A round-up of today's other stories in brief
Ugandan opposition leader hurt in rally
KAMPALA – Ugandan opposition leader Kizza Besigye, President Yoweri Museveni’s closest rival in February elections, was injured while taking part in a protest against high food and fuel prices, he said yesterday.
Military police fired rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse a crowd of more than 1,000 led by Dr Besigye marching to the centre of the capital Kampala, witnesses said.
“I was hit and I suspect it was a rubber bullet. I had sharp pain and so this ring finger started bleeding,” Dr Besigye told reporters at a Kampala hospital before getting treatment. – (Reuters)
Assad names new Syrian cabinet
AMMAN – Syrian president Bashar al-Assad unveiled a new cabinet yesterday and ordered the release of detainees arrested during a month of unprecedented protests in an attempt to defuse tension ahead of demonstrations today.
Dr Assad’s gestures were unlikely to appease protesters calling for greater freedoms, especially as the cabinet has little power in Syria. The released excluded those who committed crimes “against the nation and the citizens”.
Hours after Dr Assad’s decrees, a pro-democracy rally was reported in the town of Sweida. – (Reuters)
Jihadists threaten to execute Italian
GAZA – A Jihadist group in the Gaza Strip aligned with al-Qaeda threatened yesterday to execute an abducted Italian it is holding, unless Hamas Islamists release the group’s leader.
A YouTube clip the group posted said the man they were holding, Vittorio Arrigoni, would be killed today at 5pm local time unless Hamas released Hesham al-Sa’eedni, whom it detained last month.
Mr Arrigoni, an Italian pacifist and blogger, has lived in the Gaza Strip for some time. – (Reuters)