UAE (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 94 Activists Go on Trial

January protest on behalf of 94 detained activists in the UAE (Photo: AP)

See also Syria Live Coverage: The Regime's Shelling of Homs
Sunday's Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Minister of Finance Tries to Resign Amid Financial Crisis

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1635 GMT: Yemen A suicide bomber today killed "at least 10 members of a pro-government militia".

A local commander told Reuters that 15 others were wounded, some seriously, in the attack which struck a local office of the Popular Committees in Lawdar, a town in the southern province of Abyan.

According to Reuters, the targeted militia had "helped the Yemeni army to drive al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants out of southern strongholds in a U.S.-backed campaign last year".

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 1 Killed in Continuing Protests in Mansoura

Protests and clashes in Mansoura in Egypt, where one person was killed early this morning

See also Syria Live Coverage: The Fighting Around Aleppo
Friday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Activist Zainab AlKhawaja Given 3-Month Sentence

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1831 GMT: Egypt. Visiting Cairo, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Egyptian Government's need to agree a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund is "paramount".

Kerry said he was certain that US cooperation with Egypt can only happen if Cairo "makes the right fundamental choices" regarding the talks with the IMF.

The Morsi Government said on Thursday that it will invite an IMF team to reopen talks.

"It is paramount, essential, urgent that the Egyptian economy get stronger, that it gets back on its feet," Kerry told Egyptian and American executives. "It's clear to us that the IMF arrangement needs to be reached, that we need to give the market that confidence."

The Morsi Government agreed the loan in principle last November but it was put on hold at Cairo's request amid political unrest and an inability of the President to implement tax rises necessary for the IMF assistance.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests Continue in Port Said

One of this week's protests in Port Said in Egypt

See also Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus
Wednesday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Clashes Continue as Regime Claims Arrest of "Iran-Iraq-Lebanon Terror Cell"

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1910 GMT:Egypt. President Morsi will call a Parliamentary election, to be held in three or four stages, starting in April.

"The president will issue a decree soon, it could be tonight, calling for elections to start in April," a source in his office told Reuters.

1900 GMT:Morocco. Reporters Without Borders has condemned the 10-month prison sentence handed down last week to citizen journalist Mohamed Attaoui on the charge of “working as a local official despite being suspended”.

Attaoui was arrested on 21 January in town of Tounfite north-central Morocco while photographing homes that are unfit for habitation for a report he intended to publish.

The president and general secretary of the Tounfite Group, a grass-roots association to which Attaoui belongs, were also arrested and have been sentenced to a year and eight months in prison, respectively.

Following his arrest, Attaoui was placed in solitary confinement and was not allowed a visit from his wife until 18 February.

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

See also Syria Live Coverage: Watching the Attack in Damascus
Thursday's Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Government is Dissolved After Murder of Opposition Leader

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1642 GMT: Saudi Arabia. Thousands marched in Qatif on Thursday night in memory of leading cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, shot and detained by security forces last year.

Al-Nimr was a leading figure in the protests in the mainly-Shia Eastern Province, protesting detentions and calling for political reforms.

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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: Protests Continue Across Country

People defy the state of emergency's curfew in Suez Canal cities in Egypt (Photo: Ahram Online)

See also Palestine Feature: Getting Rich From Gaza's Tunnels
Syria Live Coverage: Fighting Near Damascus and Its Airport
Monday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Morsi Declares 30-Day State of Emergency

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1550 GMT: Israel. Israeli representatives have boycotted a regular review by the United Nations Human Rights Council, the first time a country has ever taken such action.

A decision last year to investigate Jewish settlements in the West Bank prompted Israel to announce it would no longer co-operate with the Council.

Tuesday's meeting was suspended and a course of action will be decided.

1350 GMT: Egypt. Dozens of gunmen raided and looted the InterContinental Semiramis hotel on Cairo's Nile Corniche early this morning, as staff called in vain for help from security forces.

Anti-government demonstrators secured the besieged hotel and helped guests flee in taxis to the airport. Protesters later helped security forces in arresting 12 people.

