Saturday, April 16, 2011 at 15:06 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 1900 GMT: C.J. Chivers of The New York Times, who has been reporting from Misurata in Libya, posts this photograph of the war-torn city:
And for comparsion, this was Misurata in August 2010:
Wednesday, April 13, 2011 at 14:39 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2030 GMT: Claimed video of men lying down in a road to stop the advance of a tank near the Syrian coastal town of Baniyas:
2020 GMT: About 500 students demonstrated Wednesday in Aleppo, the first protest in Syria's second-largest city since the uprising began in mid-March.
A protest of 50 students took place Wednesday at Damascus University's Law Faculty. Security forces disperses both demonstrations, arresting at least four people in Aleppo.
Abdulhadi Al-KhawajaZainab al-Khawaja --- @angryarabist on Twitter --- writes an open letter to President Obama about the situation in Bahrain, including ;ast week's detention of her father, activist Abdulahdi al-Khawaja, her husband, and two other relatives:
Mr. President,
I write to you from Bahrain, after living through horrible injustice that I would never wish upon anyone in the world. Security forces attacked my home, broke our doors with sledgehammers, and terrified my family. Without any warning, without an arrest warrant and without giving any reasons; armed, masked men attacked my father. Although they said nothing, we all know that my father's crime is being a human rights activist. My father was grabbed by the neck, dragged down a flight of stairs and then beaten unconscious in front of me. He never raised his hand to resist them, and the only words he said were "I can't breathe". Even after he was unconscious, the masked men kept kicking and beating him while cursing and saying that they were going to kill him. This is a very real threat considering that in the past two weeks alone three political prisoners have died in custody. The special forces also beat up and arrested my husband and brother-in-law.
Sunday, April 10, 2011 at 22:45 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
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).
Health facilities in Bahrain have been drawn into the center of the country’s current
unrest and clashes between government and opposition protestors that began in
February 2011. The result is an unacceptable circumstance in which medical
facilities --- which are generally functioning well in terms of material, infrastructure
and skilled staff --- now no longer impartially serve the medical needs of the
population.
If true, this passage from US Secretary of State Robert Gates' account of his meeting on Wednesday with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia is telling:
SEC. GATES: We had a very good meeting. We met for about an hour and a half, one-on-one. It was an extremely cordial warm meeting. I think the relationship is in a good place. We talked about developments all over the region. We obviously talked about Iran....Q. Did you talk about the Saudi troops in Bahrain? Did you raise that as an issue?
SEC. GATES: No.
British Minister of Defence with Bahrain's KingFor weeks, Bahraini authorities and their supporters have waged a campaign against Al Wasat, the only newspaper which is not connected with the Government. A steady "information" effort has accused the paper of lies and distortions, and its printing works were attacked by armed civilians last month, forcing a reduction in the newspaper's number of pages.
On Saturday, after hours of "special" coverage on State TV denouncing Al Wasat, the newspaper was suspended by authorities. It was allowed to resume publication yesterday, after the board replaced the editor-in-chief, chief, and local news editor.
So what does the "new" Al Wasat look like?
Well, this morning, only two of its featured nine stories are about Bahrain: 1) The Ministry of Education reports on the "negative impact" on the educational process and threat to the safety of students from recent events challenging national unity, and 2) Why is the Ministry of Municipalities not developing some of the old public parks?
Oh, yes, there is also the lead item in Local News: "King Receives British Minister of Defence and Confirms Importance of Cooperation and Joint Defense".
With a wave of midnight arrests, checkpoints, and targeting of wounded protesters, Bahrain's Sunni rulers have launched what appears to be a calculated campaign to intimidate supporters of the pro-democracy protest movement that began here in February.
Security forces have directed much of the abuse – which includes midnight arrests, checkpoints, and targeting of wounded protesters – toward Bahrain’s majority Shiite population, instilling fear and raising sectarian tensions in the tiny kingdom.
Thursday, March 31, 2011 at 10:12 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2115 GMT: The Guardian of London is claiming that the Libyan regime has sent Mohammed Ismail, a senior aide to Muammar Qaddafi's son Saif al-Islam, to London for confidential talks with British officials.
The newspaper, saying the discussion is "believed to have been one of a number between Libyan officials and the west in the last fortnight", believes this is a sign that the Libyan regime is seeking an exit strategy to step down from power.
2025 GMT: Video of Syrian military in positions in Daraa, the southern town which has been the flashpoint of protests and violence over the last two weeks:
Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 16:53 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2045 GMT: Reuters reports that French warplanes have destroyed five Libyan jets and two helicopters at Misurata airport.
2035 GMT: Video from Misurata in Libya of residents surrounding regime tanks:
2010 GMT: Syria's official news agency SANA has claimed that several people who were arrested by security forces during current protests are foreigners. One allegedly has US citizenship and is of Egyptian descent: “[The arrested man] admitted that he had secretly visited Israel and confessed to being funded from abroad in exchange for sending photos and videos about [the current events in] Syria.”
