Tunisian Revolution and the Middle East--And Now, The Withdrawal From Afghanistan (M.E.T.)

[jpyaks3]

Pretty funny, I love the SHHH over Bahrain.

Edited July 12, 2012 by jpyaks3

[visionary]

Funny picture. I think I saw that on twitter a few weeks ago.

http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/jul/05/how-morocco-dodged-arab-spring/

How Morocco Dodged the Arab Spring

Since the Tunisian street vendor Mohammed Bouazizi set himself and the Arab world aflame in December 2010, young men all over the Middle East have tried to imitate him. In no country have they done so more often than in Morocco, where some twenty men, with many of the same economic grievances, are reported to have self-immolated. Five succeeded in killing themselves, but none in sparking a revolution.

It is not for want of causes. Morocco’s vital statistics are worse than Tunisia’s. Its population earns half as much on average as its smaller North African counterpart. One of every two youth are unemployed, and the number is rising: failed rains have cut the country’s wheat harvest in half and have compounded a mounting budget deficit hiked by rising fuel prices and a downturn in tourism and exports to Europe, Morocco’s beleaguered main trading partner. In late May, tens of thousands of people took to the streets in Casablanca to protest the government’s failure to tackle the country’s social ills.

But whereas Ben Ali, Tunisia’s policeman, pigheadedly sought to keep power when the streets erupted in late 2010, Morocco’s po-faced but retiring King has kept one step ahead by offering to share it.

On March 9, 2011—just weeks after Ben Ali’s exile—King Mohammed unveiled a new constitution that gave up his claim to divine rights as sovereign, but left him as Commander of the Faithful, much—said palace advisers—as Britain’s Queen remains head of the Anglican Church.

And while other Arab monarchs, like Jordan’s, dithered about whether to risk parliamentary elections, Mohammed held them quickly and fairly last November; when an Islamist party won the most seats, the King declared its leader, Abdelilah Benkirane, the prime minister.

But while Benkirane’s government has for the time being stayed any prospect of a broader upheaval, Morocco is not yet out of the woods. The carping, which Benkirane’s election initially silenced, has returned with renewed vigor as Moroccans ask themselves whether their new constitution was merely cosmetic. Most recently, this view has been confirmed in a battle over who gets to make senior government appointments. Unsurprisingly, the King seems to have won.

“I appoint five hundred of the country’s most senior positions,” Benkirane had insisted to me in March. “The king appoints only thirty-seven.”

But those thirty-seven are the most important. King Mohammed remains head of the Council of Ministers, the Supreme Security Council, and the Ulama Council, which runs the mosques. He runs the military, the security forces, and the intelligence. The targets of the February 20 protests—including the interior minister at the time, Ali al-Himma—are firmly ensconced as advisers in the King’s shadow government.

Tellingly, when US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton traveled to the kingdom in March she met the King’s foreign affairs adviser ahead of the foreign minister. “The King returns to Morocco, business resumes,” ran the headline in the official newspaper, Le Soir, on June 13, after the King returned from an absence of several weeks in Europe. It was clear who it thought called the shots.

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http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/07/2012712105043395108.html

UN troops shell rebel positions in DR Congo

UN and Democratic Republic of Congo government troops have bombarded rebel positions in the country's strife-torn eastern region of North-Kivu.

Three helicopters belonging to the United Nations DR Congo mission - MONUSCO - and two gunships of the DR Congo army (FARDC) were seen and explosions were heard around the villages of Nkokwe and Bukima, where rebels from the M23 group are thought to have some positions.

Officials from the UN and the army confirmed attacks were underway, as did the mutineers.

"The FARDC are currently attacking our positions, but they don't know where we are. There's no problems," a colonel from the mutiny told AFP.

Nkokwe and Bukima are about 50 kilometres (30 miles) north of the Nord-Kivu capital Goma.

The deployment came on Thursday as Ban Ki-moon, the UN chief, urged the presidents of DR Congo and its rival Rwanda to "defuse tensions" over the rebellion.

[visionary]

http://af.reuters.com/article/maliNews/idAFL6E8IDC1S20120713

Mali Islamists shoot in the air during latest protest

Islamist gunmen in Mali shot in the air to disperse protesters trying to block them from attending Friday prayers, witnesses said, the latest clash between locals and rebel groups controlling the country's north.

The protest in the town of Goundam, 90 km (56 miles) southwest of Timbuktu, erupted after self-appointed morality police beat a woman for not wearing a headscarf, injuring her baby, the witnesses said.

Most people living in northern Mali have long practised Islam, but frustrations with the strict form of sharia, Islamic law, being imposed by Islamists have sparked several protests.

"We will no longer pray in the same mosque as these Islamist bandits. They can go and pray elsewhere," town resident Oumar Moussa said. He added that youths had encircled the mosque to block access.

Moussa said fighters from Islamist group Ansar Dine had set up four checkpoints and were firing in the air to try and disperse protesters who had gathered in the streets.

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNews/idAFJOE86C07520120713

Zimbabwe court orders Mugabe to hold by-elections

HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's Supreme Court has ordered President Robert Mugabe to call by-elections by the end of August, a ruling that could alter the balance of power in parliament between his ZANU-PF party and its rivals.

The case was taken to court by three opposition MPs who lost their seats in 2009 when they were expelled from a splinter wing of Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC).

The High Court ordered by-elections to be held but Mugabe appealed to the Supreme Court, arguing the government had no money to conduct the polls.

However, in a unanimous decision made public on Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed Mugabe's appeal and ordered "new elections to fill the vacancies as soon as possible, but no later than August 30, 2012".

It gave no reason for the decision and did not say whether elections should be held only for the three expelled or for another 30 seats vacant in the upper and lower houses of parliament because of the deaths of sitting members.

The MDC holds 96 seats in the 210-seat lower house of parliament, 10 short of a simple majority, against ZANU-PF's 91. The original three constituencies are all in Tsvangirai strongholds.

[visionary]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/13/opinion/ethnic-cleansing-of-myanmars-rohingyas.html?_r=3&ref=myanmar

Ethnic Cleansing in Myanmar

LAST spring, a flowering of democracy in Myanmar mesmerized the world. But now, three months after the democracy activist Daw Aung San Suu Kyi won a parliamentary seat, and a month after she traveled to Oslo to belatedly receive the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, an alarm bell is ringing in Myanmar. In the villages of Arakan State, near the Bangladeshi border, a pogrom against a population of Muslims called the Rohingyas began in June. It is the ugly side of Myanmar’s democratic transition — a rotting of the flower, even as it seems to bloom.

Cruelty toward the Rohingyas is not new. They have faced torture, neglect and repression in the Buddhist-majority land since it achieved independence in 1948. Its constitution closes all options for Rohingyas to be citizens, on grounds that their ancestors didn’t live there when the land, once called Burma, came under British rule in the 19th century (a contention the Rohingyas dispute). Even now, as military rulers have begun to loosen their grip, there is no sign of change for the Rohingyas. Instead, the Burmese are trying to cast them out.

The current violence can be traced to the rape and killing in late May of a Buddhist woman, for which the police reportedly detained three Muslims. That was followed by mob attacks on Rohingyas and other Muslims that killed dozens of people. According to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, state security forces have now conducted mass arrests of Muslims; they destroyed thousands of homes, with the impact falling most heavily on the Rohingyas. Displaced Rohingyas have tried to flee across the Naf River to neighboring Bangladesh; some have died in the effort.

The Burmese media have cited early rioting by Rohingyas and have cast them as terrorists and traitors. In mid-June, in the name of stopping such violence, the government declared a state of emergency. But it has used its border security force to burn houses, kill men and evict Rohingyas from their villages. And on Thursday, President Thein Sein suggested that Myanmar could end the crisis by expelling all of its Rohingyas or by having the United Nations resettle them — a proposal that a United Nations official quickly rejected.

This is not sectarian violence; it is state-supported ethnic cleansing, and the nations of the world aren’t pressing Myanmar’s leaders to stop it. Even Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi has not spoken out.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5g9uu1BfJAXm4g5bnobdaFjOOXJ3w?docId=CNG.120afc0009d2e67fc7a25839be1e4986.f1

Myanmar moots camps or deportation for Rohingyas

Myanmar's president told the UN Thursday that refugee camps or deportation was the "solution" for nearly a million Rohingya Muslims in the wake of communal unrest in the west of the country.

Thein Sein, who had previously struck a more conciliatory tone during fighting that left at least 80 people dead in Rakhine State last month, told the chief of the United Nations refugee agency the Rohingya were not welcome.

"We will take responsibility for our ethnic people but it is impossible to accept the illegally entered Rohingyas, who are not our ethnicity," he told UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres, according to the president's official website.

The former junta general said the "only solution" was to send the Rohingyas -- which number around 800,000 in Myanmar and are considered to be some of the world's most persecuted minorities -- to refugee camps run by UNHCR.

"We will send them away if any third country would accept them," he added. "This is what we are thinking is the solution to the issue."

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/07/2012713225249467318.html

ICC issues warrants for DR Congo warlords

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against a Congolese and a Rwandan rebel leader accused of committing war crimes and fuelling instability in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

The court announced on Friday that it had issued a warrant against Sylvestre Mudacumura, a Rwandan Hutu rebel leader based in the DR Congo, as well as a fresh arrest warrant against Bosco Ntaganda, a prominent Tutsi Congolese general nicknamed the "Terminator" who has allegedly led an ongoing mutiny in the east.

The DR Congo and the United Nations accuses Rwanda of providing funds, weapons and troops to the rebel group tied to Ntaganda, called M23, which has recently swept through several towns in the east.

The court said Ntaganda is suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in North and South Kivu in eastern DR Congo between 2002 and 2003.

The court had already issued a warrant against him in 2006 for recruiting child soldiers but in May added new charges.

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/07/201271484516277166.html

Sudanese protesters clash with police

Hundreds of protesters have clashed with police in the Sudanese capital, as anti-government protests in the country stretched into a fourth week.

Police fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the crowds after Friday prayers in Khartoum, forcing many to seek sanctuary in a nearby mosque.

Protesters have also been chanting a refrain heard often in other regional uprisings: "The people demand the downfall of the regime."

Opposition leaders said that at least 30 people had been arrested following Friday’s protest, a claim denied by the Sudanese officials.

Sudanese activists estimate authorities have detained some 2,000 people since protests broke out in June, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch said in a joint report this week.

"While the number of 2,000 detained is difficult to confirm, reports indicate that at least 100 people remain in detention in Khartoum alone," the report said.

President Omar al-Bashir has previously dismissed opposition calls for an Arab Spring-style uprising in the African country, threatening that "a burning hot summer" awaits his enemies.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/07/16/us-egypt-usa-clinton-idUSBRE86D07520120716

Egyptians pelt Clinton motorcade with tomatoes

Protesters threw tomatoes and shoes at Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's motorcade on Sunday during her first visit to Egypt since the election of Islamist President Mohamed Mursi.

A tomato struck an Egyptian official in the face, and shoes and a water bottle landed near the armored cars carrying Clinton's delegation in the port city of Alexandria after she gave a speech on democratic rights.

A senior U.S. official said neither Clinton nor her vehicle, which was around the corner from the incident, were hit by the projectiles, which were thrown as U.S. officials and reporters walked to the motorcade after her speech.

Protesters chanted "Monica, Monica," a reference to the extra-marital affair conducted by Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton, while in the White House. Others earlier chanted "leave, Clinton" an Egyptian security official said.

Oops, meant to post this in the Egypt thread. Oh well.

Edited July 16, 2012 by visionary

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/video/africa/2012/07/201271734949165668.html

Al-Shabab losing ground in Somalia

The African Union and Kenyan government are understood to be planning a joint offensive in Somalia, trying to take the last remaining stronghold of al-Shabab in the city of Kismayo.

The Somali armed group has been losing strategic ground in recent months, but it is feared that the fighters are being driven underground, sparking a long drawn-out guerilla war.

---------- Post added July-17th-2012 at 09:04 AM ----------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-18870130#TWEET174156

Mali unites against the Ansar Dine Islamists in Timbuktu

What began as a rebellion in January by ethnic Tuareg has been usurped by Islamist militant groups who have taken advantage of the coup and imposed Sharia in most of the key towns in the north.

Music has been banned from local radios, women face being beaten if they are seen with their heads uncovered and people have been whipped in public for various misdemeanours.

