The Latest from Iran (7 December): Rallying the Students

See also Iran Video Feature: On National Students Day, A Tribute to Detained Activist Bahareh Hedayat
Iran Follow-Up: Why is US Playing Crash-and-Tell Over Its Drone?
The Latest from Iran (6 December): The Drone Mystery

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Majid Tavakoli2355 GMT: Media Watch. Press TV, the English-language Iranian media outlet operating out of the UK has been fined £100,000 by OfCom, the British communications regulatory body, for "breaches of the Broadcasting Code" and ordered to broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings on its service.

Press TV appears to have complied with the broadcasting of the OfCom finding by posting an article on its site claiming that OfCom has contradicted itself:

The regulator announced that Press TV is required to pay a 100,000-pound fine and “broadcast a statement of Ofcom's findings on its service Press TV.”

This is while Ofcom had previously stated that it would not direct Press TV to broadcast a summary of its findings, requiring the English-language channel to only pay the fine. The summary is as follows:

“Ofcom found that Press TV presentation of the interview of Mr. [Maziar] Bahari in the news item was unfair because it missed out important facts, for example that the interview was conducted under duress whilst Mr. Bahari was being held in a prison in Tehran.”

“Also the interview was broadcast in a context in which inferences adverse to Mr. Bahari could be drawn. Press TV did not obtain Mr. Bahari consent to the interview.”

“Ofcom also found that the filming and broadcast of the interview without Mr. Bahari's consent while he was in a sensitive vulnerable situation was an unwarranted infringement of his privacy.

“As a result Ofcom has fined Press TV 100,000 pounds and directed it to broadcast this summary.”

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Bahrain Feature: Today's Revival of Mass Protests

Protester Mohamed Alhaiki, despite being beaten by police, refuses to drop a Bahraini flag

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As expected, the end of the religious period of Ashura has brought an end to a quiet phase in protests against the Bahraini regime. An EA correspondent reports protests today in at least three locations: Al Daih, Sanabis, and the capital Manama. 

Thousands turned up in Al Daih, a few miles west of Manama, holding pictures and carrying a small blood-stained replica of the monument of Pearl Roundabout, the symbolic centre of the protests that was overrun in March by the security forces, with the monument demolished days later. The religious procession marked the Shia holy days of Muharram; however, at 4:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) protesters decided to march towards Pearl Roundabout, now known as Martyrs' Square, 3 1/2 miles from the village.

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Iran Video Feature: On National Students Day, A Tribute to Detained Activist Bahareh Hedayat

Bahareh Hedayat, a student activist and campaigner for women's rights, was arrested for the fourth time on 31 December 2009. This time her detention would be a long one --- in May 2010, she was sentenced to 9 1/2 years in prison for anti-state propaganda.

A tribute to her work:

Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Uncertainty and Deaths in Homs

A march last night in the Al Bab section of Aleppo in Syria

Bahrain Feature: Today's Revival of Mass Protests
Syria Opinion: Beyond the "Sectarian" Spectre --- Everyone in Homs is a Victim
Bahrain Opinion: The US and "The Wrong Side of History"
Tuesday's Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: As Dozens Die in a Kidnapping, Damascus Responds to Arab League

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2110 GMT: Another video complementing our special feature on today's renewal of protests and clashes in Bahrain --- security forces mobilise in Aldaih in front of the house of the Vice President of Al Wefaq, the largest opposition group:

Meanwhile, Bahrain authorities, having initially said that a package detonated at the national airport contained explosives, now say that it had "tools used to make explosives".

The Ministry of Interior initially claimed that a group had sent explosives from Britain via Dubai, but it now asserts that the package was a "dummy" to test Bahrain's defences.

2010 GMT: More protest video from Syria tonight --- a rally in Bousr Al Harer in Daraa Province:

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Bahrain Opinion: The US and "The Wrong Side of History"

There used to be a saying, "History is written by the victors." That does not hold anymore. Though Bahrain's protest movement may have been suppressed, history is not going to remember this as the a valiant defence by Bahrain's regime against a violent minority, aided by malevolent foreign powers. This will be remembered as an apartheid regime crushing a democracy movement, assisted by its biggest foreign ally still portraying itself as a beacon of liberty and justice.

