Euronews has posted an extract from an interview with President Ahmadinejad on the fate of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, the possibility of a similar uprising in Iran, and the strict house arrests of opposition figures Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi:
Ahmadinejad: We should express our sadness that some leaders have such a bad relationship with their people that they end up at this point. I voice my disappointment over the global management which separates some governments from their people to the point that the people, for the sake of reaching a degree of freedom, have to ask for the trial of their leaders.
Daraa:Nwa:Martyrdom of Yazan Reyad Jahmany&several wounded by the security ammunition, many ppl r still trapped in the mosque
2013 GMT: We're gathering videos of tonight's protests in Syria, but we're also hearing reports of violent crackdowns in Homs, the area around the Al-Rahman Mosque in Al-Tabait, Lattakia, and this report from Midan, an important neighborhood in the center of Damascus where some activists are reporting casualties:
#Midan ive seen about 15 ambulances storm past me already, i think they are using them to detain ppl.
The 15 members of the council are now seeking final approval of the wording from their respective governments - when that comes, they will formally adopt the statement later on Wednesday, correspondents say.
2030 GMT: Big news from Libya tonight as the opposition National Transition Council has announced the death of its military commander, General Abdel Fattah Younes and two other officers.
The three men appear to have been slain by an assassination squad, possibly a "sleeper cell", in the opposition centre of Benghazi.
Earlier today the opposition had announced that Younes, the former Minister of Interior under Muammar Qaddafi, was going to be detained for questioning over his family's ties to the regime. Tonight the Council said Younes had been killed before he was interrogated.
The Council has announced three days of mourning for the slain commander.
1940 GMT: Back from a break to find claimed footage of a general strike today in Daraa in southern Syria:
I thought Arab bloggers began with grievances and turned to the Internet to address them. But sometimes, apparently, it's the other way around. Al Omran said he started blogging just to practice his English. Once online, he met bloggers outside Saudi Arabia, learned about politics, and developed an interest in human rights. He said the same thing has happened to other bloggers in the region. Merlyna Lim, a scholar of social transformation at Arizona State University, described a similar dynamic in Egypt: Young people went online to keep up with their friends and youth culture. In doing so, they became politicized.
1618 GMT: In the northern town of Jabal al-Zaweh, Idleb Province, the city was once the scene of 100,000 protesters, or more, every Friday. Today there are only 2,000 protesters in the streets. An Al Jazeera contact in the city explains:
“Since the military started their operations in the area and set up check points and started arresting people their presence has discouraged people from participating,” he said. “We are almost under siege and people find it difficult to get enough food on a daily basis.”
1553 GMT: Ahram News has posted their own liveblog from Tahrir Square. The protests across Egypt are once again on the rise, as frustration is growing at the Prime Minister and the Supreme Council for the Armed Forces. While protests have been limited in the months after the ouster of Mubarak, in recent weeks they have been larger in scale and more widespread.
In Egypt thousands of demonstrators descended on public squares around the country to offer a 'Friday of Final Warning' to the ruling military junta, amid fears that the revolution which toppled Hosni Mubarak is now being betrayed by conservative forces.
Rallies and hunger strikes were reported from Alexandria on the Mediterranean coast all the way down to Luxor in the south and Suez in the east, with the main focus once again on Cairo's Tahrir Square where a large sit-in is now over a week old and shows no sign of ending.
2055 GMT: Back to the lead story to wrap up today --- Ahram Online's video recording the clash in Cairo's Tahrir Square between security forces and protesters:
2100 GMT: Bahraini authorities have released 20 more medical staff who were detained in connection with the uprising against the regime, but they will still face military trial.
The 20 are among 48 doctors, nurses, and paramedics who were arrested. All by 14 have now been released, although the court proceedings, which have taken place over the last two weeks, will continues.
The release comes days before a "national dialogue" hailed by the regime as a chance for reconciliation.
Claimed footage of a march in Taiz in Yemen today, demanding a transitional government
2030 GMT: The Tunisian news agency TAP says two Libyan ministers have crossed into Tunisia to join the regime's Foreign Minister, reportedly seeking a solution to the political crisis.
Health Minister Mohamed Al-Hijazi and Social Affairs Minister Ibrahim Cherif crossed into southern Tunisia. Foreign Minister Abdul Ati Al-Obeidi has met "several foreign parties" there, part of an effort to find a solution to a civil war in the north African country.
1850 GMT: Opposition and regime forces have clashed about 80 kilometres (50 miles) southwest of the Libyan capital Tripoli.
Sunday's fighting began when government forces tried to cut off the insurgents, who have moved into the plains from the western mountains, by attacking from behind.
The front line is now thought to have moved just north of Bir Ayad, near the town of Bir al-Ghanam. Bir al-Ghanam is only 30 kilometres (19 miles) south of Zawiya, a western gateway to Tripoli.
Workers on Strike, February 2011It remains unclear if the new, post-Mubarak Egypt can succeed in addressing the socio-economic grievances that helped to spark the January 25 uprising.
The prevailing discourse among Egyptian elites and opinion makers, however, already signals that the answer is no. The ambivalent, if not hostile, rhetoric directed toward demands for more humane standards of living points to the potential for continuity in the highly uneven economic order. While most believe that there will be no return to the pre-January 25 political system, even if post-Mubarak Egypt is not fully democratic, workers may continue to be marginalized by the economic liberalization begun under the previous regime.
The New York Times and Al Jazeera English promote the efforts of the US Goverment and non-government organisations such as the New America Foundation to bypass restrictions on the Internet in other countries:
NEW YORK TIMES: The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy “shadow” Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks.
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 12:47
