Friday, April 5, 2013 at 23:33 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran A 40-minute interview with President Assad on Turkish TV channel Ulusal, conducted on Tuesday and broadcast on Friday night:
Bashar al-Assad, Syria, Ulusal TV Friday, April 5, 2013 at 10:40 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Prime Minister Erdogan1200 GMT:Palestine. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency has suspended its operations in the Gaza Strip after demonstrators stormed its headquarters after a number of aid cutbacks caused the agency to withhold some cash handouts earlier this week.
Although cash disbursements will be limited, the UNRWA said that food distribution will continue as normal once guarantees are given that their operations can continue “unhindered.”
1132 GMT:Iraq. A bomb attack in the western Baghdad neighbourhood of Abu Ghraib has killed three soldiers while another bomb exploded near a vegetable stand in the city of Hillah (60 miles, 90 kilometres south of Baghdad) killing three civilians and wounding 15 bystanders.
Bülent Arınç, PKK, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkey Iran Analysis: 5-Point Beginner's Guide to Today's Nuclear Talks
Iran Feature: Talking Tough --- How the US and Tehran Mirror Each Other's Rhetoric
Thursday's Iran Live: Tehran's Positive Signals for Nuclear Talks
1430 GMT:Nuclear Watch. Joanna Paraszczuk surveys reaction in the Iranian press to today's talks in Kazakhstan....
ISNA gave a neutral report on Friday afternoon, noting that Iran's nuclear negotiating team had a new member, Mehdi Safari, the former ambassador to China.
ISNA also reported that the spokesman for the lead negotiator of the 5+1 Powers, Catherine Ashton, said they were not going to put any new offers on the table in this round of talks, and that Tehran needed to prove its nuclear programne had no military dimension.
Fars News, close to the Revolutionary Guards, focused on Iran's position. It repeated comments by Ali Bagheri, Iran's deputy negotiators, that Tehran had come up with specific recommendations for cooperation with the 5+1, and that those proposals had been presented in Moscow last June.
Iran believed the proposals were a "confidence building step, i.e. actions that both sides have to agree to do as part of a comprehensive solution", Bagheri said.
Hardline Mashregh News, meanwhile, criticised comments by Ashton's spokesman Michael Mann as "strange".
Mashregh noted that Mann had tried to respond to an Iranian journalist's question about why Europe had not made "the slightest effort to stop Israel's nuclear activities", and why the 5+1 were talking about Iran's nuclear program and not West Jerusalem's.
The journalist added that world powers ignored the fact that two-thirds of non-aligned nations supported Iran's nuclear programme.
Mann responded that the "discussions about resolving Iran's nuclear programme must be completed and it is not possible to set a deadline for that", according to Mashregh.
General Michael HaydenBoth sides believe that getting the other to make those concessions over the nuclear issue would be a major psychological blow --- perhaps even a defeat --- in the struggle for regional power. Both believe that such concessions --- Washington admitting Tehran's "right to enrich" or the polar opposite, Tehran giving up that --- would signal fundamental weakness in its rival.
At the level of this week's talks, those hopes and fears are being put diplomatically. Beyond the talks, in the chattering cauldron of Washington, some are blunter.
WHAT IS THE VALUE OF TODAY'S MEETING?
Simply that there are talks and likely to be more in the autumn, after June's Presidential elections in Iran. As long as both sides agree to continue, the option of an Israeli airstrike remains off the table.
That does not mean a resolution, of course. The US and the European 3 are likely to believe that the erosion of Iran's economic position will finally yield the concessions that they will not get this week. The Iranian regime will count on its public stance of a valiant defence of sovereignty rallying its people, despite the economic problems, and winning international sympathy.
But, for now, the avoidance of breakdown and the "worst" of military confrontation will do.
Friday, April 5, 2013 at 6:21 | James Miller in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2040 GMT: Grad Rockets In Ma'arrat al Nouman. We've been talking a lot about Ma'arrat al Nouman in recent days. On the front lines of Idlib province, the rwebel stronghold is flanked by two important bases, both of which have proven impossible for the rebels to breach despite months of bombardment. The bases are equipped with heavy bunkers, dug in artillery, and are being provided air support by Syrian jets.
Interestingly, however, we've seen a lot of new rebel equipment show up near Ma'arrat al Nouman, including several Do-It-Yourself launchers for 122mm rockets, better known as Grad rockets. Even more interestingly, some of these weapons and rockets appear as if they have been shipped to the area, perhaps from other Assad bases where they have been captured. This suggests that the rebel command organization may be making the capturing of Wadi al Daif and the Hamidiyeh bases a priority:
2017 GMT: Wounded Rebel Commander Recovering. Riad al Assad, a rebel commander who was injured in Deir Ez Zor, is recovering in a Turkish hospital, according to a prominent activist:
North Korean Leader Kim Jong UnI did two interviews today, with a third scheduled tomorrow morning, with BBC outlets on North Korea's bluster about launching a nuclear attack on the US.
To the question, "Could this be nuclear war?", I offered the following:
I'm not going down into my underground bunker just yet.
I back that up by putting the statement in political, military, and North Korean domestic context.
BBC Coventry and Warwickshire: The item starts at 2:18.20. My contribution starts at 2:19.09.
BBC WM: The discussion begins at 1:06.48.
Part 1 of The Daily Show feature on the arrest of Bassem Youssef (Part 2 below)
For days, we have been covering the case of Egyptian political satirist and TV host Bassem Youssef, arrested on charges of insulting President Morsi, denigrating Islam, and spreading lies --- all because of remarks he made on his television programme last month.
On Sunday, Youssef was questioned by prosecutors for hours and then released on bail.
The story took on another dimension when it was picked up for scrutiny by The Daily Show, with host Jon Stewart --- the Bassem Youssef of the US --- combining serious comment and humour.
Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 7:50 | Scott Lucas in EA Live, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Recep Tayyip Erdogan & Benjamin Netanyahu1425 GMT: Palestine. Thousands of mourners have turned out for the funerals of three Palestinians, including two teenagers killed by Israeli army gunfire in Tulkarm.
On Tuesday, Maysara Abu Hamdeya, a 64-year-old prisoner serving a life term in an Israeli jail, died from cancer.
Palestinian officials accused Israel of delaying treatment for Hamdeya and gave him full military honours at the funeral in Hebron, where masked gunmen fired into the air as his body arrived at a mosque.
Amer Nassar, 17, and Naji Belbisi, 18, were killed in the wave of disturbances that followed the announcement of Hamdeya's death.
Aaron Stein, Ashraf al-Araby, Egypt, Israel, John Kerry, Mahmoud Abbas, Palestine, Syria, Turkey See also Iran Live Coverage: Seeking the "Unity" Candidate for the Presidency
1923 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Fars News, close to the Revolutionary Guards, has reported comments by Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, in Kazakhstan ahead of Friday's nuclear talks.
Speaking at a university in the Kazakh capital Almaty, Jalili said that the talks were a "test of America's behaviour" and that they would open with a discussion of Iran's right to enrichment.
The test would be "whether the US will accept or deny our natural right to enrich uranium, which is recognized by the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty", he said.
The Iranian nation expects that the US will change its behaviour and not just talk about doing so, Jalili said.
The Secretary of Iran's National Security Council answered a question put by a student, who asked about the impact of June's Iranian Presidential election on the nuclear issue.
"Today, there is a national consensus over defending the rights of the Iranian nation," he said, saying that all parts of the Iranian society were defending Iran's "inalienable" nuclear rights.
Jalili also commented on the situation in Syria, echoing the regime line that the Syrian people should be able to decide their fate in free elections.
