Iran Snapshot: The Charity Auction of Ahmadinejad's Car --- Surprise Ending!

For several months, EA has followed the story of President Ahmadinejad's 1977 Peugeot 504 being sold to raise funds for the Iranian welfare system. 

At the end of February, the vintage car reportedly sold for 25 billion rials (about $2.4 million) to a buyer "who wanted to remain anonymous". The head of Iran's Welfare Organisation said the winner had topped "more than half a million bidders [who] registered on the bidding website, with most saying they were doing so since President Ahmadinejad leads a simple life and because of his anti-arrogance and anti-Zionist stances". The lawyer for the buyer echoed, "My client bought the car because of a personal interest in President Ahmadinejad and his spirit of anti-arrogance and anti-Zionism." 

And now the twist in the tale....

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US Politics Special: Does Planned Parenthood Pay the Price for the Budget Deal?

Following up on this weekend's analysis of the last-minute deal on the Fiscal Year 2011 budget that averted the shutdown of the Federal Government....

As part of the deal, Democrats agreed to hold votes in the Senate on repealing the health care law and defunding Planned Parenthood. At first, this budget agreement appeared to be a victory for the Democratic position, holding the line against the level of cuts demanded by conservative members of the House of Representatives.

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The Latest from Iran (11 April): Paying the Bills

2035 GMT: Two pictures from today's demonstration in front of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by Basij militia and other protesters.

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Iran Story: The Movie, The President, and the "Hidden Imam"

The "End Times" film about the Hidden Imam --- translation is by Reza Kahlili, a US-based critic of the Iranian regime

We begin this morning with a look at a curious, tangled story which has run for several weeks --- it includes a movie, President Ahmadinejad, and the "Hidden Imam", the 12th Imam of Shi'a who will return at some point.

This weekend Ali Asghar Sijani, the producer of a film about the Hidden Imam which has widely circulated on CD in Iran, declared that the epiphany of the 12th Imam is near. He added that the Supreme Leader led the movement welcoming the imminent return, and Ahmadinejad was the prophet Shoaib (a rough parallel in Christianity would be of John the Baptist paving the way for Jesus the Messiah). Sijani said that part of the $15 million cost of the film was funded by the Revolutionary Guards.

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Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Grimness of Battle

2125 GMT: South African President Jacob Zuma says Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi has accepted the terms of an African Union "road map", whichcalls for a ceasefire, protection of African migrant workers, and consideration of "the demands of the Libyan people" through a transition of power.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera is reporting that regime forces were "completely obliterated" in their assault on Ajdabiya in the east, with coalition aircraft inflicting heavy losses.

2120 GMT: Associated Press photographer Altaf Qadri has been located after going missing on Saturday near Brega in Libya (see 1610 GMT).

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Ivory Coast Latest: The Battle for Abidjan (Howden)

What began as the week when Laurent Gbagbo would finally concede defeat ended with the Ivory Coast strongman defying the world from his bunker in Abidjan. After watching his area of control shrink to only a few pockets of the lagoon city, his forces pushed back dramatically overnight on Friday with an assault on the French ambassador's residence. 

AFP reported yesterday that Abidjan's Golf Hotel, headquarters of the internationally recognised President-elect, Alassane Ouattara, had come under attack. The UN evacuated 17 British citizens from the high commissioner's residence, which is close to the Gbagbo compound.

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The Latest from Iran (10 April): A Law Professor is Fired

Mohammad Sharif2115 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Activist and blogger Laleh Hassanpour has been sentenced to five years in prison, four of them suspended.

Sarah Mahboubi, a Baha’i student from Sari, has been banned from university and sentenced to 10 months in prison for "membership in an anti-revolutionary Facebook site“.

1855 GMT: Cats and Dogs Watch. Iran's Parliament is discussing a law to prohibit keeping dogs and cats as pets because they are "unclean and dangerous".

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China Video: Artist Ai Weiwei, Now Detained, Speaks Out for Freedom of Expression

A secretly-recorded talk by artist Ai Weiwei in February 2011 for the TED2011 conference --- last Sunday, Ai was seized at Beijing airport (see separate entry) as he was about to travel to Hong Kong. Authorities later said he was under investigation for suspicion of "economic crimes....It has nothing to do with human rights or freedom of expression."

Afghanistan: US Military Admits to "Black Site" Prisons

Photo: APThe CIA's infamous secret network of "black site" interrogation centers is gone. But suspected terrorists in Afghanistan are being held and interrogated for weeks at temporary sites, including one run by the elite special operations forces at Bagram Air Base, according to U.S. officials who revealed details of the detention network to The Associated Press.

The Pentagon has previously denied operating secret jails in Afghanistan, although human rights groups and former detainees have described the facilities. U.S. military and other government officials confirmed that the detention centers exist but described them as temporary holding pens whose primary purpose is to gather intelligence.

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Syria Feature: Spreading the Uprising Through Facebook and Twitter (Blanford)

Malath AumranFive years ago, Malath Aumran was a normal young Syrian man with little interest in politics and, like millions of his fellow countrymen, a passive supporter of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

But a brutal act of violence set him on a path of political activism that today has turned him into an exile hiding in Beirut. Now, surrounded by laptop computers and Internet cables, the young, technologically savvy activist is using social networking tools to help build and sustain the popular uprising that has convulsed Syria and shaken the regime in the past three weeks.

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