LONDON

Emails show Assad shopped online, sought Iran’s advice

Thousands of emails purported to be from the private accounts of Bashar Assad and his wife show the Syrian president took advice from Iran on how to handle the uprising against his rule, joked about his promises of reform and bypassed U.S. sanctions to shop on iTunes, the Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.

The newspaper said it got the trove of emails from a member of the Syrian opposition whom it does not identify. The documents are said to have been intercepted by members of the Supreme Council of the Revolution between June and early February.

There was no immediate response from Damascus.

The emails paint a picture of a ruling family that seems far removed from an uprising that has pushed the Arab nation to the brink of civil war, killing more than 7,500 people over the past year, according to international observers. According to the Guardian, the Syrian first lady, Asma Assad, spent tens of thousands of dollars buying luxury goods online, including gold jewelry laden with gems, as well as chandeliers and furniture.

The purported emails also offer insight into the president’s inner circle. According to the Guardian, the emails show that Assad has received advice from Iran. Ahead of a speech in December, Assad’s media consultant said his advice to the president was based on “consultations with a good number of people in addition to the media and political adviser for the Iranian ambassador.”

HAVANA

Dissidents hole up in church in bid for audience with Pope

Thirteen Cuban dissidents have holed up in a Roman Catholic church in Havana to press for an audience with Pope Benedict XVI when he visits in two weeks, saying they want to air their grievances about human rights on the island.

Some other dissidents and a church spokesman denounced the move, which was apparently meant to be part of coordinated protests at churches across the island that were later abandoned.

The Church of Charity of Cobre in teeming Central Havana was semi-shuttered Wednesday and only pilgrims visiting an image of the Virgin of Charity of Cobre, Cuba’s patron, were permitted inside.

LONDON

News Corp. executive says he could have done more

News Corp. executive James Murdoch acknowledged Wednesday that he could have done more to come to grips with the phone hacking scandal that has rocked Britain and threatened his place as the likely heir to his father’s global media empire.

Murdoch’s admission came in a seven-page letter written to British parliamentarians investigating the scandal. In it, the 39-year-old repeated his insistence that he didn’t know the extent of the illegal behavior at his now-defunct News of the World tabloid newspaper, saying that the details had been hidden from him by members of his staff.

“It would have been better if I had asked more questions,” Murdoch told the House of Commons’ media committee.

– From news service reports