Tunisian Revolution and the Middle East

[visionary]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/16/world/...html?hpt=hp_t2

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef dies

Saudi Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, a hard-line conservative who is credited with pushing back al Qaeda, has died, Saudi state TV reported Saturday.

Nayef, who had been named crown prince in October by his brother the king, was heir to the Saudi throne. State TV broadcast Quran readings as an expression of mourning for the prince, who died in Geneva, Switzerland.

"It is a shock. We all knew his health was frail but his death is a shock," Saudi Foreign Ministry spokesman Osama Nogali told CNN. "We still don't know the reason behind his death."

The Saudi Press Agency published a statement from the Royal Court, saying it "condoles the Saudi people on the deceased prince pray to God to bless his soul and to reward him for his services to his religion and homeland."

http://www.thedailybeast.com/article...audi-king.html

Meet Prince Salman, the Next Saudi King

He’s 76 years old, a hawk when it comes to Iran, a dove when it comes to peaceful reform—and, with the death of his brother, the kingdom’s new heir. Bruce Riedel on Prince Salman.

YEMEN

https://twitter.com/#!/narrabyee

Celebrations started in Shuqrah, after army drove Al Qaeda out, and road reopened to Ahwar and Mukalla.
7:36 AM

President Hadi gave courage medal to the anti-Al Qaeda popular committees in Abyan. Predident Hadi also gave the courage medal to anti-Al Qaeda popular committees in Lahj and Baidha.
2:22 PM

Al Qaeda will withdraw from Azzan to save blood also as it did in Jaar, Zinjubar and Shuqrah, said tribal leaders mediating with Al Qaeda
1:14 PM

Al Qaeda is to withdraw from Aazan, the last, last stronghold in Shabwah, tonigh to mountains of Al Kur, tribal sources said late Saturday
1:55 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ye..._2012-3-11.svg
So they've been mostly pushed out of Abayan and Shabwah governorates now.
Of course they may still be hiding in the mountains afterwards.


This guy gives a different perspective though:
https://twitter.com/#!/almuslimi

Says that there is still a very anti-army, anti-north/unification mood in the southern provinces.
I hope the government takes note of the feeling against them in the far north and the southern provinces.
Perhaps some sort of federalization is necessary.

[visionary]

http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/0...85G05W20120617

Saudi king seeks successor as crown prince buried

Saudi Arabia's elderly king led funeral prayers on Sunday for his heir, Crown Prince Nayef, whose death forces him to find a new successor capable of tackling domestic unemployment, bitter rivalry with Iran and turmoil in close Arab neighbours.

Mecca's Great Mosque, Islam's holiest place, was lined with members of the al-Saud ruling family and leaders of Arab states as an imam led the sunset prayer next to the body of Nayef, who died on Saturday.

Among the mourners was the man most likely to be named as successor: Prince Salman, 76, who is seen as more likely to continue the 89-year-old King Abdullah's cautious economic and social reforms than the conservative Nayef.

I saw earlier King Abdullah and Tantawi of Egypt's SCAF sitting side by side at the funeral.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85H0A520120618

Suicide bomber kills senior south Yemen army general

The commander of Yemen's southern military region was killed in a suicide attack in Aden early on Monday, medics and a security official said, after the army drove al Qaeda-linked militants from their strongholds in the area.

The bomber, who was wearing an explosives belt, targeted Major General Salem Ali Qatan as he was on his way to work, witnesses said.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/#!/kdiwaniya

Kuwait govt & opposition were negotiating over cabinet on eve of const court ruling that current parliament is illegal. http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/06/...-join-cabinet/
11:26 AM

The timing of Kuwait constitutional court ruling annulling elected parliament is dangerous: brings Kuwait into Egypt's revolutionary orbit.
12:34 PM

http://news.kuwaittimes.net/2012/06/...-join-cabinet/

PM invites oppn to join Cabinet

KUWAIT: Just a day after HH the Amir suspended the National Assembly for a month, Prime Minister HH Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah held talks with Assembly Speaker Ahmad Al-Saadoun and several MPs from the opposition, inviting the parliamentary majority bloc to join the Cabinet. Opposition MP Saifi Al-Saifi told reporters after the meeting that during the talks, Sheikh Jaber offered the opposition to join the Cabinet, which is being reshuffled after two of its members were forced to resign.

