Middle East- News and politics from the middle east

THE centre of Damascus, the Syrian capital, may be quiet but in dense suburbs where most of its 3m inhabitants live, chanting, hand-clapping marches burst out of dozens of local mosques. ?The people demand the execution of the president,? they shout. ?With our blood and spirit we sacrifice for Homs.?The reference is to Syria?s third-largest city, large tracts of which remain in the hands of anti-government rebels despite two weeks of relentless pummeling by rockets and artillery that has left at least 300 dead. Shows of frequently indiscriminate firepower have succeeded in containing opposition and in some cases crushing it. Zabadani, a town of 100,000 near the Lebanese border held by rebels for nearly a month, capitulated to government forces on February 11th. Scores of other unruly towns and cities have been punished, too.The brutal government offensive has encouraged President Bashar Assad to proffer the latest in a series of belated carrots. Receiving the draft of a new constitution from a panel he appointed in October, he declared that it would be put to a referendum on February 26th. The text enshrines such things as civic freedoms, multi-party elections and a limit of two seven-year terms for presidents.The combination of ruthless repression and reform appears to be Mr Assad?s plan for resolving the trouble that has roiled his country for 11 months. It is also...

SIERRA LEONE is regarded as a model of post-conflict reconstruction. An 11-year civil war that left some 50,000 dead by 2002 was overcome with the help of blue-hatted UN peacekeepers. In 2007 power changed hands in fair elections for only the second time in the country?s history and this November citizens will once again go to the polls.But all is not well. Sierra Leone?s president, Ernest Bai Koroma, has forced the UN mission chief out of his job in order to improve his re-election chances, diplomats say. Michael von der Schulenburg was abruptly moved on the orders of UN bosses in New York on February 6th following appeals from the president.On December 22nd Mr von der Schulenburg had warned a senior UN official, Lynn Pascoe, against ?a situation in which I would have to tell everybody that the president wants me out of the country and the UN has readily complied?. That is indeed what happened.Foreign diplomats confirm that in September the president asked the UN to have Mr von der Schulenburg removed, possibly questioning his impartiality. Two months later he repeated the request in writing, though he now denies this.Mr von der Schulenburg is deemed to have done a good job. He vastly reduced the UN presence in Sierra Leone?a rare achievement in an organisation often unwilling to put itself out of business. He also acted as a valued mediator between political parties in an...

CAIRO ? An Egyptian judge on Wednesday announced June 2 as the date for the verdict in the trial of former president Hosni Mubarak, setting a lengthy deliberation period in an apparent attempt to avoid disrupting a presidential election expected in May.

NEW DELHI ? The Indian government appears to be playing down evidence of Iranian involvement in last week?s bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat here, perhaps out of concern that any such evidence might put it under more international pressure to isolate Tehran, experts say.

TEHRAN ? Iran?s supreme leader vowed Wednesday to press ahead with the country?s nuclear energy program, while also reiterating his denials of any intention to produce nuclear weapons.

Addressing a group of nuclear scientists, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: ?The Islamic Republic of Iran, with a thoughtful, jurisprudent, theoretical approach, believes that owning a nuclear weapon is a big sin. It also believes that keeping such a weapon is vain, harmful and dangerous.?

BEIRUT ? An American journalist and a French journalist were reported killed in a mortar strike in Homs, Syria, on Wednesday morning, Syrian anti-government activists and a French government spokeswoman said.

TEL AVIV ? A recent installment of the popular Israeli satirical television show ?A Wonderful Country? captured the public mood here regarding a possible strike on Iran and its consequences: a mix of resignation and gallows humor.