Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Waiting for a Presidential Outcome

2103 GMT: Syria. According to the Local Coordinating Committees, today's death toll has risen to 51, with at least 40 killed in Houla, Homs (see previous updates).

2054 GMT: Egypt. It was messy, it was long awaited, it was ovedue, it's going to be disappointing to some, but it's hard to argue that it isn't historic. There are the results of the first presidential election in Egypt:

1. Mursi 5,553,097 (25.30 per cent)

2. Shafiq 5,210,978 (23.74 per cent)

3. Sabbahi 4,739,983 (21.60 per cent)

4. Abul-Fotouh 3,936,264 (17.93 per cent)

5. Moussa 2,407,837 (10.97 per cent)

As we predicted earlier, the results will trigger a runoff election between the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohamed Mursi and Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander and Mubarak's last Prime Minister.

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Egypt Opinion: A Reminder After the Presidential Vote "The Revolution Lives"

Democracy is here to stay. It may seem like it's not working right now, but it's the first semi-free presidential election ever. Give this democracy time to take up roots, to dominate, to become the only way of governance acceptable to all. 

In time, the frightened generation of cowering acceptance will wither away. The children of today will become parents and when the time comes, all of them --- not just some of them --- will join hands with the children they have raised to respect reform, human rights, and democracy. They will continue to go to the polls, not to enshrine the obsolete faces of power but to improve the future beyond those faces.

Respect, Tahriris, respect.

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Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Day 2 of a Presidential Election

2045 GMT: Syria. According to the Local Coordinating Committees of Syria, 38 people have been killed so far today:

10 martyrs were reported in Idlib, 7 in Hama, 6 in Damascus Suburbs (Beit Jinn, Zabadani, Abadah and Douma), 12 in Homs (Rastan, Qosair and Deir Baalba), 1 in Daraa (Kalzour), 1 in Deir Ezzor, and 1 in Aleppo.

2025 GMT: Syria. Many suspect that the results of the parliamentary election were rigged. The process itself excluded many parties and candidates that would have been legitimate challenges to the status quo. Earlier today I wrote about the convenient symmetry of the results of the parliamentary election and today's leadership vote. Everything about the election smells fishy.

Today, parliament met for the first time and elected their leadership board. To no great surprise, a former the Baath party official won the position of speaker. The rest of the results (English) are published by Syrian state media's SANA here (Arabic).

So, the former Baath party makes up the majority of the parliament, and the leadership. If you're the Syrian opposition, this sounds rigged. But if you're the Twitter Account Hama Echo, then you KNOW it's rigged:

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Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Election in Cairo, Conflict Beyond Damascus

1924 GMT: Syria. Speaking of gasoline, scenes like the one below, reportedly taken today in Kanaker, Damascus, are increasingly common. The prices of refined gasoline and diesel have skyrocketed, and widespread shortages are reported. The government claims that the shortages are the result of sanctions, but as Robert Ford points out (in the previous update) refined oil was exempt from foreign sanctions in order to avoid this problem. These shortages are the result of the military using up all the fuel.

1835 GMT: Syria. The Syrian government claims that foreign economic sanctions have cost the country $4 billion, a number which is low, according to many other estimates:

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Yemen, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Suicide Bombing in Sana'a

Al Jazeera's report on Monday on the suicide bombing in Yemen

See also Bahrain Live Coverage: Appearing Before the UN Human Rights Council
Monday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Amidst the Assassination Rumors, 60 Die
Turkey Live Coverage (21 May): Regional and Global Dimensions of "Terrorism"

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1735 GMT: Libya. Tunisian Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali said Tuesday that Tunis will soon extradite former Libyan Prime Minister Al-Baghdadi Al-Mahmoudi, after detaining him for eight months.

Al-Mahmoudi was arrested in September for illegally crossing the frontier into Tunisia as he tried to flee to Algeria.

"Tunisia will never be a refuge for those who represent a threat to Libya's security," said Jebali on Tuesday, following a visit by his Libyan counterpart, Abdurrahim el-Keib.

Lawyers and human rights groups had opposed the extradition, saying Al-Mahmoudi might be harmed by Libya's new ruling authorities.

