President moves to defuse unrest
Damascus The President of Syria said he would lift emergency law and give rights to disenfranchised Kurds, as protesters became increasingly frustrated over vague promises of reform.
Bashar Assad also ordered an investigation into the deaths of activists in the city of Deraa and the port of Latakia. Activists called for protests on the “Friday of Martyrs” until their demands for democracy are met. (Reuters)
Islamist leader survives second bomb attack
Peshawar Ten people died and twenty were injured in a roadside bomb attack targeting an Islamist leader. Maulana Fazlur Rehman, chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, escaped unharmed as he travelled in a convoy in Charsadda town in northwestern Pakistan. The previous day 13 died in a suicide bomb attack as Mr Rehman drove by a crowd of supporters. Mr Rehman supports the Taleban but WikiLeaks cables revealed that he was seeking support from US officials in Pakistan despite his criticism of Washington in public. (AP)
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Bomb attack on nuclear group
Geneva A letter bomb exploded at an office of the Swiss nuclear power lobby group Swissnuclear in the northern city of Olten, injuring two people. Opponents of nuclear power in Switzerland have become more vocal after the disaster in Japan. (AP)
Cabinet resigns over questions
Kuwait The Cabinet has resigned after parliament asked to question three members of the ruling al-Sabah family. The Emir is expected to reappoint the Prime Minister, Sheikh Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah, to form another Cabinet. (Reuters)
‘Hezbollah bunker’ map released by Israeli military
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Jerusalem The Israeli military has released a map that it says shows about a thousand underground bunkers, weapons storage facilities and monitoring sites belonging to Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. Many sites are south of the Litani River in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is banned from keeping weapons under a UN-sponsored truce that ended Israel’s war with the guerrillas in 2006. Hezbollah accused Israel of using scare tactics. Last month it said that it would be prepared to invade northern Israel if a new war broke out. (AP)
A new, more accurate chapter in Nixon library
Los Angeles History has been restored at the Richard Nixon Library in Yorba, California, where the Watergate exhibit had told a “tainted” version of the scandal that led to the US President’s resignation. Nixon quit in 1974 after being accused of a cover-up of the Watergate burglary at Democratic headquarters. The exhibit was ridiculed and panned for omissions that critics said shaped a legacy favourable to the 37th President. Archivists said the exhibit was now faithful to fact, balanced and devoid of political judgment. (AP)
China reveals concerns over American alliances
Beijing The People’s Liberation Army has expressed concerns about America’s intentions as it expands its strategic footprint in the “volatile” Asian region. The army said that China wanted to avoid military confrontation and build its economy, but many of its security challenges were bound with Washington’s web of alliances and military forces. It added that closer military ties between Beijing and Washington rested on respect for each other’s interests. Chen Bingde, the PLA Chief of General Staff, will visit the US in May. (Reuters)
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Rescue for 800 stranded tourists
Bangkok More than 800 tourists stranded by heavy rains on Thailand’s southern islands have been rescued by an aircraft carrier and navy helicopters.
Torrential rains for nearly a week have caused flooding and landslides that have killed at least 17 people and cut normal ferry and air service to popular islands. The Royal Thai Navy said that more than 700 travellers were transported from the island of Koh Tao to the mainland aboard the carrier, Chakri Naruebet. It also rescued more than 100 other tourists from nearby islands including Koh Phangan. Thailand’s weather bureau forecast that the rain would stop this weekend. (AP)
Italy calls for help with immigrants
Rome Italy renewed calls for Europe to help with its immigration problem, with 20,000 Tunisians having arrived in the country since the January revolt. “Immigrants should be repatriated to Tunisia or distributed throughout Europe,” Franco Frattini, the Foreign Minister, said, He also complained of a “shocking lack of solidarity”. Italy shipped 2,000 immigrants from Lampedusa to mainland camps yesterday. (AFP)
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Giffords hopeful for shuttle launch
Cape Canaveral The space shuttle commander Mark Kelly is waiting to see if doctors will allow his wife, the wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, to attend the launch on April 19.
Commander Kelly said that he was “pretty hopeful” that Ms Giffords would make it to Cape Canaveral, Florida. It will be the final flight for Endeavour, above, and the penultimate shuttle mission, delivering a $2 billion (£1.2 billion) physics experiment to the International Space Station. Ms Giffords, from Arizona, is undergoing rehabilitation at a hospital in Houston, Texas, after being shot during a public meeting in Tucson in January. (AP)