The White House appears unaware of this re-writing of history. That failure will not just land it on the wrong side of history. It will also put it, on a daily side, on the wrong side of those who observe and wonder for what "America" really stands. 

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Syria Opinion: Beyond the "Sectarian" Spectre --- Everyone in Homs is a Victim

Everyone in Homs is a victim. The longer this continues, the more people who will die from acts of violence, most (at the hands of the Syrian regime and its supporters. And the longer this continues, the greater the possibility of retaliation. Despite the best efforts of the leadership of the Syrian opposition, the calls for unity in the street, and the inclusion of Alawites and Christians into these organisations, and the efforts of the overwhelmed and under-equipped Free Syrian Army, more civilians will die and sectarian flames will be fueled. The fears and reports of the violence of sect upon sect will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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Iran Follow-Up: Why is US Playing Crash-and-Tell Over Its Drone?

>The disclosures continue to emerge over the US advanced drone, the RQ-170 Sentinel, that crashed in eastern Iran on Sunday.

But here's the curious thing --- the revelations are not coming from Tehran. It's the Americans who are talking. A lot.

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The Latest from Iran (6 December): The Drone Mystery

See also Iran Video: Free Nasrin Sotoudeh
Iran Analysis: Fact and Fiction on the Crash of an Advanced US Drone
The Latest from Iran (5 December): A Regime in Deadlock Drones On

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2045 GMT: The House Arrests. An EA correspondent reports that Mohammad Hossein Karroubi, the son of the detained opposition figure Mehdi Karroubi, has revealed that he met his father for 30 minutes on Saturday afternoon.

The younger Karroubi, writing on Facebook, said that he was joined by his mother Fatemeh, who has also been held under strict house arrest since mid-February. The meeting took place at the family's new home in Jamaran in north Tehran.

Mehdi Karroubi was reportedly in good spirits and improving health, having suffered from respiratory problems this autumn. He now has an entire floor of the house where he is held and is given two daily newspapers, Ettelaat and Jam-e Jam, to read.

1845 GMT: Virtual Diplomacy Watch. The US Government has launched its "Virtual Embassy" to "work as a bridge between the American and Iranian people", with "latest news", visa services, and information on "Study in the USA" and "Open Societies".

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Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: As Dozens Die in a Kidnapping, Damascus Responds to Arab League

See also Syria Feature: Reflections on Razan Ghazzawi, Now Detained
Monday's Bahrain, Syria (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Sorting Out "Shameless Acts of Terror"

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2110 GMT: Tonight's mass demonstration in Deir Ez Zor in northeast Syria:

2048 GMT: Yemen Prime Minister Mohammed Basindwa said today that an interim government will be formed in the next 48 hours.

The announcement came as forces of President Saleh and those of dissident military and tribes pulled back from some positions in the southern city of Taiz, after at least 20 people were killed in the last five days.

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Afghanistan Audio: Scott Lucas with the BBC "The Bonn Conference and the Future"

UPDATE 1300 GMT: At least 54 people were killed and 150 injured in the Kabul explosion, according to the Ministry of Health. Four people died and 21 were injured in the Mazar-e Sharif bomb.

UPDATE 1000 GMT: A senior police officer has said more than 40 people have been killed and more than 100 wounded in the Kabul bombing.

UPDATE 0830 GMT: A bomb has exploded at a Shi'a mosque in central Kabul as worshippers commemorated the religious occasion of Ashura. Journalist Jerome Starkey reported, "Dozens dead. Bodies all over the street." An AFP photographer also counted more than 30 dead.

Another attack has been reported in Mazar-e Sharif in northern Afghanistan.

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Ten years after the fall of the Taliban in Afghanistan --- and ten years after the first Bonn Conference on the country's future --- Afghan leaders and foreign representatives have again convened in Germany. I spoke with BBC West Midlands last night about the conference, the prospects for progress, the absence of the Taliban from the discussion, and the possible motives for Afghan President Hamid Karzai's subsequent visit to London.

The item starts just before the 1:10.00 mark.