PORTUGAL
Portugal braces for government collapse
LISBON - Portugal’s minority government neared collapse Wednesday as lawmakers were poised to vote against its proposal for more austerity measures, casting further uncertainty over the debt-stressed country that has been trying to avoid a bailout for the past year.
As the Parliament began debating the latest crisis policies, all opposition parties already had vowed to reject the measures, making the Socialist government’s failure imminent. Prime Minister Jose Socrates had said he wouldn’t be able to run the country if his plan was defeated.
The political upheaval could thwart efforts by European leaders to convince nervous investors that all is well in the 17-nation eurozone, including Portugal, and launch another spell of market turbulence for the bloc.
EGYPT
Exchange plunges on reopening
CAIRO - Egypt’s stock market plummeted almost 9 percent in its first day of trading Wednesday in nearly two months, with foreign investors leading a sell-off that offered a window into concerns about the country’s stability after mass protests toppled former President Hosni Mubarak.
The reopening of the Egyptian Exchange - delayed several times - had been viewed with a mixture of trepidation and impatience.
Analysts feared the stock market’s prolonged closure would rattle investors already wary of the expected hit Egypt’s economy would take following the Jan. 25 uprising.
SYRIA
15 dead in new clashes in southern city
DARAA - Syrian police launched a relentless assault Wednesday on a neighborhood sheltering anti-government protesters, fatally shooting at least 15 in an operation that lasted nearly 24 hours, witnesses said.
At least six were killed in a predawn attack on the al-Omari mosque in the southern agricultural city of Daraa, where protesters have taken to the streets in calls for reforms and political freedoms, witnesses said.
An activist in contact with people in Daraa said police shot three people protesting in its Roman-era city center after dusk. Six more bodies were found later in the day, the activist said.
Inspired by the wave of pro-democracy protests around the region, the uprising in Daraa and at least four nearby villages has become the biggest domestic challenge since the 1970s to the Syrian government, one of the most repressive in the Middle East.
MEXICO
Government: Mayan statue is a fake
MEXICO CITY - The Mexican government says a Mayan-style statue that brought $4 million at auction is a fake. The auctioneers say it is genuine.
The Paris-based gallery that sold the shield-toting, clay warrior figure says the attack on its authenticity is an attempt by Mexican officials to ruin the market for pre-Hispanic artifacts.
The stakes in the dispute are high, and not just because of the cash laid down by the as-yet-unidentified buyer.
From wire dispatches and staff reports
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