Syria makes arrests, hunts for snipers

The Ivy League may claim to be cracking down on fraternity and sorority hazing, but the practice appears to be alive and well on Columbia University's campus.

Thousands of Islamic militiamen loyal to Iran's rulers have staged exercises for deployment against protesters in the event of any anti-regime demonstrations, a reformist daily reported on Saturday.Around 3,000 members of the Basij militia on Friday held mock "street battles using the experience of events" that followed Iran's contested 2009 presidential election, Arman newspaper said, quoting a Revolutionary Guards commander.

MOSCOW — Two men in their early twenties lie face down in the snow, hands tied behind their backs, heads doused with dark red paint. A dozen young men, some wearing surgical masks, wreck a car with hammers and axes. One sets fire to a plastic bag filled with a greenish powder and a stack of cards that read: “Aroma. Smoking mixes.”

The Ministry of Defence has dismissed claims by an Afghan warlord that Prince Harry kills insurgents while "drunk" as simply absurd. Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan prime minister, told the Daily Telegraph that Prince Harry, an Apache attack helicopter pilot, was intoxicated as he killed "innocent Afghans".

Brazilian demonstrators held marches on the weekend calling for marijuana to be legalized after the country's top court ruled the gatherings could go ahead in the name of freedom of speech.The demonstrations were held in 40 towns and cities late Saturday, according to Brazilian media.Most were small affairs, with around 2,000 marching in the country's megapolis of Sao Paulo. Some people were seen smoking marijuana, but there were no immediate reports of arrests.

Vast numbers of protesters poured into a square in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Tuesday for a massive anti-regime rally, as President Ali Abdullah Saleh blamed the US and Israel for a wave of Arab revolts.Protesters crowded three streets leading to a square near Sanaa University, where students and pro-democracy demonstrators have been camped for more than a week."The people want the departure of Ali Abdullah Saleh," they chanted in unison. "The people want to overthrow the regime."

Supporters of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak clashed violently with opposition protesters on Wednesday after storming their rally in central Cairo, with dozens hurt, AFP correspondents and witnesses said.Partisans from both sides threw stones and set on each other with sticks and fists in Tahrir Square, the epicentre of anti-regime demonstrations, a day after the embattled president rejected demands to step down and vowed to stay on to the end of his term.

Thousands of supporters of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak clashed violently with opposition protesters after marching into an anti-regime rally in Tahrir Square on Wednesday, witnesses and an AFP correspondent said.Protesters from both sides threw stones at each other in the divided square, the epicentre of opposition demonstrations now in their ninth day.The clashes were centred in front of the world famous Egyptian Museum.