Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 78 Killed in Fighting in North

A car bomb in Tessalit in Mali on Friday (see 0750 GMT) (Photo: AFP)

See also Syria Live Coverage: Opposition Boycotts International Talks Over Aleppo Deaths
Friday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Parliamentary Elections set for April-June

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1755 GMT: Tunisia. Thousands of protesters rallied today against Prime Minister-designate Ali Larayedh.

President Moncef Marzouki asked Larayedh of the Ennadha Party, the leading faction in the ruling coaltion, to form a Government on Friday.

Outgoing Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday because Ennahda rejected his plan for an apolitical technocrat Cabinet to prepare for elections.

Opposition secularists accuse Larayedh of leading a Ministry of Interior which has failed to curb Islamist violence.

About 3000 demonstrators marched on Tunis' main street Habib Bourguiba raising banners hostile to the Ennahda party and Larayedh and chanting, "Larayedh out" and "The people want to bring down the regime".

Meanwhile, Larayedh has tried to assemble a new Cabinet. Fights are expected over the posts of Justice and Foreign Ministers, which independents are demanding for their preferred candidates.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protesters Block Key Building for 3rd Day

See also Syria Live Coverage: Car Bomb on Turkey Border; Insurgents Take Major Dam
Monday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The 2nd Anniversary of Mubarak's Fall

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1739 GMT: Tunisia. The leader of the Ennadha Party, the dominant faction in the ruling coalition, has said he expects that agreement will be reached on a new Cabinet led by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.

Rachid Ghannouchi said, "I expect that agreement will be reached and I expect Jebali will remain the prime minister of a coalition government."

Following last week's assassination of opposition politician Chokri Belaid, Jebali proposed a Cabinet of apolitical technocrats but pthers in Ennahda objected.

Ghannouchi said a counter-proposal would be made, "There is a project for a political government that will be presented to the prime minister to form a team of politicians and technocrats."

The Ennadha leader continues, "We don't have much time before we announce this government. The time limit is this week."

Ghannouchi indicated that Ennahda was prepared to compromise over the control of portfolios such as defence, foreign affairs, justice, and interior.

Some groups in the ruling coalition, notably President Moncef Marzouki's Congress for the Republic, had threatened to withdraw their ministers if the Justice and Foreign Ministers were not replaced.

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Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Government is Dissolved After Murder of Opposition Leader

See also Syria Live Coverage: The Insurgents Attack Inside Damascus
Wednesday's Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: France to Withdraw in March After Successful Military Operations?

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1855 GMT: Palestine. A boy in his the rubble of his home, destroyed by an Israeli bulldozer:

1755 GMT: Palestine. A Palestinian court has sentenced a West Bank man, Anas Awwad, to a year in jail for "cursing the President" on Facebook.

Awwad's father said his son --- commenting on a picture of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas kicking a soccer ball during his visit to Barcelona Football Club in 2011 --- wrote, "The new striker in Real Madrid".

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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: A "Yes" --- So Far --- on the Constitution?

See also Saturday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Referendum on the Constitution Begins

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2210 GMT: Bahrain. Claimed footage from Sanabis today of shooting at protesters from civilian cars:

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Stumbling Towards a Referendum

See also Syria Live Coverage: "Assad Forces Using Scud Missiles"
Wednesday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: People Divide in Protests

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1725 GMT: Palestine. An image of today's Hamas rally in Nablus in the West Bank, an impresssive turnout in an area overseen by rival party Fatah:

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: People Divide in Protests

A wall at the Presidential Palace, constructed by the military and decorated by the protesters that it blocked

See also Bahrain Analysis: 5-Point Guide to Crown Prince's "Return to Dialogue"
Syria Live Coverage: Uncertainty Over the Mass Killing in Aqrab
Tuesday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests and the Opposition's Next Move

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1759 GMT: Egypt. Blogger Alber Saber has been sentenced to three years in prison for blasphemy and contempt of religion.

Saber, an atheist from a Coptic Christian family, was arrested in September after neighbours accused him of posting links to the US film "The Innocence of Muslims" denigrating the Prophet Mohammad. He can appeal against the ruling if he pays $167 bail.

Saber was initially accused of circulating links to the 14-minute YouTube trailer for the Innocence of Muslims. He denied promoting the video, but later faced charges over statements critical of Islam and Christianity which police investigators allegedly found online and on his computer at his home.

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Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protesters Maintain the Pressure on Morsi

Protesters in front of Egypt's Presidential Palace on Friday night

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Middle East Feature: Gulf Regimes Crack Down on Dissent in Social Media
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: Is This the End for Assad?
Friday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Morsi Defies Protesters and Warns "Infiltrators"

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1855 GMT: Bahrain. Leading human rights activist Zainab Alkhawaja tweets about a recent incident involving her and Said Yousif Almuhafda, Head of Monitoring for the Bahrain Center for Human Rights:

Now me and @saidyousif held by riot police in Sitra, they have taken our car keys #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

After taking the car keys the officer started mocking, said to @saidyousif "So wat village is under siege now u liar" #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

@saidyousif asked "well why arnt u letting us in to Mhazza" officer kept getting calls asking if there r journalists with us #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

An hour before, the two human rights activists had gone to Salmaniya hospital to visit Aqeel AbdulMohsen in Salmaniya hospital. Aqeel was severely injured in Bani Jamra on Wednesday night after security forces shot him in the face:

Security stopped us from seeing him & told us anybody who wants to visit Aqeel must get visitation rights from Budaiya police #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

When I ran into the room to see Aqeel security were right behind me, I saw him only for a minute, it was heartbreaking #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

Be4 I was forced to leave I said to Aqeel, not sure if he can hear me "Ur our hero, we're all so proud of u, plz stay strong 4 us" #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) December 8, 2012

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Syria, Bahrain, Egypt (& Beyond) LiveBlog: Back to Square One?

Saturday's tear gas attack by security forces on protesters after a funeral in A'ali in Bahrain

See also Egypt Q&A: Why Is There A "Revolution Reignited"?
Bahrain 1st-Hand: How Activist Zainab Alkhawaja Defied the Police...And Escaped Arrest
Saturday's Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Protest Creep

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2024 GMT: Yemen's Vice President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi has named opposition leader Mohammed Basindwa as interim Prime Minister, according to State media.

Basindwa, Foreign Minister from 1993 to 1994, will form a new government under the deal signed in Saudi Arabia last Wednesday by President Saleh, who returned to Yemen last night.

On Saturday, Hadi called Presidential elections for 21 February.

2019 GMT: Claimed footage of a Saudi armoured vehicle trying to run over protesters in Qatif in Eastern Province --- demonstrations by the Shi'a population escalated this week, as four people were killed by security forces:

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Egypt Special: An Up-to-Date Review of the Uprising, the Battle over the Constitution, and September's Elections

On 25 January, protest movements approached Tahrir Square in Cairo with a unified demand: the downfall of the regime. Eighteen days later, President Hosni Mubarak resigned from his post after 30 years in power.

The celebrations came to an abrupt end, however, when the Supreme Military Council took power, ostensibly as an interim replacement until forthcoming Parliamentary and Presidential elections. As "Sandmonkey", an Egyptian blogger and activist, highlighted, "It was time for the revolutionaries to play politics."

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