 » America, Britain and France attacked Libyan airfields, military centres and tanks with aircraft and missiles after the UN Security Council passed a resolution providing for a no-fly zone. Rebel troops fighting to topple Colonel Muammar Qaddafi broke out of their enclave around Benghazi but struggled to advance towards Tripoli, the capital. See article » Yemen’s president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, promised to step down by the end of the year after snipers killed at least 50 demonstrators in Sana’a, the capital. After several of his closest military and tribal allies turned against him, his days looked numbered. See article » In Bahrain the death toll from a crackdown by the kingdom’s security forces, backed by 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf-state neighbours, rose to 18. Protesters continued to demand reform. » Three-quarters of Egyptian voters endorsed a batch of constitutional amendments paving the way for a general election, perhaps in June, and a presidential one in August or September. See article » One person was killed and 30 injured by a bomb left at a bus stop in Jerusalem, the first such attack in the city for more than six years. This came after Israeli jets launched air raids in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the heaviest barrage of mortars and rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants for two years. See article » Thousands of refugees from Côte d’Ivoire poured into Liberia as fighting resumed between rival groups claiming victory in last year’s presidential election. » Officials said around 70 people had been killed in clashes between the army of South Sudan, which is due to gain independence in July, and fighters loyal to a southern rebel leader in the borderland with Sudan. The southern government accused Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, of trying to destabilise the emerging state.  Days of sorrow » Aid and power supplies remained patchy in the northern region of Japan stricken by an earthquake and tsunami. Workers struggled to contain a burning reactor at the Fukushima nuclear-power plant as the site emitted small but worrying amounts of radiation. Increased concentrations of radioactive material were found in milk and vegetables in the area. Tokyo’s governor recommended that babies be kept away from the city’s tap water as it contained higher levels of radioactive iodine. See article » A provisional estimate put the cost of the economic damage from the earthquake at $235 billion, which would make it the most expensive natural disaster in history. See article » Hamid Karzai announced a plan to make Afghanistan’s army and police assume responsibility for the country’s security, starting in July. Seven areas controlled by the American-led international force are to be transferred to Afghan command, including Lashkar Gah in Helmand, until recently a hotbed of Taliban activity. See article  » Meanwhile, one of five American soldiers accused of killing Afghan civilians for sport pleaded guilty and was given a 24-year prison sentence. Der Spiegel magazine published damning photographs taken by the soldiers posing with the corpse of one victim. » India’s opposition claimed that Manmohan Singh had misled parliament, accusing the prime minister of having falsely denied that he knew about a cash-for-votes scheme exposed by WikiLeaks. It has been a season of scandals in India, but no one had yet accused Mr Singh of dishonesty. See article »Tibetans in exile cast votes for a new political leader to replace the Dalai Lama, who wants to retire. Nepal prevented 20,000 Tibetans who live there from voting, presumably bowing to Chinese pressure. Facing the inevitable » José Sócrates resigned as Portugal’s prime minister after his government lost a parliamentary vote on the latest round of austerity measures. Speculation rose that an EU summit in Brussels would postpone the approval of a new reserve fund for the euro. See article » There was a rare outbreak of disharmony in Russia’s ruling tandem. Vladimir Putin, the prime minister, compared the UN Security Council resolution authorising military action against Libya to a “medieval crusade”. Dmitry Medvedev, the president, said Mr Putin’s language was “unacceptable” and risked stoking a “clash of civilisations”. Mr Putin downplayed the split. » France’s far-right National Front did well in the first round of local elections, reaching the second round in a fifth of the total districts and almost displacing President Nicolas Sarkozy’s UMP party, which came second by share of the vote. The Socialists came first, with a quarter of the votest. Preparing for a ballot » Canada’s three opposition parties said they would bring down the Conservative minority government at the first opportunity and force an election, either by rejecting its budget or through a no-confidence vote. Polls suggest the composition of Parliament after an election would be unlikely to change much. See article  » Haiti held a run-off in its presidential election. The vote went well by comparison with the chaotic first round. Both candidates, Michel Martelly and Mirlande Manigat, said they were ahead in the count. See article » Barack Obama made his first trip to South America, visiting Brazil and Chile as well as El Salvador. He advocated more trade between the region and the United States, and promised new money to fight drug- trafficking. » The United States’ ambassador to Mexico resigned, after WikiLeaks published cables in which he criticised the government’s approach to fighting organised crime and the potential presidential candidates of the ruling party. T-Paw’s standing start » Tim Pawlenty became the first big Republican name to enter America’s presidential race when he took the official step of setting up an exploratory committee. A former governor of Minnesota, Mr Pawlenty was a favourite to become John McCain’s running-mate in 2008 before Mr McCain went with Sarah Palin instead. | 
No comments:
Post a Comment