Month: March 2011

Cairo, March 29: Egypt will hold parliamentary elections in September and the decades-long state of emergency will be lifted before the polls, the military rulers announced Monday.

The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces also said that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and his family are not allowed to leave the country. The military denied reports that Mubarak had left to Saudi Arabia, adding: “He and his family are subject to forced residency in Egypt.”

Ankara, March 29: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday Syrian President Bashar Assad had not given him “a negative answer” when he urged him to listen to his people in two phone calls over the last three days.

He was speaking at Ankara airport before leaving for Iraq where he led trade talks with Iraqi leaders that he said would be a step toward greater regional stability.

On Syria, Erdogan said he had suggested to Assad that he meet some of the demands of thousands of people who have taken part in pro-democracy demonstrations across Syria.

Amman, March 29: The prime minister of Jordan said Monday people have the right to free speech and that the government will set aside special areas for protests, in an apparent bid to ease tensions after bloody clashes last week.

“The freedom of speech and freedom of assembly are constitutional rights as long as they are peaceful, civilized and do not harm people,” Prime Minister Maaruf Bakhit said in a statement carried by the state-run Petra news agency.

Beirut, March 29: Two Reuters journalists were released by Syrian authorities Monday, two days after they were detained in Damascus.

Television producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji returned to their home base in Lebanon and said they were well.

“Reuters is concerned that its journalists were detained and held incommunicado for so long. We are delighted by their release and look forward to welcoming Ayat and Ezzat back,” said Reuters editor-in-chief Stephen Adler.

“We would like to thank everyone who helped us resolve the issue.”

Damascus, March 29: Syrian forces fired into the air Monday to disperse a pro-democracy protest in the southern flashpoint city of Daraa and Vice President Farouq al-Sharaa said President Bashar Assad would give an important speech in the next two days.

Assad, who faced down the most serious threat to his rule, has received strong Arab backing, the latest from Saudi King Abdullah Monday.

Crowds converged on Daraa’s main square Monday chanting “We want dignity and freedom” and “No to emergency laws.”

Ramallah, March 29: An aide to the Palestinian president said Monday Mahmoud Abbas is making a heavy push for reconciliation with Hamas and is willing to give up hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. aid if that’s what it takes to forge a Palestinian unity deal.

“The Palestinians need American money, but if they use it as a way of pressuring us, we are ready to relinquish that aid,” aide Azzam Ahmad said.

The comments indicate that Abbas may be giving up on stalled peace talks with Israel and prefers to pursue unity with Gaza’s Hamas rulers in a push toward independence.

Jerusalem, March 29: An Israeli Arab lawmaker appealed to the Supreme Court Monday after Parliament stripped her of key privileges for joining a foreign flotilla trying to break the blockade on Gaza.

Haneen Zuabi, an MP with Balad, a left-wing Arab nationalist party, told the court the move was “political persecution,” media quoted her as saying.

The lawmaker sparked outrage among her Jewish colleagues for participating in the flotilla, which was the center of a navy raid that left nine Turkish activists dead.

Beirut, March 29: A Lebanese citizen was arrested on suspicion of collaborating with Israel, the Internal Security Forces Directorate General said in a statement Monday.

The detainee, identified as H.B., was arrested on March 21 in the southern city of Tyre by the ISF Information Branch, said the statement.

Beirut, March 29: Lebanon’s embassy in Ivory Coast received a threat via email targeting the Lebanese community in the troubled African nation.

A statement from the embassy said the email included a threat to “the Lebanese community which it accused of meddling in Ivorian political affairs and providing funds for [Ivorian President Laurent] Gbagbo and for his war criminals to kill innocent Ivorian people.”

Beirut, March 29: Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai’s subtle expression of support for the re-appointment of caretaker Interior Minister Ziyad Baroud in the next government was answered promptly Friday by Free Patriotic Movement officials.

FPM official and Jezzine MP Ziyad Aswad described Rai’s remarks as “an emotional position,” saying that though Baroud was a patriotic man, he had failed in his role as interior minister.

FPM official and former Social Affairs Minister Mario Aoun also expressed annoyance with the praise Rai expressed for Baroud Sunday.

Beirut, March 29: The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon denied media reports Monday of clashes with the local population in two border villages in south Lebanon, describing the relationship between the two sides as “excellent.”

Several local media outlets reported that tensions were high in border areas following friction between UNIFIL troops and local residents in the villages of Houla and Adaysseh, both located near the border with Israel.

Mogadishu, March 29: Pirates in two skiffs have fired rocket-propelled grenades and guns at an oil tanker off East Africa before boarding the vessel and hijacking it, naval officials say.

The United Arab Emirates-flagged Zirku was travelling from Sudan to Singapore when it was hijacked by pirates in the Gulf of Aden today, the EU Naval Force said. The ship has a crew of 29. There was no information on their status.

Previous oil tankers hijacked by pirates were carrying oil valued in the range of $US150 million ($146.6 million).

Damascus, March 29: Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Syria, rallying in support of President Bashar al-Assad after anti-government protests left many casualties.

The marches were held in various cities and towns on Monday and attended by hundreds of thousands of people, who called for maintaining of national unity.

Assad has been the president of Syria for the past 11 years. He took office in 2000 following the death of his father Hafez al-Assad, who was the leader of the country for three decades.

Tehran, March 29: Iran and Sudan have emphasized their willingness to bolster their bilateral ties, saying further cooperation between the two will help both countries progress.

“There are many areas to increase bilateral cooperation whose activation will cause increasing progress and prosperity in the two countries,” Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Monday, IRNA reported.

Tehran, March 29: Iran’s parliament has censured the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for its double standards and disregard for the victims of government violence in Arab countries.

The criticism appeared in a Monday statement issued by the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament in response to an anti-Iranian resolution by the UNHRC.

The resolution was adopted on Thursday after the council narrowly approved a US and Swedish-backed proposal for appointing a special rapporteur to investigate allegations of human rights violations in the Islamic Republic.

Manama, March 29: A newly-released video of government-sanctioned crackdown of protests in Bahrain shows national and Saudi forces attacking people’s vehicles.

The footage featured regime troops’ causing damage to the cars and slashing the tires. Wearing masks, the gunmen were shown shattering the windows and taking away the contents.

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have dispatched armed forces to Bahrain to assist Manama’s attacks on the popular revolution it has been facing since February 14.

Tehran, March 29: Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the final objective of hegemonic powers is to save Israel and suppress the countries opposed to the West.

“Independent nations and governments can neutralize all enemy plots with wisdom and insight,” Ahmadinejad said in a meeting with Lebanese Caretaker Foreign Minister Ali al-Shami on Monday.

The Iranian president added that “today the arrogant pursue their colonialist aims with the slogan of supporting nations and this is what redoubles the necessity of vigilance and awareness for nations.”