[Transcript]  Mosaic News - 05/29/12: World News From The Middle East [VIDEO]

Presenter, Male #1
Syrian Local Coordination Committees said that 55 people, including six children, were killed today, most of them in Homs City. Opposition sources indicated that armed dissidents killed 20 soldiers in violent clashes that were witnessed in the town of Atarib in Aleppo Province. Demonstrations broke out across the province to support the cities and towns subject to the shelling.

Reporter, Female #1
According to activists, this is the battlefield in the residential town of Atarib in Aleppo Province, where fierce clashes continued between regime forces and the Free Syrian Army for the second consecutive day. Videos uploaded online showed the impact of the shelling that the town has endured. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that regime forces withdrew from the town to bombard it from a distance.

Guest, Male #2
Assad's brigades violated the ceasefire by launching rockets on the town in a violent and indiscriminate shelling, until dark clouds covered the town of Atarib. In addition, the Free Army was forced to respond to the Assad brigades' assaults, which caused violent clashes to erupt.

Reporter, Female #1
Meanwhile, the UN observers' delegation was visiting the town of Azaz, which welcomed them in its own way. News from Aleppo was absent from Syrian state media. Syrian TV said special organizations raided what it referred to as "nests" of the armed groups in Hama, and confiscated a large amount of weapons and ammunition.

Guest, Female #2 (Syrian TV)
…An explosive device equipped with a timer, PK machine guns, and a large number of bullets, ammunition, hand grenades and poison gas...

Reporter, Female #1
On the other hand, the activists' cameras captured scenes of what they said were special organizations carrying out their real mission of raiding and robbing the activists' homes. In Damascus, strikes continued for a second day in certain areas of Old Damascus, such as the neighborhoods of al-Sina'a in Shaghur and Halbouni in the central parts of the capital. The opposition's Shaam News Network documented 58 sites on strike in Damascus on Monday. In the neighborhood of at-Tadamun, hundreds have come out to a funeral for Mohamed Faraa, a child who was killed by the gunfire of security forces, according to activists.

Reporter, Female #1
These days, it seems like the only thing consistent in Syria's reality is the chaotic situation on the ground, which is developing separately from the changing course of diplomatic and international activity. Zaina al-Hayyam, BBC.

Presenter, Male #1
In this context, the Geneva-based UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that in its preliminary investigations, at least 20 of the victims in the Houla massacre, which took place last Friday, were killed in artillery shelling. The preliminary reports added that the remaining victims, including children, were executed nearby.

Presenter, Male #1
A spokesman for the U.S. State Department told the BBC that the U.S. administration decided to expel the Syrian charge d'affaires in Washington, Zuheir Jabbour, in response to the Houla massacre. The spokesman added that this decision was made in coordination with allied countries, affirming that the United States holds the Syrian government responsible for this massacre.

Presenter, Male #1
French President Francois Hollande announced the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador in Paris on account of the Houla massacre. Australia also announced that it has requested the charge d'affaires, as well as other diplomats in the Syrian embassy in Canberra, to leave Australia within 72 hours.

Presenter, Male #1
As for British Foreign Minister William Hague, he reaffirmed the commitment of his country and its allies to pressuring the Syrian regime to adhere to the Annan plan. This comes after a decision was issued to expel the Syrian diplomats from London. Hague added that he agrees with Russia on the necessity of Damascus' commitment to the Annan plan, denying that there is any plan for military intervention.

Presenter, Female #1
Egyptian cities witnessed protests against Ahmed Shafiq's qualifications in the runoff round. Protestors in central Cairo's Tahrir Square were attacked with batons by "thugs." The al-Nour Party and the martyrs' families announced their endorsement of Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsy. Meanwhile, political activists waged a campaign to combat the regime's remnants in the runoff elections.

Reporter, Female #1
With these slogans, Egyptians took to the streets to express their anger towards presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, who is participating in the runoff round, and possibly becoming Egypt's first president after the revolution. Once again, the revolutionaries took to the squares in different governorates to protect their revolution, which would be at stake if Shafiq won the elections, given that he was one of the figures of the regime they revolted against.

