Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Condemns Houla "Massacre"...As Assad's Forces Shell Hama

See also Syria Opinion: If the Houla Massacre Isn't a Turning Point....
Bahrain Live Coverage: Activist Nabeel Rajab Released from Detention
Turkey Live Coverage (28 May): Erdogan's Dilemma on the Kurdish Problem
Sunday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: After the Houla "Massacre", Another 60 Deaths

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2130 GMT: Egypt. Protests have reportedly spread to the headquarters of Presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, which has been set on fire:

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Syria Opinion: If the Houla Massacre Isn't a Turning Point...

Before the Killings: The Children of Houla

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p>That sacredness we bestow upon our young makes the murder of these children an even more grotesque act. It makes us rhetorical questions. How can a man, in this case President Bashar al-Assad, and his cronies act so mercilessly, without a shred of humanity kill children like this? How can they subject the parents of these children to such torture? How can these political and military commanders sleep at night? 

The answer has been in front of us for more than a year. They can because they want to.

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The Latest from Iran (28 May): No More Nice Guy --- Tehran Shifts Line on Nuke Talks

See also The Latest from Iran (27 May): A New Parliament Opens

1358 GMT: Dissent Watch. Former Foreign Minister and political prisoner Ebrahim Yazdi has posted another book on the Internet, as a protest against the Ministry of Culture’s failure to provide valid reasons for not approving its publication.

The Student Movement in the 1940s and 1950s was published 10 days after Yazdi uploaded his book about Mehdi Bazargan, the head of Iran’s interim state after the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In a letter to the Minister of Culture and Guidance, Yazdi wrote, “The president has said in his interviews that Iran is the freest country in the world, so it is not clear why a book about the late Mr. Bazargan cannot get a publication licence.”

Yazdi, arrested twice during the post-election protests of 2009, was the oldest political prisoner before the octogenarian was finally released last March.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: After the Houla "Massacre", Another 60 Deaths

A rally in the Damascus suburb of Douma on Saturday night with a message about the Houla "masscare", "These are our martyrs, we will never forget them"

See also Bahrain Live Coverage: Regime on Human Rights "You Are Biased. P.S. We'll Sue You"
Saturday's Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 50 Die in Houla; A Presidential Run-Off in Cairo

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2200 GMT: Syria. The Local Co-ordination Committees of Syria say 51 people have died today, including 11 children, four women and six defected soldiers

The toll is likely to increase if the death toll from today's shelling of Hama is as high as feared --- so far the LCCS only claim 25 slain in Hama Province.

2034 GMT: Syria. Activists are reporting on social media tonight that at least thirty people have been killed in regime shelling of Hama.

Opposition sources said the shelling began in the morning on areas near the northern entrance of the city, after a series of insurgent attacks on army roadblocks in the city, and resumed in the evening on the southern al-Malaab district.

Footage has been posted of some of the victims (Warning: Graphic).

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Bahrain Live Coverage: Regime on Human Rights "You Are Biased. P.S. We'll Sue You"

Protesting the detention of women, youth defy security forces to set up a burning-tyre barricade in Dar Kulaib (see 0719 GMT)

See also Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: After the Houla "Massacre", Another 60 Deaths
Saturday's Bahrain Live Coverage: UN Human Rights Council Sends Message to Regime

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2024 GMT: Claimed footage of police shooting tear gas into a house in A'ali today:

Protesters help an old woman suffocating from tear gas:

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The Latest from Iran (27 May): A New Parliament Opens

President Ahmadinejad and former President Rafsanjani enter the first session of the new Parliament todaySee also The Latest from Iran (26 May): Propaganda Watch

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1825 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Earlier today (see 0635 GMT) we had noted the defiant stance of the head of the atomic energy organisation, Fereydoun Abbasi, that the International Atomic Energy Agency would not be allowed to inspect the Parchin military site. This, we suggested, was a major step back from possible accomodation over Iran's nuclear programme, given that IAEA head Yukiya Amano had said only a week ago that an agreement over inspections was imminent.

Western media, however, are focusing on another section of Abbasi's comments on State TV, namely that Iran is standing on its right to enrich uranium to 20% on its soil: "“We have no reason to retreat from producing the 20 percent because we need 20 percent uranium just as much to meet our needs."