"The entire local economy is gone. Everything has been torn down," said the mayor of Timbuktu, Halle Ousmane Cisse, who is Bamako to collect supplies.

He says he realises that talking to a journalist may expose him, but the situation is "so desperate", he wants to speak out.

"There's no more trade, no more banks. Administrative services are non-existent: Islamists have looted everything. Timbuktu is now a ghost town."

Islamist militants of Ansar Dine and al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) have also destroyed half of the World Heritage tombs and mausoleums in the name of radical Islam.

The loss of these shrines has sparked worldwide outrage but it has also caused great sadness and disapproval among religious leaders in Bamako.

Most Malians practise a popular form of Sufi Islam, often described as an open and intellectual interpretation of the religion - it involves mysticism, chanting and hypnotic prayers.

Hard-line Wahhabism has grown in recent years in Mali with young imams returning from studying on the Arab peninsula.

"I wish Mali to become a Sharia state," says Imam Mohamed Toure, who spent five years in Saudi Arabia.

The leader of Ansar Dine, Iyad Ag Ghali, used to sit behind him during prayers at his mosque - although they did not have any personal relationship.

"But Sharia should not be imposed by armed men," Imam Toure insisted.

"It will come by itself according to God's will."

The condemnation of the Islamist factions seems unanimous.

Imam Toure and his followers openly advocate a military intervention to dislodge radical Islamists from the dry and arid north.

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/07/2012717194546284815.html

Libya's liberals lead in parliament vote

Party led by former interim prime minister takes 39 of 80 available seats in country's first free vote in decades.

The early results of Libya's parliamentary election show a liberal party in first place in the country's first free vote since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.

The election commission on Tuesday said the National Forces Alliance (NFA), led by Mahmoud Jibril, the former interim prime minister, secured 39 of the 80 open seats. Those projections also meant the NFA won only 20 per cent of seats in the 200-seat assembly.

The Justice and Construction party, launched by Libya's Muslim Brotherhood, came in second with 17 seats.

The remainder of party seats went to a series of smaller parties, according to the electoral commission's figures.

The complete tally, however, does not paint a clear picture about who will dominate the incoming congress, where the majority of seats, 120 of 200, were reserved for individual candidates.

The election commission said late on Tuesday that 62 per cent of registered voters, 40 per cent of whom were women, took part in the July 7 polls.

Nearly 2.9 million Libyans, 80 per cent of those eligible to cast a ballot, had registered to vote.

At least 30 [33] women secured seats in the congress as a result of a system which obliged parties to alternate on their lists between male and female candidates. Only one female independent candidate was elected.

In all, women will hold approximately 16.5 per cent of the 200 seats.

[visionary]

http://www.marke****ch.com/story/cinnabon-expands-global-presence-with-libya-opening-2012-07-24

Cinnabon Expands Global Presence With Libya Opening

ATLANTA, GA, Jul 24, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) -- Cinnabon, Inc., the snack leader in the bakery-cafe segment, is continuing to strengthen its worldwide footprint with the latest international bakery opening earlier this month in Tripoli, Libya.

A co-branded Cinnabon® and Carvel® store debuted July 2, 2012 on the busiest street in the city and signifies a milestone -- the first-ever U.S. brand to debut in Libya. The location was in the works for more than two years, with the opening delayed due to the Libyan revolution last year.

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/08/201281101033529886.html

Somali assembly endorses draft constitution

Somali leaders have approved a new constitution for the struggling country, shortly after two bombers blew themselves up outside the building.

The vote on Wednesday with 621 for, 13 against, and 11 abstentions came after two suicide bombers tried to attack the Mogadishu meeting.

"We are very happy today that you ... responsibly completed the procedure by voting for the constitution," Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohamed Ali told the 825 strong assembly after it approved the draft by a landslide 96 per cent.

A police officer told the AP news agency that security forces shot the two bombers at the gate to the meeting area.

"The two bombers were killed and one Somali soldier was wounded", Abdi Yassin said.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which follows a string of explosions, including roadside bombs and grenades, that have rocked the Somali capital.

The special assembly, chosen by traditional elders in a UN-backed process took eight days to debate and vote on the new constitution for war-torn Somalia, as the government approaches the end of its mandate on August 20.

