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Entries in Mattar Ibrahim Mattar (4)

Sunday
Jun122011

Bahrain, Libya, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protest Re-Appears

Pearl Roundabout, Bahrain1955 GMT: Last week we reported on the alleged abduction of dual American-Syrian national Amina Arraf, the author of the blog "A Gay Girl in Damascus". Doubts soon surfaced, however, not only over the kidnapping but whether Arraf was real.

This evening, Tom McMaster, who lives in Turkey, has posted an apology, admitting that he is "Amina": "While the narrative voıce may have been fictional, the facts on thıs blog are true and not mısleading as to the situation on the ground. I do not believe that I have harmed anyone -- I feel that I have created an important voice for issues that I feel strongly about."

1450 GMT: A Yemeni security official said a colonel and two soldiers were killed in clashes with insurgents in the city of Zinjibar in the south on Sunday. Two insurgents were also slain.

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Monday
May022011

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Thousands Detained and the Possible Death of a Qaddafi

2200 GMT: $$$ - Switzerland is reporting that they have uncovered 360 million Swiss francs ($415.8 million) belonging to Colonel Gaddafi or members close to his inner circle. Also, according to Al Jazeera English

"Some 410 million Swiss francs traced to former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and 60 million Swiss francs linked to former Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali have also been identified, Foreign Ministry spokesman Lars Knuchel said."

The funds will be frozen. In the case of Egypt and Tunisia, the governments of those countires have requested the funds. In Libya, those assets are likely to remain frozen until the Gaddafi government is removed from power.

1930 GMT: Al Jazeera has been missing a reporter, Dorothy Parvaz, stationed in Syria, since Friday. She disappeared after stepping off a Qatar Airlines flight in Damascus. There is no word from the Syrian government as to what has happened to her, or where she is currently located. 

1850 GMT: Claimed footage of a demonstration in Homs tonight:

1830 GMT: Claimed footage of a women's protest in Zabadani today, calling on Syrian authorities to release detainees.

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Wednesday
Apr272011

Syria, Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: A Slowing of News

2120 GMT: After restrictions and attacks on its staff, Al Jazeera has suspended its operations inside Syria indefinitely.

Syrian authorities have expelled Cal Perry, a correspondent for Al Jazeera English in Damascus, and prevented reporters from entering the town of Daraa in the south. Authorities also told staff "not to communicate with Al Jazeera's headquarters in Doha, and not to appear on air to present the news from the bureau, even if by telephone", producer Hassan Elmogummer Taha told the Committee to Protect Journalists in an e-mail.

For the past three days, unknown assailants have pelted Al-Jazeera's Damascus bureau with eggs and stones. Men in plainclothes have harassed and intimidated employees since then, Taha told CPJ.

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Friday
Apr012011

Libya (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Defections v. A Military Push

2030 GMT: Al Jazeera English's Hoda Abdel-Hamid reports from her position with opposition forces at the western gate of Ajdabiya --- she was stopped by the insurgents from going further towards the front-line near Brega. She notes that Libya's opposition has appointed Abdel Fatah Yunis, the former Minister of Interior who defected in the early days of protests, as the head of military forces.

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