Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Only President Morsi Can Save the Economy"

See also Egypt 1st-Hand: The Immersion in Political Violence
Syria Live Coverage: Will the Arab League Recognise the Opposition?
Monday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Activist Zainab AlKhawaja Writes from Prison

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1910 GMT: Egypt. Blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah handed himself to the authorities for hours of questioning, a day after being accused along with four others of inciting violence.

Abdel-Fattah was cheered by a crowd as he entered the Cairo office of Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah, who ordered the arrests for encouraging "aggression" against members of the Muslim Brotherhood last week.

The blogger's supporters chanted: "Down, down with [President] Morsi's rule."

1750 GMT: Egypt. Lawyer Hamdy Al-Fakharany has been arrested for allegedly inciting violence against the Freedom and Justice Party's headquarters in Al-Gharbeya.

Al-Fakharany’s daughter Abeer said her father was on his way back from a meeting with the provincial Governor, Mokhtar Al-Hamalawy, when Central Security Forces stopped him.

Abeer said she could not contact her father and did not know where he was taken.

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EA Video Special: Intelligence, the Iraq War, and What's Next --- Key Questions and Some Answers

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Last week, we featured extracts from an interview with Steve Hewitt, one of the world's top specialists on intelligence services and counter-terrorism, about the place of "intelligence" in the drive to the 2003 Iraq War.

This is the full discussion, ranging from the significance of intelligence to the way that politicians manipulated it to create the reasons for the War to the possibility that this could be done again.

Syria Live Coverage: Regime Rejects UN Human Rights Enquiry

Claimed footage of "liberation" of Saham near Golan Heights by insurgents on Saturday

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Life in Islamist-Controlled Raqqa
Syria Debate: Does the "Free Syrian Army" Exist?
Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: US Restarting Negotiations?
Saturday's Syria Live Coverage: Fighting in Aleppo and near Damascus

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1749 GMT: Opposition Leader Resigns. The Syrian National Coalition has refused the resignation of its head, Moaz al-Khatib, asking him to go back to his work.

1719 GMT: Attacks in Damascus. Journalist Alex Thomson reports that insurgents have hit State television in the capital:

Two mortars have hit STV building and carpark. Some damage and vehicles destroyed.

— alex thomson (@alextomo) March 24, 2013

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Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: US Restarting Negotiations?

US Secretary of State John Kerry with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday (Photo: Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

See also Syria Live Coverage: Regime Rejects UN Human Rights Enquiry
Saturday's Lebanon (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Prime Minister Resigns --- What Next?

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1731 GMT: Mali. Clashes between the army and Islamists killed seven people Sunday, including a soldier and two civilians, after the insurgents infiltrated northern Mali's largest city, Gao.

The army carried out what it called a "clean-up" operation after Islamists opened fire on an army camp overnight.

The city was now "calm" again, an "African military source" said, adding that the army, "backed by French and African troops, had the situation under control".

1725 GMT: Egypt. President Morsi has prompted speculaton and concern, following outside the Muslim Brotherhood's Cairo headquarters on Friday, with remarks on his Facebook page: "If I am forced to do what is required to protect this nation, then I will do it. And I fear that I might be on the verge of doing it."

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EA Video Analysis: Iraq, 10 Years Later --- 5 Points About the "Intelligence" Factor

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Extracts from an interview with Steve Hewitt, one of the world's top specialists on intellilgence services and counter-terrorism, about "intelligence" and the 2003 Iraq War:

1. Is "Intelligence" Important?
2. Did Intelligence Services, Before the War, Have A Good Sense About Iraq and WMDs?
3. Did Politicians Manipulate the Intelligence to Declare that Saddam Had WMDs?
4. Was the Truth Deliberately Distorted?
5. Could Intelligence Be Used This Way Again, to Take Us Into Military Conflict?

The full interview will be posted over the weekend.

Iraq Audio Analysis: The 2003 War...and What Came Next --- Scott Lucas with the BBC

I did a series of BBC interviews yesterday, on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, complementing my written analysis of the conflict and its consequences.

BBC Hereford and Worcester: The discussion begins at the 2:06.30 mark.
BBC Coventry and Warwickshire: The item starts at the 1:04.53 mark.
BBC WM: The discussion starts at the 54:13 mark.

Iraq Opinion: Three Thoughts on the War --- Lies, Disaster, and the Unexpected Outcome

A reflection 10 years to the day that US warplanes launched the first phase of the war on Iraq: this was a conflict deliberately designed on deceptions and whose consequences are still proving disastrous - most of all for the Iraqi people.

Far from producing the anticipated result, at least for the Bush Administration, the invasion of Iraq led to the opposite; rather than demonstrating the "unipolar" nature of American power, Iraq has become an ongoing illustration of the limits of that power.

Today, as Iraq tries to recover from the past decade, events extending beyond its borders to the wider Middle East highlight the twist in the tale --- that the US, good or bad, is rarely centre stage. Quite often, it is waiting in the wings.

Click to read more ...

Iraq (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 25 Killed by Bombs

Photo: Mohammed Ameen/Reuters0945 GMT: Iraqi officials have reported more attacks throughout the Baghdad area, with the death toll at 56 and more than 200 wounded.

0815 GMT: Iraq. At least 25 people have been killed and at least 80 wounded in a series of coordinated car bombs and blasts have hit Shi'ite districts across Baghdad and south of the capital.

In addition to car bombs and roadside blasts, a suicide bomber driving a truck attacked a police base.

Iraq (and Beyond) Coverage: At Least 10 Killed in Basra Bomb

1555 GMT: Egypt. The Pope of Egypt’s Coptic Church has received the Libyan Ambassador in Cairo to discuss the fate of three Egyptian Coptic-Christians and an Egyptian evangelical, detained in Libya on charges of "promoting Christianity".

Yesterday the Libyan Embassy temporarily suspended operations in Egypt amid concerns over the safety of its staff.

One Egyptian national was released earlier this mohth in the case.

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Iraq, Afghanistan, and Beyond Audio: Bradley Manning Tells Court Why He Gave Documents to Wikileaks

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In a pre-trial hearing on 28 February in military court, Private Bradley Manning --- detained since May 2010 --- explains why he passed videos and hundreds of thousands of documents to WikiLeaks.

At the hearing, Manning pled guilty to 10 reduced charges;h however, the Government said it will pursue all 22 original counts, including aiding the enemy --- which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison --- and espionage. The trial begina in June.

The unofficial transcript of the remarks has also been posted.

An extract from the testimony, in which Manning describes one of the leaked videos, showing US military fire killing civilians and journalists in Iraq in 2007: