Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Storm The Prison in Idlib

Detainees in Idlib greet insurgents as they battle to take the prison

See also Syria 1st-Hand: An Emotional Road Trip Through Idlib Province
Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 7 Killed in Clashes on Anniversary of Uprising
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: The Refugee Emergency Grows

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2049 GMT: Casualties in Homs. Local doctor Mohammad Mohammad has said that more than 20 people, including a family, were killed in Homs, amid fighting around a road junction on a supply line to regime forces in the interior of the country.

In a video statement from a makeshift hospital, Mohammad displayed the bodies of five people whose remains had been charred.

"They are the Uzam family. The father, mother and three children --- the shabiha [pro-regime militia# burnt them completely, as part of the annihilation the regime is bringing on the area of Jobar-Kfar Aaya."

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 7 Killed in Clashes on Anniversary of Uprising

Scenes in Port Said today, from announcement of death sentences to violence that has killed at least 30 people

See also Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Storm The Prison in Idlib
Saturday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The 2-Year Anniversary of the Uprising

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2105 GMT: Mali. French military officials say that French and Malian Government forces have taken control of Gao, one of three cities held by insurgents in the north since last spring.

Swooping in by land and by air and under the cover of darkness, French and Malian forces came under fire on Saturday morning and continued to face sporadic "acts of harassment" through the day, Colonel Thierry Burkhard said. He had no immediate estimate on casualties.

The Ministry of Defense later issued a statement that Government control was already being established, including the return of the mayor.

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Iran Live Coverage: The Blame Game over No Nuclear Talks

See also Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Political Prisoners and Public Executions
Friday's Iran Live Coverage: Wishing Away The Economic Problems

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1814 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. Mehdi Mahmoudian, journalist and member of the reformist Islamic Iran Participation Front, has been released from prison on furlough.

Mahmoudian is serving a five-year sentence for assembly and collusion against the regime.

1744 GMT: Foreign Affairs Watch (Syrian Front). With the first NATO Patriot anti-missile systems operational on the Turkish border with Syria, Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi has renewed Tehran's criticism of Ankara, “We do not consider the presence of these Patriot systems as beneficial and believe that it will cause misunderstanding among the regional countries."

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Syria 1st-Hand: An Emotional Road Trip Through Idlib Province (Hanano)

Syrian family leave Taftanaz after shelling by regime forces (Photo: Philippe Desmazes/AFP)

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As I walked away, I saw a tall, elderly man with a red-and-white scarf on his head speaking with men from the neighbourhood. He gestured with his hands and repeated over and over: "This is my home, did you see it? This is my home." They tried calming him, telling him to be grateful that none of his loved ones had been killed in the strike. He responded, crying: "This is my home." Our eyes met and I was ashamed that I had embarrassed him by meeting his tearful gaze. I looked down and walked away.

Sitting alone in the car for the first time that day, my own tears escalated into uncontrollable sobs. I thought I would have felt these emotions when I crossed the border, when I saw the graffiti, when I saw the destruction, but the old man was the missing connection. These primal expressions of despair are absent from the images and even the videos. You can't imagine them from a distance. You have to be close enough to see the tears.

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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- Political Prisoners and Public Executions (Arseh Sevom)

Two Iranian muggers, just before their public execution on Sunday in Tehran

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Prison furloughs have been given to a number of prisoners of conscience even as Sakharov Prize winner Nasrin Sotoudeh was called back to prison after just three days. Public executions spark debate. Iranian State Television airs an “exposé” of CIA spying. Parliament debates restricting foreign travel for all women under 40 while the continuing house arrest of former presidential candidates is called into question. Finally the Iranian Coalition for Peace reaches out to President Obama.

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Syria Live Coverage: The Refugee Emergency Grows

2019 GMT: Death Toll Reaches 112. According to the Local Coordination Committees, 112 people have been killed today nationwide:

28 martyrs were reported in Damascus and its Suburbs, 18 in Homs including an entire family, 17 in Daraa, 17 in Aleppo, 16 in Idlib, 10 in Hama, 3 in Deir Ezzor, 2 in Raqqa and 1 in Hassakeh.