The provisional constitution signed applies immediately, but it must be finally ratified by a national referendum.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/08/us-yemen-militants-idUSBRE8770TV20120808

Yemen foils Qaeda plot, seizes 40 explosive belts

Yemen has foiled a plot by an al Qaeda-linked cell to carry out attacks inside the capital Sanaa and seized 40 belts packed with explosives, the mayor said on Wednesday, highlighting the risks posed by Islamist militancy in the impoverished Arab state.

The Defence Ministry said seven militants had also been detained in the southern town of Jaar, where a suicide bomber killed 45 tribal fighters earlier this week and threatened further attacks on a bigger scale.

Yemen declared victory in June over Islamist militants calling themselves Ansar al-Sharia (Partisans of Islamic Law), following a U.S.-backed military campaign that drove Islamist fighters from their strongholds in the southern province of Abyan, where they had gained a foothold.

But militants have shown they continue to pose a serious threat, despite losing control over several towns they had seized while former leader Ali Abdullah Saleh was grappling with protests that eventually toppled him.

"A group of the cell's members was arrested and the rest are being pursued," the mayor of Sanaa, Abdul Qader Hilal, told Reuters.

The seven men arrested separately in Jaar included a Somali national and a militant leader known as Abu Musaab who was responsible for al Qaeda's finances in Abyan, the Defence Ministry said on its website.

[visionary]

http://af.reuters.com/article/libyaNews/idAFL6E8J8DD320120809

Libya's ruling council hands over power to new assembly

Libya's ruling council handed over power to a newly elected national assembly on Wednesday in the North African country's first peaceful transition of power in its modern history but which comes amid heightened violence.

In a late-night ceremony held under tight security in Tripoli, the National Transitional Council (NTC), political arm of the opposition forces that toppled Muammar Gaddafi a year ago, handed over to the national congress, elected in July.

NTC Chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil symbolically passed on the reins to the oldest member of the new 200-member assembly, Mohammed Ali Salim.

"The National Transitional Council hands over the constitutional duties for leading the state to the general national congress, which from now on is the sole legitimate representative of the Libyan people," Jalil said to loud cheers.

https://twitter.com/Rana_J01

1st closed session of libya national assembly is underway. Now being told they will elect its speaker by sunrise...let's see. Camping here.

8:21 PM

session of national assembly has ended. They will resume at 1400 local time to adopt election of speaker memo and to elect speaker.

8:35 PM

Waiting for Dr. Mohammed elmgaryef to finish his tea so I can interview him, one of few expected to become speaker of assembly

8:43 PM

Dr. Mgaryef tells the BBC that most parties in assembly agree that committee to draft the constitution will be selected by them.

10:10 PM

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/09/us-libya-assembly-idUSBRE8781ID20120809

Libyan national assembly votes Magarief president

Libya's ruling national assembly picked Mohammed Magarief, leader of the National Front party, as its president on Thursday, in a vote carried out a day after it took power from the outgoing National Transitional Council.

Magarief, a long-time opponent of ousted leader Muammar Gaddafi, will head the 200-member congress, which will name a prime minister, pass laws and steer Libya to full parliamentary elections after a new constitution is drafted next year.

His National Front party, which won three seats in the July 7 vote for the national assembly, is an offshoot of the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, an opposition movement to Gaddafi established in 1981.

The vote counting was carried out in front of reporters and was televised live. Magarief won 113 votes versus independent Ali Zidan who secured 85 votes.

https://twitter.com/AhmedEMisrata

Head of the oldest Libyan opposition group wins head of GNC. Congrats to Magariaf and to another win for Libyan democracy.

6:00 PM

https://twitter.com/libyanproud

Official GNC: Results : Mohamed Mgaryif (@Almagariaf ) 113, Ali Zaydan 85.

6:01 PM

https://twitter.com/ChangeInLibya

BREAKING: LIBYAN general congress elects head: Mohammed Yousef Almgariaf @Almagariaf in first session since being sworn in yesterday.

6:04 PM

Libya the congress represents a mix of Islamists, liberals etc & above all, man with 30+ years of democratic struggle undr his belt as head

6:10 PM

https://twitter.com/Libyan4life

Mohammed Magariaf must feel like he's on top of the world right now. Literally his life's dream was just actualized.

