WORLD

Syrian rebels capture dam, control water Egyptians mark Mubarak ouster Taliban warn against Viagra sales

Article Tools
	Discuss This Article
	Printer-Friendly Format
	E-Mail This Article

BEIRUT -- Syrian rebels captured the country's largest dam on Monday after days of intense clashes, giving them control over water and electricity supplies for much of the country in a major blow to President Bashar Assad's regime.

The rebels had already seized two other dams on the Euphrates River. But the latest conquest, the al-Furat dam in northeastern Raqqa province, was a major coup for the opposition. It handed them control over water and electricity supplies for both government-held areas and large swathes of land the opposition has captured over the past 22 months of fighting.

CAIRO -- Security forces sprayed protesters with water hoses and tear gas outside the presidential palace Monday as Egyptians marked the second anniversary of the fall of autocrat Hosni Mubarak's with angry demonstrations against his elected successor.

The forces were trying to disperse a crowd of protesters after some of them attempted to cross a barbed wire barrier meant to block them from the palace gate.

Earlier, masked men briefly blocked trains at a central Cairo subway station and a dozen other protesters blocked traffic with burning tires on a main overpass in Cairo. Hundreds rallied outside the office of the country's chief prosecutor demanding justice and retribution for protesters killed in clashes with security forces after Islamist President Mohammed Morsi took office last summer.

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- The head of a trade association for a large market in northwestern Pakistan says the Taliban have warned shopkeepers not to sell sex-related drugs like Viagra, or obscene films.

Shamsher Khan Afridi says he received a text message from the Pakistani Taliban on Saturday with the warning. Afridi said Monday that he distributed a pamphlet to thousands of shopkeepers in the Karkhano market in Peshawar city asking them to comply with the order. Afridi said the Taliban's message warned that selling sex-related drugs and obscene movies was against Islam.