Syrian state television says President Bashar Assad has ordered the release of hundreds of people detained during the recent anti-government protests.Reports said only those involved in what we described as criminal acts were remained in detention.Andrew B reports.
Anti-government protests broke out a month ago.The government has reacted with some force.Syria's main pro-democracy groups says more than 200 people have been killed.The government's decision to set free many of those arrested recently is certainly a concession of some kind, but whether it will be enough to calm the mood is open to question.President Assad sacked his Cabinet two weeks ago but that failed to stop the protests.He's just announced the formation of a new government in the hope that might help to do the trick.
An Italian man has been kidnapped by Islamist militants in Gaza.Vittorio Arrigoni is an activist who's been campaigning against the Israeli blockade of Gaza.He was abducted on Thursday morning and a vedio has since been posted on a Islamist website showing him blind-folded, having apparently been beaten.In the footage, the kidnappers demand the release of prisoners from the Salafist movement who are being held by the Hamas authorities in Gaza.
World News from the BBC.
Protests have interrupted the annual general meeting in London of the oil giant BP, the first since last year's oil rig blast and huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.Several protesters were ejected and fishermen from the US Gulf coast were refused entry to the meeting where they've planned to complain about the continued effects of the pollution.Inside the campaign a read out statement by the father of one of the 11 men who died in the blast in which accused BP of prioritizing profits over safety.