Amid allegations of possible electoral fraud, the United States has said it's seeking an explanation from the Haitian authorities about
a number of
results in recent legislative elections there. In a statement, the US embassy in Haiti said the country's electoral commission needed to explain why a number of candidates won seats in the final results when they hadn't been leading in preliminary counts.
The President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has addressed a cheering crowd of supporters in the capital Sanaa, telling him he welcomes power transfer proposals by the Gulf Cooperation Council. Plans they
put forward
on Thursday suggest that the president resign and hand over power to his vice president within a month.
Pope Benedict has become the first head of the Roman Catholic Church to take questions from the public in a television programme. The first question of the
prerecord
ed interview was from a seven-year-old Japanese girl
traumatise
d by the recent earthquake. She asked the Pope why it was necessary to be so afraid. He told her he had no answers, but he said his prayers were with all Japanese children who were suffering. Pope Benedict also spoke about other subjects including Iraq and urged the Iraqi authorities to protect the Christian minority there.
BBC News
数万人参加了示威活动……
叙利亚抗议者和政府之间的僵局升级为更高水平的暴力活动。全国各地的城镇都在举行示威活动,人们提出诸多要求,从释放政治犯到推翻总统的统治。尽管取消了紧急状态,周五的祈祷之前,政府仍然部署了大量安全人员。抗议活动开始时,许多地方的安全力量使用了武力。来自叙利亚的视频电话图像显示发生了多起冲突,安全力量使用了实弹,有时甚至造成人员伤亡。