Sunday News

World

Riots in Egypt after soccer fans sentenced to die 61 dead in Venezuelan prison riot Iran strongly backs Syria's Assad

CAIRO -- Relatives and angry young men rampaged through the Egyptian city of Port Said on Saturday in assaults that killed at least 27 people following death sentences for local fans involved in the country's worst bout of soccer violence.

Unrest surrounding the second anniversary of Egypt's revolution also broke out in Cairo and other cities for a third day, with protesters clashing for hours with riot police who fired tear gas that encompassed swaths of the capital's downtown.

The divisive verdict and bloodshed highlight challenges being faced by President Mohammed Morsi, who took office seven months ago following an Egyptian revolution that ousted autocratic leader Hosni Mubarak.

Saturday's riot in Port Said stemmed from animosity between police and die-hard soccer fans known as Ultras, who also were part of the mass uprising against Mubarak that began on Jan. 25, 2011, and at the lead of protests against the military rulers who assumed temporary power after his ouster.

CARACAS, Venezuela -- The death toll has risen to 61 after fierce gunbattles between inmates and National Guard troops at a Venezuelan prison, a hospital director said Saturday. About 120 more people were wounded in one of the deadliest prison riots in the nation's recent history.

Penitentiary Service Minister Iris Varela said Saturday that officials had begun evacuating inmates from the Uribana prison in Barquisimeto and transferring them to other facilities.

Relatives wept outside the prison during the violence, and cried at the morgue Saturday as they waited to identify bodies.

BEIRUT -- Issuing Tehran's strongest warning to date, a top Iranian official said Saturday that any attack on Syria would be deemed an attack on Iran, a sign that it will do all it can to protect embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Ali Akbar Velayati, an aide to Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, made his comments as Syrian troops conducted offensive air raids against rebels.

The world has been grappling over how to deal with Syria ever since an uprising against Assad's regime erupted nearly two years ago. But so far, there has been no international intervention on the ground where more than 60,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N.