Information Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah said the talks did not mention a specific number of MPs who may join the government, adding that the outcome of the meeting was very positive. Sheikh Jaber said after the meeting that “everything is fine” without elaborating. Saifi said the opposition majority bloc will meet soon to study the premier’s proposal about participating in the Cabinet amid mixed demands from opposition MPs about the number of lawmakers that should be included in the Cabinet.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/africa...758119634.html

Police clash with protesters in Sudan capital

More than 100 demonstrators rally for a third day to protest against austerity plans aimed at tackling economic crisis.

Sudanese police have clashed with scores of protesters in the capital Khartoum for a third day, a witnesses said, extending demonstrations against government austerity plans to cope with an economic crisis.

Sudan has faced a widening budget gap, a depreciating currency and high inflation since South Sudan split away a year ago, taking with it three quarters of the country's oil production - previously the main source of exports and state revenues.

On Tuesday, more than 100 demonstrators blocked a street in Khartoum and scuffled with police while chanting "no, no to inflation" and "the people want to overthrow the regime," the witness said.

As on the previous two days of demonstrations, police used batons and tear gas to disperse the crowd, a witness added, requesting anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/20/world/...ban/index.html

Uganda bans 38 agencies it says are promoting gay rights

The Ugandan government said Wednesday it will ban at least 38 nongovernmental agencies it says are promoting gay rights and recruiting children into homosexuality.

"We have investigated them thoroughly and we have found their sponsors," said Ethics Minister Simon Lokodo. "We will ask them to step aside and stop pretending to work in human rights."

"Some NGOs, under the pretext of providing social services, are receiving funds to promote homosexuality," he said.

The organizations -- both international and local -- will lose their registrations and no longer be able to operate in Uganda. He did not name the groups on the list.

"The sooner they are phased out, the better," he said.

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda, as it is in many African countries, and legislation is pending in parliament that could bring even harsher penalties for gays.

[visionary]

Oh boy....

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85J15R20120620

Kuwait court reinstates former parliament

Kuwait's highest court on Wednesday annulled the results of a February parliamentary election in which opposition lawmakers won a majority, and reinstated the previous assembly.

The ruling was the latest twist in an escalating row between a government appointed by the ruler and mainly Islamist lawmakers who had threatened to summon senior ministers to parliament for questioning.

Prominent opposition lawmaker Musallam al-Barrak announced that he and several other MPs were resigning from the restored parliament, calling the court's ruling "a coup against the constitution".

Opposition politicians won a majority in February's elections, held after the emir dissolved the previous assembly amid bickering with the government over corruption allegations that had held up economic reforms and economic development.

Analysts said Wednesday's ruling would not be welcomed by many voters who backed opposition politicians due to allegations of financial irregularities against some former lawmakers.

"The previous parliament is completely unpopular," said Abdullah al-Shayji, a political science professor at Kuwait University.

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/#!/S_Elwardany

BREAKING: Khartoum [SUDAN] state government dissolved, as anti-austerity unrest enters fifth day: Governor
3:23 AM

https://twitter.com/#!/AleemMaqbool

confirmed: arrest warrant issued for leading pakistan prime minister candidate, makhdoom shahabuddin (after supreme court removed last pm)
3:58 AM

[visionary]

https://twitter.com/#!/kdiwaniya

Looks like Kuwaiti opposition is using political crisis to escalate demands for an elected government. If so would be "historic."
10:30 AM

BIG: Kuwait "majority" opposition issues statement calling for 1) constitutional amendments 2) elected govt 3) enter elections under 1 list.
10:35 AM

Ruling of Kuwait's constitutional court may have initiated course toward GCC's first elected parliamentary government.
10:37 AM

[visionary]

http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_15287/cont...tguid=ZNTUWYy0

Anti-regime protests sweep Sudan's capital


Riot police fired tear gas and civilians armed with machetes and swords attacked protesters during five days of demonstrations sweeping Khartoum demanding ouster of Sudan's autocratic ruler, a Sudanese opposition leader said Thursday.

Saata Ahmed al-Haj, head of the opposition Sudanese Commission for Defense of Freedoms and Rights, said that hundreds of protesters have been detained over the past five days. He said they were later released but were badly mistreated.

Al-Haj said security forces shaved off the protesters' hair, stripped them naked, flogged them and then left them outside in the scorching sun for hours.

"I am under house arrest along with several opposition members, and security forces are encircling the place," he told The Associated Press over the phone. "Our 'offense' is we are searching for freedom, and this is a crime in Sudan," he said.

"This is the outcome of political, economic and military suffocation felt by people here," al-Haj said.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85L16M20120622

Paraguay's leftist president faces impeachment

Paraguay's Senate will decide whether to oust President Fernando Lugo in a lightning-quick impeachment trial on Friday that he says is tantamount to a coup.

Lugo, a silver-haired former Catholic bishop who quit the church to run for the presidency, is accused of mishandling armed clashes over a land eviction in which 17 police and peasant farmers were killed last week.

His rivals, who firmly control both congressional houses, were confident they would get the votes needed to remove the president. Lawmakers in the lower house agreed in a sudden, near-unanimous vote on Thursday to start the impeachment.

[visionary]

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp...c=Worldupdates

Sudan police ordered to end protests "immediately": SMC

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan's police have ordered their forces to put an end to anti-government protests immediately, state media reported on Saturday, in a sign of a growing crackdown on demonstrations that have spread throughout Khartoum over the last week.

"The police direct their forces to immediately end the demonstrations and incidents of unrest according to the law," the state-linked Sudanese Media Centre (SMC) said in a statement sent to mobile phones. (Reporting by Khalid Abdelaziz; Writing by Alexander Dziadosz)

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85N01A20120624

Massacre tests judicial reform in the Philippines

Esmael Enog heard crackling gunfire and saw men armed with high-powered rifles carry out one of the most heinous crimes in Philippine history: the massacre of 57 people, including 31 journalists, on a November morning three years ago.

But nine months after testifying in court last July and pointing a finger at a politically powerful family, Enog vanished. His body was found in a sack near marshland last month, chain-sawed into pieces, according to his lawyer.

Two other witnesses have been murdered, casting doubt over whether anyone will be brought to justice for the nation's bloodiest election-related violence and the deadliest single attack on the press ever documented.

[visionary]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-18571193

London 2012 Olympics: Saudis allow women to compete


Saudi Arabia is to allow its women athletes to compete in the Olympics for the first time.

A statement issued by the Saudi Embassy in London says the country's Olympic Committee will "oversee participation of women athletes who can qualify".

The decision will end recent speculation as to whether the entire Saudi team could have been disqualified on grounds of gender discrimination.

Women's sport is still fiercely opposed by many Saudi religious conservatives.

There is almost no public tradition of women participating in sport in the country.

Saudi officials say that with the Games now just a few weeks away, the only female competitor at Olympic standard is showjumper Dalma Rushdi Malhas.

But they added that there may be scope for others to compete and that if successful they would be dressed "to preserve their dignity".

In practice this is likely to mean modest, loose-fitting garments and "a sports hijab", a scarf covering the hair but not the face.

[visionary]

http://tweepforum.ly/elections/

Elections 2012, Get Updated!

The Libyan National Transitional Council will hold the first democratic elections in Libya on the 7th of July. This election comes to apply a designated 200-member assembly to draft a new constitution and form a government.

***
Registration centers openned their doors to register voters in Libya from the 1st of May until the 21th of May in all regions of the country. Out of 3.5 million eligible voters, 2,712,977 people registered for the June elections – around 78%.

***
Libyans overseas will also be able to register and vote abroad. Below is the information regarding Out of Country Voting for the 2012 Elections.

***
In a press conference on Sunday June 10 the president of the electoral commission announced that elections have been postponed to July 7th. (Elections previously set for June 19th)

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85P16820120626

Bahrain to pay $2.6 million compensation for revolt deaths

Bahrain will pay $2.6 million in restitution to 17 families over the deaths of 17 relatives last year during an uprising suppressed by the Gulf Arab state, a government statement said.

Separately, a high court toughened charges against three policemen, ruling they would be tried for murder - exposing them to a possible death sentence - rather than manslaughter for killing three protesters.

Bahrain, where the U.S. Fifth Fleet is based, has been under pressure to implement recommendations for police, judicial, media and education reform made by an investigative commission of international legal experts.

But the country remains in turmoil as opposition groups led by the Shi'ite Muslim majority continue protests for democratic reforms and against what they say is discrimination.

