President Assad accuses
Israel of destabilising Syria
Syria's
embattled President Bashar al-Assad has accused Israel of trying to
"destabilise" his country.
It was his first
remarks on last week's reported Israeli air strike in Syria.Syrian TV has shown images of the raid Damascus says Israeli jets carried out on a military research centre in Jamraya last Wednesday.
US officials said the air strike targeted a weapons convoy bound for Lebanon. The Israeli defence minister has hinted his country was responsible.
French President Hollande pledges to help rebuild Mali
French
President Francois Hollande has said his government will help rebuild Mali,
three weeks after launching an offensive against Islamist rebels who had seized
the north of the country.
Speaking in the
capital, Bamako, he pledged more French aid to its former colony and vowed to
restore cultural sites damaged by the rebels.Mr Hollande said France would help Mali re-establish control in the north.
Yahya Jammeh gives Gambians an extra day off
Gambia
has started a four-day week for public sector workers, with Fridays now an
extra day off.
President Yahya
Jammeh has said the shorter week will give The Gambia's mainly Muslim
population more time to pray, socialise and tend to fields.Mr Jammeh, who took power in a bloodless coup in 1994, is known for his eccentric behaviour.
Critics say his latest decision will promote laziness and disrupt the poor West African state's economy.
Agriculture, especially peanut exports, forms the backbone of The Gambia's economy.This new arrangement will allow Gambians to devote more time to prayers, social activities and agriculture”It is also a popular tourist destination, because of its beaches.
Malala Yousafzai recovering after operations
The
Pakistani schoolgirl who was shot in the head by the Taliban has undergone
surgery in Birmingham.
Malala Yousafzai,
15, was attacked in October after campaigning for girls' rights to education.A bullet was removed from her head by surgeons in Pakistan, before she was flown to the UK for further treatment.
Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital said a titanium plate and cochlear implant were successfully attached in two operations on Saturday.
Suicide bomber strikes US
embassy in Turkey
|
The US ambassador to Turkey confirmed that one of the embassy's Turkish staff was killed.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister, said the bomber was a member of the Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front (DHKP-C), a far-left group which is virulently anti-American and anti-NATO.
Turkish media identified the bomber as Ecevit Sanli, who was involved in attacks on a police station and a military staff college in Istanbul in 1997.
The US is calling the attack an "act of terror," but said the motivation was unclear. US officials said that the DHKP-C was the main suspect, but did not exclude other possibilities.
Iran open to 'fair' nuclear talks with US
Iran is ready for direct talks with the United States on its nuclear programme as long as Washington has "fair and real intentions," said Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi.His comment came on Sunday, a day after US Vice President Joe Biden made the same offer to Tehran, with similar caveats, raising a glimmer of hope of progress in resolving the long-running standoff.
The United States, other Western powers and Israel believe Iran is working on a nuclear weapons programme, a charge the Islamic republic denies, claiming its programme is for civilian use.
Iran, which has been punished for its nuclear programme with tough US and EU sanctions, in January told the UN nuclear watchdog it will expand its uranium enrichment capacity.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said his country and its allies were "determined to prevent Iran from turning nuclear" and all agreed that "no option should be removed off the table."
COMMENTARY
1) ISRAEL
2) SYRIA
3) MALI
4) NIGERIA - 2015 ELECTION PROGNOSIS
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