Guest, Male #1
We are here to bring victory to the revolution. If Ahmed Shafiq wins, then the revolution will be wasted.

Reporter, Female #2
The protestors in Tahrir Square in Cairo announced that Shafiq's presidential candidacy is unacceptable, and a loss of the martyrs' rights. They stepped on his pictures and lifted signs condemning him. One of them reads: "Shafiq will be president over my dead body."

Guest, Male #2
People are very upset, and they will not allow Ahmed Shafiq to rule the country. All of these people revolted against Hosni Mubarak, who was poorly managing the country. We were very intimidated by the police. If Ahmed Shafiq wins, we will go back to square one.

Reporter, Female #2
Protestors also called for the enforcement of the disenfranchisement law on Shafiq.

Guest Male #3
The disenfranchisement law forbids anyone from the old regime ruling us.

Reporter, Female #2
The enraged protestors reached Shafiq's campaign headquarters in several governorates and set them on fire, throwing his campaigns' advertisement materials outside his headquarters in the Dokki area in Cairo, where some of his supporters were gathered.

Guest, Male #4
I don't want the remnants of the regime that corrupted political life over the past 30 years to return to politics again.

Reporter, Female #2
Alexandria also witnessed large protests condemning Ahmed Shafiq. Sinai revolted, calling for enforcing isolation on Shafiq. Social movements and political forces, including the al-Karama, or 'dignity' party, the Committee to Protect the Revolution, revolutionaries of Sinai, and some political and religious movements, went out in a massive protest in al-Sadat Square, in the center of al-Arish City, to demand the enforcement of the disenfranchisement law on Shafiq. Khaled Arafat, al-Karama Party's founder in Sinai, announced the organization of protests to activate the disenfranchisement law on Shafiq. The Revolutionary Socialists organization in Egypt called for establishing a National Front to challenge Shafiq, who they described as a candidate for the Military Council and the dissolved National Democratic Party. They considered his victory a severe loss to the revolution, and a strong blow to its gains.

Reporter, Female #2
Political activists in Fayoum organized a campaign to warn citizens of Egypt's return to the former regime's rule if they elect the regime's remnant, Ahmed Shafiq. Losing candidate Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh called for excluding Shafiq and implementing the disenfranchisement law. He considered the Supreme Electoral Commission's decision to reject the appeals a further deterioration of the situation. Candidate Khaled Aly, who initiated an open sit-in in Tahrir Square until Shafiq is excluded from the runoff round, asserted that the elections were rigged in Shafiq's favor. He called for forming an independent judicial committee to revise the vote-counting process.

Presenter, Female #1
Palestinian Minister of Prisoners' Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, said that the Israeli prison administration has violated the prisoners' rights by extending administrative detention to nearly 30 prisoners since they ended their hunger strike. Qaraqe explained that the prisoners are monitoring what is happening, and if Israel continues these violations, they will restart their hunger strike.

Reporter, Female #2
A week has passed, and the mother of prisoner Awad al-Saeedi is still waiting to visit her son, who is cooped up in a solitary confinement cell in the Israeli Be'er Sheva Prison. He is continuing his hunger strike for the 45th consecutive day. In violation of the agreement to end the prisoners' hunger strike, Awad al-Saeedi's jailors have not let him out of his cell, and his family in the Gaza Strip has not been allowed to visit him.

Reporter, Female #2
The families of the prisoners are also concerned for prisoner Mahmoud Sirsak, who has been on a hunger strike for 75 days, and is now confined in the hospital of Ramla Prison. Small events continue in solidarity with the prisoners, who confirm that the prison administrations are violating the provisions of the agreement.

Guest, Female #3 (Mother of Prisoner Awad al-Saeedi)
He is incommunicado, and we are here in another prison, another solitary confinement in the Gaza Strip. My heart is with him, and I tell him, Awad, everyone is abandoning you, except for me. Your mother is the only one who is sobbing for you. He needs to always remember that no one is worried about him, people just don't care; nobody cares about him but me.