We are not so struck by the remark. Abbasi has been a "hard-liner" in the past --- in contrast to, for example, President Ahmadinejad --- on the level to which Iran can enrich.

Today's comment should be seen more as a re-assertion by the regime of a tough negotiating position after the failure to get any advance, and indeed signs of a retreat, on a deal at last week's Baghdad talks. Iranian officials blame the situation on the initial proposal put by the 5+1 Powers, which did not explictly recognise Iran's right to enrich and which offered no significant gesture on sanctions.

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North Korea Video Feature: The Wonderful World of the Regime's YouTube Channel (McFadden)

Disney, Take Note --- the North Korean regime's cartoon animals portray conflict and re-unification

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One of the more striking cartoons features a young boy, who falls asleep while doing his math homework and dreams of blowing up American warships and landing craft with missiles. While the other boys in his dream are successful at hutting their targets, the main character does not know how to zero in on the proper coordinates because he did not learn from his homework. When he wakes from the nightmare, he immediately returns to his studies.

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US Feature: Bad Business --- A Tale of Baseball, Video Games, and a Falling Hero (Miller)

Before the Fall: Curt SchillingIn 2004, Curt Schilling became a legend in Boston. Playing on a badly-injured ankle, he helped the Red Sox achieve one of the greatest comebacks in baseball history to defeat the hated New York Yankees in the semi-finals. The Red Sox then won the "World Series" --- Boston's first title in 86 years --- over the St Louis Cardinals.

And then was more: in 2007, Schilling's pitching took the Sox win to another World Series, finally changing the course of the Sox/Yankees rivalry after decades of cursed frustration for Bostonians.

Imagine the frustration, then, of many Boston fans when their hero badmouthed some of their best-loved politicians and used his fame to campaign for Republican candidates. And then you can appreciate the Schadenfreude at Schilling's failure to launch a successful computer game company.

As Robert Miller points out on The Boston Gamer, however, the reaction to Shilling's recent failure is a lot more than gloating or political squabbling. The collapse of 38 Studios has exposed the hypocrisy of politically-active citizens, the unscrupulous behavior of famous people with more money than brains, and the deeply flawed inner-workings of State Government and its business practices.

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The Latest from Iran (26 May): Propaganda Watch

See also Iran Snap Analysis: Propaganda, Negotiations, and the Economic Ties That Bind
Friday's The Latest from Iran (25 May): On to The "Last Chance" Nuclear Talks in Moscow

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1605 GMT: Nuclear Watch. Laura Rozen adds valuable detail to our news and analysis of the nuclear talks in Baghdad. She describes how there nearly was no agreement to another meeting in Moscow --- some of the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, Russia) were pushing for a harder line than others on the language to be offered to the Iranians in a statement summarising Baghdad's discussions and looking to the future.

In the end, the European Union's Catherine Ashton, the lead negotiator for the 5+1, worked out a compromise text. In her press conference at the end of the meetings, she said, "Significant gaps remain" between Iran and the 5+1, but there was enough common ground for another round of talks.

Ashton reportedly used the Iraqi hosts and the Chinese and Russian delegations to ensure the acceptance of the Iranians, who proposed Astana in Kazakhstan, Beijing, or Moscow as the next venue.

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Syria, Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More than 50 Die in Houla; A Presidential Run-Off in Cairo

UN military observers view dozens of victims of Friday's killings in Houla in Syria

See also Bahrain Special: Preaching Religious Tolerance, Practicing Religious Discrimination
Bahrain Live Coverage: UN Human Rights Council Sends Message to Regime
Friday's Egypt, Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Waiting for a Presidential Outcome
Egypt Opinion: A Reminder After the Presidential Vote "The Revolution Lives"

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2015 GMT: SyriaTonight's protest in the Kafarsouseh section of Damascus, in sympathy with the people of Houla:

1945 GMT: Algeria. Lawmakers of the "moderate" Islamic Green Algeria Alliance and two smaller Islamic factions have walked out of the inaugural session of the new Parliament to protest against an election they claim was rigged to give a majority to the ruling party.

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