On Monday, Al Jazeera English's The Stream discussed the situation in Bahrain with former MP Matar Matar of the opposition society Al Wefaq, human rights activist Nabeel Rajab, and Fahad Albinali of the regime's Information Affairs Authority:
See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: President Assad's "Real War"
1800 GMT: According Turkish daily Today's Zaman, Ankara welcomes political efforts to unseat Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki as politicians in the Iraqi Parliament have collected enough signatures to hold a non-confidence vote.
1710 GMT: President Abdullah Gul met with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul. Abbas is also expected to talk to Prime Minister Erdogan and Foreign Minister Davutoglu. Nothing specific regarding the content of the meetings has been revealed so far.
1600 GMT: Syrian opposition activits declared the formation of a new military coalition named "the Syrian Rebels Front". Khaled al-Okla, a member of the new group, says it coordinates with the Free Syrian Army.
1440 GMT: The first Mavi Marmara court hearing is scheduled for 6 November. As known, the indictment charging four Israeli commanders for full life sentence was accepted last month.
1335 GMT: Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag says that Turkey already has a semi-presidential system which needs to be upgraded to the presidential system.
1245 GMT: An air-supported operation against PKK is continuing in the Beytussebap district of the province of Sirnak. Sikorsky and Cobra helicopters are bombarding the Kato Mountain.
AKP, Abdullah Gül, Ahmet Davutoğlu, BDP, Bashar al Assad, Mahmoud Abbas, Nuri al Maliki, PKK, Syria, Turkey Monday, June 4, 2012 at 11:20 | James Miller in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2027 GMT: Syria. All day there have been reports that multiple towns across Daraa province have been heavily attacked by the Syrian military. Now, those reports continue to come in, despite the late hour. Let's sort the reports.
There are reports that Tafas has been subjected to heavy machine-gun fire coming from various outposts and checkpoints controlled by the Syrian military.
Yesterday, videos reportedly showed large fields of crops that were lit on fire by "shabiha," paramilitary supporters of the Assad regime.
Earlier there were reports of wounded and dead in El Naymah, closer to Daraa city. Earlier videos showed tanks rolling through the town and heavy gunfire ringing out, reportedly from dug-in army positions:
Head of judiciary Sadegh Larijani, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, and President Ahmadinejad at Sunday's ceremonies for the anniversary of Ayatollah Khomeini's death
See also Turkey-Iran Analysis: Why Ankara Maintains Its Golden Relationship with Tehran
The Latest from Iran (3 June): The Regime Marks Khomeini's Death
1950 GMT: Death-to-the Rapper Watch. Forty authors of the Rah-e Nikan religious publishing house have promised to forward royalties from their books to whoever kills rapper Shahin Najafi.
Najafi has been targeted by clerics, politicians, and pro-regime activists since he released "Naqi", a song critiquing Iranian politics and society, in May. His critics claim Najafi has dishonoured the name of Naqi, Shi'a's 10th Imam.
1940 GMT: Surveillance Watch. MTN Irancell, a joint venture between MTN Group Ltd of South Africa and an Iranian government-controlled consortium, has obtained sophisticated U.S. computer equipment despite sanctions.
MTN Irancell sourced equipment from Sun Microsystems Inc, Hewlett Packard Co, and Cisco Systems Inc through a network of technology companies in Iran and the Middle East.
Reuters reported in March and April that ZTE Corp, a Chinese telecom-equipment maker, had sold or agreed to ship millions of dollars worth of U.S. hardware and software since 2010 to Iran's largest telecom carrier, Telecommunication Co of Iran.
Paul Norman, MTN Group's chief corporate affairs officer, said: "To the best of our knowledge, MTN personnel, directly or indirectly, did not acquire or seek to acquire equipment for use in Irancell's operations in a manner that was intended to avoid or circumvent U.S. sanctions. MTN is committed to compliance with U.S. sanctions, and is working with the U.S. government and its international legal counsel to remain compliant. MTN owns a non-controlling 49% share in Irancell."
Chinese TV broadcast on the hunt for the serial killer in Yunnan Province
What makes this more than a dramatic serial-killer case? The pressure of the public.
The investigation to catch the murderer was spurred by the outcry of the victims' families, who said that police ignored their pleas for help and prevented them from contacting the media. Far from deferring to authorities,, the complaints of the relatives led not only to a belated investigation but to the dismissal of some of those officials.