Reporter, Female #2
According to the agreement brokered by Egypt to end the prisoners' hunger strike, administrative detention cannot be extended unless new information is obtained, all prisoners must be let out of solitary confinement, and families in Gaza must be allowed to visit their children. However, human rights organizations confirm that Israel has breached the agreement. Administrative detention was extended to 30 prisoners, solitary confinement continues for prisoner Dirar Sisi, the prisoners who went on hunger strike were denied visits, and sections of the prisons continue to be raided in ways that provoke the prisoners.

Guest, Male #1 (Qaddoura Fares, Head of the Palestinian Prisoners' Society)
We have drafted a book, with a detailed list of names, to prove to our brothers in Egypt the facts of the Israeli violations. Israel is a fascist, racist, and oppressive country that does not respect the law. It remains the same Israel; those who thought the prisons would turn into warm cradles after the hunger strike were mistaken.

Reporter, Female #2
"Israel is violating the agreement that ended the hunger strike": a beautiful slogan from officials and human rights advocates. But this alone will not benefit the prisoners, who only seek a dignified life through mobilizing their people. They are spending their youth behind the occupation's prison bars for their people's freedom. Jibara al-Budairi, Al Jazeera, from in front of Ofer Military Prison, west of occupied Ramallah.

IDF forces shot and wounded four people who were attempting to illegally cross into Israel along the Egyptian border this morning. According to security sources, the infiltrators opened fire at the soldiers, who were trying to apprehend them. Three foreigners and an Egyptian smuggler were moderately wounded in the ensuing exchange. According to Be'er Sheva hospital officials, the three foreigners are of Chinese origin. The Southern Command's elite Rimon Reconnaissance Unit was recently formed to monitor the border with Egypt, and was involved in the incident.

Police are on alert in south Tel Aviv to prevent a renewal of violence directed against illegal migrant workers. This, as Likud MK Miri Regev has been ridiculed in the social media for referring to the migrants as a cancer. Tel Aviv residents say that the foreigners, who are predominantly from Sudan and Eritrea, have caused a spike in the level of crime, and endanger their safety. In response, the Director-General of the Prime Minister's Bureau said 20,000 illegal workers and 7,000 infiltrators have already been deported, and that plans are in place to expel the remaining 62,000. Benjamin Netanyahu opposes Yohanan Danino's suggestion that the migrants be allowed to work.

In the wake of talks with world powers, Iran is now saying that the West should accept its nuclear program as peaceful, in exchange for reduced uranium enrichment. A spokesman for the Iranian Foreign Ministry said that if Western countries acknowledge that Iran is using its 20 percent uranium for non-military purposes, they may consider Western requests to discontinue additional enrichment. This comes just one day after Tehran announced plans to build another nuclear facility.

Meanwhile, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told ABC News that the United States remains prepared for any scenario regarding Iran, and that it will not allow it to acquire nuclear weapons.

Presenter, Male #1
With the withdrawal of both countries' troops, talks between Sudan and South Sudan were launched today in Addis Ababa, after a two-month delay. Sudan said it will begin withdrawing its forces from the oil-rich Abyei region, as mandated by the UN Security Council resolution issued in the middle of the month.

Presenter, Male #1
Omar al-Bashir told former US President Jimmy Carter that Sudan will withdraw all of its forces from Abyei, and redeploy them outside the region's borders. Juba has already withdrawn its troops from Abyei. Despite the plan to withdraw from Abyei, the mistrust that exists between the two sides will likely undermine any international efforts aimed at bridging the gap between them, according to observers. From al-Khartoum, Sami al-Shinawi has the details.

Reporter, Male #2
Intensive international efforts are being exerted in a bid to ensure the success of the Addis Ababa-sponsored talks. A delegation of international governors, including former US President Jimmy Carter and former Algerian Foreign Minister al-Akhader al-Ibrahimi, has arrived in al-Khartoum, and has convinced President al-Bashir to withdraw from Abyei as a goodwill gesture from Khartoum to Juba. This news comes amid hopes that the new round of talks will help end the fighting between the two countries.

Guest, Male #3 (Yassir Yousif, Sudanese Deputy Press Secretary)
We must reach an understanding. In order to reach this understanding, they must work to preserve the interests of both nations. They also need to be reasonable. They must refrain from supporting the armed movements and undermining Sudanese national security.

