Syria Video: Saturday's Funeral Protests

Claimed footage of burning of President Assad poster in Damascus:

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The Latest from Iran (23 April): "We Were First"

1730 GMT: A Matter of Intelligence. Ali Akbar Javenfekr, the managing director of the State news agency IRNA, has effectively apologised for his newspaper's handling of the Supreme Leader's message to the people of Shiraz, saying that IRNA "devoted its efforts to the goals of revolutionary ideals and the Islamic system".

IRNA had altered the official release from the Supreme Leader's office, omitting Ayatollah Khamenei's support for the Ministry of Intelligence and implicit slap-down of President Ahmadinejad and his advisors for trying to force out the head of the Ministry, Heydar Moslehi. Khamenei's office then told media not to rely on reports from IRNA.

While apologising, Javanfekr made no reference to the Moslehi affair.

Meanwhile, the conservative stie Alef has removed its story about President Ahmadinejad's refusal to work with Moslehi.

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Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: An Escalation

1910 GMT: A doctor and residents have confirmed that four people died in Barzeh, a neighbourhood of Damascus, today.

That raises the overall death toll of protesters in Syria today to 14.

1900 GMT: A spokesman for the Yemeni regime says it has informed the Gulf Cooperation Council that it accepts a proposal for transition in power: "The ruling party informed the foreign ministers of the GCC of their acceptance of the Gulf initiative in full."

Under the plan, President Ali Abdullah Saleh will hand over power to his Vice President one month after an agreement is signed with opposition forces and will be granted immunity from prosecution.

1729 GMT: This video, reportedly filmed today, depicts civilians pinned down by gunfire in the streets of Syria. None of these men appear armed.

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US WikiLeaks Video: Obama on Bradley Manning "He Broke the Law"

So much for due process of law, "innocent before proven guilty", etc. --- President Obama condemns Private Bradley Manning, held by the military in effective solitary confinement for allegedly passing information to WikiLeaks.

Video and transcript via Andy Greenberg:

OBAMA: People can have philosophical views about....

[Questioner: unintelligible]

No, no, but look, I can’t conduct diplomacy on an open source. That’s not how…the world works. If you’re in the military, and…I have to abide by certain classified information. If I was to release stuff, information that I’m not authorized to release, I’m breaking the law....We’re a nation of laws. We don’t individually make our own decisions about how the laws operate....

He broke the law.

[Questioner: "You can make it harder to break the law."]

Well, what he did was he dumped....

[Questioner: something about President Nixon's prosecution of Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg]

It wasn’t the same thing. What Ellsberg released wasn’t classified in the same way. So. Anyway. Alright.

Israel-Palestine Snapshot: Obama Administration Wonders, "What to Do, What to Do?" (Cooper)

A Republican invitation for Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address Congress next month is highlighting the tensions between President Obama and Mr. Netanyahu and has kicked off a bizarre diplomatic race over who will be the first to lay out a new proposal to reopen the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

For three months, White House officials have been debating whether the time has come for Mr. Obama to make a major address on the region’s turmoil, including the upheaval in the Arab world, and whether he should use the occasion to propose a new plan for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

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Syria, Yemen, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Just Another Friday?

1838 GMT: Activists have compiled a list of 68 people killed in Syria protests today, including casualties in Moadamia (8), Homs (15), Douma (8), Izraa (15), Zamalka (5), Harasta (3), and Barzeh (2).

1835 GMT: Thanks to James Miller for taking the LiveBlog through the afternoon.

A doctor from Madamia, a Damascus suburb, has said:

There are four people killed and about 50 wounded and we cannot take them to the public or private hospitals. At Daraya hospital security were shooting and arresting people. So I have been treating people inside homes. It is very hard to treat the wounds because many have been shot in the head.

I can tell you now, the situation in Madamia will never be calm. Today is an historical day for the country. There is now a new strategy to kill all the protesters, not even arrest them.

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Syria Video: This Weekend's Protest --- 2nd Set

Editor's Note: There is some video from Syria today that is so graphic that I cannot post. One notable example is the footage of a small boy, carried in a man's arms, who was slain today in Daraa by a gunshot to the head. Another is of victims of sniper fire, reportedly in Izra near Daraa in the south.

See also Syria Video: This Weekend's Protests --- 1st Set

Burning of Statue of Basel al-Assad, Late Brother of President, in Deir ez-Zor

11-Minute Clip from Homs

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Syria Video: This Weekend's Protests

Tearing Down Bashar al-Assad in Damascus --- "We're All One Hand"

A Child Speaks to the Crowd (Homs?)

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The Latest from Iran (22 April): More Questions About Intelligence

1805 GMT: our Tehran Friday Prayer Update --- Part 2. Ayatollah Emami Kashani, unlike other Iranian figures like the President, dared to mention this week's dispute over the "resignation" of the Minister of Intelligence.

The Ayatollah said the uproar was all due to "Western media": “Through such acts they intend to suggest there is division and conflict in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

1800 GMT: Your Tehran Friday Prayer Update. Ayatollah Emami Kashani steps up to the podium today to pronounce on the Islamic and popular nature of the recent revolutions in the Middle East, explaining saying that violence will not stop the uprisings.

The cleric condemned the silence of Arab leaders over "massacres", “Those who are among the Muslim nations, instead of preventing the killing of the Muslim people of Bahrain, Libya, Yemen and other countries and supporting the people, talk nonsense."

There is no report that Emami Kashani said the word "Syria" in his address.

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Libya Video: Touring the Destruction in Misurata

A 12-minute video, reportedly filmed yesterday, of the damaged Libyan city of Misurata after eight weeks of fighting: