Turkey Live Coverage (9 April): Strong Language and Diplomacy Over Syria, Iran, and Kurdistan

1840 GMT: Co-chairman of Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Selahattin Demirtas says:

If Prime Minister wants to talk about the Kurdish problem, he can talk anything with BDP, including education in mother language, the new constitution, constitutional citizenship and legal amendments. 

However, Prime Minister's problem has nothing to with Kurdish people's rights and freedom. Prime Minister always wants to talk about the armed conflict. The problem in his head is only the problem of arms.

1825 GMT: Turkey's famous columnist Nuray Mert writes about Ankara's plans on the Kurdish issue within the context of the Syrian crisis. Mert agrees with our snap analysis so far, arguing that Ankara is paying attention to the structure of the Syrian opposition due to its fear of facing a stronger Kurdish presence in Syria.

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The Latest from Iran (29 March): Erdogan's Meeting with Ahmadinejad is Postponed

Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan belatedly meets President Ahmadinejad in Tehran today

See also Iran Breaking: Female Ninjas to Sue Reuters for Defamation
The Latest from Iran (28 March): A Visit from Turkey's Erdoğan

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2105 GMT: Economy Watch. Khabar Online posts an analysis focusing on the increasing, negative gap between income and expenses for the average Iranian household.

2055 GMT: Politics Watch. While the focus today has been on the Erdoğan visit to Tehran, domestic political manoeuvring has continued. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, on a visit to Mazanderan Province in northern Iran, has spoken about the economy, "I am concerned about closings --- banks should support production units."

Even more interesting is the intervention of key MP Ahmad Tavakoli, a cousin of Larijani's. Saying "politicians must beware not to be separated from people", Tavakoli continued, "I am optimistic about progress in nuclear talks in 1391 (March 2012-March 2013)."

That could be significant because, in October 2009, the emergence of public opposition from Ali Larijani was a major reason why the Geneva nuclear talks between Iran and the 5+1 Powers were sidelined. Could Tavakoli be indicating that, 29 months later, the Larijani camp will be happy to accept a deal provided President Ahmadinejad does not get the credit?

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Peace Plan Accepted?

A demonstration in front of the Grand Mosque in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Tuesday night

See also Middle East and Iran Videos: 4 Activists on Women's Rights After the "Arab Spring"
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 65 Dead Amidst Manoeuvres for Talks

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2110 GMT: Kuwaiti authorities arrested a man late on Tuesday for allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed on his Twitter account.

The man, whose name was not disclosed, defamed the Islamic faith and slandered the Prophet Mohammed, his companions and his wife, the Ministry of Interior said in a statement issued on state-run news agency KUNA. He is being interrogated ahead of court proceedings.

The ministry saiid that it “regretted the abusing of social networks by some individuals to offend basic Islamic and spiritual values, vowing to show zero tolerance in combating such serious offences”.

In September a Kuwaiti court convicted a man for insulting Gulf rulers and posting inflammatory sectarian comments on social media, but he was released immediately because of time already served while awaiting trial.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 65 Dead Amidst Manoeuvres for Talks

A video illustrating that, despite reports of juveniles tried in military courts (see 0847 GMT), all Egyptian children love the ruling armed forces

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2040 GMT: According to the Locall Co-ordinating Committees of Syria, the Assad military has begun an assault on the town of Saraqeb in Idlib Province:

Idlib:Saraqeb: The regime's army continues to encircle the city amid a widespread deployment of tanks in the southern part, where continuous gunfire and explosions were reported. The regime's army has also surrounded hospitals to deny entry to the wounded; this led residents to treat the wounded in field hospitals along the city's perimeter. Electricity is still cut off for the fourth consecutive day.

The regime's arrest campaigns are still ongoing as well, and the number of detainees is now in the hundreds. Moreover, residents cannot bury the martyrs who fell during the days-long regime siege on Saraqeb because of the continuous shelling and bombardment. The random shelling has also damaged the Information Office, which therefore cannot post any videos that document the harsh reality in the area

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Turkey Live Coverage (26 March): Has Assad Solved Erdogan's Kurdish Problem?

;1845 GMT: According to a survey conducted by the Ankara-based MetroPOLL Strategic and Social Research Center, 61.7 percent of respondents said they supported children's receiving education in their mother tongue on the condition that they learn Turkish.

