Iran Live Coverage: Detaining the Journalists

Campaign poster for 15 journalists imprisoned in late January

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2044 GMT:Communications Watch. Four Grand Ayatollahs --- Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, Hossein Nouri Hamedani, Jafar Sohbhani, and Seyyed Sajjad Alavi Gorgani--- have issued fatwas banning Iran's first 3G service Rightel, in part because of its video-call function.

"The decadence and corruption associated with [Rightel’s] use outweighs its benefits,” decreed Grand Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi. “It will cause new deviances in our society, which is unfortunately already plagued with deviances.”

Ayatollah Alavi Gorghani said that the video-call service would “jeopardize the public chastity” and “inflicts numerous damages” on Iran’s religion and political system.

Rightel, which sponsored Iran’s recent International Fajr Film Festival,,# allows customers to use both video-call and multi-media messaging functions. The company offers pay-and-go, contact, and data-card packages.

Petitions to ban Rightel have sprung up, and 17 MPs have asked President Ahmadinejad and the Ministry of Intelligence to act.

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Syria Live Coverage: Diplomatic Breakthrough? Opposition Leader Meets Russia & Iran Foreign Ministers

Claimed footage of the moment that a mortar strike killed three activists in the Damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta

See also Iraq (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Dozens Killed in Attack on Police Headquarters
Saturday's Syria Live Coverage: Aid Reaches an Opposition-Held Town

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1926 GMT: Casualties. Claimed footage from the al-Ansari section of Aleppo of men digging for survivors in a collapsed building, reportedly struck by a by regime shelling:

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Syria Live Coverage: Aid Reaches an Opposition-Held Town

European officials visit Azaz on Friday

See also EA Video Analysis: Two Lessons from The Israeli Airstrikes Inside Syria
Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Beatings, Molotovs, & a Death in Clashes
Friday's Syria Live Coverage: Fighting in and Near Damascus

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1729 GMT: Iran Visit. State media carries a claimed quote from Saeed Jalili, the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, after his meeting today with President Assad: "We will give all our support so that Syria remains firm and able to face all the arrogant (Western) conspiracies/>[? >[?"The Israeli aggression and arrogant international forces have tried to take revenge by attacking the resisting Syrian people."

1708 GMT: Russia and the Opposition. Moaz al-Khatib, the head of the opposition National Coalition, says he has met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.

Al-Khatib said he had received a "clear invitation" to go to Moscow for talks: "Russia has a certain vision but we welcome negotiations to alleviate the crisis and there are lots of details that need to be discussed."

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Syria Live Coverage: Fighting in and Near Damascus

Britain Channel 4's Jonathan Miller on the flight of a group of Syrians to Jordan

See also Syria Audio Feature: The Israeli Airstrikes...Now What? --- Scott Lucas with the BBC
Israel, Palestine (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Declares Jewish Settlements in West Bank "Illegal"
Thursday's Egypt (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Will There Be a "National Dialogue"?

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2215 GMT: Where is the Aid Money Going? Al Jazeera's James Bays reports:

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Iran Live Coverage: This Weekend's Crackdown on the Press --- Why?

12 of the Journalists Arrested This Weekend

See also Sunday's Iran Live Coverage: Ali Larijani and The Battle Within The Regime

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1639 GMT: Nuclear Watch. The blame game over the failure to renew nuclear talks continues, with both Iran and the European Union putting out statements today.

European Union spokesman Michael Mann said this morning, "Iran did not accept our offer to go to Istanbul on Jan. 28 and 29, and so we have offered new dates in February."

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi has countered, “We have always announced that we are ready for talks until a final result [is reached] and we have never stopped negotiations.”

Earlier this month the Iranian Labor News Agency said talks would be held in Istanbul on 28-29 January, but the item was quickly withdrawn.

Salehi subsequently proposed that the negotiations could be in Cairo, but claims that the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China) rejected the venue. On Sunday, the Foreign Minister tried another tack, declaring that Kazakhstan, Sweden, and Switzerland have expressed readiness to host discussions.

Salehi continued, “Turkey is also regarded as one of our best choices.”

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Iran Live Coverage: Ahmadinejad "Don't Buy Our Oil? To Hell With You."

One of a set of photos of the last day of Tehran's Café Prague, closing rather than giving in to an order to install video cameras (see 1713 GMT)

See also Tuesday's Iran Live Coverage: Crisis at the Central Bank?

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2123 GMT: Warning of the Day. An interesting moment at the farewell ceremony for Ali Akbar Javanfekr, the resigned director of State news agency IRNA and also a senior Presidential advisor....

Hassan Mousavi, President Ahmadinejad's office manager, said he hoped "Javenfekr would not end up with a dagger in his back in this war".

Javanfekr recently served a six-month prison sentence for "insulting Islam" in a special edition of Iran newspaper, where he was managing editor.

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Syria Live Coverage: Deaths of the Past, Deaths of the Present

1930 GMT: Jabhat Strikes Qusayr. a contact reports that, "Jabhat Al Nusra has just blown up the biggest military zone in Al Qasier-Homs using a truck loaded with 20 tones of explosives." Several other social media accounts also post similar news:

#FSA and #JN Blew up an army checkpoint that is considered the biggest and most strategic checkpoint in #Qusair #Homs twitter.com/samersniper/st…

— samer (@samersniper) January 23, 2013

Homs - Qusair :: Fierce clashes between the FSA and regime's army at the city's outskirts.#Syria

— أخبار الثورة السورية (@NewsSyRev) January 23, 2013

This video reportedly shows the smoke rising after the explosion:

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Syria Live Coverage: Who Bombed Aleppo University?

Claimed footage of shelling of Homs today

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2110 GMT: What Happened in Haswiyeh? With Bill Neely's arrival in Haswiyeh (see previous update below) we have also received several new updates today. First, let's recap what has happened over the last week.

Two days ago rumors began circulating of a "massacre" in the villages of Hawiyeh,just north of Homs, as well as dozens killed in Houla to the west of Homs. These rumors came at the same time as confirmed reports of heavy shelling of Homs itself, as well as the cities to the north (Talbiseh, Al Rastan). See our initial coverage here, which includes many links to videos and claimed eyewitness claims.

A problem was immediately apparent. The claims made by some activists included beheadings, knife attacks, and summary executions. But the evidence didn't initially show any of this. Instead, it was obvious that the villages had been heavily bombed, likely by aircraft but also possibly by tanks and artillery, and the reports of knife-wielding shabiha and bodies hanging in trees were exaggerated. But with rumors such as these, it was still important to keep an open mind to the possibility that these reports had some merit.

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Syria Live Coverage: The End of the Brahimi Mission?

2024 GMT: State Department Weighs In. The US State Department spokesperson, Victoria Nuland, said that the capture of the Taftanaz airbase is a significant development:

"They are taking credit now for having taken the air base," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters Friday. "And, as you know, we consider this significant on two fronts.

"First of all, to ground some of the air assets of the Assad regime that they've been using against civilians. And, secondly, to break their ability to resupply in the north."

There is a problem with statements like these - Taftanaz was captured primarily by Jabhat al Nusra and the Ahrar al Sham brigades, two Jihadi groups, and the State Department has already place Al Nusra on the terror list.

For a 2nd day, State Dept praises rebels for air base capture without acknowledging that it was led by Nusra, the group it deems terrorists

— Hannah Allam (@HannahAllam) January 11, 2013

Meanwhile, as if to answer criticisms that the US is not doing enough to help the Syrian refugees affected by the worst weather in decades to hit the region, the State Department was pushing a summary of the humanitarian aid donated by the US government.

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Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: UN Envoy Brahimi's Mission is "Dead in the Water"

Friday's message from protesters in Kafranbel in Syria to United Nations envoy Lakhdar Brahimi

See also Syria Feature: The Growing Crisis in Health Care
Turkey Opinion: Democracy v. "Erdogan's Personal Lust for Power"
Friday's Syria (and Beyond) Live Coverage: Brahimi's Futile Mission to Moscow?

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2137 GMT: Syria. Activists are claiming, supported by video of bodies, that five children and two women were among 10 people killed by shelling of the Damascus suburb of Douma today.

1829 GMT: Syria. The Local Coordination Committees is now including 220 people "field-executed" in the Deir Baalba section of Homs (see 1749 GMT) in its claim of 364 victims today.

The Committees write more than 20 children and 20 women are among today's deaths.

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