Reporter, Male #2
Al-Khartoum said that security issues must first be addressed during this round of talks, a request that Juba rejected. However, both sides agreed to hold talks under the terms of the new roadmap adopted last month by the African Union's Peace and Security Council. Amid fears that the talks may reach a stalemate, the international community has urged both sides to offer more concessions.

Guest, Male #4 (Al-Fateh Abdullah, Journalist and Writer)
These issues must be resolved. Mbeki now enjoys the support of the UN Security Council and the African Union. He is now in a better position to ensure the success of the negotiations.

Reporter, Male #2
International and regional intervention has prevented the spread of the military confrontations that erupted between the two sides along their border last month. The lack of trust between the two countries is threatening international efforts aimed at bridging the gap between Khartoum and Juba.

Reporter, Male #2
This new round of talks is different than previous ones, as it comes at a time when both countries are witnessing an economic crisis. And any solution to this crisis hinges on the determination of both sides to reach an agreement that will help end the political stalemate and the deteriorating security situation in the region. Sami al-Shinawi, Dubai TV, al-Khartoum.

Presenter, Male #1
In Yemen, the army continues to pursue armed al-Qaeda fighters and counter their attacks in the south. In the latest incident, armed al-Qaeda fighters targeted an army food supply convoy west of the city of Zinjibar, capital of Abyan Province, killing three soldiers. The convoy was heading from Aden to Zinjibar when it came under attack by armed al-Qaeda fighters. Meanwhile, fighting continues on the outskirts of Zinjibar, as part of a wide-scale military operation launched by the Yemeni Army to expel armed al-Qaeda fighters from Abyan.

Presenter, Female #1
The United Nations described the economic situation in Yemen as tragic, as half of its population lives below the poverty line.

Reporter, Female #2
The shanty town neighborhood of al-Sunaina is located in the heart of the Yemeni capital Sana'a. Disease and hunger haunt the families here. Um Ahmed, a mother of four, must manage her household with the little money her husband earns as a street vendor.

Guest, Female #3
We have no source of income, or pension, or anything. Sometimes we are hungry. When my husband is sick, or if something happens that prevents him from going to work, then we don't get any money for the day.

Reporter, Female #2
There are millions of poverty stories like Um Ahmed's. More than half of the Yemeni people are living on less than two dollars a day. The uprising against President Ali Abdullah Saleh and political turmoil are all factors that led to the corruption and weakening of the government and its institutions. This month, the government is trying to acquire USD 10 billion in urgent aid from the "donor countries group" in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Guest, Male #1
There must not only be financial support, but strong political endorsement as well, and high-level logistical help, in order to deliver these resources; and to neutralize, not to exclude, but to neutralize, those parties that reject change.

Reporter, Female #2
Officials are attempting to allay fears that the new Yemeni government may squander the funds.

Guest, Male #2
We are trying to establish a base for investment for our supporters, headquartered in Yemen. It will cooperate directly between the donors and the Ministries of Finance and Planning.

Reporter, Female #2
Amid the government's promises to pay attention to their priorities, the Yemeni people are hoping to receive tangible benefits from the aid.

Presenter, Female #1
In the framework of a campaign called "Boycott the Occupation," Ramallah organized an open solidarity day, with events and activities that stress the campaign's demands to economically and culturally boycott the occupation. It also aims to encourage national industry by proving that our products are a better alternative.

Guest, Female #4 (Huna Abu Dih, Boycott Campaign Coordinator)
The "Boycott the Occupation" day comes in the framework of a series of events that we're organizing in this campaign. It aims to raise awareness for the academic, cultural, and economic boycotts, to children and youth, and the entire Palestinian society. We stress the demands of the campaign to boycott the occupation in all forms. Today's open event comes as part of the national cause, much like the commemoration of the Nakba, or solidarity with the prisoners.

Cautious calm as Lebanon awaits the fate of pilgrims who were kidnapped by Syrian armed groups. They were abducted as they were making their way back from a pilgrimage in Iran. The 11 missing men were kidnapped in Syria; despite conflicting reports emerging in the media, the families of the kidnapped pilgrims have not lost their hope, and they call on their government to send a delegation to Turkey to figure out what is happening.

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