Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: "Only President Morsi Can Save the Economy"

See also Egypt 1st-Hand: The Immersion in Political Violence
Syria Live Coverage: Will the Arab League Recognise the Opposition?
Monday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Activist Zainab AlKhawaja Writes from Prison

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1910 GMT: Egypt. Blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah handed himself to the authorities for hours of questioning, a day after being accused along with four others of inciting violence.

Abdel-Fattah was cheered by a crowd as he entered the Cairo office of Prosecutor General Talaat Abdullah, who ordered the arrests for encouraging "aggression" against members of the Muslim Brotherhood last week.

The blogger's supporters chanted: "Down, down with [President] Morsi's rule."

1750 GMT: Egypt. Lawyer Hamdy Al-Fakharany has been arrested for allegedly inciting violence against the Freedom and Justice Party's headquarters in Al-Gharbeya.

Al-Fakharany’s daughter Abeer said her father was on his way back from a meeting with the provincial Governor, Mokhtar Al-Hamalawy, when Central Security Forces stopped him.

Abeer said she could not contact her father and did not know where he was taken.

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Egypt 1st-Hand: The Immersion in Political Violence (Hill)

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Amid the hours of violent street battles near the Cairo headquarters of the Muslim Brotherhood on Friday, one moment stood out, captured by Shorouk newspaper photographer Sabry Khaled.

A young man dressed in blue and black track pants and a blue hooded sweatshirt with a bandana around his face points a hand gun at a bearded man he holds by the shoulder as both run through the street. Other young men who stand nearby, one of whom holds a rock, look uninterested or are not watching at all. The bearded man’s face, though half-turned toward his attacker and away from the camera, grimaces in anticipation.

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Activist Zainab AlKhawaja Writes from Prison

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Sunday's Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: US Restarting Negotiations?

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1950 GMT: Libya. Oman has granted the late leader Muammar Gaddafi’s widow and her family asylum on humanitarian grounds, an official at the Foreign Ministry has said.

The move was co-ordinated with Libya and Algeria, where the Qaddafis had lived after the fall of the Libyan ruler, following a pledge by the family that they will not use Oman as a base for political or media activity.

The group --- Qaddafi’s widow Safiyyah Farkash, daughter Aisha and sons Mohammad and Hannibal, as well as their children --- has been living in Oman since October 2012, and their expenses are being covered entirely by the Omani Government.

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Lebanon (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Prime Minister Resigns --- What Next?

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Friday's Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Obama Concludes Trip with Netanyahu Meeting

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Najib Mikati1825 GMT: Turkey and Palestine. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has announced that he may travel to Gaza and the West Bank in April.

The statement follows Friday's reconciliation between Ankara and West Jerusalem, with Israel’s apology for the killing of nine Turkish citizens on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla in May 2010.

“I may eventually visit Gaza and the West Bank in April. This visit would take place in the context of a general effort to contribute to the resolution process [of the Palestinian issue],” Erdoğan told reporters.

1755 GMT: Bahrain. Security forces have fired tear gas to prevent protesters from reaching the house of Nabeel Rajab, the imprisoned head of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Riot police clashed with hundreds of people marching for Rajab, sentenced to two years in prison on charges of backing “illegal” protests.

Authorities also set up roadblocks to keep cars from reaching the house.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Dozens Arrested in Cairo Protests

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Sunday's Iraq (and Beyond) Coverage: At Least 10 Killed in Basra Bomb

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1425 GMT: Egypt. Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ossama Kamal has said that the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry will be unable to provide power plants with enough fuel in forthcoming months.

Kamal, in a meeting with the Egyptian Cabinet, said, “There is a 25% in fuel insufficiency for power plants in the country."

In an attempt to reduce the shortage, the Petroleum and Mineral Resources Ministry announced a bid to import 500 million cubic feet of fuel daily to meet the needs of power plants.

“Egypt has a dire need to import 750 million cubic feet of gas daily to meet needs of power plants and factories,” officials from the Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) said. “A total of 5.75 billion cubic feet of gas is being produced on a daily basis, but what is actually consumed is 6.5 billion cubic feet daily."