6:13 PM

A slughtly older article on Libya I hadn't seen yet.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/07/2012731132420473906.html

Hopeful signs emerge in Libya

[visionary]

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Aug-11/184254-saleh-loyalists-beseige-yemen-defense-ministry.ashx#axzz23DXwx6zE

Saleh loyalists beseige Yemen Defense Ministry

SANAA: Hundreds of Republican Guard forces loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh encircled the Defense Ministry in Sanaa for several hours early Friday, protesting a move to strip the ex-president’s son of part of his military command, officials said.

The officers and soldiers of the country’s best trained force, which has been led by Saleh’s son, Ahmad, rallied at the ministry starting late Thursday. Officials said that military officers had informed them that the force would try to storm the ministry, prompting authorities to deploy tanks and armored vehicles to the area. Government forces threatened to open fire if the protesters didn’t leave. The demonstration ended several hours later.

[visionary]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_IRAN_EARTHQUAKE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Iran state TV: At least 87 dead in earthquake

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Iranian state television says at least 87 people have been killed in a 6.2-magnitude earthquake in northwestern Iran.

At least 400 others were injured in Saturday's quake, the channel said, which damaged hundreds of homes when it hit near the town of Ahar in East Azerbaijan province.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/ThomasErdbrink

Iran Deputy minister saying there are now 153 dead and 700 wounded in tabrizquake

2:58 PM

Fars news now saying 180 dead in Tabrizquake, expecting more.

3:41 PM

Edited August 11, 2012 by visionary

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/08/201281244330792426.html

Aid efforts under way after Iran quakes

Rescue teams have stopped looking for survivors from two powerful earthquakes near northwestern city of Tabriz, state television said, adding all those trapped under the rubble had been located and saved.

At least 227 people have been killed and more than 2,000 wounded in the massive earthquakes that hit the towns of Ahar and Varzaghan on Saturday.

"There are no people left to recover from under the rubble in any village, and all necessary aid is currently being distributed," an interior ministry official in charge of disaster management, Hossein Ghadami, told state television on Sunday.

He said he hoped the death toll would not rise further. Some of those critically injured had already succumbed to their wounds.

Efforts are on to provide water and shelter to the affected people, as thousands of people huddled in makeshift camps or slept in streets after Saturday's quakes in fear of more aftershocks.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/DavidKenner

Libyans are really, really pro-US. (h/t @robinenergy) http://www.gallup.com/poll/156539/Opinion-Briefing-Libyans-Eye-New-Relations-West.aspx?utm_source=add%2Bthis&utm_medium=addthis.com&utm_campaign=sharing#.UClOyBDtWjA.twitter

3:05 PM

http://www.gallup.com/poll/156539/Opinion-Briefing-Libyans-Eye-New-Relations-West.aspx?utm_source=add%2Bthis&utm_medium=addthis.com&utm_campaign=sharing#.UClOyBDtWjA.twitter

Opinion Briefing: Libyans Eye New Relations With the West

---------- Post added August-13th-2012 at 03:48 PM ----------

http://www.cnn.com/2012/08/13/world/meast/iran-earthquakes/index.html

More than 300 killed, 3,000 injured in Iran earthquakes

The death toll from a pair of earthquakes that jolted Iran on Saturday has escalated once again, state-run media reported Monday.

At least 306 people have been killed and 3,037 injured in the two quakes in northwest Iran, Press TV reported, citing the country's Health Ministry.

The head of emergency services, Gholamreza Masoumi, told the semi-official Fars News Agency that 4,500 people were injured. About 1,200 were taken to hospitals, and the remaining 3,300 were treated as outpatients and released, he said.

Rescue operations were reported to have ended Sunday.

The Red Crescent's Faqih said 230 villages in the Varzaqan, Haris and Ahar regions suffered 70% to 100% damage.

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States is prepared to offer earthquake assistance but had received no request.

"Americans wishing to provide humanitarian assistance to Iranians during this time may donate food and medicine without obtaining an Iranian transactions regulations license," she told reporters. "Additionally, certain noncommercial personal financial transactions for Iran are authorized under existing general licenses."

I could have sworn the Iranian media said no one else would die, after it was about 227 or so dead.

