Syria state of emergency 'to end'

16 April 2011 Last updated at 16:48 GMT Bashar al-Assad said he thought the law would be lifted within a week

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says he expects a state of emergency to be lifted next week, after weeks of anti-government protests.

He made the comments in a televised speech to his newly formed cabinet.

The lifting of the 48-year-old emergency law has been a key demand of the protesters.

On Friday, tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in the capital, Damascus, in one of the biggest turnouts since protests began.

While he repeated his view that his country was facing a conspiracy, Mr Assad said he did not believe the lifting of the state of emergency would destabilise Syria.

The Syrian leader told the cabinet a legal commission asked to examine the lifting of the law had come to its conclusions.

"I think the commission has finished its work, on Thursday, and the recommendations will be given to the government so that they become law immediately. I don't know how many days it will take you and I think that the maximum deadline for the lifting of the state of emergency will be next week," he said.

The law bans public gatherings of more than five people.

Continue reading the main story Owen Bennett Jones BBC News, Beirut

This is new language, but it's only language at this point. It sounds like the emergency law will be lifted - that's a very clear commitment President Assad has made - but it has taken quite a long time to get here.

So when you think of much more far-reaching measures, like multi-party democracy - which, as he said, would completely transform the political situation in Syria - then surely that is going to be a much more difficult pill for the regime to swallow.

And you would imagine that while he is asking the government to study the proposal, it is the sort of thing that would be extremely difficult for them to do.

The question now is whether the protesters think they've achieved something by getting rid of the emergency law and head home, or whether they see that their time on the streets has forced this change from the government, and decide to stay on the streets to get more.

New security legislation would be introduced in place of the emergency law, he said, adding that the new government should also study ideas for a multi-party system and greater press freedom.

The question now is whether the measures will be enough to persuade the demonstrators to go back to their homes, says the BBC's Owen Bennett Jones in neighbouring Lebanon, or whether they will simply encourage more protests in the hope of securing more reforms.

Batons and tear gas

Friday's protests in Damascus and other cities were among the largest in a month of unrest that has reportedly seen some 200 people killed.

The unrest is the biggest challenge to the rule of Mr Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000.

Security forces used tear gas and batons to disperse tens of thousands of protesters - some calling for reform, others calling demanding the overthrow of Mr Assad - in Damascus.

Thousands of people reportedly demonstrated in a number of other Syrian cities - including Deraa, Latakia, Baniyas and Qamishli - where violence has been previously reported.

Mr Assad formed a new government on Thursday and pronounced amnesty for an undisclosed number of people detained in the last month.

He has also sacked some local officials and granted Syrian citizenship to thousands of the country's Kurdish minority - satisfying a long-held demand.

The United Nations and a number of Western governments have decried President Assad's use of force to try to quash the protests.

Human rights campaigners say hundreds of people across Syria have been arrested, including opposition figures, bloggers and activists.

Mr Assad blames the violence in recent weeks on armed gangs rather than reform-seekers and has vowed to put down further unrest.

US officials have said Iran is helping Syria to crack down on the protests, a charge both Tehran and Damascus have denied.

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Tax receipts boost state finances

22 February 2011 Last updated at 10:32 GMT January's surplus was larger than expected The UK's public accounts were in surplus in January after a strong rise in income tax receipts.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported the public sector net borrowing measure had a surplus of £3.735bn, higher than expected and the largest surplus since July 2008.

January is traditionally a month in which a surplus is recorded, as a range of income tax bills fall due.

However, a deficit of £1.266bn was recorded in January last year.

Total public borrowing for the year to date now stands at £113bn, £14.1bn lower than at the same point last year.

January's surplus is expected to help the government meet its target for borrowing for the financial year to March 2011 of £148.5bn.

To help cut the deficit the government is cutting public spending and raising some taxes, including last month's rise in the VAT rate from 17.5% to 20%.

Continue reading the main story

It is a peculiar feature of the current political debate that ministers are keen to talk down any sign that the public finances are stronger than we might have thought, but equally keen to talk down signs of weakness in the economy. ”

End Quote Stephanie Flanders Economics editor, BBC News The plan has the approval of the US Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, who told the BBC in an interview that he was "very impressed" with the plan to reduce the budget deficit.

'Key month'

Ross Walker, of RBS Financial Markets, called the latest borrowing figures "a good set of data".

"January is a key month, you get major income tax and corporation tax inflows and they seem to be robust," he said.

"Public spending growth is also moderating so both sides of the public sector ledger are moving in the right direction, all of which leaves them comfortably on track to meet their full-year forecasts set out in the emergency budget".

In a statement, a Treasury spokesman said: "It's welcome that this January saw the first surplus for the public finances in two years, but it will take more than one month in surplus to deal with borrowing of almost £150bn pounds for this financial year."

The BBC's economics editor, Stephanie Flanders points out that there is still plenty that could go wrong, with January's figure distorted by one-off changes in the timing of self-assessment payments, which will unwind next month.

She adds that there are other major factors that are prone to revision.

But she says that it is likely that borrowing will be lower than the government has estimated, although it is trying to avoid raising expectations by playing down the possibility of a good number.

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