Syria’s defiant president ignored demands to lift decades-old emergency law and blamed the unrest racking his country on a “worldwide conspiracy.”
Bashar al-Assad’s refusal to make concessions outraged reform-minded Syrians who are bitter over the crackdown that has killed more than 60.
Speaking in public in Damascus for the first time since the unprecedented demonstrations began, Assad made no mention of the hated emergency measures enacted in 1963.
In other Mideast developments yesterday:
* Yemen’s embattled pro-US president reportedly offered to transfer power to a caretaker government until elections are held at the end of the year.
The opposition to Ali Abdullah Saleh was considering accepting the offer he made to Mohammed al-Yadoumi, head of the Islamist Isiah party.
* Egypt’s military rulers said presidential elections to replace Hosni Mubarak would be held in October or November.
Among the hopefuls who have already announced their candidacy are Nobel Prize laureate Mohamed Elbaradei and Arab League chief Amr Moussa.