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Iraq (and Beyond) Coverage: At Least 10 Killed in Basra Bomb

1555 GMT: Egypt. The Pope of Egypt’s Coptic Church has received the Libyan Ambassador in Cairo to discuss the fate of three Egyptian Coptic-Christians and an Egyptian evangelical, detained in Libya on charges of "promoting Christianity".

Yesterday the Libyan Embassy temporarily suspended operations in Egypt amid concerns over the safety of its staff.

One Egyptian national was released earlier this mohth in the case.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: President Morsi Appeals to Security Forces

1304 GMT: Egypt. The European Union's Parliament has passed a resolution threatening to withhold budget support to Egypt if it does not take significant steps to abide by human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.

The EU allocated 5 billion Euros in aid to Cairo for 2012-2013, conditional on respect of human rights, democracy and economic governance.

Parliament called for promotion of civil society, women's rights, and minority rights. It expressed alarm at the rise in violence directed towards women in Egypt, particularly female protesters and women's rights activists, and demanded the abolition of all laws granting police and security forces the right to use unmitigated violence against civilians.

Members also called for Egypt's judiciary to commute 21 death sentences handed down on 26 January over the deaths of 74 football fans in Port Said's stadium in February 201.

The EU body supported the Egyptian electoral commission's decision to postpone Parliamentary elections, following a court decision suspending the process, and called on the Government to use the opportunity to work on building political consensus ahead of the elections.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Mubarak's Police Behind Almost 900 Killings of Protesters in 2011 Uprising

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Wednesday's Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Death of Vendor Who Set Himself on Fire

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1815 GMT: Bahrain. Dozens of people have reportedly been injured amid widespread protests on the second anniversary of a Saudi-led military intervention to help suppress the pro-reform movement.

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Opposition society Al Wefaq said that at least 35 protesters had been hurt, three of them critically.

The Ministry of Interior claimed "domestic terrorists" had blocked roads and burnt cars. It said two police officers were injured.

Witnesses reported heavy clashes as police used tear gas and stun grenades against youths who, according to the Ministry of Interior, carried "Molotov cocktails, iron rods, and a number of homemade bombs."

In March 2011, the other members of the Gulf Co-operation Council sent in troops to back up Bahrain's security forces, who overran the camps of protesters, including the main one at the iconic Pearl Roundabout.

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Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Death of Vendor Who Set Himself on Fire

Tunisian President Ben Ali at bedside of Mohamed Bouazizi, who set himself on fire over his economic situation, in December 2010

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Tuesday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Division over Powers for "Citizen's Arrests"

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1410 GMT: Egypt. The Government has launched an appeal against a court ruling suspending Parliamentary elections due to start on 22 April.

President Morsi's office had said that would not challenge the verdict.

A judicial official said the High Administrative Court will rule on the appeal on Sunday.

Last week the lower court ruled that the law governing the elections was illegal and that its passage by the upper house of Parliament was procedurally improper.

1400 GMT: Israel and Palestine. The Israeli High Court of Justice is due to rule on the State's right to declare ownership of 1000 acres of undeveloped land located in West Bank settlement of Efrat.

Palestinians claim the land belongs to them.

The case is seen by some as a bellwether of the Israeli Government's plans to support Jewish settlements in the controversial E1 area near Jerusalem. Palestinians claim this would effectively cut off access from one part of the West Bank to another.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Division over Powers for "Citizen's Arrests"

Egypt Prosecutor Talaat Abdullah1905 GMT:Egypt. Political activist Hassan Mustafa has been sentenced to two years in prison, accused of physically attacking a prosecutor.

Mustafa was arrested on 21 January after he slapped the prosecutor on the cheek.

1650 GMT:Bahrain. Five policemen were in court today, on charges relating to the deaths of Ali Isa Ibrahim Saqer and Zakariya Rashid Hassan Al-Asheri in April 2011. Both Saqer and Al-Asheri were found to have been tortured to death at the Dry Dock Detention Centre, whilst under the custody of the Ministry of Interior, according to the findings of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry.

Two policemen were found guilty of the manslaughter of Ali Saqer and sentenced to ten years. The three other policemen were found innocent of "failing to report the crime" of Saqer's murder.

All five policemen were found innocent on charges relating to the death of Al-Asheri.

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