Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Clashes Continue as Regime Claims Arrest of "Iran-Iraq-Lebanon Terror Cell"

"Third-day" funeral of 16-year-old Hassan AlJazeeri, killed by police on Thursday night

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1755 GMT: Saudi Arabia. Thirty Saudi women have become the first female members of the Shura Council, as they were sworn in before King Abdullah at his palace in the capital Riyadh.

The women are among 160 members of the advisory body.

"The development we are working at must be gradual," King Abdullah said. He recommended that the Council show "realism" in its discussions and allow "reason to prevail in issues [with which] it has to deal".

On 11 January, the King appointed the women, who include university graduates, human rights activists, and two princesses.

1749 GMT: Palestine. The Forum of Palestinian journalists has criticised Israeli forces for detaining three Palestinian journalists on Tuesday in Bethlehem.

The three men are Mamdouh Hamamreh, a reporter for the Al-Quds satellite channel; Samer Hamad, a cameraman for Palmedia news agency, and Abdul-Rahman Younos, a reporter for Al-Quds.com.

The arrests follow the claimed abduction of Mohamed Saba’na, a political caricaturist for Al-Hayat Al-Jadida newspaper, after his return from a ocnference in Jordan.

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Is There Any Hope in the "National Dialogue"?

1918 GMT: Bahrain. The Information Affairs' Authority --- deliberately or unwittingly --- has built on a pro-regime disinformation campaign --- to warn about "direct threats" by an opposition which it calls "terrorist gangs and saboteurs".

Opposition groups, including Al Wefaq, have called for Bahrainis to refrain from shopping, banking, and fuelling their cars. Pro-regime activists have used that to put out fake flyers, in the name of the opposition, threatening people if they do not join the boycott.

A women's "Noise March" in Bahrain on Tuesday

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1918 GMT: Bahrain. The Information Affairs' Authority --- deliberately or unwittingly --- has built on a pro-regime disinformation campaign to warn about "direct threats" by an opposition which it calls "terrorist gangs and saboteurs".

Opposition groups, including Al Wefaq, have called for Bahrainis to refrain from shopping, banking, and fuelling their cars. Pro-regime activists have used that to put out fake flyers, in the name of the opposition, threatening people if they do not join the boycott.

Now the IAA has put out the statement:

Some internet webpages and social media accounts in Bahrain circulated news about direct threats being sent by terrorist gangs and saboteurs to various individuals, groups, families, workers, shops and companies intended to compel citizens and residents to stay at home and refrain from going to work or business as usual on Thursday February, 14, 2013 in a desperate bid to forcibly impose a de facto public strike in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Overnight Clashes In and Beyond Cairo

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Friday's Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: General Strike and Marches as Slain Opposition Leader is Buried

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1745 GMT: Saudi Arabia. Riyadh Bureau reports that dozens of women and children have been arrested in Riyadh and Buraidah amid protests to demand the release of imprisoned family members.

The demonstrators gathered outside the Human Rights Commission office in Riyadh and the Court of Grievances in Buraidah in the central region of Qassim.

A lawyer confirmed that those arrested include the wife, daughter, and granddaughter of Suleiman al-Rashudi, a political activist who was arrested in December after giving a lecture about the permissibility of protests.

Women in the security bus in Qassim, chanting for the freedom of detainees:

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Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: France to Withdraw in March After Successful Military Operations?

US Feature: Justice Department --- Yes, We Can Kill American Citizens Overseas with Drones
Syria Live Coverage: The Fight in Daraa Province
Tuesday's Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Israelis Arrest More than 20 Hamas Members in West Bank

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2106 GMT: Bahrain. Opposition groups have "stressed the need to agree on the mechanism and the rules of the national dialogue" before the start of talks on Sunday.

"Agreeing on the mechanism before the dialogue starts would strengthen public trust in the dialogue," the groups, including leading society Al Wefaq, continued. This would "spare" Bahrain from the failure of the talks in the first round, a situation that would have unwanted "political and public implications."

