[ti:Syria Continues Attack on Dissent; Mubarak Trial Begins in Cairo] [ar:Steve Ember] [al:IN THE NEWS] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is IN THE NEWS [00:05.69]in VOA Special English. [00:08.92]Tens of thousands of Syrians [00:11.04]demonstrated against [00:12.63]the government [00:13.52]on the first Friday [00:15.36]of the Muslim [00:16.46]holy month of Ramadan. [00:18.36]Late in the day, witnesses [00:20.60]and activists said at least [00:23.34]fifteen people were killed [00:25.38]when government forces fired [00:27.87]on demonstrators. [00:29.72]They said most of the deaths [00:31.92]happened around Damascus. [00:34.36]Protests also took place [00:36.87]in other Syrian cities. [00:39.11]Demonstrators called for [00:41.51]President Bashar al-Assad to resign. [00:44.76]The city of Hama has been [00:47.50]under military attack since Sunday. [00:50.79]A political activist in Hama [00:54.22]told VOA that government forces [00:57.36]have been raiding the homes of activists [01:00.64]and carrying out arrests and killings. [01:04.65]Still, he said, there were [01:07.09]protests in Hama on Friday. [01:09.08]The Syrian government launched [01:12.17]a violent campaign against [01:14.36]pro-democracy protesters in March. [01:17.90]American officials estimate [01:20.40]that more than two thousand people [01:23.34]have been killed in the attacks [01:25.70]on protesters. [01:27.05]On Thursday, Secretary of State [01:30.63]Hillary Clinton called on [01:32.67]other countries to join [01:34.21]the United States in taking action. [01:37.01]HILLARY CLINTON: "But not just [01:38.16]US sanctions because, frankly, [01:39.56]we do not have lot of business [01:40.57]with Syria. [01:41.48]We need to get Europeans and others. [01:43.67]We need to get the Arab states. [01:45.72]We need to get a much louder, [01:47.96]more effective chorus of voices [01:51.89]that are putting pressure [01:54.38]on the Assad regime, [01:55.93]and we're working to obtain that." [01:57.22]Secretary Clinton said [01:59.61]a statement Wednesday by the United [02:02.05]Nations Security Council [02:04.00]was a first step. [02:05.74]The statement condemned [02:07.80]the "widespread violations of human rights [02:11.00]and the use of force against civilians [02:14.64]by the Syrian authorities." [02:17.08]It urged restraint on both sides in Syria. [02:21.46]The government has blamed [02:23.80]much of the violence on what it calls [02:26.49]terrorists and militants. [02:29.32]The official news agency SANA [02:31.96]reported Friday that unidentified gunmen [02:35.74]had killed two security officers. [02:38.90]The United States and European countries [02:42.73]had pressed the Security Council [02:45.43]for a resolution. [02:47.03]A resolution is stronger than [02:49.92]the presidential statement it approved. [02:52.91]But Russia, China, India, Brazil [02:56.62]and South Africa blocked those efforts. [03:00.45]They feared that a resolution [03:02.76]could lead to a situation [03:04.85]similar to the international [03:07.04]military action in Libya. [03:09.72]The United States dismissed [03:12.41]a promise this week [03:13.90]by the Syrian president [03:15.61]to permit reforms. [03:17.44]These include letting opposition parties [03:20.98]operate for the first time. [03:23.47]Syria has long had a single-party system [03:27.79]led by the Ba'ath party of the Assad family. [03:31.68]In Egypt, Hosni Mubarak appeared [03:35.68]in a hospital bed in a cage [03:38.02]in a courtroom on Wednesday. [03:40.86]The former president denied [03:43.21]the charges against him. [03:45.00]These include ordering the killing [03:48.00]of protesters during the eighteen days [03:51.14]of political unrest that forced him out. [03:55.26]More than eight hundred people were killed. [03:58.60]Raina el Malky is a newspaper editor. [04:02.73]She says that if anyone had predicted [04:06.32]this trial last year, [04:08.21]she would have thought they were crazy. [04:10.40]RAINA El-MALKY: "I would have said [04:12.24]they were are living in Mars or Neptune [04:15.28]or somewhere outside Earth [04:16.99]because this was unthinkable. [04:18.79]I think what happened is a miracle [04:21.28]and the way everything has happened [04:23.62]since the fist day, [04:24.52]since January twenty-fifth, [04:25.72]has been a miracle." [04:27.11]What became known [04:28.65]as the Arab Spring uprisings [04:31.04]in North Africa and the Middle East [04:33.38]ousted the presidents [04:34.77]of Egypt and Tunisia. [04:37.02]Yemen's president was wounded [04:39.71]by an explosion in June and remains [04:42.75]in Saudi Arabia, recovering. [04:45.03]And that's IN THE NEWS [04:47.68]in VOA Special English. [04:50.58]I'm Steve Ember.