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Over 200 civilians die in Syrian 'massacre'
02/04 | 03:45 GMT
©AFP / Alessio Romenzi
A young boy holds up a sign during an anti-regime demonstration in the Syrian village of al-Qsair, 25 km southwest of the flashpoint city Homs. Syrian forces killed at least 217 civilians, including women and children, in a "massacre" in the central city of Homs, a rights group said Saturday, ahead of a UN vote on the repression.
©AFP / Alessio Romenzi
Friday's overall death toll was around 250 and could still rise, the Observatory said
DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrian forces killed at least 217 civilians, including women and children, in a "massacre" in the central city of Homs, a rights group said Saturday, ahead of a UN vote on the repression.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 138 of the fatalities were caused by mortar fire in the Al-Khalidiya district of Homs, which has become a flashpoint of the 10-month revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
Another 79 people were killed in other parts of town. Following violence elsewhere, including Damascus, during the day, Friday's overall death toll was around 250 and could still rise, the Observatory said.
The grim tolls, if confirmed, would mark the bloodiest day of the almost 11-month uprising against Assad's regime.
"It's a real massacre," the observatory's director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP, calling for the "immediate intervention" of the Arab League to end the killing.
The Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya television channels showed images of dozens of bodies on the ground and scenes of chaos in the city, with several buildings destroyed.
Witnesses interviewed by Doha-based Al-Jazeera spoke of nail bombs raining down and incessant shelling which turned the city into a war zone, while one resident, Danny Abdul Ayem reported "non-stop bombardment ... by tank shells and mortar bombs."
©AFP/LCC Syria
Opposition picture shows a rebel next to a destroyed government tank in Homs
Tweets claiming to be by residents of Homs spoke of a city that "is bleeding" and under heavy bombardment, with one resident counting "366 explosions tonight so far."
A medical student told Al-Jazeera that the local hospital had been overwhelmed in its attempts to treat the injured.
"There is a lack of blood, a lack of oxygen ... there is danger in the streets," he said. "We are overwhelmed. We have opened the mosque next door" to receive wounded people.
AFP was not immediately able to verify the authenticity of the videos nor of the opposition and residents' accounts because of restrictions on reporting in Syria.
The Observatory said the violence broke out after thousands of people across Syria defied the government crackdown to mark the 30th anniversary of a notorious 1982 massacre in the central city of Hama that killed thousands.
News of the latest deaths came as a diplomat in New York said members of the UN Security Council would meet Saturday morning for a vote on a resolution condemning the violent repression in Syria.
The text is the same as a draft resolution sent to the council's 15 members on Thursday.
©AFPTV
Syrian activist condemns al-Assad's 'chilling stubbornness' Duration:01:26
It highlights the UN body's support for an Arab League plan for a democratic transition while leaving out explicit references to calls for Assad to step down, the diplomat said Friday.
The Syrian rights group, called on the people "to take to the streets in the towns and villages and to rise up against the regime which is committing a real massacre right now in Homs."
The Homs violence followed an already bloody day in which, the Syrian Observatory said, at least 35 other people were reported killed across Syria, among them 16 civilians.
The Britain-based group said 14 soldiers were killed in clashes with the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and that five army deserters also lost their lives.
In addition, one person died of wounds sustained on Thursday, and the bodies of three other people were either found or returned to their families.
Amid growing concern that Syria is sliding into all-out civil war, an officer with the FSA claimed the regular army "is in a pitiful state and getting close to collapsing."
The UN Security Council vote is expected on the same day that US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is due to hold face-to-face talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, amid a fresh American push for passage of the resolution.
"It is the same text that's going to a vote," a UN diplomat said on Friday, referring to the draft resolution sent to the council's 15 members the previous day.
The resolution faces an uncertain fate, as Moscow had maintained its opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the Arab League.
©AFP/YouTube
Image grab from a video on YouTube shows demonstrators in the village of Musaifra
Russia also said Friday it could not support the new draft in its current form, which states the council fully supports an Arab League plan to facilitate a democratic transition, but leaves out explicit references to calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
The Security Council has yet to adopt a resolution on Syria despite the 10 months of violence that has left more than 6,000 people dead, rights groups estimate. An earlier draft was blocked in October by China and Russia.
Clinton held what her spokesman described as "constructive" talks by telephone with Lavrov over the draft, and the pair were due to meet in Munich, likely ahead of the UN vote.
"You can be sure that Syria and the discussions at the UN will be one of the issues there, among many," a senior State Department official said.
The new draft backs a January 22 Arab League request that Assad transfer power to a deputy and a government of national unity within two months but does not call on him to step down, according to a copy obtained by AFP.
Instead, it calls for a "Syrian-led political transition to a democratic, plural political system... including through commencing a serious political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition under the League of Arab States' auspices, in accordance with the timetable set out by the League of Arab States."
The draft also "condemns all violence from whatever source and... requires that all parties in Syria, including armed groups (opposition), immediately cease all violence or reprisal."
The latest attempt at consensus emerged after hours of talks in the Security Council, with Moscow leading the opposition to a tougher draft resolution authored by Western powers and the Arab League.
Diplomats said the new draft took into account concerns by Moscow, a staunch Damascus ally.
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Madrid go local in bid to defend 7-point La Liga lead
02/04 | 02:51 GMT
©AFP / Dominique Faget
Real Madrid's coach Jose Mourinho (R), forward Cristiano Ronaldo (C) and defender Pepe (L), pictured during a training session in Madrid, on February 3. Real Madrid's seven-point lead over Barcelona could come under threat this weekend when Mourinho's side face a potentially tricky fixture at local rivals Getafe.
©AFP / Dominique Faget
Real Madrid's coach Jose Mourinho (R), forward Cristiano Ronaldo (C) and defender Pepe (L)
MADRID (AFP) - Real Madrid's seven-point lead over Barcelona could come under threat this weekend when Jose Mourinho's side face a potentially tricky fixture at local rivals Getafe.
The team from the south of the capital may be sitting in ninth position but the Dark Blues sit only four points off the Champions League places for next season and are without a defeat in six league games.
Getafe are also the only team to have beaten Barcelona this season -- a significant detail, and also one of the reasons Real currently enjoy such a big gap over the Catalans.
Since being humiliated by a 3-1 home defeat to Barcelona in December, Mourinho's side have a 100 percent record in five league matches -- and that is partly down to on-form German international Mesut Ozil.
Having stated in midweek his desire to stay at the club long-term, the attacking midfielder is clear what the short-term goal is.
"It may that we have a big gap over Barca, but it's not. If we mess up twice they can catch us," said Ozil.
Getafe coach Luis Garcia has duly pinpointed Ozil as one of Real's danger men.
©AFP / Jose Jordan
Getafe are also the only team to have beaten Barcelona this season
"I think the last few games he has been spectacular and we are now seeing the Ozil we had all heard about. Lets hope he has a bad game on Saturday but I think he has a great future with Madrid," said Garcia, who is nonetheless confident of taking something from the game.
"We are in good form and we'll have our chances, Real have failed to win in the league three times so far this season and we hope to add to that tally," added Garcia.
Apart from the obvious difficulties in facing a consistent Real, Garcia has personnel problems.
Centre-halves Rafael Lopez (injured) and Albert Lopo (suspended), together with forward Dani Guiza (suspended) will all be missing.
Also doubtful are midfielders Miguel Marcos Madera, known as 'Michel' (injury), while Pedro Leon -- who is on loan from Real -- will not feature either.
©AFP/File / Lluis Gene
At Barcelona frustration has been the word of the week, especially for Lionel Messi
Real have no such worries, with the only uncertainty surrounding midfielder Xabi Alonso. He has returned from injury but if he is on the bench or unselected, Mourinho should continue with ex-Getafe player Esteban Granero.
At Barcelona frustration has been the word of the week, especially for Lionel Messi.
The Argentine midfielder was thwarted on a number of occasions in a 0-0 draw last week against Villarreal thanks mainly to the goalkeeping heroics of Diego Lopez.
And on Wednesday Messi had a penalty saved by Diego Alves in the Spanish Cup semi-final first leg as the Catalans eked out a 1-1 draw at Valencia.
Club captain Carles Puyol headed home the equaliser against Valencia, thus extending an incredible unbeaten sequence of games in which he has started that now runs to 54 matches -- the last defeat being against Inter Milan in the Champions League final in April 2010.
Although as a club they have lost seven games since that date, the talismanic Puyol has not started any of them.
