World Briefs May 2, 2010

Workers demand better jobs, pay on May Day

ISTANBUL - Tens of thousands of workers marched in cities from Hong Kong to Istanbul Saturday to mark international worker's day, demanding more jobs, better work conditions and higher wages.About 140,000 jubilant workers gathered in Istanbul's Taksim Square in the first celebrations at the site since dozens of people died there in a May 1 gathering more than three decades ago.

The demonstrations in Istanbul, which sits on both European and Asian continents, marked a special victory for the Turkish unions, which had been denied access to the Taksim Square since 1977, when 34 people died after shooting triggered a stampede. The culprits were never found and workers demanded Saturday an inquiry into the deaths of the demonstrators.Most of the annual May Day marches were peaceful, but in the Chinese territory of Macau police used water cannons and pepper spray against rowdy protesters who tried to break away from the approved route.

Greek unions protest expected austerity measures

ATHENS, Greece - Hundreds of youths rioted in Athens on Saturday, throwing Molotov cocktails and stones at police who responded with tear gas at a May Day rally against austerity measures being enacted by the cash-strapped government to secure foreign loans to stave off bankruptcy.

Police made at least nine arrests, including six people suspected of looting a shop. Seven officers were injured along with two demonstrators.Responding to calls from the country's two main labor unions, several thousand people marched in major Greek cities Saturday against the anticipated spending cuts and consumer tax hikes.

Explosions inside a Somali mosque kill at least 30

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Two bombs exploded inside a small mosque in Mogadishu's main market on Saturday, killing at least 30 people in the first Iraq-style bombing inside a house of worship in Somalia, officials said.

The blasts in the Bakara market went off while people were sitting inside the Abdala Shideye mosque waiting for noon prayers. The bombings highlight the increasingly violent path Somali militants are taking following an influx of insurgents into the country from the Afghanistan conflict, fighters who are now training Somali militants.The targeted mosque is tiny - only about 25 square yards (meters) - and sits in a crowded market among electronic shops. Rugs that line the mosque floor were set on fire, and streaks of blood and black smoke charred the walls.

"It was very horrific. The blood was every where. Human flesh cut into pieces scattered every where in the mosque. I could hardly stay there," said Abdulahi Nuur, who attended to the dead and wounded.Syria: US weapons charges like false Iraq claims

DAMASCUS, Syria - Syria's foreign minister has compared U.S. accusations that Damascus is sending weapons to Hezbollah to Washington's pre-war claims against Iraq.

Walid al-Moallem said it is U.S. weapons going to Israel that are destabilizing the region.U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton asserted Thursday that Syria is transferring increasingly sophisticated rockets and other weaponry to militant groups in Lebanon and Gaza and that the shipments could spark a new conflict in the Middle East.Al-Moallem said the world should not forget what he called "the U.S. campaign of slander" before the Iraq war, referring to the incorrect U.S. claims that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

— The Associated Press