1825 GMT: In order to increase the cooperation against the PKK-Syria camp, the Iraqi Kurdistan regional government Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani will make his first diplomatic visit to Ankara. 

1740 GMT: Ahead of the 'Friends of Syria' meeting on April 1, Ankara heeds the two-day meeting of Syrian opposition groups in İstanbul. Out of 200 representatives of the country, the only group left out of the two-day meeting is the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) because of its affiliation with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"This is by far the most significant meeting as far as the Syrian opposition is concerned,” a Turkish official told journalists.

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Syria Music Video: #SYRIA (Offendum)

The artist Omar Offendum offers a tribute to and hope for the Syrian protests --- lyrics, taken from his blog, below the video:

Audio Sample taken from the largest Syrian protest to date, in Hama on 22 July 2011 --- "alsha3b yureed isqaa6 al-nitham (the people want to overthrow the regime)"

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"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor." --- Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Verse 1

The purpose of these verses is to unify the masses

7oms up to 7assakeh … Banyas to Damascus

City streets to countrysides

Mountaintops to coastal tides

Muslim / Christian / women / men & children

Lets keep hope alive

Stand in solidarity with all your fellow citizens

Peacefully protesting for an end to all the militance 

Torture & imprisonment

Murdering of innocence

Proving that this lying/lion leader's rule is illegitimate

Like father --- like son

Mobster or president?

Censoring their people

Trying to stop the embezzlement 

Heavy-handed iron fists

Dropped on the residents

Déjà vu... 

'82 - '11...

We are all Deir Ezzor … We are all Dar3aa

We are all Jisr il-Shughoor … 7alab & the 2al3a's (castles)

We Are All 7amza ... We Are All 7ama ... 

We Are All Syrian … Hands to the samaa2 (sky) saying:

 

"alsha3b yureed isqaa6 al-nitham"

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Explosions in Damascus

Images from Syrian State TV of this morning's explosions in Damascus

See also Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Anticipating Today's Protests

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1800 GMT: As confirmation comes through of the arrest of the former head of intelligence of Libya's Qaddafi regime, there is a scramble over who will try him on criminal charges.

Mauritanian authorities arrested Abdullah al-Senussi, as he arrived on an overnight flight from the Moroccan city of Casablanca (see 1125 GMT).

Al-Senussi has been sought by the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity. However, Libya's National Transitional Council want to put him on trial, and France is also seeking his extradition, citing his alleged role in the 1989 bombing of an airliner over Niger in which 54 French nationals died.

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Syria Breaking: Alien World Steps In...Since This One Refuses To (The Onion)

The satirical newspaper The Onion interrupts EA's normal coverage with this exclusive:

Frustrated by "the astonishing incapacity of earthlings to halt the rampant slaughter of their own kind" in Syria, the emperor of Zarklom 12 announced Wednesday he had no choice but to dispatch his own intergalactic forces from 3 million light years away to end the senseless bloodshed.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More Than 100 Die as Regime Takes Idlib

2024 GMT: We've been discussing a video on Twitter with several prominent activists that claims to show soldiers from the Free Syrian Army using a guided missile to destroy a T-72 tank in a convoy near Qalaat al Madiq, a besieged city in Hama province.

In which a #FSA soldier destroys a regime tank using an Anti-Tank missile - youtube.com/watch?v=LD2Eo6… #Mar15

— Fadi Mqayed ★★★ (@DSyrer) March 14, 2012

We'd note that the town of Qalaat al Madiq has been shelled by tanks for several days, and there are reports that a historic castle in the city has partially collapsed. While there are also rumors of FSA activity there, we have not been able to verify reports that the Free Syrian Army has successfully destroyed any tanks belonging to the regime.

2016 GMT: Saudi Arabia has closed its embassy in Syria and has withdrawn all embassy staff.

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Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protest and "Reform"

In Bahrain, a protester smashes a police CCTV camera (see 0747 GMT)

See also Saudi Arabia Analysis: A Kingdom in Trouble?
Bahrain Photo Special: Friday's Mass "March 4 Democracy"
Israeli Jets Kill 14 in Gaza; Rockets Fired into Southern Israel
Saturday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 100,000 March For Reform

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2248 GMT: A clash between police and protesters in a Bahraini village tonight, leading to a blanket of tear gas:

2242 GMT: The weekly pro-reform demonstrations in Morocco continue --- a march in Casablanca today:

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