Syrian rebels free 21 U.N. peacekeepers
Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh greets U.N. peacekeepers after their release on the Syria-Jordan border Saturday.
March 9th, 2013
10:43 AM ET
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Syrian rebels free 21 U.N. peacekeepers

Twenty-one U.N. peacekeepers detained by Syrian rebels this week have been handed over to Jordanian authorities at the border with Syria, the Free Syrian Army told CNN Saturday.

Rebels had detained the peacekeepers, identified by the Philippine government as Filipino, in a Syrian village near the Golan Heights.

Syrian opposition coalition President Moaz al-Khatib says the rebels took the peacekeepers for their own safety due to fighting there. The peacekeepers reportedly are unharmed.

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January 28th, 2013
07:43 AM ET
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One dead as violence continues to spill into Egypt's Tahrir Square

[Posted at 7:41 a.m. ET] A pedestrian was shot and killed this morning near Tahrir Square, two officials from Egypt's health ministry and interior health ministry told CNN. It is not clear who shot him.

[Posted at 6:53 a.m. ET] Egypt's latest wave of violence spilled into a fourth day Monday, as sporadic clashes erupted over new measures to clamp down on fighting.

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More clashes in Cairo as death toll in Egyptian soccer riot rises to 31
A protester throws a rock at riot police Saturday in Cairo
January 27th, 2013
04:11 AM ET
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More clashes in Cairo as death toll in Egyptian soccer riot rises to 31

Egypt struggled Sunday to retake control of a vital northeastern port city after a riot broke out following news that 21 people had been sentenced to death for their roles in last year's deadly clashes at a soccer match at the Port Said stadium.

The riot in Port Said follows other violence, which was tied more to unrest over Egypt's current leadership. They are nonetheless symptomatic of instability and insecurity two years after longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted.

By early Sunday morning, the death toll in Port Said climbed to 31, according to Dr. Ahmed Omar, a Health Ministry spokesman, who spoke to state-run EGYNews.
At least 322 were injured, including 61 who remained hospitalized, he said.

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November 17th, 2012
06:02 AM ET
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More than 40 children die in Egypt bus crash

A tragic accident took the lives of at least 47 school children in Egypt today, when bus collided with a train.  Government officials resigned over it.

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Egypt's highest court declares parliament invalid
Egyptian parliament members met in Cairo on Tuesday to elect members of a constitution committee.
June 14th, 2012
10:27 AM ET
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Egypt's highest court declares parliament invalid

[Updated at 11:44 a.m. ET] Egypt's highest court declared the parliament invalid Thursday, and the country's interim military rulers promptly declared full legislative authority, triggering a new level of chaos and confusion in the country's leadership.

The Supreme Constitutional Court also ruled that a former member of President Hosni Mubarak's regime may run in a presidential election runoff this weekend.

The ruling on parliament means that it must be dissolved, state TV reported.

The court found that all articles making up the law that regulated parliamentary elections are invalid, said Showee Elsayed, a constitutional lawyer.

Parliament had been in session for just over four months. It was dominated by Islamists, a group long viewed with suspicion by the military.

The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, in control of the country since Mubarak's ouster, announced that it now has full legislative power and will announce a 100-person assembly that will write the country's new constitution. The court's rulings come a day after Egypt's military-led government imposed a de facto martial law, extending the arrest powers of security forces.

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December 11th, 2011
04:15 PM ET
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Protesters attack employees at Syrian Embassy in Jordan, official says

About a dozen protesters attacked employees at Syria's embassy in Jordan on Sunday, an embassy official said.

After posing as citizens who said they had business at the embassy, the group of about a dozen people started hitting employees with sticks, leaving one unconscious briefly, said Syria's vice ambassador to Jordan, Mohammad Abu Serreah.

The group arrived when the embassy opened at 9 a.m., Serreah said. They were dressed inconspicuously, some in suits and others casually. After entering the building, they took off their jackets to show that they were wearing t-shirts in support of the Syrian opposition, he said.

Officials asked the group to leave the embassy, but they refused - and then began attacking some employees with sticks, Serreah said.

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June 10th, 2011
09:15 AM ET
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Fighting rages in western Libyan city

At keast 17 people were killed Friday as fighting raged in the western Libyan city of Misrata where forces loyal to Moammar Gadhafi attempted to enter from the west and south.

More than 60 others were injured, said Dr. Khaled Abu Falgha of Hekma hospital in Misrata. He said the casualties Friday were the heaviest suffered in the past month.

Rebel forces at a checkpoint near the western front line said at least seven of the dead were killed in fighting in the Dafniya area, where pro-Gadhafi forces pushed in with at least three tanks firing at rebel positions.

"It is horrible out there," said a rebel fighter as he sped by. "The revolutionaries are taking tank power in their chests."

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May 12th, 2011
08:43 AM ET
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Opposition claims rebels are in control of Misrata

All of the besieged Libyan city of Misrata has been "liberated," an opposition spokesman said Thursday.

Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, a spokesman for the Transitional National Council, made the announcement to reporters in Benghazi. The claim comes a day after council spokesmen sparred with a Libyan government spokesman over who was in control of the Misrata airport.

Meanwhile, at least two people were killed Thursday when four rockets struck Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's compound, a government spokesman told CNN. After the blasts, which could be heard in the center of Tripoli, sirens blared and at least two emergency vehicles sped toward the Bab al-Aziziya compound.

The Libya government took journalists near the site of the blast and smoke could be seen still rising from the compound. The bodies of at least two men were shown to reporters at a nearby hospital, and hospital officials said more victims were on the way.

Government officials said 27 people affected by the strike were also brought to the hospital. Most seemed to be suffering from smoke inhalation. The Libyan government said another attack on the same compound April 30 had killed Gadhafi's son Saif al-Arab Gadhafi and three of the leader's grandchildren. Libyan state television reported Thursday the North Korean embassy in Tripoli was damaged in a NATO airstrike.

On Wednesday, Shamsiddin Abdulmolah of the Transitional National Council said the airport in the southern part of Misrata had fallen to "revolutionaries" after opposition fighters in nearby Zlaitin joined their counterparts there.

But government spokesman Musa Ibrahim said government forces were in control of the airport and the seaport in Misrata. He said rebel forces had been there "for (a) short time and left."

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