The Latest from Iran (17 October): Plots, Rumours, and A Flying Cabbage

See also Iran Document: 1st Report of The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights
Iran Audio Feature: How Ahmadinejad's Advisor Stumbled Into An Admission of The Battle Within

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1940 GMT: The Plot. President Ahmadinejad has used an interview with Al Jazeera English tonight to deny any Iranian involvement in the plan to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US: "Terror is for people... who don't have any logic. People of Iran are pro-logic."

Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani has tried a different approach, declaring that the main suspect in the US, Manssor Arbabsiar, is "addicted to opium and drunken and mentally not well balanced".

1640 GMT: The Plot. Minister of Defense Ahmad Vahidi has insisted that Iran is the most secure and stable country in the world today and that US accusations of Tehran's attempt to kill the Saudi Ambassador in Washington are "an intelligence disgrace".

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Syria, Yemen (and Beyond) LiveBlog: The "New Normal" of Daily Deaths

A fighter for Libya's National Transitional Council plays guitar while battle rages in Sirte (Aris Messinis/AFP/Getty Images)

See also Middle East Video: US Embassy Promotes Opposition's "Support Yemen" Campaign

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1930 GMT: Videos of protest and clashes across Syria today....

In Homs, where 21 people reportedly died, bystanders shelter from gunfire:

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Occupy Wall Street Video: A Marine to New York Police "This is Not a War Zone"

See also Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Why the Protests? Here are the Charts....
Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Protests All Around the World

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Marine Sergeant Shamar Thomas yells at police in New York City's Times Square, "If you want to fight, go to Iraq and Afghanistan", and in the last 75 seconds of the video, explains his actions:

And another veteran has a message for the claim of Fox News' Sean Hannity that demonstrators are "unpatriotic": "When they have these protests overseas, we call them democratic" (Warning: Strong Language at end of video):

Iran Document: 1st Report of The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights

The Special Rapporteur also remains concerned about the well-being and health of prisoners, especially those mentioned in the present report, and encourages the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran to launch full investigations into those cases. He also requests that he be granted the ability to substantiate accounts raised here through access to both detention centres and those detained. The Special Rapporteur further requests that the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran review those cases and furnish the Special Rapporteur with information that would enable him to report progress or developments in those matters to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council.

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Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Why the Protests? Here are the Charts.... (Business Insider)

Last week Business Insider, trying to explain the motives for the Occupy protests, published a chart-essay illustrating the extreme inequality that has developed in the US economy since the 1980s.

And for those new to the topic, here is a handy seven-slide introduction:

1. Unemployment is at the highest level since the Great Depression, with the exception of a brief blip in the early 1980s):

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Middle East Video: US Embassy Promotes Opposition's "Support Yemen" Campaign

Last week, opposition activists posted the video "Support Yemen --- Break the Silence" on YouTube. 

In the two-minute production, a series of men and women powerfully put out the message of a peaceful call for change, defying the repression of the regime --- "My heart beats to the tune of Yemen" --- steadily stating their demands for basic rights and asking, "Will you support us and break the silence?"

The initiative is notable in itself, but there is a diplomatic twist. The video's activists may claim, "The world is blind to Change Square," but the US Embassy in Yemen certainly is not. Yesterday it put the video on its Facebook page.

The Embassy makes no political comment but urges, "Check out this video by alumni of the MEPI LDF program." That is a reference to the Middle East Partnership Initiative, started under the George W. Bush Administration, and its Leaders for Democracy Fellowships. The annual three-month programme works with 20-25 "civic leaders", between the ages of 25 and 40, from the Middle East and North Africa.

The homepage for the programme sets out the combination of academic work and an internship in Washington: "participants gain a practical understanding of the interactions between government and civil society, while also gaining valuable knowledge, skills, and professional contacts to benefit their professional pursuits in their home countries".

Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): Protests All Around the World (Buckley/Donadio)

Protesters sing "This Land is Your Land" and are then asked to leave --- with some arrested --- Washington Square in New York City. Near the end, Josh Harkinson of Mother Jones, filming the events, barely escapes detention.

Occupy Wall Street (and Beyond): 1st-Hand Reports from Occupy London March
A Unifying Statement from Occupy Wall Street? 

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Buoyed by the longevity of the Occupy Wall Street encampment in Manhattan, a wave of protests swept across Asia, the Americas and Europe on Saturday, with hundreds and in some cases thousands of people expressing discontent with the economic tides in marches, rallies and occasional clashes with the police.

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The Latest from Iran (16 October): A New Ambassador in Syria

See also Iran Audio Feature: How Ahmadinejad's Advisor Stumbled Into An Admission of The Battle Within
Iran Analysis: Sometimes A Plot is a Drug Deal Gone Wrong
Iran Analysis: Sometimes A Plot is Just A Plot
Iran Analysis: Duelling Propaganda Banjos Play Over Backroom Manoeuvres

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1900 GMT: Bank Fraud Watch. On Saturday, Iran Prosecutor General Gholam-Hossein Mohseni Ejei met with the Chief Executive Officers of 13 banks and eight more detained suspects in the $2.6 billion bank fraud.

Mohseni Ejei met w CEOs of 13 banks, 8 more culprits arrested in case of bank fraud yesterday

1830 GMT: Reformist Watch. Former President Mohammad Khatami, speaking to University professors, has asked, "Would bank frauds have happened if press and organisations were free?" He continued, "Oppressing dissidents and apparent calm do not mean society is calm."

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Syria, Yemen (and Beyond): The Drumbeat of Protests and Killings

Claimed footage of snipers firing on protesters today in Sana'a, Yemen

See also Syria 1st-Hand: Life with Assad's Alawites

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2105 GMT: Al Jazeera English's Rula Amin reports via Twitter that at least seven people have died in Homs in Syria today.

Meanwhile, in Harasta, northeast of Damascus, an anti-regime protest chants in solidarity with those in other cities:

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Iran Audio Feature: How Ahmadinejad's Advisor Stumbled Into An Admission of The Battle Within

Complaints against "some of the people in powerful positions"? With that sentence, the President's Ali Akbar Javanfekr had given journalist Masih Alinejad the admission of the battle within the Iranian establishment and opened up this question: how high up do the Presidential complaints go?

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