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

See also Syria Live Coverage: Aid Reaches an Opposition-Held Town
Friday's Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Declares Jewish Settlements in West Bank "Illegal"

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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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Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Declares Jewish Settlements in West Bank "Illegal"

2220 GMT: Egypt. The protesters in front of the Presidential Palace appear to be settling in for a long and drawn out battle:

Protesters moving back towards prez palace,dragging sheets of metal,cylindrical police pods anything they can get their hands on #Egypt

— Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew) February 1, 2013

#csf appeared to have withdrawn back towards gates of prez palace. Protesters building barricade. Extraordinary #Egypt

— Bel Trew - بل ترو (@Beltrew) February 1, 2013

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Turkey Analysis: The Opposition, the Government, and the “Grand Kurdish Settlement”

Abdullah Ocalan and Recep Tayyip ErdoganThe challenges to a "grand Kurdish project" go beyond Ankara. The first is over the crisis in Syria --- indirectly involving Iran --- where the Erdogan Government has no intention of repairing times with Syrian Kurds of the Democratic Union Party. The second is the inclusion of Iraq's Massoud Barzani in a political process: it is unclear what incentive Ankara has to acknowledge, let alone accept, the demand of the pro-Kurdish opposition party BDP.

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Turkey Feature: 10,000s in Funeral Ceremony for Kurdish Activists "Peace Now!"

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Despite the Government's warnings about "provocative support", tens of thousands of mourners gathered on Thursday to lay three assassinated Kurdish women activists to rest in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.

The  ceremony was peaceful. There were flags of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on the coffins ---  including that of PKK co-founder Sakine Cansiz --- but not many were waved, in comparison with previous gatherings. There was even no posters of Abdullah Ocalan, the leader of the Kurdish movement who is imprisoned on Imrali Island. This was Turkish citizens bolstering the peace process rather than seeking vengeance.

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Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: French Warplanes Continue Attacks

See also US & Middle East Opinion: Sense and Sensibility About Al Jazeera America
Syria Live Coverage: Worries About "Disorganised" Insurgency and a "Failed State"
Sunday's Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Israeli Military Overruns Village of Bab al-Shams

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2134 GMT: Mali. Al Jazeera English summarises the day's developments, including the insurgent victory in Diabaly in the centre of the country:

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Advance While Brahimi Stalls

See also Egypt Feature: An Alternative Justice System in the Sinai
Syria 1st-Hand: The 11-Year-Old Fighting with the Insurgents
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: The End of the Brahimi Mission?
Friday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Activist Tries to Re-Enter the Kingdom

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1729 GMT: Palestine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the Supreme Court to remove an injunction against his order to the military to overrun the new village of Bab al-Shams, on Palestinian territory near East Jerusalem.

Activists pitched tents to launch the new village on Friday. It is in the E1 area, where the Israeli Government is supporting the construction of new Jewish settlements.

Netanyahu ordered that the area be considered a "closed military zone", with all access cut off "to prevent gatherings".

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: An Activist Tries to Re-Enter the Kingdom

See also Syria Live Coverage: The End of the Brahimi Mission?
Thursday's Turkey (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Three Kurdish Officials Killed in Paris Attack

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1748 GMT:Tunisia. Hundreds of protesters demanding jobs and the reopening of a border crossing with Libya set fire to a police station and cars, as security forces used tear gas and fired shots into the air to disperse them.

Demonstrators in Ben Guerdane want the Ras Jedir crossing reopened so that trade with Libya, on which most of the population depend, can resume.

Tunisian and Libyan authorities opened the crossing briefly on Thursday but shut it when four days of protests in Ben Guerdane turned violent.

1818 GMT: Bahrain. Zainab AlKhawaja's reaction:

MY SISTER IS HOOOME!!!! #bahrain

— angry arabiya (@angryarabiya) January 11, 2013

Maryam and Zainab Alkhawaja:

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Turkey (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Three Kurdish Officials Killed in Paris Attack

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1623 GMT: Turkey. The Chairman of the Federation of Kurdish Associations of France, Mehmet Ulker, claiming to quote French policemen, has said that the Paris killings were carried out by more than one professional.

1613 GMT: Turkey. The Vice-Chairman of the pro-Kurdish BDP party, Gulten Kisanak, puts out a warning:

Even if those murderers get lost like a mole, they will be held accountable. This massacre is not an ordinary one. Clearly, it is a political murder. It is a trap set for the solution of the Kurdish question. Whoever attempts to cover, justify or distort this, he/she will be the murderer. Whoever, while there is no proof, calls the murder of three revolutionist women who were on duty to carry out their people's struggle as an internal execution and distorts it, he/she is either murderer, or knows the murderers or wants to protect the murderers.

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Turkey Analysis: A Big Opportunity? Ankara's Talks with Imprisoned Kurdish Leader Ocalan

PM Erdogan & PKK Leader OcalanSo Turkish authorities have been speaking with the imprisoned leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan, since last month. Indeed, the head of the National Intelligence Organisation (MIT), Hakan Fidan, visited Ocalan in his Imrali Island prison --- where he has been kept since 1999 --- for two days of one-to-one meetings. This was followed by the Erdogan Government’s high-profile if vague statements of a peaceful settlement on the Kurdish issue and by the dispatch of two experienced MPs from pro-Kurdish Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), to Imrali.

This is not the first occurrence of negotiations with Ocalan and the PKK --- two years ago, the MIT was involved in a series of meetings in Oslo. There are key differences in the recent talks, however.

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Syria and Iran Feature: 2130 Civilian Prisoners To Be Released in Exchange for 48 Iranian "Pilgrims"

UPDATE 1230 GMT: A photograph of the freed Iranians:

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Turkey's State news agency Anatolia reports that Syria will release 2130 civilian prisoners, including "many Turkish nationals", in exchange for 48 Iranian men seized by the Syrian opposition last August.

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