Top stories from DAWNS Digest.
BREAKING: An attack on a cattle market in Potiskum in northeastern Nigeria by gunmen armed with explosives has left at least 34 dead and the toll is likely to climb. (AFP http://yhoo.it/IG5J8P)
Top Stories
Security Council Gives the Two Sudans a Sanctions Timeline
Sudan and South Sudan have two weeks to end fighting and start talks or sanctions will be leveled, said the UN Security Council. “”The fighting must stop, and stop now,” U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice told the council. China, which has close trade relations with both countries, and Russia were reluctant to support the threat of sanctions against Sudan and South Sudan, but did so because the African Union had requested a legally binding resolution…”We are always very cautious about the use and threat of sanctions,” China’s U.N. Ambassador Li Baodong told the council. “China has all along maintained that African issues should be settled by the Africans in African ways.”” (AlertNet http://bit.ly/ICvaI0)
Egypt’s Ruling Military Council Moves Up Power Transfer Date
The intended transfer of power from the military council to civilian rule has been moved up by a month. “Egypt’s ruling military council will transfer power to a civilian government a month earlier than planned, a member of the council told reporters today. The transfer is now scheduled for May 24, the day of the country’s first-ever free presidential election. The announcement came after a night of clashes left 11 people dead in the heart of Cairo…In its statement to reporters today, SCAF’s chief of staff, Sami Anan, gave no indication the council planned to postpone the presidential elections due to the recent violence. But he also failed to specify that if the elections did indeed call for a run-off, scheduled for June 16 and 17, it would be forced to wait to transfer power until then.” (GlobalPost http://bit.ly/IDupyu)
Blind Activist Wants to Leave China on Hillary Clinton’s Airplane
It looks like the United States has an important choice to make regarding the blind activist Chen Guangcheng,”After escorting Chen, who sought protection from the U.S. after making a daring escape from extrajudicial house arrest, to a Beijing hospital on Wednesday where he is receiving medical treatment and was reunited with his family, the U.S. believed it had succeeded in reaching an unprecedented diplomatic agreement. All sides agreed Chen would be allowed to remain in China with his family to pursue a course of study at a Chinese university. But within a matter of hours, Chen claimed he had a change of heart. “I wanted to stay in China in the beginning,” he told ABC News. “But now I have changed my mind.” He is now begging to be allowed on Secretary of State Hilary Clinton’s plane when she departs Beijing, saying that his fervent hope is to for him and his family “to leave for the US on Hilary Clinton’s plane.” (ABC http://abcn.ws/IG65MI)