still working as normal but there are no ships coming in. Normally they ship it from here to Italy and the rest of the world. It is the number one (terminal) in Libya.”

But the petrochemical plant neighbouring the oil terminal, where he works, provides power and water to the town “so we have to work. My wife and family are in Ras Lanuf, I fear for them.”

The Mediterranean coastal town has done well from Libya’s oil boom since Kadhafi nationalised the former Mobil terminal as part of his “people’s revolution.”

Libya is the fourth biggest oil exporter in Africa after Nigeria, Algeria and Angola, producing around 1.8 million barrels a day, with reserves of 42 billion barrels.

Ras Lanuf plays a major part as its oil refinery produces 220,000 barrels a day.

Ras Lanuf town’s smart blocks of flats look more like those in a European resort, and it boasts a modern hospital -- where ambulances bring a stream of insurgents who have been wounded in a push by Kadhafi’s forces.

Heavy casualties show that the strategic importance of the giant oil tanks on the desert coast is clear to the opposition and Kadhafi’s forces alike.

The rebels scan the arid horizon and twice in 10 minutes fired at government warplanes, shouting “Victory or death” and “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest).

“It is important for them and we have to hold it. He keeps sending planes and helicopters and we shoot at them,” said Zachariah, the commander of the rebel battery at the terminal.

“Yesterday near here they shot down a Sukhoi,” added Zachariah, who in civilian life is a driver from the Libya’s second city Benghazi, the rebel headquarters some 300 kilometres away.

The rebels dream of a time when they control the country’s oil themselves, should they topple Kadhafi after 41 years in power -- although Zachariah’s plans appeared as vague as the parallel rebel government’s.

“In several of his speeches Kadhafi said that the oil is for him and his children. After they get rid of the Kadhafis then they will see how it is going to go afterwards,” he said.

The fighters flashed victory signs and cheered at the dozens of cars and pick-up trucks racing along the desert road in a desperate bid to repel Kadhafi’s forces as they threatened to wipe out the opposition gains.

Abdul Aziz al-Ghazaly, a portly, middle-aged rebel wearing a military jacket and sunglasses, said he did not mind missing the action at the front because he had found his calling.

“It is our role to guard this and other important places while other young people are going to Tripoli,” he said.

But Medan, the engineer, said the West, with its thirst for oil from countries like Libya, owes it to the rebels to set up a no-fly zone to stop Kadhafi’s jets trying to rain death from the skies.

“The reaction is terrible from the west. They talk about a military option but all we want is a no-fly zone, the rest we can do ourselves,” he said.

source:http://www.livemint.com/2011/03/07085102/Libya-rebels-defend-oil-port.html