See our note on the casualty figures published by the LCC.

2015 GMT: Idlib Prison Captured by Rebels. Rebel forces have stormed the central Idlib prison, releasing 300 prisoners according to activists. Several videos show the battle for the prison and the releasing of some prisoners:

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Iran Live Coverage: Wishing Away The Economic Problems

See also Iran Analysis: 5 Challenges to an "It's Not That Bad" Iranian Economist
Thursday's Iran Live Coverage: The Supreme Leader's Committee Chooses the "Right Man" for the Presidential Election

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Queuing for Subsidised Chicken, July 20121910 GMT: Research Watch. Kalemeh reports that Iranian universities have been cut off from international research databases such as Elsevier because of non-payment of dues.

1655 GMT: Economic Rumour of the Day. An unnamed MP, cited by economist Mehrdad Emami, has reportedly said that China has twice blocked Iran from withdrawing dollars from its $25 billion of reserves in Chinese banks.

Iran is only allowed to spend the money in yuans to purchase Chinese goods.

1655 GMT: Economic Rumour of the Day. An unnamed MP, cited by economist Mehrdad Emami, has reportedly said that China has twice blocked Iran from withdrawing dollars from its $25 billion of reserves in Chinese banks.

Iran is only allowed to spend the money in yuans to purchase Chinese goods:

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Iran Analysis: 5 Challenges to an "It's Not That Bad" Iranian Economist

Protest over Inflation, July 2012"Thanks to the strength of the salaried middle class and president Ahmadinejad’s free spending habits, awareness of inflation has heightened in all decision making circles in Iran.”

This is a curiously blithe comment, illuminating the tendency towards rose-coloured analysis. “Awareness of inflation” does not mean “dealing with inflation”. To the contrary, the dominant political story in Iran in the last few months has been trading of allegations between the executive and legislative branches, with Parliament and Ahmadinejad facing off over the second phase of the subsidy cuts programme.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The 2-Year Anniversary of the Uprising

Clashes near Cairo's Tahrir Square on the 2nd anniversary of the uprising against the Mubarak regime

See also Syria Live Coverage: The Refugee Emergency Grows
Thursday's Jordan (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Parliamentary Election --- But What Does It Mean?

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2150 GMT:Egypt. A high-ranking police officer in Suez has said two members of the Central Security Forces were killed in the city tonight.

Hundreds of people have raided the tax office building n the Delta city of Damanhour, stealing its furniture and electronic equipment.

2110 GMT:Egypt. At least six people have been killed in Suez today.

Three of the dead are 17-year-olds Mostafa Mahmoud Eissa and Mohamed Mohamed Gharib, and 26-year-old Mohsen Hussein.

Protesters and police clashes in Suez near the Governorate headquarters, with both sides throwing stones and some demonstrators hurling Molotov cocktails. The building was eventually set on fire.

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US Politics Analysis: Why the Republicans Postponed the Showdown on the Debt Limit

On Wednesday afternoon the Republican-controlled House of Representatives passed a bill that extends the borrowing authority of the US Treasury to 18 May, even though the country’s legal debt limit has been reached.

Senator Harry Reid, the Majority Leader of the Senate, has indicated the bill will also clear his chamber without revision or amendment. With President Obama signalling he will not veto the measure, the fight in Congress over raising the debt limit -- originally set for late February, has been delayed until the summer.

An article at MSNBC summarised much of the initial reaction, "House GOP Cave Complete, Debt-Ceiling Suspension Passes." Allowing the debt limit to be raised, without securing spending cuts of an equal amount, the Republican leadership appears to have abandoned its hard-line stance of the threat of a debt default.Regarding this temporary extension as a “cave” is short-sighted at best, however, and it is just plain foolish at worst.

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