Bahrain Feature: Updated List of 68 Killed Since February 2011

Ali MushaimaA Bahraini activist, Mohammad Ashoor, has updated his list of those who have died from violence in Bahrain since the start of mass protests on 14 February 2011. The list does not appear to include five policemen who have also died in clashes, according to the report of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry:

1. Martyr Ali Mushaima - 14 February 2011 - Killed by birdshot in Al Daih

 2. Martyr Fadhil Salman Al Matrook - 15 February 2011 - Killed by birdshot during the funeral of martyr Ali Mushaima

3. Martyr Ali Mansoor Khudair - 17 February 2011 - Killed by birdshot during the first Lulu (Pearl Roundabout) attack

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Iran Special: And This Week's Medals for Worst News Coverage Go To....

"Iran's Threat to the United States" --- CNN makes its bid for Worst Story of the Week

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"IRAN WILL ATTACK NEW YORK", "IRAN WILL SET LOOSE AL QA'EDA", "IRAN ASSASSINATING ISRAELI DIPLOMATS" --- Who wins the Gold Medal this week for worst Iran-related story?

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Violence Escalates

Protesters throw Molotov cocktails at security forces in Aldair in Bahrain on Saturday

See also Palestine Letter: Khader Adnan "Why I Am on Hunger Strike"
Bahrain Feature: Updated List of 68 Killed Since February 2011
Sunday's Syria Live Coverage: Defiance in Damascus
Saturday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Story Gets Out

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1244 GMT: At least 15 people have been killed and 21 wounded when a bomber wearing a suicide vest blew himself up near the entrance to the Iraqi Police Academy in the east of Baghdad.

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Deadly attacks have also been reported in and around the city of Baquba, to the north of Baghdad. Four police informants were killed by suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen.

Gunmen also attacked a checkpoint in Abu Khamis, north of Baquba, killing one policeman and two members of the Sahwa (Awakening) militia.

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The Latest from Iran (18 February): The Issue is the Economy

See also Iran 1st-Hand: "Almost Everybody is Under Financial Pressure"
The Latest from Iran (17 February): The Political Battle

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President Ahmadinejad Sees a Nuclear Project1315 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. At today's trial over the $2.6 billion bank fraud, the prosecution separated the 32 defendants into six groups:

1) the main companions of the central figure, Amir Mansour Khosravi, involved in all crimes such as forging and using documents, exchanging lines of credits, establishing fraudulent companies, transferring money, and buying property;
2) companions of Amir Khosravi active in the cases;
3) people who acted for Amir Khosravi as brokers;
4) management of companies who demanded faked lines of credit;
5) employees of the Amir Mansur Investment Group involved in embezzlement, receiving large payments to handle illegal affairs;
6) members of management and credit and supervisory departments of banks, who neglected their duties or dissipated funds as government employees.

Khosravi said he had spent 6 1/2 months in prison but had had only two hours to talk to his lawyer. The lawyer said he had had no chance to read the complaint.

Khosravi, according to the report, admitted that he had paid a $3 million bribe to Mahmoud Reza Khavari, the former head of Bank Melli who has fled to Canada, but added that he did not want to commit treason.

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Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The Story Gets Out

The moment that Syrian security forces opened fire on a funeral crowd in Mezzeh in Damascus today

See also Tunisia Feature: Islamists, Faith, and Democracy
Egypt 1st-Hand: Nine Views of a Country's Future
Bahrain Movie: "Tn Tn Ttn" --- The Story of a Horn and Its Resistance
Bahrain 1st-Hand: The Deported Irish Activist's Week on the Island "They Are Slowly Killing These People"
Syria Audio Special: A Resident of Homs Speaks to EA Worldview
Yemen Interview: Nadia Al-Sakkaf "The Revolution Doesn't Relate to Daily Lives"
Friday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Two More Anniversaries

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2156 GMT: Scenes of clashes in Sitra in Bahrain today --- in the first, a youth is struck by fire from the police:

Youths pursue the security forces, throwing Molotovs:

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Tunisia Feature: Islamists, Faith, and Democracy (Shadid)

An Ennadha Party Supporterjani, a senior member of the Ennahda Party:

The epiphany of Said Ferjani came after his poor childhood in a pious town in Tunisia, after a religious renaissance a generation ago awakened his intellect, after he plotted a coup and a torturer broke his back, and after he fled to Britain to join other Islamists seeking asylum on a passport he had borrowed from a friend.

Twenty-two years later, when Mr. Ferjani returned home, he understood the task at hand: building a democracy, led by Islamists, that would be a model for the Arab world.

“This is our test,” he said.

If the revolts that swept the Middle East a year ago were the coming of age of youths determined to imagine another future for the Arab world, the aftermath that has brought elections in Egypt and Tunisia and the prospect of decisive Islamist influence in Morocco, Libya and, perhaps, Syria is the moment of another, older generation.

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Egypt 1st-Hand: Nine Views of a Country's Future (Bohn)

Photos: Lauren BohnBefore the revolution, Ayad says he didn't fit in. And now, he says he still doesn't. He's "not pumped up enough to be a revolutionary." But he's not apathetic enough for the popular Hezb al Kanaba, the party of the couch. In fact, he wishes he were more indifferent. Like many, he's frustrated, if not angry, by a regime he says is still running the show. Back then, days spent in Tahrir seemed like the beginning of an exciting story, one where anything could happen. Now, he feels the square's more like a bad sequel.

"It's sad because maybe it shows the majority of Egyptian people don't deserve better, because they're not fighting for it," he says. "You can't want something for them more than they do." Still, after he larks around the world by sea, he hopes to return to Egypt. He's developed a love-hate relationship with the place he can't seem to shake. And he still has hope, he reassures me -- or perhaps himself -- every five minutes.

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Bahrain Movie: "Tn Tn Ttn" --- The Story of a Horn and Its Resistance

One of the anthems of the protest movement in Bahrain is the simple "Tn Tn Ttn", chanted or sounded by horn. It is a message for the King, "Down Down Hamad".

This short film, "Tin Tin Tyntin", is the story of a horn persisting in its call, despite those who try to silence it.

Iran 1st-Hand: "Almost Everybody is Under Financial Pressure" (Tehran Bureau)

Almost everybody I talk to is under financial pressure. Many contractors are owed money by the governmental organizations, but not the ones that are part of the "khodi" [us] crowd. The war fears have subsided somewhat, but people are still very stressed out. A business owner tells me that workers who voted for Ahmadinejad back in 2005 are now all outspoken critics of the regime. Some who are young enough to be drafted in the event of a war say they will refuse to pick up a gun.

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Bahrain 1st-Hand: The Deported Irish Activist's Week on the Island "They Are Slowly Killing These People"

The women's march in Bahrain today

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When I spoke with Irish activist Elaine Masons last night, she knew that she would likely be arrested and deported if she was involved in leading a march. However, she knew that if deported, she would create media interest, and when she did, she could tell the world about all that she experienced and observed.

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