[visionary]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...85R1PB20120628

Analysis: Sudan rulers dig in as foes look for Arab Spring

Outside the University of Khartoum, riot police in blue fatigues perch on pickup trucks, keeping watch as young women in bright headscarves and men in button-down shirts walk by carrying textbooks to class in Sudan's intense summer heat.

Less than a week earlier, the campus - just a few hundred meters (yards) from the national security headquarters - was a battleground. Police fired teargas and used batons to break up hundreds of protesters, who threw rocks back at them.

No one expects the shaky truce to last. After more than a week of anti-government demonstrations fueled by budget cuts and tax increases, Sudan's rulers are digging in. Riot police have been deployed, coverage of protests in local media restricted, and scores arrested, activists and opposition groups say.

It is still far from clear whether the protests, which have rarely mustered more than a few hundred people at a time, will gather the kind of momentum seen in last year's Arab Spring uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, and so pose a real threat to Sudan's ruling National Congress Party (NCP) and to President Omar Hassan al-Bashir.

But the tough response to the demonstrations shows how high the stakes are for Sudan's rulers, already struggling to contain multiple armed rebellions and an economic crisis triggered by the loss of oil output and revenues through South Sudan's secession last year.

In a defiant speech on Sunday - two days after the most widely spread demonstrations yet - Bashir lashed out at the protesters, dismissing them as a handful of agitators whose aims most Sudanese rejected.

"I drove around the capital on Friday in an open car. There was nothing. The people greeted me by crying 'Allahu akbar'," Bashir said. Anyone looking for an Arab Spring in Sudan, he added, was going to be disappointed.

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/fea...619549472.html

Sudan protesters aim to 'elbow out' Bashir

Street protests have entered their second week in Sudan, and activists have called for mass demonstrations on Friday, June 29. The demonstrations have been dubbed "licking your elbow" protests, referring to a Sudanese metaphor for achieving the impossible.

They have also called for a general strike day on June 30, the 23rd anniversary of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir's National Congress Party coming to power.

Many Sudanese hope this will be the country's third revolution. The first one was in 1964, when 20-year-old student activist Ahmad al-Qurashi was shot dead by security forces, sparking a mass non-violent movement and toppling General Abood. And President Gaafar al-Nimeiry was removed from power following protests that led to a military coup in 1985.

The current protest movement began on June 16, when female university students in Khartoum demonstrated against government austerity measures that increased the cost of student housing.

http://af.reuters.com/article/topNew...BrandChannel=0

Islamists declare full control of Mali's north

BAMAKO (Reuters) - Al Qaeda-linked Islamists declared on Thursday they had secured full control of Mali's desert north, a day after pushing their former Tuareg separatist allies out of the town of Gao in a gun battle that killed at least 20 people.

The appropriation by Islamists of a separatist uprising by Tuareg MNLA rebels regarded in the West as having some legitimate political grievances will heighten fears Mali will become a haven for jihadists.

The local Ansar Dine group and allies such as the al Qaeda splinter group MUJWA had already gained the upper hand in the northern town of Kidal and the ancient trading post of Timbuktu after government forces were routed in an April rebel advance.

"Our men control all three of the towns in northern Mali," Oumar Ould Hamaha, a Timbuktu-based Ansar Dine official said of the mostly desert territory which is larger than France.

"They (the MNLA) all ran away, we decided not to pursue them. ... All I can tell you is that they are not even in the outskirts the city," Hamaha said of the battle in Gao.

The separatist National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad - the northern territory it claims as an independent state - said its forces beat a tactical retreat in Gao on Wednesday and rejected suggestions they had lost the battle.

"Right now some MNLA units, stationed at the borders of Azawad, are coming back to completely rid the city of Gao of Islamist groups that are terrorising the population," MNLA spokesman Mossa Ag Attaher said in a written statement.

The U.N. Security Council has said it would be ready to support military intervention by Mali's neighbours to help the country take back the north, but first needs more details of their plans.

West African leaders were due to meet later on Thursday in Ivory Coast's capital Yamoussoukro for a summit in which the situation in northern Mali was on the agenda.

[visionary]

Libya and Saudi Arabia will face off in the Semi-finales of the Arab Cup of Nations.
Morocco awaits their opponent, either Iraq or Sudan



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Arab_Nations_Cup

Libya - Saudi Arabia
Morroco - Iraq

July 3rd