Yemen 1st-Hand: When the US Drones Attacked My Village (al-Muslimi)

If you live in Yemen, the golden rule is to expect anything any time. That, however, does not include expecting your hometown village — one of the most peaceful and beautiful places in Yemen — to be bombed. The peacefulness of such a place makes you believe that no one has ever heard of it, let alone that it is bombed by a US drone strike at night.

That, however, is the reason that I received many messages from villagers on my two cell phones last night.

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Israel (and Beyond) Live: A Quiet "Freeze" on Settlement Expansion?

1625 GMT:Egypt. In an apparent show of defiance of a report criticising Egypt's armed forces, President Morsi has promoted several generals.

A Government-commissioned report, portions of which have been leaked, has found that officers killed, tortured and abducted Egyptians during the 2011 uprising against the Mubarak regime and protests over the following two years.

Standing alongside members of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Morsi said: "Any insult against the armed forces is an insult against all of us, and we reject any kind of insults....I announce this to the whole world: we appreciate the great role that the armed forces has been playing in maintaining the safety and security of this country."

Morsi promoted three major-generals to the honorific title of lieutenant-general.

As the President listened, the head of the armed forces, General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, said:

The armed forces during the last two years was very, very fond of Egypt and the people of Egypt and did not commit any malpractices whatsoever. By God I swear that the army, since 25 January 2011, did not kill and did not order to kill, did not deceive and did not order to deceive.

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Bahrain (and Beyond) Live: An Agenda for a National Dialogue?

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1745 GMT: Tunisia. Tunisian officials and personnel from the International Monetary Fund will begin a week-long meeting on Monday, with a view to completing a $1.78 billion loan by late April or early May.

The IMF loan accord would require Tunisia to commit to a set of structural economic reforms. While the government sees the IMF loan as key to advancing development in Tunisia, there has been considerable criticism of the measure within the country.

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Yemen Feature: A Snapshot of the "National Dialogue" (Baron)

Photo: Hani Mohammed/APOutspoken feminists rub shoulders --- metaphorically, at least --- with Salafis. Youth activists mingle with establishment politicians. A representative of the Houthis, a rebel group turned political movement that has fought with the government for the past decade, helps run the show. Delegates from the southern provinces constantly vying for autonomy casually cross conversational red lines on independence talk as others in the room veer on declaring secession treasonous.

It will be months before anyone can say whether Yemen's ambitious national dialogue conference, slated to tackle major issues such as constitutional reform and restructuring the government, was a success. But the conference, which began last week and will last into the fall, can already celebrate one achievement: In this divided country, it has managed to get representatives from the bulk of the key factions in the same room.

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

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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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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Fighting in Cairo Kills 3 After Port Said Court Verdicts

Protesters in front of the Ministry of Interior in Cairo on Saturday

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US Feature: How the Obama Administration Killed 3 US Citizens in Yemen
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Saturday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Port Said Braces for Protests After Court Verdicts

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2122 GMT: Egypt. Al Jazeera English profiles Colonel Ahmed Wasfi, "the man who came in as the police departed, and the man who is now in charge of getting Port Said running again" after weeks of clashes and protests:

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US Feature: How the Obama Administration Killed 3 US Citizens in Yemen (New York Times)

See also EA Video Analysis: Drones, President Obama, and Rand Paul's Filibuster --- "More Macbeth Than Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"

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Abdulrahman al-AwlakiThe missile strike on Sept. 30, 2011, that killed Mr. Awlaki — a terrorist leader whose death lawyers in the Obama administration believed to be justifiable — also killed Mr. Khan, though officials had judged he was not a significant enough threat to warrant being specifically targeted. The next month, another drone strike mistakenly killed Mr. Awlaki’s 16-year-old son, Abdulrahman, who had set off into the Yemeni desert in search of his father. Within just two weeks, the American government had killed three of its own citizens in Yemen. Only one had been killed on purpose.

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UAE (and Beyond) Live Coverage: 94 Activists Go on Trial

January protest on behalf of 94 detained activists in the UAE (Photo: AP)

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Sunday's Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Minister of Finance Tries to Resign Amid Financial Crisis

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1635 GMT: Yemen A suicide bomber today killed "at least 10 members of a pro-government militia".

A local commander told Reuters that 15 others were wounded, some seriously, in the attack which struck a local office of the Popular Committees in Lawdar, a town in the southern province of Abyan.

According to Reuters, the targeted militia had "helped the Yemeni army to drive al Qaeda-linked Islamist militants out of southern strongholds in a U.S.-backed campaign last year".

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: At Least 1 Killed in Continuing Protests in Mansoura

Protests and clashes in Mansoura in Egypt, where one person was killed early this morning

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Friday's Bahrain (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Activist Zainab AlKhawaja Given 3-Month Sentence

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1831 GMT: Egypt. Visiting Cairo, US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Egyptian Government's need to agree a $4.8 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund is "paramount".

Kerry said he was certain that US cooperation with Egypt can only happen if Cairo "makes the right fundamental choices" regarding the talks with the IMF.

The Morsi Government said on Thursday that it will invite an IMF team to reopen talks.

"It is paramount, essential, urgent that the Egyptian economy get stronger, that it gets back on its feet," Kerry told Egyptian and American executives. "It's clear to us that the IMF arrangement needs to be reached, that we need to give the market that confidence."

The Morsi Government agreed the loan in principle last November but it was put on hold at Cairo's request amid political unrest and an inability of the President to implement tax rises necessary for the IMF assistance.

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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

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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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