He should again be captaining the side against a rampant Real Sociedad side who beat Sporting 5-1 on Sunday.
On Sunday third-placed Valencia visit Diego Simeone's fast-improving Atletico Madrid, who have taken 10 points from a possible 12 since the Argentinian coach's arrival at the club.
Seventh-placed Atletico have yet to concede a goal since Simeone arrived and will provide a stern test for Valencia who sit seven points ahead of them in the third Champions League place.
Fixtures (all times GMT)
Saturday
Levante v Racing Santander (1700), Mallorca v Real Betis (1700), Athletic Bilbao v Espanol (1700), Getafe v Real Madrid (1900), Barcelona v Real Sociedad (2100)
Sunday
Sporting Gijon v Osasuna (1100), Sevilla v Villarreal (1700), Zaragoza v Rayo Vallecano (1845), Atletico Madrid v Valencia (2030)
Monday
Granada v Malaga (2000)
Sports
Madrid go local in bid to defend 7-point La Liga ...French ex-PM Villepin on presidential campaign trail
02/04 | 05:55 GMT
©AFPTV
Dominique de Villepin was once France's prime minister. Now he's trying a comeback, running for the presidency. With no party to back him, he's campaigning on a shoestring, hoping against hope to wrest the presidency from his archrival Nicolas Sarkozy. Duration:02:23
©AFPTV
Dominique de Villepin was once France's prime minister. Now he's trying a comeback, running for the presidency. With no party to back him, he's campaigning on a shoestring, hoping against hope to wrest the presidency from his archrival Nicolas Sarkozy.
Video Gallery
French ex-PM Villepin on presidential campaign ...Beckham sent off at kids' football match
02/04 | 05:55 GMT
©AFP/File / Olly Greenwood
David Beckham (L) and his son Romeo at a football game in London in 2010. Beckham was shown the red card and ordered out of a park while watching a children's match, he said in an interview to be screened Saturday.
©AFP/File / Olly Greenwood
David Beckham (L) and his son Romeo at a football game in 2010
LONDON (AFP) - Football icon David Beckham was shown the red card and ordered out of a park while watching a children's match, he said in an interview to be screened Saturday.
The former England captain was sent off after protesting a decision to send off one of the youngsters, he told ITV television.
The Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder, 36, who was waiting for a match his nine-year-old son Romeo was due to play in, had to go and stand outside the park gate until the game was over.
"I was watching the kids play the other day, it was the game just before they were playing," he said.
"It was the younger kids of Romeo's club, and they're playing in the game and there was a penalty given.
"He sent the kid off. And I was like, 'Come on, he's seven years old, referee, you can't send him off'.
"And he looked at me and was like, 'Yes, I can'. And I was like, 'OK, well, you can't, he's seven years old'.
"And he came over and gave me a red card. He told me to get out of the park. For real.
"The gate was only 20 yards away and I waited and went back in when my son's game was on."
The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star said his family was happy in California and did not rule out having more children with his wife, former Spice Girls singer Victoria. The couple have three sons and a daughter.
"We might have one more or two more, you never know. We're not thinking about it yet, but if it happens, great. We're enjoying the kids as it is. It's always a thought."
Beckham, England's most capped outfield player, has set his sights on captaining Great Britain at the Olympic Games in July and August, to be held in his native east London.
Beckham's contract was up at LA Galaxy but last month but he has agreed a new two-year deal contract with the US champions, rejecting offers from Paris Saint-Germain and two English Premier League clubs.
People
Beckham sent off at kids' football ...Deadly clashes as anger with Egypt military boils over
02/04 | 03:24 GMT
©AFP / Khaled Desouki
An Egyptian protester throws a stone at riot police near the interior ministry in Cairo. A second day of clashes with Egyptian police left five more people dead as anger against the ruling military boiled over amid fury at the recent deaths of 74 people in football-related violence
©AFP / Khaled Desouki
Two protesters died in Cairo of tear gas inhalation
CAIRO (AFP) - A second day of clashes with Egyptian police left five more people dead as anger against the ruling military boiled over amid fury at the recent deaths of 74 people in football-related violence.
Marchers took to the streets across the country to demand that the generals cede power immediately after a night of violence in several cities.
Two protesters died in Cairo of tear gas inhalation after being rushed to hospital unconscious from outside the interior ministry, where clashes raged into Friday night.
