Tweet
Wow. That's all people have to do to get money thrown at them these these days?
Middle East unrest: Saudi and Bahraini kings offer concessions
Attempts to ease tensions are made in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Jordan, while Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hits out at Libya's 'grotesque' use of force
Agencies
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 23 February 2011 19.27 GMT
Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler, has returned home after a three-month medical absence and unveiled benefits for Saudis worth $37bn (£23bn) in an apparent attempt to insulate the world's leading oil exporter from a wave of Arab uprisings.
State media announced an action plan to help lower- and middle-income people among the 18m Saudi nationals. It includes pay rises to offset inflation, unemployment benefits and affordable family housing.
Hundreds of people have backed a Facebook call for a Saudi "day of rage" on 11 March to demand an elected ruler, greater freedom for women and the release of political prisoners.
Bahrain
Bahrain's King Hamad bin isa al-Khalifa flew to Saudi Arabia to hold talks with King Abdullah after his return to Riyadh.
King Hamad freed about 250 political prisoners and has offered dialogue with protesters, mostly from Bahrain's Shia majority, who demand more say in the Sunni-ruled island.
Riyadh would be worried if unrest in Bahrain, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week, spread to its own disgruntled Shia minority in the oil-rich east
Yemen
Thousands of people streamed into a square in the capital Sana'a, trying to strengthen the hold of anti-government protesters after club-wielding backers of President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to drive them out. One person was killed and at least 12 injured in clashes near the city's university, medics said.
Saleh, in power for 32 years, has said he will step down after national elections are held in 2013, but a widening protest movement is demanding that he leave office now.
Jordan
Jordan's cabinet has approved laws making it easier to organise protests and will revive a government body that works to ensure basic commodities remain affordable to the poor.
A government official said the reforms were passed late on Tuesday, hours after the country's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, vowed to resume demonstrations pushing for reforms.
The situation has been less volatile in Jordan than elsewhere but people have been protesting in a call for the king's powers to be curbed.
Iran
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he was certain the wave of unrest in the Middle East would spread to Europe and North America, bringing an end to governments he accused of oppressing and humiliating people.
He said: "The world is on the verge of big developments. Changes will be forthcoming and will engulf the whole world from Asia to Africa and from Europe to North America."
The world was in need of a just system of rule, he said, that "puts an end to oppression, occupation and humiliation of people. It's a wave that's coming."
Ahmadinejad, whose regime resorted to violence to disperse an opposition rally earlier this month, condemned Libya's use of force. "This is very grotesque. It is unimaginable that there is someone who kills and bombards his own people. I strongly advise them to let nations have their say and meet their nations' demands if they claim to be the officials of those nations," Ahmadinejad said.
"Anyone who does not heed the demands of his own nation will have a clear fate."
The People Have Spoken
Article Source
Middle East unrest: Saudi and Bahraini kings offer concessions
Attempts to ease tensions are made in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Jordan, while Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, hits out at Libya's 'grotesque' use of force
Agencies
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 23 February 2011 19.27 GMT
Saudi Arabia
King Abdullah, the Saudi ruler, has returned home after a three-month medical absence and unveiled benefits for Saudis worth $37bn (£23bn) in an apparent attempt to insulate the world's leading oil exporter from a wave of Arab uprisings.
State media announced an action plan to help lower- and middle-income people among the 18m Saudi nationals. It includes pay rises to offset inflation, unemployment benefits and affordable family housing.
Hundreds of people have backed a Facebook call for a Saudi "day of rage" on 11 March to demand an elected ruler, greater freedom for women and the release of political prisoners.
Bahrain
Bahrain's King Hamad bin isa al-Khalifa flew to Saudi Arabia to hold talks with King Abdullah after his return to Riyadh.
King Hamad freed about 250 political prisoners and has offered dialogue with protesters, mostly from Bahrain's Shia majority, who demand more say in the Sunni-ruled island.
Riyadh would be worried if unrest in Bahrain, where seven people were killed and hundreds wounded last week, spread to its own disgruntled Shia minority in the oil-rich east
Yemen
Thousands of people streamed into a square in the capital Sana'a, trying to strengthen the hold of anti-government protesters after club-wielding backers of President Ali Abdullah Saleh tried to drive them out. One person was killed and at least 12 injured in clashes near the city's university, medics said.
Saleh, in power for 32 years, has said he will step down after national elections are held in 2013, but a widening protest movement is demanding that he leave office now.
Jordan
Jordan's cabinet has approved laws making it easier to organise protests and will revive a government body that works to ensure basic commodities remain affordable to the poor.
A government official said the reforms were passed late on Tuesday, hours after the country's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood, vowed to resume demonstrations pushing for reforms.
The situation has been less volatile in Jordan than elsewhere but people have been protesting in a call for the king's powers to be curbed.
Iran
Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said he was certain the wave of unrest in the Middle East would spread to Europe and North America, bringing an end to governments he accused of oppressing and humiliating people.
He said: "The world is on the verge of big developments. Changes will be forthcoming and will engulf the whole world from Asia to Africa and from Europe to North America."
The world was in need of a just system of rule, he said, that "puts an end to oppression, occupation and humiliation of people. It's a wave that's coming."
Ahmadinejad, whose regime resorted to violence to disperse an opposition rally earlier this month, condemned Libya's use of force. "This is very grotesque. It is unimaginable that there is someone who kills and bombards his own people. I strongly advise them to let nations have their say and meet their nations' demands if they claim to be the officials of those nations," Ahmadinejad said.
"Anyone who does not heed the demands of his own nation will have a clear fate."
The People Have Spoken
Article Source
Comment