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Huge crowds poured onto the streets of the Yemeni capital in what the opposition hailed as the biggest protest yet against the President three-decade rule.
The veteran leader, whose supporters staged a large counter-demonstration, dismissed the opposition rally as a copycat action mimicking protests in other Arab countries that he charged had been fanned by Israel and the US.

Strange as this may sound, there is a mainstream in the unsanctioned confederacy of dictators. Whether of the present times or from the distant past, the mainstream dictator is usually decidedly understated, more often than not a loner, eccentric in private habits, and almost as a trademark, lives in a complex world of paranoia.
By Eskinder Nega

*Mass Protest Rally held 28 February 2011 by the Peoples’ Campaign for Right to Water (PCRW), against anti-people Water Laws and Policies of Karnataka and the US Water Trade Mission. Urban development Minister subsequently reiterates opposition to Water Privatisation and distances Government from US Mission. Another people-power success story, so far…*

Fears of a humanitarian crisis in Libya are growing amidst escalating violence between rebels and forces loyal to the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. Anti-government groups have seized control of more areas as they close in on the capital city, Tripoli. On Sunday, protesters claimed the town of Zawiyah, just 30 miles from the capital.

Over 100,000 people rallied in Madison on Saturday against Wisconsin Republican Gov. Scott Walker’s effort to remove the collective bargaining rights of most public-sector workers. It was the largest demonstration Madison has seen since the Vietnam War. Tens of thousands of people marched in solidarity protests nationwide.

Protests meanwhile are continuing across the Middle East. In Bahrain, thousands continue to flood the streets of the capital city of Manama. On Sunday, demonstrators marched to a central court building in their deepest foray into the city so far. The protests come as leading Bahraini Shiite opposition leader Hassan Mushaima has returned from exile.

The Security Council today voted unanimously to impose sanctions against the Libyan authorities, slapping the country with an arms embargo and freezing the assets of its leaders, while referring the ongoing violent repression of civilian demonstrators to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
See its Resolution 1970 published here.

The UN refugee agency on Sunday said a “humanitarian emergency” was underway as thousands fled Libya in a mass exodus of foreigners from the strife-torn country by air, land and sea.
“We call upon the international community to respond quickly and generously to enable these governments to cope with this humanitarian emergency,” said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Forces opposed to Kadhafi took control of several western Libyan towns, an official said on Sunday as the strongman played down rebel gains after world leaders called on him to quit.
Protest leaders established a transitional “national council” in several eastern and western cities seized from the Kadhafi regime and called on the army to help them take the capital Tripoli.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay is warning thousands of people may have been killed in Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s assault on the growing Libyan uprising. The United Nations is also warning Libya’s food supply network is on the brink of collapse. Deadly clashes are ongoing as anti-government forces close in on the capital city of Tripoli.