Thursday, March 3, 2011 at 12:51 | Scott Lucas in Africa, EA Global, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 2230 GMT: Judges threaten to strike if Mubarak's Minister of Justice, Mamdouh Marei, is included in the new cabinet.
2215 GMT: The latest pictures taken at Roundabout 7, in Bahrain.
On Thursday, Venezuela’s fledgling student movement held mass protests in Caracas. Amidst the demonstrations, the real story was muffled: the Bolivarian Revolution usurped some more power from the country’s people.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez managed to breeze some more "reforms" through the Congress, controlled by his supporters, which now gives him power to rule by decree for 18 months. The sudden need? From 4 January, the Congress will have a substantial number of opposition members who won’t allow quick passage of Chavez's socialist reforms.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 at 6:42 | Scott Lucas in Central and South America, EA Global, EA Iran, Middle East and Iran 
Gary Sick, an official in the Carter and Reagan Administrations, covers a little-known story in the WikiLeaks documents, considering the possibility of an Iranian power play in Latin America to challenge the US.
However, he --- and the American diplomats handling the cases --- avoid the sensational conclusion of Washington v. Tehran in the region.
Friday, December 3, 2010 at 11:42 | Scott Lucas in EA Iran, EA Middle East and Turkey, Middle East and Iran 
Shibley Telhami writes for The National Interest:
One of the highlights of the most recent Wikileaks release has been the focus on Arab attitudes toward Iran. The headlines suggest Arab unanimity in support of a U.S. or Israeli military attack on the Islamic Republic, as long as Arab governments are allowed to keep their heads low to the ground. There was much evidence, and many colorful quotations, to make the case, especially from Saudi, Bahraini, and United Arab Emirates' leaders. And although some of the quotations were jaw-dropping, in truth it was all a bunch of stuff we've heard before. But analysis by the media that followed, and the sweeping conclusion that "Arabs support attacking Iran", is misplaced and ignores significant differences among Arab governments about how to deal with Iran and especially missed the boat on true attitudes of the Arab public.
2020 GMT: Subsidy Watch. Pro-Government MP Jafar Qaderi has said that in future support payments for subsidy cuts will be paid in goods.
1725 GMT: Rumour of Day. Rah-e-Sabz claims that the Ministry of Intelligence has detained a delegation sent by Hashemi Rafsanjani to Qom in advance of the Supreme Leader's visit.
1710 GMT: Currency Watch. Khabar Online reports that the value of the Iranian toman, after weeks of attempts to stabilise its value, has now dropped on the open market. While the "official" Central Bank rate is 1050 tomans to the US dollar, the market rate has now reached 1090 tomans to the dollar.
1555 GMT: Political Prisoner Watch. An activist reports that Islamic Iran Participation Front member Davoud Solaimani, who was released on bail on Thursday, returned to Rajai Shahr Prison today when a prosecutor refused to confirm his temporary leave.
Soleimani was detained soon after the June 2009 elections.