Of course they also said it was not a big incident when the news first broke.

Edited August 13, 2012 by visionary

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/13/us-tunisia-women-rights-idUSBRE87C16020120813

Thousands rally in Tunisia for women's rights

Thousands of Tunisians rallied on Monday to protest against what they see as a push by the Islamist-led government for constitutional changes that would degrade women's status in one of the Arab world's most liberal nations.

The protest, by some 6,000 mostly Tunisian women, is the latest twist in a row over the role of Islam in a constitution being drawn up by a new assembly.

Tunisia's ruling Ennahda Movement is under pressure from both hardline Salafi Muslims, calling for the introduction of Islamic law, and secular opposition parties.

Activists are not happy with a stipulation in a draft of the constitution that considers women to be "complementary to men" and want a pioneering 1956 law that grant women full equality with men to remain in place.

[FanboyOf91]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/156539/Opinion-Briefing-Libyans-Eye-New-Relations-West.aspx?utm_source=add%2Bthis&utm_medium=addthis.com&utm_campaign=sharing#.UClOyBDtWjA.twitter

I'm okay with this.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/14/us-iran-quake-idUSBRE87D0C120120814

Iran finds more bodies after quake, public criticism

Rescue workers in Iran on Tuesday recovered more bodies three days after two powerful earthquakes struck the northwest of the country, killing more than 300 people, but officials played down reports that casualty numbers may still sharply rise.

The quakes, with magnitudes of 6.4 and 6.3, struck East Azerbaijan province on Saturday afternoon, flattening villages and injuring thousands of people around the towns of Ahar, Varzaghan, and Harees, near the provincial capital Tabriz.

A rescue team using sniffer dogs had pulled out the body of a young woman in the village of Sorkhgav, Fars news agency reported on Tuesday, and was close to finding others.

Another report, by Iran's Labour news agency, said hundreds of villages had suffered severe damage, raising fears that the number of dead could mount sharply as rescuers reach previously inaccessible areas.

[visionary]

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2012/08/iran_earthquakes.html

Iran earthquakes

Twin earthquakes hit northwest Iran near the Azerbaijan border, injuring thousands and killing over 300

Simple mud brick homes in the sparsely populated region collapsed quickly in the quakes, the larger of which measured 6.4 on the Richter Scale. Iran sits on several active fault lines and experiences earthquakes regularly.

With western media hindered by restrictions in Iran, many of the images presented here are by Iranian news services, including the Iranian Students' News Agency.

Photos of earthquake damage, casualties, and refugees in Iran

Edited August 14, 2012 by visionary

[visionary]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa/2012/08/2012816141649568598.html?utm_content=automate&utm_campaign=Trial6&utm_source=NewSocialFlow&utm_term=plustweets&utm_medium=MasterAccount

Police open fire on South African miners

At least seven people have been killed when police opened fire on miners staging a protest at a platinum mine in South Africa, according to Reuters.

South African police opened fire and dispersed a crowd of striking miners at the Lonmin mine in the North West province on Thursday after issuing an order to the protesters to lay down their machetes and sticks.

News TV images showed people lying on the ground, one with blood flowing from a wound.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/bahrain-sentences-prominent-activist-to-3-years-in-jail-for-taking-part-in-protest/2012/08/16/cf4a782e-e783-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html

Bahrain sentences prominent activist to 3 years prison for instigating, partaking in protest

MANAMA, Bahrain — A prominent Bahraini human rights activist was found guilty Thursday of instigating and participating in several illegal gatherings and sentenced to three years in jail.

The unexpectedly stiff sentence against Nabeel Rajab will raise questions about the Western-backed Sunni monarchy’s commitment to reform, and embolden anti-government protesters who have been demonstrating the past 18 months for greater rights in the Gulf island kingdom, home to the U.S. Navy’s 5th fleet.

Rajab, who is already serving a three-month sentence for posting anti-government comments on Twitter, was in court for the verdict. He is president of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights.

Rajab’s attorney Mohammed al-Jishi said each of three cases yielded a year imprisonment, for a total of three years. Al-Jishi said he plans to appeal the ruling.

In a separate case involving comments made on social media site Twitter, a judge delayed issuing a verdict against Rajab’s appeal until Aug. 23.