UNITED STATES: Nation of Islam leader defends Gadhafi.
Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is reiterating his defense of Moammar Gadhafi, saying the embattled Libyan leader isn’t the monster being portrayed by the Western media.
Farrakhan held a rare news conference Thursday in which he criticized the U.S. government and President Barack Obama for launching military action against Libya without justification. He accused Americans of wanting Gadhafi out of the picture to secure oil interests.
At the Nation of Islam’s headquarters in Chicago, Farrakhan portrayed Gadhafi as a fellow revolutionary and a friend who has lent the movement $8 million over the years.
SYRIA: Committees created to replace emergency law.
Syrian President Bashar Assad has set up committees to replace the decades-old emergency laws and investigate civilian deaths in two weeks of unrest.
The move was an apparent attempt to head off massive protests scheduled for today, after he dashed earlier expectations that he was going to announce real reforms. He has blamed “conspirators” for setting off the demonstrations in the country.
BAHRAIN: Arrested blogger freed.
The government released blogger Mahmoud al-Youssef, a fierce critic of the government. He was arrested Wednesday in what was seen as part of Bah rain’s crackdown on the anti-government demonstrations sweeping the country.
KUWAIT: Cabinet resigns, possibly over Bahrain unrest.
Kuwait’s Cabinet resigned over “regional developments” in an apparent reference to the turmoil in neighboring Bahrain. The decision to dissolve the Cabinet is believed to be in order to prevent three of the ministers from being questioned by parliament over Kuwait’s decision not to send forces into Bahrain like the other Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
EGYPT: Former government officials banned from travel.
Three top officials in former President Hosni Mubarak’s government have been banned from leaving the country as they are investigated on suspicions of corruption.
Former presidential chief of staff Zakariya Azmi, ruling party head Safwat el-Sherif and parliament speaker Fathi Surour were pillars of the old regime, and there had been questions about why they had yet to be investigated.
TUNISIA: Rescuers retrieve bodies as immigrant influx worries Europe.
Tunisian rescuers retrieved the bodies of 27 migrants whose boats sank in the Mediterranean, as the European Union offered Thursday to double its aid to Tunisia’s poorest regions.
Tunisia’s state news agency TAP said the migrants had sought to leave the Tunisian city of Sfax in two boats. The boats hit rough weather and failed to signal to rescuers when they started sinking.
Many European voters are worried about an influx of North African immigrants following uprisings that have destabilized Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. The EU’s enlargement chief, Stefan Fule, said in Tunis on Thursday that the bloc is ready to double its aid for development in Tunisia from $227.3 million to $454.6 million over the next two years.
YEMEN: Cleric says new regimes create opportunities for al-Qaeda.
A U.S.-born radical Yemeni cleric claims in a new article that violent Islamist groups will be able to take advantage of the Arab world’s wave of popular unrest, even if it leads to secular governments in Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and other countries.
Anwar al-Awlaki writes in a new edition of al-Qaeda’s online magazine that any new governments will be weaker than the regimes they are replacing, and that will create opportunities for al-Qaeda and its allies to operate with more freedom.
Denver Post wire services
