The Latest from Israel-Palestine (9 October): Watching Syria, Downing a Drone, and Skirmishing with Gaza

1935 GMT: With no reference to his earlier demand on a halt to settlement freeze as a condition of returning to peace talks, Palestinian Authority's leader Mahmoud Abbas said that he could resume talks following the UN vote on a Palestinian request for "nonmember state" status.

1900 GMT: PM Netanyahu announces early elections.

1730 GMT: Israel's daily YNET claims that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will announce his early elections decision tonight.

1720 GMT: A Kassam rocket fired from Gaza exploded in an open area in the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council. No injuries reported.

1530 GMT: In a letter sent to the U.S. Congress by the leaders of the Lutheran, Methodist, UCC churches, and the National Council of Churches; the military aid to Israel was asked to be reevaluated.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Car Bomb Outside Damascus Police Station

Scene of last night's car bomb in Damascus

Syria Opinion: Opposition Is Letting Down Residents in the East
Sunday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: On a "Slow" Saturday, 105 Die

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2055 GMT: Egypt. President Mohammed Morsi has said he will pardon all those arrested --- except persons charged with murder --- from the first day of the uprising against the Mubarak regime to June 2012, when Morsi took office.

Any decree could lead to the release of several thousand people.

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The Latest from Iran (8 October): Parliament's Message to Ahmadinejad

See also EA Video Analysis: How to Become an Expert on the Iranian Nuclear Programme
The Latest from Iran (7 October): "The Devil Has Disrupted Our Economy"

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2035 GMT: Economy Watch. HRANA reports that the Saipa automobile factory in Kashan has dismissed more than 10,000 employees --- 75% of its workforce --- and only 1 of 3 shifts is assembling now.

The site says Saipa in Tehran is also down to 1 in 3 shifts.

2025 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. Mansour Haghighatpour, the deputy head of the National Security Council, has said that interrogation of the President will only be dropped if the Supreme Leader opposes it.

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Syria Opinion: Opposition Is Letting Down Residents in the East (Hassan)

Insurgents in Deir Ez Zor Province

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Every region of the country can be an asset to the uprising in its own way. Aleppo has been an important province to secure supplies through Turkey, and to bring the fight to the regime in the country's second city. Deir Ezzor is also a vital province for the regime because of its resources, and it could be the key to freeing the country's east from regime control. Why cannot the political opposition take advantage of all of its potential assets?

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Venezuela Feature: President Chavez Elected to 4th Term (Al Jazeera English

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has been re-elected to another six-year term after defeating opposition leader Henrique Capriles, the electoral council has said.

The 58-year-old Chavez took 54.42 per cent of the vote, with 90 per cent of the ballots counted, to 44.97 per cent for young opposition candidate Capriles, official results showed on Sunday.

Tibisay Lucena, the National Electoral Council president, said 81 per cent of the nearly 19 million registered voters cast ballots, one of the largest turnouts in years.

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EA Video Analysis: How to Become An Expert on the Iranian Nuclear Programme

Want to become an expert on Iran's nuclear programme, wiith the facts and propaganda --- Bomb or No Bomb? --- and the international politicis around the issue?

Give us seven minutes and lots of drawings....

Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: On a "Slow" Saturday, 105 Die

Refugees on the Syrian-Turkish border

Libya Event: Literature and Life After Qaddafi --- Three Authors at the Birmingham Book Festival
Jordan Video Discussion: An Escalation of Tension?
Syria Feature: A Movement Trying to Bridge the Sectarian Divide
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Renewed Shelling of Homs

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2047 GMT: Libya. Prime Minister-elect Mustafa Abushagur failed a vote of confidence by an overwhelming margin on Sunday, removing him from office.

The Government may remain without permanent, democratically-elected leadership for some time, while a new Prime Minister assembles a Cabinet.

Abushagur was rejected by 125 of 200 members of the Libyan General National Congress, with 44 supporting him and the remainder abstentions or no-shows. Abushagur, criticised last week for proposing a Cabinet that critics said was filled with political unknowns, presented a new slate today.

“Your terms contradict my values and terms for forming my cabinet,” Abushagur told the legislature before the vote. “I’m not going to submit to your conditions.”

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The Latest from Iran (7 October): "The Devil Has Disrupted Our Economy"

See also Iran Analysis: Has the Regime Solved the Currency Crisis?
The Latest from Iran (6 October): "There is No Crisis"

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2033 GMT: Sanctions Watch. Malaysia's Air Asia has cancelled flights to Iran from 14 October, citing difficulties in transferring money amid sanctions.

2028 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Journalist Sam Mahmoudi Sarabi has received an eight-year prison sentence and 10-year occupational ban.

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Iran Analysis: Has the Regime Solved the Currency Crisis?

The regime's gamble is that enough Iranians will buy into the perception that the Rial has strengthened before a critical point is reached with its foreign reserves. Then the market can be funded with Iranians' own money, rather than that of a Government which is facing a halving of its revenues from oil exports.

That is not a market solution, but a "confidence" solution. It relies on the magic of the new rate, supported by the coercion of warnings not to put out alternative information that may be closer to the truth and of possible detention for traders who break the rules.

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Libya Event: Literature and Life After Qaddafi --- Three Authors at the Birmingham Book Festival

On Monday night, three Libyan authors will be reading from their work at the Birmingham Book Festival in the United Kingdom.

Ghazi Gheblawi, Giuma Bukleb, and Mohamed Mesrati will talk about life for writers under the Qaddafi regime and their visions of the "new Libya". The readings begin at 7 p.m. at the Bayleaf Restaurant in The Custard Factory.

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