Mali (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 78 Killed in Fighting in North

A car bomb in Tessalit in Mali on Friday (see 0750 GMT) (Photo: AFP)

See also Syria Live Coverage: Opposition Boycotts International Talks Over Aleppo Deaths
Friday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Parliamentary Elections set for April-June

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1755 GMT: Tunisia. Thousands of protesters rallied today against Prime Minister-designate Ali Larayedh.

President Moncef Marzouki asked Larayedh of the Ennadha Party, the leading faction in the ruling coaltion, to form a Government on Friday.

Outgoing Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali resigned on Tuesday because Ennahda rejected his plan for an apolitical technocrat Cabinet to prepare for elections.

Opposition secularists accuse Larayedh of leading a Ministry of Interior which has failed to curb Islamist violence.

About 3000 demonstrators marched on Tunis' main street Habib Bourguiba raising banners hostile to the Ennahda party and Larayedh and chanting, "Larayedh out" and "The people want to bring down the regime".

Meanwhile, Larayedh has tried to assemble a new Cabinet. Fights are expected over the posts of Justice and Foreign Ministers, which independents are demanding for their preferred candidates.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Parliamentary Elections set for April-June

See also Syria Live Coverage: At Least 53 Killed by Bombs in Damascus
Thursday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests Continue in Port Said

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1526 GMT:Iraq. Thousands of protesters have continued to demonstrations in Ramadi against the Government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Rallies after Friday Prayers, with the theme "Iraq or Maliki" also took place in the capital city of Baghdad, the northern city of Mosul, and the central city of Fallujah.

Protests, largely made up of Sunnis, have been ongoing for weeks, with demands for the release of prisoners, an end to Government anti-terrorism policies, and a halt to the marginalising of minorities.

The rallies were sparked by the raid on 20 December 20 of the home and offices of Sunni Minister of Finance Rafi al-Issawi.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests Continue in Port Said

One of this week's protests in Port Said in Egypt

See also Syria Live Coverage: Multiple Bombings in Damascus
Wednesday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Clashes Continue as Regime Claims Arrest of "Iran-Iraq-Lebanon Terror Cell"

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1910 GMT:Egypt. President Morsi will call a Parliamentary election, to be held in three or four stages, starting in April.

"The president will issue a decree soon, it could be tonight, calling for elections to start in April," a source in his office told Reuters.

1900 GMT:Morocco. Reporters Without Borders has condemned the 10-month prison sentence handed down last week to citizen journalist Mohamed Attaoui on the charge of “working as a local official despite being suspended”.

Attaoui was arrested on 21 January in town of Tounfite north-central Morocco while photographing homes that are unfit for habitation for a report he intended to publish.

The president and general secretary of the Tounfite Group, a grass-roots association to which Attaoui belongs, were also arrested and have been sentenced to a year and eight months in prison, respectively.

Following his arrest, Attaoui was placed in solitary confinement and was not allowed a visit from his wife until 18 February.

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Thousands March as Clashes Continue

Opposition montage of the funeral march for 16-year-old Hassan AlJazeeri on Saturday

See also Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Take Another Major Airbase Near Aleppo
Saturday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests and Clashes Continue

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2007 GMT: Egypt. The State Prosecutor has ordered the detention of an Islamic preacher on suspicion of insulting religion, following a complaint from a Christian activist.

Ahmed Abdullah, known as Abu Islam, is already on trial for tearing up a Bible during a protest outside the US embassy in Cairo in September over the American-produced film "The Innocence of Muslims", which denigrated the Prophet Mohammed.

1616 GMT: Egypt. The Ministry of Finance has said that funds allocated for diesel fuel subsidies have run out for the current year.

An official source within the ministry has said that meetings are being held with Ministry of Petroleum officials to solve the crisis. The two ministries are considering opening an additional source of funding for diesel subsidies through a law giving the Minister of Finance the power to approve additional credits.

The government's subsidies for diesel fuel are currently estimated at LE50 billion (about $7.43 billion).

