INDIA'S opposition claimed that M

EMEN'S president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, promised to step down by the end of the year after snipers killed at least 50 demonstrators in Sana'a, the capital. After several of his closest military and tribal allies turned against him, his days looked numbered.



The SYRIAN government responded to protests in the southern city of Deraa by shooting dead at least a dozen people, some of whom were outside a mosque.



In BAHRAIN the death toll from a crackdown by the kingdom's security forces, backed by 1,500 troops from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf-state neighbours, rose to 18. Protesters continued to demand reform.



Three-quarters of EGYPTIAN voters endorsed a batch of constitutional amendments paving the way for a general election, perhaps in June, and a presidential one in August or September.



One person was killed and 30 injured by a bomb left at a bus stop in JERUSALEM, the first such attack in the city for more than six years.

This came after Israeli jets launched air raids in the GAZA STRIP in retaliation for the heaviest barrage of mortars and rockets fired into Israel by Palestinian militants for two years.



Thousands of refugees from COTE D'IVOIRE poured into Liberia as fighting resumed between rival groups claiming victory in last year's presidential election.



Officials said around 70 people had been killed in clashes between the army of SOUTH SUDAN, which is due to gain independence in July, and fighters loyal to a southern rebel leader in the borderland with Sudan. The southern government accused Omar al-Bashir, the Sudanese president, of trying to destabilise the emerging state.



Aid and power supplies remained patchy in the northern region of JAPAN stricken by an earthquake and tsunami. Workers struggled to contain a burning reactor at the Fukushima nuclear-power plant as the site emitted small but worrying amounts of radiation. Increased concentrations of radioactive material were found in milk and vegetables in the area. TOKYO'S governor recommended that babies be kept away from the city's tap water as it contained higher levels of radioactive iodine.



A provisional estimate put the cost of the ECONOMIC DAMAGE from the earthquake at $235 billion, which would make it the most expensive natural disaster in history.



Hamid Karzai announced a plan to make AFGHANISTAN'S army and police assume responsibility for the country's security, starting in July. Seven areas controlled by the American-led international force are to be transferred to Afghan command, including Lashkar Gah in Helmand, until recently a hotbed of Taliban activity.



Meanwhile, one of five American soldiers accused of killing AFGHAN CIVILIANS for sport pleaded guilty and was given a 24-year prison sentence. DER SPIEGEL magazine published damning photographs taken by the soldiers posing with the corpse of one victim.



INDIA'S opposition claimed that Manmohan Singh had misled parlia
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