US Feature: The Boston Marathon Bombs --- The Real Story of the "Saudi Suspect" (Davidson)

Why the search, the interrogation, the dogs, the bomb squad, and the injured man’s name tweeted out, attached to the word “suspect”?

What made them suspect him? He was running—so was everyone. The bystander handed the man to the police, who reportedly thought he smelled like explosives; his wounds might have suggested why. He said something about thinking there would be a second bomb — as there was, and often is, to target responders. If that was the reason he gave for running, it was a sensible one. He asked if anyone was dead — a question people were screaming. And he was from Saudi Arabia, which is around where the logic stops. Was it just the way he looked, or did he, in the chaos, maybe call for God with a name that someone found strange?

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live: Stepping Up the Formula 1 Protests

Protest in Bahrain's capital Manama on Wednesday night with the chant and horn blast, "Down, Down [King] Hamad"

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1345 GMT: Egypt

The retrial of former President Hosni Mubarak, on charges of complicity in the killing of protesters during the 2011 uprising that toppled him, will be held on 11 May.

The retrial was postponed last Saturday when the presiding judge suddenly stepped down.

Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison last June, but the verdict was suspended on appeal because of procedural irregularities.

Former Minister of Interior Habib El-Adly and six of his aides will also be tried again.

On the same day, the court will also hear a case against Mubarak, his sons Alaa and Gamal, and business tycoon Hussein Salem on corruption charges.

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Iran Live: Parliament Finally Approves Government's Budget

1749 GMT: Election Watch

Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, in a veiled attack on President Ahmadinejad, has warned about the misuse of public resources for election purposes: "Unfortunately, some of the actions are carried out either by means of state budgets."

Larijani continued, "It is illegal to use government resources for election purposes," and he called on the Guardian Council to "intensify their supervision".

Critics of President Ahmadinejad have accused him of building up staffs in favourable Government office and using funds to back his chosen candidate in June's Presidential election. They have also condemned an event in Tehran's Azadi Square tomorrow as a campaign rally for Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live: Talks Over IMF Loan Fail to Reach Agreement

Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and International Managing Director Christine Lagarde at the Presidential Palace in Cairo last year

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1700 GMT: Egypt

Cairo and the International Monetary Fund have failed to agree on terms for a $4.8 billion loan to ease a worsening economic crisis.

After nearly two weeks of negotiations in Cairo, IMF mission chief Andreas Bauer issued a statement today that cited progress, notably in Egypt's efforts to better target fuel subsidies and broaden its revenue base.

However, Bauer indicated that no resolution had occurred, "Discussions with the authorities will continue with the objective of reaching agreement on a possible standby arrangement in support of Egypt."

Egyptian officials played down the setback, saying talks would continue this week in Washington, and in Cairo after that.

"We are travelling to the spring meetings in the next two days and are going to be there in the coming week and will complete the negotiations there, and after we return, the mission will come again for us to complete some of the negotiations," Planning Minister Ashraf al-Arabi, one of the Egyptian negotiators, said.

"But the talks are difficult," he added.

EA Audio Analysis: Responding to The Bombs at the Boston Marathon --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

I have done six interviews today with BBC outlets, including BBC Radio 5 Live, about Monday's bombs at the Boston Marathon.

BBC Radio 5 Live: The interview begins at 2:43.25
BBC West Midlands: The discussion starts at 2:12.16
BBC London: The interview starts at 7:19
BBC Three Counties: The discussion starts at 1:16.50
BBC Scotland: The interview begins at 1:10.20.
BBC Coventry and Warwickshire: The chat starts at 2:07.38

I found some of the discussion to be the most personal I have had with media outlets. After dealing with questions about how the authorities are responding to the crisis and after criticising unfounded --- and thus dangerous --- speculation about who carried out the double bombing, I faced questions about the significance of the attacks coming on Patriots' Day and what has it meant for people in Boston, where I lived for two years.

See also US Opinion: The Bombs at the Marathon --- What Patriots' Day Means to a Bostonian

My answer was that I hoped that the response of Bostonians --- and others --- would be a firm reply to terrorism, not by a call for retribution without knowing exactly who attacked, but through the community recovering and showing that it would not intimidated by violence.

