Claimed footage of the sister of Ahmad Farhan, who was killed on 17 March, confronting security forces in Bahrain after they allegedly accosted her uncle. The clip ends with the officers firing warning rounds:
Ahmad Farhan, Bahrain 
The International Committee for Human Rights in Iran has published a 38-page report, "Raising Their Voices", with the commentaries of 35 prominent writers, lawyers, filmmakers, and activists inside the country about the impact of a military strike against Iran. Extracts from some of the testimonies:
Photo: ReutersUp to 150,000 people paid homage in Oslo on Monday evening to the victims of the twin attacks that left 76 people dead. Mourners sang songs and cheered in solidarity while others placed flowers on a memorial wall next to the city hall.
Anders Behring Breivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian man, is accused of carrying out the bombing in Oslo and the shooting spree on the resort island of Utoya.
Jens Stoltenberg, the prime minister, told the crowds in Oslo that Norway would not be defeated by the tragedy.
"Evil can kill a person, but it can never defeat a whole nation," he said, to loud applause.
"With the strongest of all the world's weapons - freedom of speech and democracy - do we set the course for Norway post 22 July 2011," Stoltenberg said.
UPDATE 1845 GMT: Hundreds of thousands of people have marched in Oslo and other cities to show sorrow and unity over the Oslo/Utoeya attacks.
UPDATE 1600 GMT: Appearing in court today, Anders Behring Breivik said "calmly" that he expects to spend the rest of his life in prison for the Oslo bomb and Utoeya shootings on Friday.
Breivik entered a not guilty plea, even as he said that he wanted to save Europe from Muslim immigration and warned that there are two other cells in his "network".
Police have revised the death toll from the shootings at the youth camp on Utoeya downward from 86 to 68, claiming difficulties in gathering information. Eight people were slain in the Oslo bomb outside the Prime Minister's office building in Oslo.
EA staff will be attending a celebration in the heart of Britain today, so updates on Iran, the Middle East/North Africa, and Norway will be limited.
Our gratitude to readers for bringing in news and ideas through the Comments sections (though if you are not using Disqus, there may be some delay in posting).
And do have a look at today's features on Iran and Syria....
Claimed footage of frustrated people watching police as they attempt to remove satellite dishes from a neighbourhood in Sarvestan in southern Iran
1840 GMT: The Battle Within. The Supreme Leader has established a "Supreme Board of Arbitration and Adjustment of Relations among the Three Branches of Government" to "regulate the relations between the three branches of government in their interactions and resolve possible disputes".
Ayatollah Khatami appointed Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, former head of Iran's judiciary and current member of the Guardian Council, as the head of the Supreme Board.
Clock Square in Homs, 15 May 2011Syria is awash in such stories of solidarity these days, bridging traditional divides that have colored the country’s politics for generations. But far from disappearing, the old divisions of geography, class and, in particular, religious sect are deepening.
Syrians offer different explanations. Protesters blame the cynical manipulation of a government bent on divide and rule, and the government points to Islamist zealots seeking to impose a tyranny of the majority.
Which prevails — new loyalties born of revolution, or old rivalries entrenched in smaller identities — may decide the fate of Syria’s four-month revolt.
Colliding along the front lines of the uprising, and especially here in Homs, these forces suggest a grim reality of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad: the longer his government remains in power, the less chance Syria has to avoid civil strife, sectarian cleansing and the kind of communal violence that killed at least two dozen people in Homs last week. Unlike in Egypt, and despite the protesters’ hope and optimism, time is not necessarily on their side, a point that some of them admit.
President Ahmadinejad & former President KhatamiAccording to this scheme devised by the ruling regime, reformed reformers would be allowed to play a peripheral political role in the body politic. Through negotiations, media operations and repeated dispatch of messages, a fake and yet optimistic picture would be presented to reformers so that they would move to a position where the regime wants it to be: away from openly challenging the regime while remaining harmless.
In fact, the Iranian regime has a successful track record of pulling reformers and the left into the political electioneering field and then checkmating them. This is what has repeatedly taken place from the election days for the second Assembly of Experts till today. The regime has lost this game only in two instances: elections that resulted in Khatami’s presidency (1997-2005) and those for the sixth Majlis (2000-2004).
Monday, July 25, 2011 at 6:39 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran People rally after evening prayers in the Midan section of Damascus --- note the masks and scarves worn by many to disguise identities
1855 GMT: This video, claiming to have been taken today in Sitra, Bahrain, shows a crowd of police arresting an unarmed man.
1841 GMT: Turkey has delivered the first shipment of oil to the Eastern Libyan city of Benghazi, part of a $10 million oil deal. This shipment will supply needed oil to the Libyan rebels, who have been unwilling to operate their oil infrastructure for fear of Gaddafi's forces targeting the resources.
1816 GMT: In southern Yemen, tribal forces have cooperated with the government to strike at Islamic militants in Zinjibar:
In the south, tribesmen on Monday said they routed militants from parts of the capital of the flashpoint Abyan province. Zinjibar lies east of a key shipping channel where some 3 million barrels of oil pass daily, and is one of several areas in Abyan seized by militants in recent months.
The tribes began backing a military operation to recapture Zinjibar in recent weeks, after accusing the army of being ineffective.
A tribal source said fierce clashes on Monday sent many militants fleeing north to Lawdar, where they were repelled again. Six militants were wounded and four others captured, he said.
Dariush Rezaeinejad & Daughter2015 GMT: Reformist Watch. MP Mohammad Mehdi Shahryari has given an answer both to ruling principlists and to Mohammad Reza Khabbaz, the reformist who has called for participation in the 2012 Parliamentary elections (see 0545 GMT): "The principlists cannot flee from responsibility for the current situation in country, as they supported it for six years."
1825 GMT: Why Can't We All Just Get Along? Aftab pulls out this highlight from an address by the Supreme Leader to military personnel and their families on Saturday night: "Avoiding differences is a religious duty for political officials and currents."
