US-China Video: Will There Be Confrontation? --- Scott Lucas on Al Jazeera English

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On Saturday, I appeared on Al Jazeera English's Inside Story with Jonathan Holslag of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies and Simon Shen of the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

There was an interesting range of opinion over the motivations behind recent US military, economic, and political moves, the response within China, and the outcome. In the end, I think I was the most optimistic of the panellists that there would not be a long-term escalation in tensions, although I held out the possibility that there might be consequences if Washington continued to poke at Beijing with its latest manoeuvres.

The US and China: Scott Lucas on Al Jazeera English

I will be part of the panel on Al Jazeera English's Inside Story, considering whether recent American moves point towards US-China confrontation (spoiler: I am the optimist among the panellists that conflict is not necessarily the outcome).

The programme will air at 1730 GMT today and will repeated at 0030 GMT on Sunday.

Occupy Wall Street Follow-Up: 1000s March, New York Times Shrugs Shoulders

A journalist for Agence France Presse films her own arrest by New York police

See also Occupy Wall Street LiveStream: The March on the Stock Exchange

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Thursday brought new life to the Occupy movement, at least for activists and many protesters, as thousands of people marched on Wall Street in the morning and later gathered at Union Square and Foley Square. Two days after the eviction from Zuccotti/Liberty Square, and amidst police clearances of protest sites in other cities, the marches --- which took up many New York avenues and intersections --- were a sign of persistence, even if aims and outcomes are far from clear.

You would be hard-pressed to know this from the website of The New York Times, however.

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Middle East Video: From Media Battle in Syria to Imprisoned Egyptian Blogger to Video Games

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:

Iran Video: Anything to See Here? Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Interview with Al Jazeera English

On Tuesday we noted President Ahmadinejad's interview in Tehran with Tony Harris of Al Jazeera English --- covering the new topic of the alleged Iranian plot to kill the Saudi Ambassador to the US, as well as the ritual issues of Tehran's nuclear programme and the situation in Syria --- and concluded that there was very little of significance.

Well, now you can judge for yourself:

The Latest from Iran (18 October): The Same Old Mahmoud

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1955 GMT: Movie Watch. Doesn't look like the Supreme Leader will be going to the premiere of Footloose --- he told a crowd in Kermanshah, "Hollywood is in the service of human degradation."

1858 GMT: Currency Watch. Despite the Central Bank's promises to strengthen the value of the Iranian currency, the rial is still 1250 to $1 on the free market, as opposed to an official rate of 1056:1.

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Syria 1st-Hand: Life with Assad's Alawites (Rosen)

A Pro-Assad Demonstration in AleppoI told the sheikh that the opposition said Alawites controlled the regime. "This is rejected," he said. "It's for justifying the attack against the regime." He listed ministers, governors, and director-generals and insisted very few were Alawites and most were Sunni.

"Our president is Alawite and we suffer from this," he said. "There are four million Alawites," he claimed with some exaggeration. "We don't have even one per cent of the positions in the government." He and his guests said they believed Syria was being pressured so it would make a deal with Israel.

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Egypt Latest: At Least 19 Killed in Clashes Over Christian March

Armoured vehicles drive into the crowd in Cairo

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2220 GMT: The Ministry of Health now reports 23 dead and 174 injured. A curfew has been called for 2 a.m. to 7 a.m. in central Cairo.

2120 GMT: A pair of juxtaposed images tell a story of the night --- a wife is shown in the first with her new husband, in the second she is holding his hand in the morgue:

2100 GMT: Prime Minister Essam Sharaf has stated on his Facebook page: "What is happening now is not clashes between Christians and Muslims. Rather, it is an attempt to sow chaos and strife."

There are reports of hundreds of people attacking the Coptic Hospital in Ramses, where scores of injured are hospitalised, smashing cars when they could not get into the hospital.

An eye-witness reports a police pick-up truck charging protesters attempting to get to Tahrir Square. Small groups of demonstrators are re-grouping in the surrounding streets.

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Syria 1st-Hand: Life with the Protesters (Rosen)

Homs Protester: "Arrest Me"On August 19, a friend named Abu Salah drove me to a daytime funeral and demonstration in the eastern Homs slum of Bab Assiba.

Abu Salah was a businessman who lived in the western neighbourhood of Waer and helped the opposition. He drove a car with fake license plates and delivered aid from wealthy areas such as Ghota, Inshaat and Hamra to the poorer neighbourhoods across town - such as Bab Assiba. We stopped to pick up a friend of his, a man with a beard but no moustache, a sign of conservatism.

As we drove, he received a call letting him know that his cousin, Nawar Nawriz, had died from injuries received the previous night - when attackers had shot at the Fatima mosque while he was praying. After being wounded he was taken to a "field hospital" - a safe house used as a clinic.

Abu Salah told me that opposition supporters donated blood themselves, but they lacked the packs to hold the blood and they needed morphine and medicine to prevent infections and to meet medical needs.

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Bahrain 1st-Hand: "48 Hours in Sanabis" (Al Jazeera English)

A message to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa

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We left the house into the streets. Some stone-carrying shabab were starting to return to the main crossings in central Sanabis, standing over broken glass and spent tear gas cartridges --- all clearly marked "made in USA" --- waiting for the police to return.
 
We passed through the narrow alleyways, some barely wide enough for a car to pass through. Some parts were well lit with the bright orange glow of the street lights, others pitch black. Some areas were tight giving a sense of protection, while others were more open, leaving us completely exposed for a number of seconds when anything could happen. We could only hope as we approached the next street corner that there wouldn't be any police waiting around it, while we kept looking backwards to make sure there were none there either. Too fast and we would come upon them with no place to run, too slow and we'd get caught from behind.

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