I had to fight a bit to get that message out. While Radio 5 Live was admirable in how it handled the interview, BBC London's host was trying to insist that the Boston attacks would intimidate those in the British capital from attending this Sunday's Marathon. My interview on BBC Three Counties followed a "counter-terrorism expert" who wanted to declare that Al Qa'eda was clearly responsible for Monday's bombs. And BBC Scotland kept pressing the case that America should be "more hawkish".

Still, I hope at least an element of my thoughts came across.

US 1st-Hand: "11 Years of Detention in Guantanamo is Killing Me"

One man here weighs just 77 pounds. Another, 98. Last thing I knew, I weighed 132, but that was a month ago.

I’ve been on a hunger strike since Feb. 10 and have lost well over 30 pounds. I will not eat until they restore my dignity.

I’ve been detained at Guantánamo for 11 years and three months. I have never been charged with any crime. I have never received a trial.

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US Opinion: The Bombs at the Marathon --- What Patriots' Day Means to a Bostonian

Boston is a city of fierce friends, defiant enemies, and long memories. It will recover, even as it does not forget the pain caused by the actions of a few faceless individuals. In the spirit of democracy, the city will not allow the will of those violent few to vanquish the desire of the many for peace and for harmony.

During our upcoming holidays --- the 4th of July, New Year's Eve on the Charles River --- and the next Patriots' Day, and all the Patriots Days to come --- Boston will be back, saddened, angered, but ultimately undeterred by this tragedy.

In the spirit of 1775,  we will hope to inspire the world, with yesterday's horrific violence annulled and then replaced by hope.

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Iran Live: Ahmadinejad "Era of Atomic Bombs Over"

See also Monday's Iran Live: Meet the Presidential Hopefuls

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1957 GMT:Economy Watch The International Monetary Fund reports that Iran's economy contracted by 1.9% in 2012 and predicted it will shrink by 1.3% this year.

The IMF said the Iranian economy will grow in 2014 by 1.1%.

The report declared, "The macroeconomic environment is likely to remain difficult, given the sharp depreciation of the currency and adverse external conditions, which would sustain inflation at relatively high levels."

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Syria Live Coverage: Airstrikes Continue Around Damascus

Photo: AFP1942 GMT: Fighting Near Border with Lebanon.

NOW Syria reports from the border village of al-Qasr, just inside Lebanon, where insurgent fire hit for the first time:

Al-Qasr [did not] feel like a place hit by lethal rocket fire just two days ago. Despite an army statement Sunday declaring its increased presence in the area, there wasn’t so much as a routine checkpoint impeding our entrance. In the village center, all shops were open; adults and children alike going about their business as usual. It could have been anywhere in the Beqaa.

Except, of course, for the two crumbled walls near the main mosque, results of an unprecedented series of rockets fired Sunday by Syrian rebels that, for the first time, left one resident dead and up to nine injured (another was killed by the same attack in Hosh al-Sayyid Ali, a nearby village on the Syrian side of the border). The blood of 23-year-old Ali Hassan Qataya, light brown by now, still spans the width of the street where he died.

“He was just visiting,” said a local resident who did not give his name. “He lived in Beirut, and came here to visit his fiancée.”

Why, then, was Qataya killed? The Syrian National Coalition, the opposition body recognized by over a dozen countries as the representative government-in-exile, said Monday that “the Free Syrian Army was forced to respond to [the] repeated aggressions” of Hezbollah, whom it accused of carrying out “military operations on Syrian territory.”

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Syria Live: Mass Deaths from Airstrikes

Sudden demonstration in the Mehdat Basha Souk in old Damascus on Sunday

See also Iraq (and Beyond) Live: At Least 20 Killed in Bombings Across Country
Sunday's Syria Live: Assessing the Insurgency

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2006 GMT: Lebanon. Insurgent commanders have confirmed their forces responded to Hezbollah strikes by firing shells into Lebanese towns on Saturday and Sunday, but said there were no attacks on Monday.

"If we have to, we will target civilians just like they do. Our civilians are not less valuable than theirs. Hizbullah is killing arbitrarily in Syria," one commander said. Yesterday, we responded. We hit back at Hizbullah's positions."

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