Yemen Feature: Who's Who in the Battle for Power (Hill)

Yemen is currently witnessing two parallel power shifts: a popular revolution inspired by the 'Arab spring', and an elite power struggle.

Competition between rival elite factions has been brewing for several years and has intensified as Yemen's long-serving president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, has concentrated power around his family.

Each faction cultivates clients and proxies across the political spectrum, within government ministries and the military, as well as among traditional community leaders.

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Iran Video: The BBC Documentary on Human Rights and Post-Election Repression

A 30-minute edition of the BBC documentary series Panorama on "Living with the Ayatollah" --- included are interviews with Iranian-Canadian journalist Maziar Bahari, who was jailed for more than three months after the 2009 election, and with Mahsa Amirabadi, who was detained and whose husband, journalist Masoud Bastani, is still in prison. The programme also considers stoning and the cases of condemned women such as "Parvin" and Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani:

PART 1 of 2

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Tunisia LiveBlog: Will President Ben Ali "Go the Way of Romania's Ceausescu"?

2215 GMT: Video has been posted claiming to be of a night-time protest in Hammamet in northeastern Tunisia, with a teenager killed by the police.

And this picture claims to be of riot police in Cite Ettadhamen near the capital.

2150 GMT: Reuters reports that hundreds of youths defied the 8 p.m. curfew in Tunis, setting fire to a bank and throwing stones at police, who responded with tear gas.

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Tunisia Analysis: Mis-Reporting the Story (Whitaker)

The Tunisian uprising is beginning to get more coverage in the English-language media, so this may be a suitable moment to look at the sort of coverage it is getting. 

Considering the horrific violence meted out by the police over the weekend, the Ben Ali regime is being given an extraordinarily easy ride.

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Egypt and the Elections: The "Strategic Blunder" of President Mubarak's Party (Hamid)

There is no transition whose beginning is not the consequences --- direct or indirect --- of important divisions within the authoritarian regime itself. Those divisions, in Egypt, are only likely to grow.

For the National Democratic to make a strategic blunder at such a crucial moment in Egypt's history suggests a regime that is nervous, unsure of itself and increasingly incoherent.

The Parliamentary elections were the first such mistake. Whether there will be more ---- and whether the opposition manages to capitalise --- will determine the course Egypt takes in the coming, critical months.

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Iran Feature: If a Protest Occurs and No One Notices, Does It Make a Sound?

For some, it is as if the demonstrations on National Student Day --- 16 Azar --- never happened.

You will not, for example, find any reference in Iranian state media to the protests on campuses across the nation. Press TV's top story prefers the relative security of the nuclear discussions, with Iran's National Security Council "call[ing] on Western powers to exercise commitment to agreements they make with the Islamic Republic".

I guess that's understandable --- no one really likes to mention domestic arguments. A bit more surprising that CNN's website forgot to mention 16 Azar.

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Iran Special: Did Parliament "Push to Oust Ahmadinejad"?

There are therefore two explanations to the Khamenei intervention on behalf of the President.

1. He wanted to avoid major embarassment for Ahmadinejad, who could have become the first president since the 1980s to be called into question by Parliament for his conduct, and left standing, but smarting and humiliated in front of the nation, which could have ostensibly followed the procedure live.

2. He was wary of the fact that Parliament could have voted a no-confidence motion which would have forced him to either confirm or throw out the impeachment.

It has to be reiterated that the "istizah" procedure of Parliament, to which Ahmadinejad was summoned, does not necessarily lead to impeachment.

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Torture: Britain to Pay Millions to Those Abused in Guantanamo & Other Prisons (BBC)

Around a dozen men, who accused British security forces of colluding in their torture overseas, are to get millions in compensation from the UK government.

Some of the men, who are all British citizens or residents, were detained at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba.

At least six of them alleged UK forces were complicit in their torture before they arrived at Guantanamo.

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The Latest from Iran (10 November): Covering Nukes, Remembering Rights

2120 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. A source close to Nasrin Sotoudeh says that the detained attorney has ended her dry hunger strike after almost two weeks.

Sotoudeh, imprisoned since 4 September, was also on hunger strike for four weeks up mid-October. Iranian authorities say she will be tried in court on Monday.

1955 GMT: Women's Rights. Iran has failed to secure election to the executive board of the new UN super-agency on women's rights.

Initially, Iran was guaranteed a seat becasue the Asian region put forth 10 candidates for 10 seats, but East Timor was a late applicant.

Saudi Arabia, whose candidacy was also criticised by rights groups, secured one of the seats.

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UN Commission: Israel Broke International Laws in Flotilla Raid (BBC)

The BBC reports:

Israel's military broke international laws during a raid on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, a UN Human Rights Council investigation says.

Its report said the action by commandos, which left nine dead, was "disproportionate" and "betrayed an unacceptable level of brutality".

It said there was clear evidence to support prosecutions against Israel for "wilful killing".

Israel rejected the report as "biased" and "one-sided."

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