In advance of our analysis in the morning, a snapshot of the some of the framing and intepretation of the IAEA report on Iran's nuclear programme....
Our take-away line at this point: "The report is more serious for Iran than previous IAEA findings but not as serious as Western officials were spinning it."
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 21:30 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran People run for shelter from gunfire in Homs in Syria on Monday
See also Middle East Video: From Media Battle in Syria to Imprisoned Egyptian Blogger to Video Games
Monday's Syria, Bahrain (and Beyond) LiveBlog: Open Protest, Open Repression
2120 GMT: Back from an academic break to find this footage of people protesting in Barzeh outside the Syrian capital Damascus:
Anthony Shadid, Syria 
2110 GMT: Currency Watch. The Iranian rial continues to slide against the US dollar. Having broken the 13000:1 barrier for the first time this summer, it sank from 13100:1 on Sunday to 13280:1 today, also falling against the British pound and Euro.
Meanwhile, economic expert Bijan Abdi has sharply criticised, "Our benefit from the Year of Economic Jihad" --- declared by the Supreme Leader in March --- "is next to nothing." He blamed the Ahmadinejad Administration and Parliament for the failure.
2100 GMT: That Ahmadinejad Speech. Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has pushed back hard against President Ahmadinejad.
Without naming the President, Larijani said, "We are confronted with political 'lumpenism', politicians should not agitate society mentally."
The Speaker used the derogatory term "laat-baazi", referring to the indecent behaviour of a rascal, as he indicated, "A certain political person has not enough manners or honour."
The International Atomic Energy Agency's report on Iran's nuclear programme --- the subject of much advance presentation and hype since last week --- has appeared on the website of the Institute for Science and International Security.
The report is stronger than previous IAEA reports in two key areas: 1) its standard phrase of Iran's "non-diversion of declared nuclear material" has a tougher caveat this time over the IAEA's inability to inspect certain facilties --- "the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran"; and 2) the finding, for the first time, "Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device".
The second point is the one that unnamed officials have been touting, with amplification of supposed models and equipment for nuclear chain reactions, to international media. The IAEA has a 15-page annex with the technical information, but the salient point is its caution --- in comparison with what officials are presenting --- in its accusations of organised activity by Tehran for a militarised capability. While it sees "a structured programme" before 2003, when Iran's activities came under scrutiny after revelations about the possible research for military uses, the IAEA does not bring down the hammer of saying that Tehran has definitely done so since then: "some activities may still be ongoing".
CONCLUSIONS
52. While the Agency continues to verify the non-diversion of declared nuclear material at the nuclear facilities and LOFs declared by Iran under its Safeguards Agreement, as Iran is not providing the necessary cooperation, including by not implementing its Additional Protocol, the Agency is unable to provide credible assurance about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran, and therefore to conclude that all nuclear material in Iran is in peaceful activities.
I will be in a series of seminars all day at EA's home, the University of Birmingham. Topics range from the rise of "modern terrorism" to propaganda and public diplomacy to an assessment of US foreign policy in the 1950s and 1960s.
Updates to the LiveBlogs will be limited until early afternoon, when James Miller return. In the meantime, enjoy a series of features we have today --- from the "spinning" of Iran's nuclear program to a critique of the US drone strategy to media in the Middle East --- and do bring in your ideas via our Comments pages.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 7:10 | James Miller in EA Afghanistan-Pakistan, EA Global, EA USA, US Foreign Policy 
Glenn Greenwald, writing for Salon, summarises the US use of drone strikes in the latest phase of the War on Terror. From the realization that not even the CIA knows who the strikes are killing to the foggy legal justification for the drone operations to the personal story of the death of 16-year-old Tariq Aziz, Greenwald collects and examines the latest headlines in his blanket condemnation of the tactic.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 6:29 | James Miller in EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, EA WikiLeaks, Journalism and Media, Middle East and Iran Al Jazeera's Listening Post, takes on the contest between the regime and opposition to frame the presentation of the conflict in Syria, the situation of imprisoned Egyptian blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, the latest news from Wikileaks and Julian Assange, and the case of an Israeli whistle-blower.
And then there is the last item on how video games are being used to simulate the news, hopefully engaging, educating, and inspiring audiences along the way:
For Nanodiamonds or a Nuclear Device?Dr. Vyacheslav Danilenko is a well known Ukrainian (“former Soviet”) scientist. But his specialties are not “weapon” or “nuclear” science, indeed there seems to be nothing to support that claim, but the production of nanodiamonds via detonations. According to the history of detonation nanodiamonds he describes in chapter 10 of Ultrananocrystalline Diamond –-- Synthesis, Properties, and Applications, he has worked in that field since 1962, invented new methods used in the process and is related with Alit, an Ukrainian company that produces nanodiamonds.
Shirin Ebadi --- lawyer, activist, and Nobel Prize laureate --- will be the Henriette van Lynden Lecture” in Amsterdam tonight, speaking on "Against all Odds: The Battle for Human Rights in Iran".
The North Africa and Middle East Department of the Dutch Foreign Ministry has organised the event and will be LiveStreaming it from 20.00 CET (1900 GMT) at www.debalie.nl/live. The broadcast will include both the lecture and a Q+A session and will last until 21.30 CET (2030 GMT).
Ms Ebadi will speak in Persian, with simultaneous translation and LiveStream in English.
Monday, November 7, 2011 at 11:07 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2021 GMT: Al Jazeera reports that 11 civilians have died today, and the Syrian opposition has asked for international support to stop the killing:
The appeal, issued by the Turkey-based Syrian National Council, came as activists reported that at least 11 people were killed across the country on Monday, including two children, in an ongoing crackdown on anti-government protesters by security forces.
Activists said that at least eight of the dead were in Homs where hundreds of residents protested against the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, adding that government troops stormed several areas and made house-to-house arrests.
Heavy artillery clashes erupted between regime forces and presumed army defectors in Homs, activists reported, saying it was the fifth day of a "brutal siege on the brave city".
2030 GMT: Activists share this video, reportedly showing women protesting today in Douma, Syria, before the military fires shots into the air to scare them away:
2021 GMT: It might be a long night in Bahrain. An actist posts this report within the last 10 minutes, though we have no confirmation of the details:
