Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: President Morsi Appeals to Security Forces

1304 GMT: Egypt. The European Union's Parliament has passed a resolution threatening to withhold budget support to Egypt if it does not take significant steps to abide by human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.

The EU allocated 5 billion Euros in aid to Cairo for 2012-2013, conditional on respect of human rights, democracy and economic governance.

Parliament called for promotion of civil society, women's rights, and minority rights. It expressed alarm at the rise in violence directed towards women in Egypt, particularly female protesters and women's rights activists, and demanded the abolition of all laws granting police and security forces the right to use unmitigated violence against civilians.

Members also called for Egypt's judiciary to commute 21 death sentences handed down on 26 January over the deaths of 74 football fans in Port Said's stadium in February 201.

The EU body supported the Egyptian electoral commission's decision to postpone Parliamentary elections, following a court decision suspending the process, and called on the Government to use the opportunity to work on building political consensus ahead of the elections.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Policemen on Strike

A woman runs for cover during clashes in Port Said in Egypt on Thursday (Photo: Khalil Hamra/AP)

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Syria Live Coverage: Opposition Leaders Cancel Trip to Washington --- Why?
Thursday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Court Suspends Parliamentary Elections

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2011 GMT:Iraq. Minister of Agriculture Ezz al-Din al-Dawla quit today over the killing of a protester in the northern city of Mosul.

Police said they fired shots into the air to disperse a crowd of stone-throwing demonstrators.

Ezz al-Din al-Dawla is the second Iraqi minister to announce his resignation over the handling of mainly-Sunni protests, staged daily against the al-Maliki Government since December.

"I announce my resignation before the Iraqi people and my people in Mosul because there is no way to continue any longer with a government that does not respond to my people's demands," said Dawla, a member of the Sunni-backed Iraqiyya Bloc, in a televised news conference.

Minister of Finance Rafa al-Issawi, whose home and offices were raided by security forces in December, quit earlier this month.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets again in the cities of Mosul, Samarra, and Kirkuk and in Anbar Province on Friday. They again demanded the release of detainees and the scrapping of anti-terrorism laws they say are unfairly used against them.

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

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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

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

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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

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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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Iran Feature: The Week in Civil Society --- From Ahmadinejad in Egypt to "Tribal Voices" in Tehran (Arseh Sevom)

This week's "Tribal Voices" festival in Tehran

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This week we saw the arrest of Presidential advisor Saeed Mortazavi, following a power struggle on the floor of Parliament between Speaker Ali Larijani and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The President joined the ranks of those on the receiving end of flying shoes during a trip to Egypt. And amidst worries about the economy and more crippling sanctions, Tehran celebrates the Tribal Voices festival.

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Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Overnight Clashes In and Beyond Cairo

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Friday's Tunisia (and Beyond) Live Coverage: General Strike and Marches as Slain Opposition Leader is Buried

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1745 GMT: Saudi Arabia. Riyadh Bureau reports that dozens of women and children have been arrested in Riyadh and Buraidah amid protests to demand the release of imprisoned family members.

The demonstrators gathered outside the Human Rights Commission office in Riyadh and the Court of Grievances in Buraidah in the central region of Qassim.

A lawyer confirmed that those arrested include the wife, daughter, and granddaughter of Suleiman al-Rashudi, a political activist who was arrested in December after giving a lecture about the permissibility of protests.

Women in the security bus in Qassim, chanting for the freedom of detainees:

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Iran Live Coverage: Humiliation of Ahmadinejad Continues --- Advisor Mortazavi Arrested

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Monday's Iran Live Coverage: Has Tehran Agreed to Resume Nuclear Talks?

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2112 GMT: Ahmadinjad Watch (Egyptian Front). President Ahmadinejad and Al-Azhar cleric Hassan al-Shafai clash at a press conference after a stormy meeting between Ahmadinejad and Sunni Muslim scholar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the head of the 1000-year-old mosque and University,today (see 1755 GMT):

2037 GMT: Ahmadinjad Watch (Egyptian Front). Lots of chatter on the Web tonight about this video of a man throwing a shoe at President Ahmadinejad during his visit to Cairo --- a Syrian man, who was heard chanting anti-Iranian slogans over Tehran's support of the Assad regime, has been arrested:

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Iraq (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Dozens Killed in Attack on Police Headquarters

Today's opposition rally in Bahrain "Change is Coming"

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2102 GMT: Mali. French warplanes have carried out airstrikes in the far north near the Algerian border.

Thirty jets targeted insurgent training and communication centres around Tessalit in a mountainous area.

The French forces are trying to remove insurgents from their last urban foothold in the north, the town of Kidal. Paris's troops captured the airport on Wednesday, but --- contrary to some reports last week --- have not taken the centre of the town from an insurgent group, the MNLA, which is part of the Tuareg people.

Malian Interim President Dioncounda Traore has offered to hold talks with the MNLA to help secure Kidal.

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