NEWS FLASH

Syrian President Assad Compares Himself To A ‘Doctor’ ‘Saving The Patient’ | Syrian President Bashar Assad is defending the government’s crackdown against opposition forces by comparing his actions to a surgeon saving a patient. “When a surgeon in an operating room … cuts and cleans and amputates, and the wound bleeds, do we say to him your hands are stained with blood?” Assad asked in a speech to parliament on Sunday. “Or do we thank him for saving the patient?” Up to 13,000 people have been killed in the Syrian uprising, but the strongman denied responsibility for last week’s internationally-condemned massacre of more than 100 people, “saying not even ‘monsters’ would carry out such an ugly crime.”

NEWS FLASH

Egyptians Protest In Cairo’s Tahrir Square Following Mubarak Verdict | Thousands of Egyptians poured into the streets on Saturday, a day after a court sentenced former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to a life prison sentence, enraging protesters who hoped to see the fallen strongman receive the death penalty for his failure to stop the killing of protesters during Egypt’s uprising. He and his sons were acquitted of corruption charges. By Sunday morning, several hundred protesters were still demonstrating in Cairo’s Tahrir square, committing to stay until the deaths of those killed by security forces last year are avenged. See the chaos in the courtroom after the verdict was delivered: