EU advisories rate Yemen most perilous
BRUSSELS, April 2 (UPI) -- Yemen is the most dangerous country in the Middle East and the United Arab Emirates is the safest, European travel advisories suggest.
A European Commission consular Web site issued an advisory list for travelers from the 27 EU nations Friday, EUobserver reports.
Yemen exceeds even Libya in the danger ratings. Third is Iraq, followed by Bahrain, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Algeria, Egypt, Tunisia and Israel.
At the bottom of the list, only some areas are considered risky in Morocco, Kuwait, Jordan, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates.
Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh has been under pressure to resign for months, and more than 100 people have been killed during protests in recent weeks. France and Britain have warned their citizens anew to "leave immediately" thanks to "a rapid deterioration in the security situation."
Besides being on the verge of revolution, Yemen also poses dangers to Westerners from al-Qaida groups and regional rebels.
In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad, while under pressure, is not threatened by foreign intervention, unlike Libya's Moammar Gadhafi, and European visitors are normally welcomed by local people.
EU says Tunisia will take migrants back
BRUSSELS, April 2 (UPI) -- Tunisia is willing to take back its citizens who have fled to Italy, but Europe must help resettle refugees from Libya, a top European official says.
EU Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom spoke in Brussels Friday after a visit to Tunis, EUobserver reported.
She hailed Tunisia as the country where the Arab revolt started and the generosity of its people, who have aided 220,000 refugees at the Libyan border.
But "the refugee camp can only work if there is an outflow as well," she said, and international agencies need EU help repatriating non-Libyans.
Some 100,000 people have already been flown to their Asian and African homelands, but thousands need international protection and cannot be returned to places like Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan.
Malmstrom said her country, Sweden, has offered to take a few hundred people, and "I hope the rest of member states show that EU solidarity works in practice."
She said the new Tunisian interior minister has agreed to "a well-managed, organized and gradual repatriation" of the 20,000 Tunisians who have sailed to the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa.
She also denied Italy's claims that the EU is not giving it enough money to cope with the influx.
Judge: Anti-Muslim group can run ads
DETROIT, April 2 (UPI) -- A judge has ruled an anti-Muslim group has the First Amendment right to run ads on public buses in the Detroit area.
The American Freedom Defense Initiative went to court after the Southeastern Michigan Transportation Authority refused to accept the ads, The Detroit News reported. The initiative is run by Pamela Geller, who also heads Stop Islamization of America and is one of the most vocal opponents of the so-called ground-zero mosque in New York.
U.S. District Judge Denise Hood granted Geller's group a preliminary injunction Thursday.
"This is a huge win, not just for us, but for the First Amendment," Geller said on the initiative's Web site.
The ads, to be run on the side of buses, say: "Fatwa on your head? Leaving Islam? Refuge from Islam.com. Got questions? Get answers!"
Victor Begg, an adviser to the Council of Islamic Relations of Michigan, said Muslims who want to leave the faith are free to do so. He called the ads "another example of a hate group taking advantage of the First Amendment."
British cuts will hit active-duty forces
LONDON, April 2 (UPI) -- British servicemen now fighting in Libya and Afghanistan are among more than 2,000 who could be let go under budget cuts, military sources say.
The Daily Telegraph reported Friday commanders will tell personnel on active duty they could be among those laid off in September, in spite of government pledges to protect the front line.
On Monday, the army is expected to announce 561 layoffs to take effect Sept. 1, including 150 officers. The navy is expected to announce some 1,600 job losses effective Sept. 30, a third of them officers.
The army is expected to lose 7,000 personnel and the navy 5,000 over three years. Employees potentially at risk of layoffs must be informed well in advance.
The Telegraph said crews of two ships now off the Libyan coast, the frigate HMS Cumberland and the submarine HMS Turbulence, may be in line for cuts.
Army cutbacks are expected to hit all units: infantry, cavalry, artillery and logistics.
The Defense Ministry says servicemen in Afghanistan Sept. 1, when the cuts begin, would be shielded, but some who are in the country now and are scheduled to leave sooner will be affected.
