Egypt LiveBlog: The Latest on the Parliament Elections

MONDAY, 28 NOVEMBER

2020 GMT: An EA correspondent checks in....

The High Elections Commission, claiming that complaints are very minor, says the ruling National Democratic Party has won 125 of the 508 seats so far. The Muslim Brotherhood has won 0.

Over coming days, 185 seats will have run-offs.

MP Abdel Rahim al-Ghoul of Nagga Hamadi in the province of Qena, accused of involvement in the murder of seven Coptic Christians in January 2010, is in a run-off.

Parliamentary correspondent Mahmoud Nafadi is noting continuing changes in the recorded votes, indicating rigging.

Our EA correspondent also notes the assertions of human rights groups in our 1925 GMT entry. She adds that the head of the Tagammu Party has added his voice to charges that representatives and voters were barred from polling stations.

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The Latest from Iran (29 November): Politics and Assassination

2045 GMT: Picture of Day. Cleric Ahmad-Reza Ahmedpour, released (see 1905 GMT) after eight months in prison.

1940 GMT: Today's Assassination. In his press conference,President Ahmadinejad said, "Undoubtedly the hand of the Zionist regime and Western governments is involved" in this morning's assassination (see 0730 and 1010 GMT) of one Iranian nuclear scientist and wounding of another.

Dr Majid Shahriari was killed and Professor Fereydoun Abbasi and his wife were wounded in separate car bombings in Tehran.

Mohammad Reza Rahimi, the 1st Vice-President, also blamed Israel, saying it had "picked up the weapon of terror". Speaking at a joint conference with Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, Rahimi added, "We will remove this mask and devilish cover from their face and reveal their identity."

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Wikileaks-Iran Document: Problems with the Opposition and the Economy...in April 2009

Ahmadinejad's defeats on the budget and his plan to distribute cash payments to lower-income Iranians show that power centers, such as the Majles, are actively working to pressure the President prior to the June election....

Khamenei moderated his support for Ahmadinejad following Khatami's decision to exit the contest. Hosseini predicts Mir Hossein Mousavi will win the election.

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Wikileaks Special: The Consequences for Israel, the US, and the Middle East

There will be immediate consequences of these revelations: for example, look for the Iranian regime to wave this proof that foreign dark forces are trying to break Iran. Hamas will uses the leaks against Fatah and Fatah will use them against Israel. 

But far beyond this is the question of how others will use  American "power": these cables indicate how that concept is primarily used as an image that local governments manipulate for their own ends. Now that the act is out in the open, can they continue to do so? And how can the Obama Administration respond?

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Wikileaks-Iran Analysis: What This Means For Tehran and Arab States (Tehrani)

To interpret the Wikleaks documents on Iran, EA turns to its correspondent, Mr Tehrani:

The latest Wikileaks "dump" of previously secret US diplomatic communication gives us little in the way of new information on the Islamic Republic of Iran. There is no smoking gun on the atomic programme nor any new revelation on the Iranian meddling in Iraq, Lebanon and beyond. However, the documents provide an illuminating confirmation of what many could have previously sensed to be the prevailing mood within the Middle East regarding the regime run by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ali Khamenei.

Not surprisingly, the overall picture is a grim one. According to the material made available so far by The Guardian, the cluster of so-called "moderate" states, informally led by Saudi Arabia, have developed a distinct "Iranophobia". Their evident distrust-paranoia of Tehran and the almost manic fear of an aggression --- nuclear or otherwise --- by Iran against them has reached the point in which constructive diplomatic engagement between the current Iranian government and its regional counterparts borders on the meaningless. As summed up brilliantly by a high level Qatar official in a conversation with the local US embassy, the Iranians "lie to us and we lie back to them".

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Wikileaks Special: The Consequences for Turkey and the US

I have written often of Ankara's pro-Western tendencies, underlining that Erdogan's government is nothing short of a liberal and pragmatic organisation, seeking relative autonomy in the region without raising an eyebrow in the Oval Office. So have a look at this ridiculous quotation, taken from an adviser to the ruling AKP party and added into a US report: "Turkey wants to take back Andalusia and avenge the defeat at the siege of Vienna in 1683."

There are only two options for an analyst: either some of the American diplomats are seriously ignorant about the politics and strategies pursued in the country where they are authorized to work or they are being asked to report any shred of "information" without filtering it.

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Egypt Latest: Today's Parliamentary Elections

We have now moved the LiveBlog to the top of the page, continuing our coverage of the aftermath of the election.

Korea Latest: As US-South Korea Drills Begin, Journalists Ordered to Leave

UPDATE 1110 GMT: Yonhap News interprets South Korea's flurry of varying message on China's call for six-party talks:

The foreign ministry said Sunday that China's offer to resume six-party talks on North Korea "should be studied very carefully," stressing that creating the right atmosphere for reopening the negotiations is a priority.

The reaction was seen as a de facto rejection of Beijing's proposal that the chief delegates from the six nations meet in early December to discuss tensions on the Korean Peninsula after North Korea's deadly artillery strike on a South Korean island.

UPDATE 1035 GMT: South Korea has shifted its position (see 0909 GMT) on the Chinese intervention, now saying it will "carefully consider" Beijing's call for a resumption of six-party talks.

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The Latest from Iran (28 November): Politics Does Not Stop

1625 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. The names of four of the seven activists detained in Marivan in Iranian Kurdistan have been published.

1550 GMT: Rafsanjani Watch. The Supreme Leader's represetnative to the Revolutionary Guard, Mojtaba Zolnour, has renewed the allegation that the children of former President Hashemi Rafsanjani --- Mehdi Hashemi and Faezeh Hashemi --- were involved in the 2009 "sedition".

The regime has elevated its threats in recent weeks to arrest Mehdi Hashemi, who is currently in London.

1510 GMT: Press Watch. The managing directors of the conservative newspapers Fararu and Tabnak have been convicted of charges in a Tehran court.

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Korea Music Video Special: Getting Funky with Pyongyang

We originally featured this video on 5 September to show off how music and spoofing the "enemy" has a proud history from World War II to the present. But, in a very tense week, I think it might be valuable to bring it back for a few smiles: