A short documentary of a day in the life of the protests against the Yemeni regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh --- 12 March 2011 in "Change Square" in the capital Sanaa:
Ali Abdullah Saleh, Yemen 
A few weeks ago it appeared that Republicans were prepared to use the need for increasing the debt limit to push through some of the controversial measures included in their 2012 Budget Resolution, notably the plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc) to change the Medicare programme for future beneficiaries and/or a Balanced Budget Amendment that would require sharp and immediate reductions in government spending.
These options are not totally off the table, especially with the pressures being exerted within Republican ranks by new members of Congress keen to assuage their Tea Party constituencies, but the overwhelming message that emerged from participants after the Biden talks is the urgent need for compromise before the debt limit vote.
Farzad Kamangar with his studentsIs it possible to carry the heavy burden of being a teacher and be responsible for spreading the seeds of knowledge and still be silent? Is it possible to see the lumps in the throats of the students and witness their thin and malnourished faces and keep quiet?
Is it possible to be in the year of no justice and fairness and fail to teach the H for Hope and E for Equality, even if such teachings land you in Evin prison or result in your death?
Shirin did not want to go. She expected to be at least told where she was being taken to. Why were they not allowing her to even put on her prison scarf? Why were they taking her without the usual required trench coat and scarf?
The next day, her ward mates spoke about the last words they heard her say: “I am in your hands so why are you not letting me at least say goodbye to my family? Let me say my final farewell to my friends. Why all this when there is no way for me to escape. For God’s sake let me hear my mother’s voice for the last time....”
1920 GMT: Ahmadinejad Watch. So, after a week of high political crisis, how does a President end his speech at a critical Cabinet meeting?
He congratulates the National Tae Kwon Do Team on its victory in the world championships.
1915 GMT: Cabinet Watch (Bin Laden Conspiracy Edition). So now that Ministre of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi has been allowed back into Cabinet meetings by the President, what does he have to say?
Iran’s Minister of Intelligence has accused the U.S. of fabricating its account of Osama Bin Laden’s death, alleging that Bin Laden had died much earlier from health complications....[Moslehi said] Iran is in possession of “accurate information and reliable and significant documents” regarding Bin Laden’s death. He did not expand on the contents of thesaid documents....
“If the U.S. military and intelligence have truly arrested or killed Bin Laden,” Moslehi said, “why do they not show him to the world? Why do they dispose of his remains at sea?”
“We are of the opinion that the U.S. and its media dictatorship are trying to overshadow the regional uprisings with such news,” Moslehi said. “Furthermore, they are also trying to resolve internal problems such as their economical woes.”
Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 16:01 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 1920 GMT: Claimed footage of a demonstration in Jassim in southern Syria today:
And in this clip, a protester takes down a flag of the ruling Ba'ath Party:
Amidst the growing political conflict in Iran, the President's office has put out its version of today's Cabinet meeting.
The summary starts with the apparent political concession by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, acknowledging the authority of the Supreme Leader:
We all must follow leadership of the supreme jurisprudent, a reference to Office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei....President considered the Guardianship of Supreme Jurisprudent as a most important pivot of Islamic Republic and referring to Leader of the Islamic Revolution‘s statements made the remarks that we will never let the enemies to abuse some interior issues of the country.
Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 11:31 | Scott Lucas in EA Afghanistan-Pakistan, EA USA, India and Pakistan, US Foreign Policy 
A discussion this morning with BBC Coventry and Warwickshire --- it begins with the release by the US of a silent video showing Osama bin Laden in his Pakistan compound but then considers why the Americans put out the footage, what it shows about bin Laden, and what significance, if any, this latest development has in the conflict within and beyond Pakistan.
The item begins about the 1:03.45 mark.
Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 11:21 | Scott Lucas in Afghanistan, EA Afghanistan-Pakistan, EA USA, India and Pakistan, US Foreign Policy 
7 MAY
Sean Foley looks at the little-noted effect of this week's events: "Bin Laden Feature: Why The Significance of His Death May Be in East Asia"
Steve Hewitt offers a perspective on why the Al Qa'eda leader spent the last years of his life in the town of Abbottabad: "Bin Laden Feature: How US Drones Drove Osama to His Final Location"
Al Qa'eda, Osama bin Laden Sunday, May 8, 2011 at 8:44 | Scott Lucas in EA Middle East and Turkey, Journalism and Media, Middle East and Iran 
Is this, then, the age of new media? Could the Internet be a free space for Arab citizens to express their opinion and fulfil their democratic aspirations in bringing about freedom of speech and political freedom generally? Is it able to form the new Arab public sphere?
Egypt, Lina Khatib, M/C Journal, Social Media, Tunisia, Zahera Harb 