Monday, June 4, 2012 at 0:54 | Ali Yenidunya in EA Iran, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran, US Foreign Policy 
Turkey's Prime Minister Erdogan and Iranian President AhmadinejadAmidst the discussion of sanctions on Iran, an interesting fact, which we first noted on 5 March. According to the Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges (TOBB), foreign companies financed by Iran in 2011 totaled 590, an increase of 41% compared to the previous year. With Tehran using these front companies to bypass the sanctions, could Ankara be enjoying its economic development while agreeing to open its territory to NATO's early warning radar system and to cut its oil imports from Iran by 10%?
Now, an addition to the story. Turkey's Statistics Institute reported last month that gold exports to Iran rose in March to nine metric tonnes, worth $480 million, compared to 286 kg a year earlier and only 30 kg in February 2012. The export soared again in April to $1.2 billion, more than 26 tons.
Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 12:32 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran Al Jazeera English on Saturday's events in Egypt, from the sentencing of former President Mubarak to mass protests
See also Bahrain 1st-Hand: "I Was Tortured by Prince Nasser"
Saturday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Largest Protests Ever?
2025 GMT: Libya. Members of an elite unit set up by the Government to rein in militias have been accused of kidnapping and severely beating a prominent surgeons.
Salem Forjani, a heart surgeon working for the Ministry of Health, was seized on 17 May when he went to Tripoli Medical Centre to carry out the Ministry's order to remove the director, who was accused of links with the Qaddafi regime.
Instead, Forjani was confronted by members of the Government's Supreme Security Committee, who dragged Forjani through the hospital, beating him unconscious in front of the staff.
A fellow medic photographed Forjani being carried, shirtless and spreadeagled, down the hospital's ambulance ramp while an SSC soldier threatened to shoot unarmed hospital security staff giving chase.
The SSC troops bundled the doctor into a car and incarcerated him in a base at Naklia, a suburb of Tripoli, where he was beaten and kicked so hard in the groin that he was left with a ruptured testicle. For five days neither his family nor the Ministry of Health could find him or get confirmation that he was still alive.
Finally, after Forjani had been moved to a second facility, at Tripoli's Mitiga Airport, the SSC contacted the Ministry and released him.
See also Iran Feature: Who are the Mujahedin-e Khalq "Terrorists"/"Freedom Fighters"?
The Latest from Iran (2 June): Holding the Currency Line
1631 GMT: No Afghans, Please. The National Organization for Educational Testing has issued a list of university courses banned for Afghans living in Iran, including atomic physics, nuclear engineering, aerospace engineering, chemical engineering, and military sciences.
Mehr explains that allowing Afghans to gain qualifications in these areas would create the obligation to employ them.
The news agency also writes that Afghans can apply only at universities that are not located in areas where they have been banned from living, including a dozen provinces and a number of cities throughout Iran.
1611 GMT: Oil Squeeze. An article in The New York Times, "Oil Output Soars as Iraq Retools", notes the significance for sanctions and Iran:
Increased flow and vital port improvements have produced a 20 percent jump in exports this year to nearly 2.5 million barrels of oil a day, making Iraq one of the premier producers in OPEC for the first time in decades.
Energy analysts say that the Iraqi boom --- coupled with increased production in Saudi Arabia and the near total recovery of Libya’s oil industry --- should cushion oil markets from price spikes and give the international community additional leverage over Iran when new sanctions take effect in July.
“Iraq helps enormously,” said David L. Goldwyn, the former State Department coordinator for international energy affairs in the Obama administration. Even if Iraq increased its oil exports by only half of what it is projecting by next year, he said, “You would be replacing nearly half of the future Iranian supply potentially displaced by tighter sanctions.”
The Mujahedin-e Khalq reports on its Annual Congress, held in Camp Ashraf in Iraq, in September 2011
The story of the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, also known as the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK), is all about the way image management can enable a diehard enemy to become a cherished ally. The MEK is currently campaigning to be officially delisted in the US as a terrorist organisation. Once off the list it will be free to make use of its support on Capitol Hill in order to become America’s most favoured, and no doubt best funded, Iranian opposition group.
Mitt Romney in Craig, ColoradoThe focus now and for the next five months is gaining the 270 members of the Electoral College required to win the presidential election. Texan voters select 38 of those voters, while Nevada and Colorado choose just six and nine respectively. But in the contest to be the next President, it is Nevada and Colorado --- and even New Hampshire with just four electoral votes --- are more important logistically than Texas in deciding who will win the White House in 2012.