1730 GMT: Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria says 13 people have died today: three each in Hama, Deir Ez Zor, and Daraa Provinces, two in Homs Province, and one each in Aleppo and Idlib Provinces.

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Syria Live Coverage: Obama Says "Assad Must Go" --- But How?

A Free Syrian Army officer claims the assassination of several top officials of the Assad regime (see 0630 GMT)

See also Algeria Video Feature: The Uprising That Wasn't
Bahrain Live Coverage: Regime Says, "This Protest Good, This Protest Bad"
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Shelling in the Morning, Protests in the Afternoon

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1626 GMT: Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria claims 28 people have died today, including 19 in Hama Province.

United Nations observers moving through the rubble of Rastan:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 30 Die as Protests Continue

2159 GMT: Syria. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has released an internal report that suggests the US government does not believe the Syrian government is abiding by the UN brokered ceasefire. In fact, USAID reports that the Syrian military even killed aid workers. Foreign Policy reports:

"U.N.-Arab League Special Envoy to Syria Kofi Annan expressed concerns regarding reports of SARG reprisal attacks in areas where Syrian civilians met with U.N. observers, including in Hamah and Damascus governorates," the report stated. "The observers report that SARG forces have not withdrawn heavy weapons from urban centers -- a condition of the U.N. and Arab League supported ceasefire and peace plan that went into effect on April 12."

2100 GMT: Syria. Earlier we received reports, and the impressive video below reportedly taken in Douma, of security forces flocking into the Damascus suburbs. Syrian security was also spotted moving in Hama and several other areas. Our reaction? The new FSA offensive may have hit a nerve, as the regime had pulled some of those forces out of these areas in order to appear as though they were complying with the UN ceasefire.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Uncertainties After the Damascus Bombs

2013 GMT: Syria. Protests have lasted well into the night. This impressive video was reportedly taken in Douma, a key Damascus suburb:

However, a quick check of the LCCS suggests that the evening protest may have been disrupted by violence:

Reports of the fall of tank shells on Misraba and Hijarieh neighborhoods along with powerful explosions shake the Great Mosque's yard. In addition to heavy gunfire reported in Shuhada (Martyrs) Square and Shefonieh roundabout and the deployment of snipers in multiple places.

2007 GMT: Syria. Activist Rami Al Jarrah shares this video reportedly showing violence in Saqba, Damascus, earlier today:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "A Divided and Dangerous City"

State TV footage of scene of this morning's double explosion in Syrian capital Damascus (see 0655 GMT)

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2130 GMT: Palestine. An official with Palestinian prisoners' rights group Addameer has said that Israel's prison service has offered to ease restrictions on Palestinian prisoners in a bid to end a mass hunger strike.

About 1,600 Palestinian prisoners are fasting to protest administrative detention, under which Israel can hold people indefinitely without charge. They are also challenging solitary confinement, detention without charge and restrictions on family visits, education, and other privileges.

Two of those protesting, Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla, are on th 72nd day of hunger strikes.

The Addameer official said, after a meeting on Wednesday night in Nafha Prison between the Prison Service and leaders of the hunger strike, "There might be a positive response in the next few days." She said the Prison Service "agreed to allow visits for families from Gaza" and to revoke a range of restrictions on prisoners, including a ban on education and other privileges. She added that an agreement on moving prisoners out of solitary confinement was also on the table.

Prison Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman confirmed the Nafha meeting, saying it was part of an ongoing process of consultations between detainees and a committee examining prison conditions.

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Bahrain/Egypt Video & Transcript: Nabeel Rajab and Alaa Abd-El Fattah with Julian Assange

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Alaa Abd-El Fattah is a prominent Egyptian activist and blogger. Imprisoned in 2006 for 45 days by the Mubarak regime, he was also detained for more than two months by Egypt's military rulers at the end of 2011.

Nabeel Rajab is the head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights. He has been detained on several occasions by the regime and is currently in prison after his arrest last Saturday.

Just before Rajab's detention, the two men were interviewed by Julian Assange for almost three hours --- Assange's organisation WikiLeaks has posted a full transcript.