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protests and Clashes Continue

Today's funeral procession for 16-year-old Hassan AlJazeeri, killed on Thursday by security forces

Mass opposition march in Bahrain on Friday

See also Syria Live Coverage: "Assad Must Be Held Accountable for His Crimes"
Friday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More Protests Expected After Police Kill Teenager

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2155 GMT: Bahrain. A candlelight march by women in Alkharjya village for Hassan AlJazeeri:

Today's clashes after AlJazeeri's funeral:

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: More Protests Expected After Police Kill Teenager

Today's opposition march in Bahrain

See also Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Advance in South and East, Down Regime Jets
Thursday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The 2nd Anniversary of the Mass Protests

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2137 GMT: Bahrain. The Chief of Public Security has announced that an on-duty officer and three non-commissioned policemen were injured on Friday by birdshot fired by a group of people in Karzakan.

2037 GMT: Bahrain. A clash between police and young men today --- at the 0:49 mark, one of the youths is hit in the head and seriously wounded:

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The 2nd Anniversary of the Mass Protests

A man, referring to today's killing of teenager Hassan AlJazeeri, defies Bahrain security forces, "You killed a 17-year-old kid. Shoot me, I don't fear you"

Syria Live Coverage: Rebel Gains and Civilian Losses Grow
Wednesday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Is There Any Hope in the "National Dialogue"?

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2025 GMT: Bahrain. Clashes in Sitra today:

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Is There Any Hope in the "National Dialogue"?

1918 GMT: Bahrain. The Information Affairs' Authority --- deliberately or unwittingly --- has built on a pro-regime disinformation campaign --- to warn about "direct threats" by an opposition which it calls "terrorist gangs and saboteurs".

Opposition groups, including Al Wefaq, have called for Bahrainis to refrain from shopping, banking, and fuelling their cars. Pro-regime activists have used that to put out fake flyers, in the name of the opposition, threatening people if they do not join the boycott.

A women's "Noise March" in Bahrain on Tuesday

See also Syria Live Coverage: Insurgents Take Another Airbase --- Next, a Major City?
Tuesday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protesters Block Key Building for 3rd Day

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1918 GMT: Bahrain. The Information Affairs' Authority --- deliberately or unwittingly --- has built on a pro-regime disinformation campaign to warn about "direct threats" by an opposition which it calls "terrorist gangs and saboteurs".

Opposition groups, including Al Wefaq, have called for Bahrainis to refrain from shopping, banking, and fuelling their cars. Pro-regime activists have used that to put out fake flyers, in the name of the opposition, threatening people if they do not join the boycott.

Now the IAA has put out the statement:

Some internet webpages and social media accounts in Bahrain circulated news about direct threats being sent by terrorist gangs and saboteurs to various individuals, groups, families, workers, shops and companies intended to compel citizens and residents to stay at home and refrain from going to work or business as usual on Thursday February, 14, 2013 in a desperate bid to forcibly impose a de facto public strike in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Protesters Block Key Building for 3rd Day

See also Syria Live Coverage: Car Bomb on Turkey Border; Insurgents Take Major Dam
Monday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The 2nd Anniversary of Mubarak's Fall

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1739 GMT: Tunisia. The leader of the Ennadha Party, the dominant faction in the ruling coalition, has said he expects that agreement will be reached on a new Cabinet led by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali.

Rachid Ghannouchi said, "I expect that agreement will be reached and I expect Jebali will remain the prime minister of a coalition government."

Following last week's assassination of opposition politician Chokri Belaid, Jebali proposed a Cabinet of apolitical technocrats but pthers in Ennahda objected.

Ghannouchi said a counter-proposal would be made, "There is a project for a political government that will be presented to the prime minister to form a team of politicians and technocrats."

The Ennadha leader continues, "We don't have much time before we announce this government. The time limit is this week."

Ghannouchi indicated that Ennahda was prepared to compromise over the control of portfolios such as defence, foreign affairs, justice, and interior.

Some groups in the ruling coalition, notably President Moncef Marzouki's Congress for the Republic, had threatened to withdraw their ministers if the Justice and Foreign Ministers were not replaced.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: The 2nd Anniversary of Mubarak's Fall

11 February 2011: The crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square reacts to news of Hosni Mubarak's resignation

See also Syria Live Coverage: Fighting Escalates Near Damascus
Sunday's Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Prime Minister Threatens Resignation if New Cabinet Not Accepted

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2030 GMT: Egypt. Clashes continue at the Presidential Palace --- Sherine Tadros of Al Jazeera English tweets:

Police firing tear gas at protesters #presidentialPalace #Egypt twitter.com/SherineT/statu…

— Sherine Tadros (@SherineT) February 11, 2013

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