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Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: Gas Plant Siege Ends with 23 Hostages, 32 Attackers Killed

See also Bahrain Propaganda 101: Regime Looking for a Few Good Women on Twitter
Israel Feature: The Settlers and the Politician Trying to Re-Make the Jewish State
Syria Live Coverage: "Darayya is Being Pounded to Dust"
Saturday's Algeria (and Beyond) Coverage: Hostage Situation Continues at Gas Plant

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2241 GMT: Egypt. Protesters have set a courthouse in Alexandria on fire after the suspension of the trial of six senior police officers for deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising.

Young men threw rocks at police, who responded with tear gas. Two trucks that transport riot police was set ablaze.

Judge Mohammed Hammad Abdel-Hadi resigned from the case on Sunday, giving no reason. His resignation means a new trial for the officers accused of using excessive force.

Since President Hosni Mubarak was deposed in February, almost 100 police officers have been brought to trial on charges of killing and wounding protesters. All were acquitted or received suspended sentences.

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Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: France Prepares Ground Operations While Insurgents Seize 41 Foreigners in Algeria

2126 GMT: Algeria. Algerian State Television has confirmed that at least four foreigners have been killed into today's attempted hostage rescue:

Two of the victims were Britons and the other two Filipinos, the report said after the end of the operation was announced late on Thursday.

Communication Minister Mohamed Said said earlier that troops had been forced to act after talks with the kidnappers failed.

He said many fighters had been killed in the operation at the In Amenas gas field.

Sources for Reuters report that the death toll may be much higher:

Quoting an unnamed Algerian security source, Reuters reports that 30 hostages were killed in the gas plant attack, including 7 foreigners. The report does not give the nationalities of the foreigners who died.

Eleven militants from six different countries – including one from France – also were killed, the report says. The militants' nationalities were given as 3 Egyptians, 2 Algerians, 2 Tunisians, 2 Libyans a Frenchman and a Malian.

Meanwhile, David Cameron has cancelled a planned speech, but did say that the UK needs to be "prepared for the possibility of further bad news."

1814 GMT: Algeria. A summary of the press conference at the US State Department:

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The US Arms Sales to the Regime

Women march in Karzakan in Bahrain on Monday

See also Iraq Analysis: Protests, Politics, & A Prisoner Release --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
Bahrain Opinion: A Nobel Peace Prize for the AlKhawaja Family?
Syria Live Coverage: Scores Die in Mass Killings and Aleppo Blasts
Tuesday's Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Insurgents Counter-Attack, Move Closer to Capital

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2003 GMT: Mali and Algeria. One of the attackers who seized 41 staff of energy companies, killing two others and injuring six, said they had come from northern Mali. He said, "We belong to the Khaled Abul Abbas brigade led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar," a veteran leader of smuggling and kidnap gangs in the Sahara.

The insurgents said their hostages included seven Americans and French, British, and Japanese citizens. A Norwegian and an Irish citizen are also thought to be among those held captive. The gas plant is jointly operated by BP, Statoil of Norway and Algeria's state-run energy company Sonatrach.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: A Deadly Car Bomb in Damascus

A petrol station in the Barzeh area of Damascus, destroyed by a car bomb on Thursday night

See also Bahrain Audio Feature: Why the Detention of Photojournalist Ahmed Humaidan Matters --- Scott Lucas with Monocle 24
Thursday's Syria (and Beyond) Coverage: UN --- Death Toll Passes 60,000

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2107 GMT: Syria. The head of the insurgency's military command, Brigadier Selim Idris, has denied reports that his troops possess chemical weapons and intend to respond in kind if the Syrian regime uses them.

The political adviser of the Free Syrian Army, Bassam al-Dada, said on Wednesday that insurgents could put together components of chemical weapons and use them if necessary.

“In our faith, we can't use such a weapon,” even if the regime attacked with it, Idris said. "We will not try to acquire them, will definitely not produce them or facilitate their production."

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