Another two protesters died in violence in the northeast canal city of Suez, according to a security source.
Meanwhile the official Mena news agency reported that a soldier injured while guarding the interior ministry building, succumbed to his wounds in hospital.
In another hit to the the already-suffering tourism sector, two American women and their Egyptian tour guide were briefly kidnapped by armed Bedouins in the Sinai peninsula, before being released unharmed after several hours, security officials said.
The kidnappers stole watches, phones and money from a tour bus on its way from the historic St Catherine's monastery to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh before snatching the two tourists and their guide, the officials told AFP.
The health ministry said 1,051 people were also injured on Friday.
©AFP / Mahmud Hams
Marchers took to the streets across the country to demand that generals cede power immediately
Thick clouds of tear gas blanketed the road to the ministry in the capital.
Protesters, many of them organised supporters of Cairo's main football clubs known as Ultras, held up a huge banner to the police that read: "Those who didn't deserve to die have died at the hands of those who don't deserve to live."
Many of the dead in Wednesday's football riot in the northern city of Port Said were thought to have been Al-Ahly supporters, set upon by partisans of the local Al-Masry side after the Cairo side lost 3-1 as police on duty stood by.
The Ultras played a prominent role among anti-regime elements in the uprising that overthrew president Hosni Mubarak a year ago. Some commentators and citizens have suggested pro-Mubarak forces were behind the massacre, or at least complicit.
Rocks and stones flew in all directions as police vans in Cairo repeatedly charged before retreating. At one point, police clubbed protesters who were just metres (yards) away from the ministry headquarters.
Focus: Egyptians blame military rulers for security vacuum
Across the street, a building housing the Tax Authority was on fire, state television reported without providing details.
©AFPTV
Clashes in Egypt after deadly football disaster. Duration: 01:26
A soldier injured outside the interior ministry building on Thursday died in hospital on Friday, the state MENA news agency reported.
In nearby Tahrir Square -- nerve centre of the mass rallies that forced Mubarak from power -- thousands chanted slogans against the military junta that took power when the president quit.
In Suez, where two demonstrators were also killed on Thursday, police fired birdshot and tear gas to disperse protesters, an AFP reporter said.
Under a volley of rocks and stones, ambulances ferried the injured out of the central Al-Arbaeen Square at the opposite end of the Suez Canal to Port Said where Wednesday night's stadium deaths enraged the nation.
Thousands also took to the streets to denounce the junta in Egypt's second city of Alexandria and in Port Said.
Gunmen carrying automatic weapons stormed a police station in east Cairo, freeing the detainees before setting fire to the building.
And in the city's Dokki neighbourhood, a group of men attacked a police station, retrieving weapons from the building.
The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) blamed the unrest on "foreign and domestic hands targeting the country."
In a statement on Facebook, it urged "all political and national forces of this great nation to take a national and historic role and intervene ... to return stability."
Wednesday's clashes between fans of home team Al-Masry and Al-Ahly marked one of the deadliest incidents in football history. Witnesses said that the security forces did little to prevent the rioting.
After the final whistle, victorious Al-Masry fans invaded the pitch, throwing rocks, bottles and fireworks at Al-Ahly supporters, causing panic as players and fans fled in all directions, witnesses said.
©AFP / Mahmud Hams
Rocks and stones flew in all directions in Cairo
On Friday, Egypt's prosecutor general slapped a travel ban on the head of the Egyptian Football Association Samir Zaher -- a day after he was sacked -- and on ex-Port Said governor Mohammed Abdullah, who resigned following the clashes.
"This happened as security services stood by and did nothing, like they did in previous events, and perhaps they even contributed to the massacre," wrote Ibrahim Mansur, a columnist for the independent daily Al-Tahrir.
Egyptians have become increasingly angry with the junta, which they accuse of failing to manage the country and of human rights abuses.
For months, they have taken to the streets to demand the overthrow of the SCAF and its chief, Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, who was Mubarak's defence minister for two decades.
The SCAF has pledged to cede full powers to civilian rule when a president is elected by the end of June.
But widespread suspicions that the military aims to retain some powers after the transition were fuelled by comments from former US president Jimmy Carter after he met the generals repeatedly last month.
"When I met with military leaders, my impression was they want to have some special privilege in the government after the president is elected," Carter said.
