Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Teenager's Death for the New Year

Claimed footage of the moment that Bahraini security forces opened fire today on the funeral procession of 16-year-old Sayed Hashim (see 1530 GMT)

See also Bahrain (and Beyond) Opinion: Does Sayed Hashim's Death Matter?
Happy New Year: 10 Predictions for 2012 --- From US Election to Syria to No War With Iran to EA WorldView
A Resolution for a 2012 WorldView: A Global Community Built On Communication, Not Conflict
Saturday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protesting, Filming, Dying

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2115 GMT: Video from Bahrain today of security forces chasing a young man and finally shooting at him:

2100 GMT: 1954 GMT: A mass demonstration in the Qosour section of Homs in Syria denounces the "Tyrant who murders his own people":

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Opinion: Does Sayed Hashim's Death Matter?

Ali Shaikh and Sayed HashimIf these circumstances of Sayed Hashim's death are tragic, they are easy to explain. He is just another case of a person being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What he and his friends seek --- justice, democracy, equal rights - could disrupt the oil supply from Bahrain and create disturbances throughout the Persian Gulf. The implications of what a 16-year-old wanted could have been significant for cities from New York to London to Beijing to Tokyo.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protesting, Filming, Dying

1934 GMT: Two Syrian opposition parties have signed an agreement in Cairo, promising to unite against Assad. The interesting part of the agreement - the two parties, the Syrian National Co-ordination Committee and the Syrian National Council, are committed to resist international intervention. But as Al Jazeera points out, many in the opposition are in favor of intervention:

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Bahrain 1st-Hand: The Café Where Lattes Have an Extra Shot of Tear Gas (Ellick)

Bahraini security forces fire tear gas outside Costa Coffee on 15 December

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The repression has hardly let up, even as the kingdom says it is instituting reforms. And with no place to legally organize, this coffee shop has become an unlikely gathering place for human rights activists and opposition leaders. Indeed, the manager says business has recently increased by 50 percent.

“We disappeared because we had never seen tanks and bullets,” said Ala’a Shehabi, 31, an economics lecturer who avoided the cafe until recently. “But now we have removed the cape of fear and come into the public once again.”

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The Futility of the Observers?

2049 GMT: There are impressive videos pouring in, and along with eyewitness reports, they show that protests continue into the night across Syria. So far, one of our favorite videos shows a protest taking place, almost completely in the dark after power was cut, in Khirbat al Ghazalah, Daraa. But perhaps the best-lit video shows a large protest in Irbeen, an important suburb of Damascus, and is posted by the Coalition of Free Damascenes For Peaceful Change:

2044 GMT: Two videos claim to show the moment security forces opened fire on protesters in Daraya, a Damascus suburb:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Mr Al-Dabi, Can You See the Violence Now?

A woman paints her message on a street in Deir Ez Zor in northeast Syria: "Down with Bashar"

See also Syria Special: Observing the Observers --- Evidence of The Abuses in Homs
Egypt Video: Alaa Abd-El Fattah Speaks Out After Release from Prison
Egypt Feature: "The One Citizen" --- Political Prisoner Maikel Nabil's Powerful Critique
Egypt Special: Are Writing and Walking Really Such a Threat to the Regime?
Wednesday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Will Arab League Observers Make a Difference?

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1815 GMT: Egypt. With reports that the march swelled to 1000 demonstrators, protesters on the Free Maikel Nabil are now rallying outside the Supreme Court. On twitter, Sultan Sooud Al Qassemi relays some of the chants:

Bring Maikal from the cell!' "Maikal Maikal you hero, your imprisonment sets the nation free.

O freedom where are you? Scaf is standing between us.

Continuing a strategy increasingly being seen in Egypt, activists are projecting footage of crimes and beatings committed by SCAF onto the Supreme Court walls:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Will Arab League Observers Make a Difference?

Protesters in front of the headquarters of the ruling Ba'ath Party in the Syrian capital Damascus last night

See also Syria Special: Who is Observing What, and What Will Happen When They Finish?
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Pounding Homs

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2108 GMT: Citizen journalist Khaled Abu Salah confronts the head of the Arab League observers, Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi:

Another video of the chaos and gunfire surrounding the observers in Bab Sbaa in Homs:

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Pounding Homs

1955 GMT: One of the conditions of the Arab League observers was supposed to be the withdrawal of tanks from the cities they were visiting. Well, those appear to the the observers, that is absolutely a tank, and this appears to be Baba Amr, Homs:

1927 GMT: An activist describes this video, reportedly taken today in Hama:

Demonstrators in the al-Baroudiyeh neighborhood, trying to reach Assi square, and in the video they [gather] behind buildings because of the presence of snipers; among the chants - "we don't bow down except to God," and, "oh Homs, we are with you till death."

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Egypt, Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: An Activist is Freed

Egyptian activist Alaa Abd-El Fattah joins chants in Tahrir Square after he was freed on Sunday

See also Yemen and Media Opinion: Does a Life March Take Place If No One Covers It?
Sudan Special: A New Spark for 2011's Forgotten Revolution?

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2140 GMT: The Local Coordination Committees claim that 40 people --- 33 of them in Homs --- have been killed by Syrian security forces today.

A rally tonight in Houla in Homs Province in sympathy with the shelled Bab Amro section of Homs:

A protest in the Damascus suburb of Saqba calling for freedom and the toppling of the regime:

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Peace on Earth?

An anti-regime demonstration on Saturday outside the Constantino Church in the Damascus suburb of Yabroud

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0645 GMT: We open this morning with a separate video/picture feature of clashes in Bahrain last night, including the visual evidence that police are allying with armed plainclothes men in operations against villages.

Earlier, State media said charges relating to freedom of expression would be dropped in 34 cases involving 343 individuals linked to protests, although some of the accused would be tried on other allegations "including acts of violence and sabotage".

Matar Matar, a senior official with the opposition society Al Wefaq and a former MP, responded, "It's a media show, not linked to the application of the recommendations of the [Bahrain] Independent Commission of Inquiry." Protesters have called for the immediate release of all political detainees. 

In Yemen, President Saleh has personally repeated the declaration, issued by his office earlier this week, that he will leave for the United States during the transition of power. He did not say when he would depart.

Meanwhile, the hope of the Life March, a 250-kilometre (155-mile) walk by thousands from Taiz to the capital Sana'a was soon overtaken by the gunfire, tear gas, and water cannon of the regime. Firing on protesters who wanted to go to the Presidential Palace and demand Saleh's trial for crimes against his people, the security forces killed nine people.