Assad to speak about 'latest occurrences'

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will make a speech on Wednesday about "the internal issues and the latest occurrences", the official state news agency said.

This was the first official confirmation that Assad will speak publicly for the first time about the protests that erupted in the south of Syria and spread to the centre and the coast, posing the biggest challenge to the authoritarian political system he has headed since 2000. (Reuters)