The groups will write to the Justice Minister on Thursday to emphasise their position, renewing their request to meet him to agree over the mechanism of the dialogue.

The minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ali al-Khalifa, announced on Monday that the dialogue would resume this weekend, after an earlier round failed to the bring the opposition on board.

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Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Israelis Arrest More than 20 Hamas Members in West Bank

1458 GMT: Israel. The Israeli Defense Forces has failed to adequately investigate complaints of abuses by IDF soldiers against Palestinians, according to a human rights group. Haaretz reports:

Of the 240 complaints regarding possible crimes committed by Israel Defense Forces soldiers against Palestinians filed with the Military Police in 2012, only 78 investigations were launched and not a single indictment was served, a report by the Yesh Din human rights group has revealed.

0800 GMT: Mali. Two senior Islamist insurgents, including a top leader of the group Ansar Dine, have been captured in the north, near Mali's border with Algeria.

The Tuareg separatist group MNLA said it arrested Mohamed Moussa Ag Mohamed and Oumeini Ould Baba Akhmed on Saturday

Ag Mohamed is the third-ranking leader of Ansar Dine, which controlled Timbuktu for 10 months until French and Malian Government forces moved in last week.

Baba Akhmed is believed to be a member of the Movement for Unification and Jihad in West Africa.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Beatings, Molotovs, & a Death in Clashes

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1945 GMT: Mali. French President Francois Hollande has said his Government will help rebuild Mali, three weeks after France's military offensive that swept Islamists from urban areas in the north of the country.

Hollande declared French troops would stay in Mali "as long as necessary", handing over to African troops "once the sovereignty of Mali is restored".

"Terrorist groups have been weakened, but not disappeared," Hollande said.

Speaking alongside the French President, Mali's interim leader, Dioncounda Traore, thanked France for freeing the north to from "barbarity and obscurantism".

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will There Be a "National Dialogue"?

1651 GMT: Bahrain. Sheikh Ali Salman, the head of the opposition society Al Wefaq, has said he is ready for discussions on a political settlement to end almost two years of conflict, "We welcome it, we are ready for it. We believe that dialogue and negotiations are necessary."

However, Salman called for Crown Prince Salman to attend to show the Government's had to show its willingness to offer "concrete solutions": "We want someone who can speak for the royal family."

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Head of Military "Conflict Could Lead to Collapse of State"

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1605 GMT: Palestine. Voters will be registered in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip from next month, paving the way for elections aimed at reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah.

Hamas had barred the Palestinian Central Election Commission from Gaza, accusing the body of bias in favor of the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority which rules the West Bank.

Following Egyptian-brokered talks, the two factions agreed to registration as the first step towards national Parliamentary and Presidential polls leading to a unity government.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 30 Killed in Port Said Fighting

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Syria Live Coverage: Deaths from Shelling Near Aleppo
Saturday's Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Storm The Prison in Idlib

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1950 GMT: Egypt. Addressing the nation on television after this weekend's violence that has killed at least 50 people, President Morsi has said judicial verdicts --- such as Friday's sentencing of 21 people to executions over last year's 74 deaths in a Port Said football stadium --- have to be respected, as they are not aimed against any group of people. He said "acts of violence, blocking roads are...not something Egyptians are are esed to....They are the ugly face of counter-revolution."

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Mali Opinion: A Disaster 50 Years in the Making (Weddady)

Government forces on the road to Konna in northern Mali this week (Photo: Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

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In plain terms, let the natives of the region do the job outsiders cannot do. Let them earn the right to decide their destiny in exchange of defeating all foreign and domestic terrorists who have infected their lives, destroyed their shrines and cut their limbs. Back those whose interest is to cut Al-Qaeda’s tentacles. Keep a credible threat of firepower in place. Keep Mali’s military under close watch, and neuter it if necessary – they have already caused more than their fair share of harm by overthrowing an elected government.

Put an offer to negotiate on the table and build smart alliances. Let diplomats talk, and keep warriors close. Feed refugees, and keep their hope of going back home soon alive. Only such a policy is likely to save lives, and defeat nihilist jihadism.

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