ALGERIA: Obama supports move that lifted state of emergency.
President Barack Obama is commending the government of Algeria for lifting a restrictive state of emergency that’s been in effect for 19 years in the North African nation.
Obama said Thursday that the decision — long sought by opposition parties — is a positive sign that the Algerian government is listening and responding to public concerns.
WEST BANK: Palestinian students rally for unity.
Young Palestinians watching the revolutions in Egypt, Tunisia and elsewhere in the region have no shortage of their own protest-worthy causes.
There is the 43-year Israeli occupation; frustration with the entrenched and aging leadership of the Palestine Liberation Organization; lack of freedoms under the competing Palestinian authorities in the West Bank and Gaza; and more recently, anger over last Friday’s American veto of a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlement activity as illegal.
But in recent days, Palestinian students and youth activists have been coalescing around a single popular issue they believe will help the Palestinians in all of the above: ending the schism between the West Bank, where the mainstream, secularist Fatah dominates the Palestinian Authority, and Gaza, which is under the control of Fatah’s rival, the Islamic militant group Hamas.
On Thursday, hundreds of Palestinians converged on Manara Square in Ramallah for a peaceful rally for national unity. Unusually, the diverse political groups that were participating put aside their own symbols and all marched under the Palestinian flag.
VENEZUELA: Top diplomat repeats Castro’s accusation about U.S.
Venezuela’s top diplomat on Thursday echoed Fidel Castro’s accusation that Washington is fomenting unrest in Libya to justify an invasion to seize the North African nation’s oil reserves. Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro claimed the United States is trying to create a movement inside Libya aimed at toppling Moammar Khadafy.
BAHRAIN: Spokesman says opposition leader will not be arrested.
A government spokeswoman said a prominent opposition leader will not be arrested if he returns to Bahrain, but it remains unclear whether he would be free to travel.
The possible return of Hassan Meshaima after months of voluntary exile in London could mark a new phase for the protest movement as the gulf island’s monarchy tries to open talks to end the most severe political crisis in decades in the strategic nation, which is home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet.
U.S. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is in the kingdom for meetings with ruling officials, a sign of Washington’s deep ties to Bahrain.
Denver Post wire services
