Turkey was reeling Sunday from twin car bomb attacks which left at least 43 people dead in a town near the Syrian border, with Ankara blaming pro-Damascus groups and vowing to bring the perpetrators to justice.

Several new developments in Syria have deepened the conviction that Washington and its Western allies have prepared scenarios to justify their positions if they decide to intervene in Syria, even though official rhetoric refers otherwise.

The retrial of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak was set to begin on Saturday in Cairo, after an appeal against the life sentence handed down against him last June was accepted.