Bahrain and Human Rights: How Regime Supporters Sent a US Diplomat Home (Piven)

side the US embassy in Manama.

They carried signs that said "Give me liberty or give me death" and "Stop supporting dictators".

Ludovic Hood, a human rights specialist in the political section of the US embassy, offered doughnuts to the protesters --- a quintessentially American handout.

In response, a local cleric opined: "These sweets are a good gesture, but we hope it is translated into practical action."...

Those protesters did not expect that, just two months later, Hood would be shipped back to the US from his post in Manama --- prematurely, some say --- after having been threatened on Bahraini pro-government websites.

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Yemen, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Destroying the Protest Camp

Claimed footage of security forces firing on mass crowd in Taiz in Yemen today

1950 GMT: The Italian Foreign Ministry says it has temporarily shut the Embassy in Yemen and withdrawn all staff.

1940 GMT: Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has called for talks on reform involving all parties as the regime says it will lift a state of emergency on Wednesday.

Al-Khalifa said the discussions would begin on 1 July, according to the State news agency BNA: "The king called on everyone to take part...to push forward reform for development in all areas and to firmly anchor the bases of the reform process." Al-Khalifa had told journalists that the talks would be "comprehensive, serious, and without preconditions".

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