Armed security officers wearing balaclavas led Nasser Abul, blindfolded and shackled, into a courtroom in downtown Kuwait City on July 19. Accused of crimes against the state, he answered the judge's questions from a wood-and-metal cage in the courtroom. His mother, watching the proceedings, hoped her 26-year-old eldest son would finally be released after nearly two months in detention. The judiciary has refused to grant her wish.
Abul found himself in jail because of a few Tweets.
2116 GMT: We close the live-blog with this video, night protests in Deir Ez Zor, where tanks have occupied the city since sunday. We'll collect any developments and deliver them tomorrow morning. Thanks for tuning in:
2043 GMT: Night protests in another important neighborhood of Damascus, Ileum:
Western companies were only allowed to deal with Libya between 2004 and 2011. This raises two, probably academic, questions: why did Western companies have such a bad track record with Libyan money, and if the rebels win can we thank them?
1816 GMT: Friday prayers on 60th Street in Sana'a, Yemen, once again turned into protests, as clerics leading the prayers called on Vice President Hadi to make more concessions to the demands of the opposition.
1800 GMT: The LA times is reporting that the rebels are now within 50 miles from the Libyan capital, Tripoli. The rebels now occupy Bir Ghanam, halfway between Zintan and the large city of Aziziya. Rebels are concerned about potential civilian casualties in Aziziya, as they expect Gaddafi to use the civilians as human shields.
1742 GMT: Andy Carvin has uploaded a video to go with his report (below), showing a man injured in the violence in Tahrir Square.
1730 GMT: Though we're still updating and adding to the videos, our second set from today's protests in Syria is up and running. So far, we have video from Basr al Harir (south), Qamishli (northeast), Mayadin (east), Zabadani (southwest), Idlib in the northeast, and a massive demonstration in Assi Square in Hama.
1717 GMT: More from Andy Carvin, where violence has erupted in Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt:
1745 GMT: Regime forces and insurgents have been fighting in Zawiyah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Tripoli, shutting the coastal highway to Tunisia.
Activists on social media are claiming at least 30 people have been killed.
"The situation is very bad in Zawiyah. There's been fierce fighting since the morning between the Gaddafi forces and the rebels," said a resident.
The opposition held Zawiyah for a few weeks this spring before the town fell to the regime.
The provincial capital Zinjibar was occupied by insurgents last month.
1730 GMT: Residents and refugees from the besieged Syrian town of Jisr al-Shughour report ongoing fighting. One said, “Helicopters and tanks are bombing Jisr from all the sides and the situation is extremely miserable --- they are even targeting cars carrying civilians and the wounded.”
Claimed footage of attack helicopters above the town:
2100 GMT: A Poster for Sizdeh Bedar. Anticipating the festival of Sizdeh Bedar, when Iranians leave the house and enjoy the outdoors, activists have put out the message on this poster, "Sizdeh Bedar 90 --- Khamenei Must Go":
2030 GMT: Economy Management Watch. Mohammad Taghi Bakhtyari of Parliament's Development Commission has said that breaches by the Government of the 2008/9 budget prove that the Majlis has insufficient control. Bakhtyari claimed that the Government has not paid billions in debts.
1842 GMT: Two Reuters television journalists --- producer Ayat Basma and cameraman Ezzat Baltaji --- have been missing in Syria since Saturday night, when they were due to return to Lebanon.
1840 GMT: The opposition advance continued across north-central Libya this afternoon as insurgents re-claimed Bin Jawad. AFP said about 100 fighters danced and fired into the air in celebration in the town centre, singing: "Muammar, you're a dog --- we marched straight into Bin Jawad."
Bin Jawad was the far point of the opposition advance this month before the regime pushed back over the last three weeks, but the insurgents say they have surpassed this, taking the next town along the coast, Nufilia, only 100km (60 miles) from Sirte, a regime stronghold and birthplace of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi, 370km (230 miles) east of Tripoli.
Al Jazeera reports that two loud explosions, presumably from airstrikes, have been heard in Sirte tonight.
A witness is reporting at least six explosions heard in Tripoli.
Earlier, French warplanes led air strikes on armoured vehicles and on a large ammunition depot near Misurata and Zintan, cities in west Libya that have been fought over for days by the opposition and regime.
By 2011, the six monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Council states, central to the international economy with massive oil and gas deposits and lucrative consumer markets, had rebounded from the global financial crisis, thanks in part to strong oil prices. The threat from extremist Islamic and terrorist organizations had largely ebbed while longstanding security ties with Washington appeared to shield the states against Iran and other external threats. Many Gulf governments had adopted a strong presence online, and both Dubai and Qatar were global leaders in delivering e-government to their citizens.
However, only weeks after the start of Tunisia’s revolution, monarchs from Kuwait to Oman face the most serious challenge to their authority in half a century.
Through solidarity, we can overcome the Palestine problem and end the pain in Iraq and Afghanistan. We do not have to apply at others to help us. Yet, at foremost, we need to establish our own union. We can strengthen stability in Lebanon and prevent terror acts in Egypt. Through solidarity, we can overcome poverty in the region. This is Turkey's goal. We have established high level cooperation mechanisms with certain countries. We have established a cooperation mechanism in the Gulf region. We can establish a better tomorrow together. We do not need others to determine relations between our countries. We can take nice steps together.
Saturday, September 17, 2011 at 13:46 | 
