Security forces opened fire on protesters in Yemen Tuesday, killing at least three. And on Wednesday gunmen on motorcycles strafed demonstrators in a port city, Al Hudaydah, killing another, according to an opposition activist.

Video shot by someone walking with protesters shows a chaotic scene in Sanaa. Protesters threw stones at government forces, who were using live ammunition, water canons and tear gas.

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According to witness and medical personnel, Yemeni security forces and plainclothes snipers rooftops shot and killed up to 42 protesters at an anti-government rally in Sanaa after Muslim prayers on Friday

President Ali Abdullah Saleh declared a state of emergency. Also, at least 300 were injured.

“I express my extreme sorrow for what happened today after Friday prayers in the university district.”
– President Ali Abdullah Saleh

Saleh denied the shooters were police, and declared a 30-day state of emergency that gives wider powers to security forces and bars citizens from bearing arms in public.

Yemen is the second country in the region to announce emergency rule this week. Bahrain’s introduced martial law on Tuesday, which was followed by a major crackdown on protesters.

Over 70 people have been killed in several weeks of civil disturbances.

About 40 percent of the population in Yemen live on $2 a day or less, and a third face chronic hunger.

Students take to streets to join union protests, burn cars.

Many flights from several airports across France are expected to be canceled Tuesday as a result of nationwide strikes that have disrupted fuel supplies and transportation.

Ten of 200 fuel terminals were blocked Monday by protesters opposed to a government cost-saving measure that would raise retirement age from 60 to 62. French unions had said that production has stopped at 12 of the nation’s refineries.

About 1,000 gas stations in France have are out of fuel because strikers had blocked access to oil refineries and depots.

Thai troops opened fire at a fortified encampment of anti-government protesters in central Bangkok Wednesday. It came amid reports of a final assault on the area the protesters have occupied for weeks. (May 18)