pantslessprogressive:

Demonstrators spend the night at Puerta del Sol Square during a protest in Madrid, early Sunday, May 22, 2011. Thousands of Spaniards defied a ban on a pre-election demonstration and have mounted a protest camp in the heart of the Spanish capital to express anger at political parties and the country’s handling of the economic crisis. The crowd have packed the square since last Sunday and pledged to stay there until municipal and regional elections this weekend. [Photo: Emilio Morenatti / AP]

Weekend News Roundup: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Georgia, Morocco, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen

Algeria:

Algeria to hold reform talks, boycotted by opposition | AFP

Bahrain:

Bahrain upholds death sentences for Shiite protesters | AFP

Bahrain’s top human rights activist targeted two days after Obama speech | McClatchy

Al-Wifaq has reportedly decided to return to its boycotting roots and will not contest in the make-up elections scheduled for September 2011 | Bahraini Politics

After destruction of the actual protesting site at “the Pearl”, the government shifts to eliminate virtual protests | Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Half a Doctrine Will Have to Do | NY Times

How Bahrain is oppressing its Shia majority | Joshua Colangelo-Bryan

Letters: Torture fears over Bahrain crackdown | Guardian

Obama and the Street Vendor of Manama | Iraq and Gulf Analysis

Egypt:

Death sentence for Egyptian policeman convicted of shooting dead 20 protesters | AJE

Egyptian Groups Call for Second Round of ‘Rage’ Protests on Lack of Change | Bloomberg

Egypt Is ‘Disintegrating’ as Tourism Drop Cripples Economy, ElBaradei Says | Bloomberg

Georgia:

Anti-president protests continue in Georgia; opposition calls for massive turnout Monday | AP

Georgia opposition calls for Day of Rage protest | Reuters

Morocco:

Many wounded as Moroccan police beat protestors | Reuters

Police chase Moroccans defying protests ban | Reuters

Spain:

Spanish PM Is Punished In Polls Over Economy | Sky News

Spain’s Governing Party Suffers Heavy Losses in Election | NY Times

Spain is voting in regional elections as thousands of young protesters remain camped out in squares across the country | BBC

Spanish vote overshadowed by protests | FT

Socialists ready to be slammed in Spanish vote | AP

Opinion: ’Yes we camp’ activists hit Spanish streets | AJE

Photo gallery: Madrid protests | El Paíz

Syria:

Shootings in Syria push death toll above 900 | AP

Activists raise death toll to 76 in three days of violence | LA Times

Syrians Are Fatally Shot at Funeral for Protesters | NY Times

The Syrian Revolution Lives | Syria Comment

Syria’s defiant women risk all to protest against President Bashar al-Assad | Guardian

The Syria Illusion: Bashar Assad is not going to become a democratic reformer | WSJ

Tunisia:

UN official says 300 killed during Tunisian uprising, torture still continues | Al Arabiya

High death toll challenges claims of smooth transition | LA Times

Tunisia considers postponing elections | Telegraph

Yemen:

Yemen’s Saleh refuses to sign exit deal | AJE

GCC to drop deal, withdraw from mediating Yemen’s power transfer if Saleh doesn’t sign | AP

Photos: 100 days of protests in Yemen | Iona Craig/GlobalPost

Envoys airlifted from Sanaa embassy | BBC

Diplomats trapped by Yemen loyalists, blocking deal | Reuters

Analysis: Yemen’s Saleh plays cat and mouse with Saudis and US | Al Arabiya

(Source: pantslessprogressive)

pantslessprogressive:

Tunisian court closes Mohamed Bouazizi case at centre of Arab protests

A Tunisian court has dropped charges against a policewoman whose dispute with a fruit vendor sparked a chain of events that unleashed uprisings around the Arab world.

The state news agency TAP said the case against Fedia Hamdi was closed after the vendor’s family withdrew its original complaint. The family says it acted in a gesture of tolerance and an effort to heal wounds suffered in Tunisia’s upheaval of recent months.

The case was at the heart of what has become a season of protests against autocratic leaders stretching across Arab countries from Yemen to Morocco.

Hamdi was accused of slapping vendor Mohamed Bouazizi in December in the provincial town of Sidi Bouzid. Bouazizi’s wares were confiscated on the grounds that he did not have a permit. [read more]

Above: Former Tunisian President Ben Ali (left) visits Mohamed Bouazizi (right) in the hospital. Bouaziz set himself on fire to protest the confiscation of his vendor stand. He died on January 4, 2011. Credit: AFP

(via paramendra)

pantslessprogressive:

A Yemeni army officer, center, salutes as he is lifted along with other officers by anti-government protesters during a demonstration on Sunday, April 10, 2011. [Photo: AP/Muhammed Muhelsen]

Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, Ivory Coast, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen Weekend News Roundup

Algeria:

In Algeria, a chill in the Arab spring | Washington Post

HRW: Restore Civil Liberties - With State of Emergency Over, Amend Laws to Restore Rights | AllAfrica

Bahrain:

Two Shiite activists die in Bahraini custody | AFP

Nearly 800 people have been detained since protests began | Bahrain Center for Human Rights

Human rights leader missing, taken by Bahraini police | CNN

Bahrain human rights activist “arrested, beaten up” | Reuters

Bahrain prosecutor to question former editors of main opposition newspaper Al Wasat | AP

Students in Iran Demonstrate in Support of Bahrain’s Shiites | NY Times

Bahrain is the line in the sand | Boston Globe

Bahrain, Syria and Yemen ‘playing with fire’, says EU diplomat | EU Observer

Djibouti:

A Friendly Little Dictatorship in the Horn of Africa: Why the world doesn’t care about Djibouti’s autocracy | Foreign Policy

Ivory Coast:

UN, French attack Gbagbo heavy weapons, damage presidential palace | Reuters

Ouattara Forces Kill, Rape Civilians During Offensive | HRW

Ouattara pledges he’ll establish human rights body, says UN | Reuters

Ouattara’s lawyers want Gbagbo to face trial | Reuters

Mortars fired at Ouattara’s hotel in Abidjan | AJE

Killings keep west Ivorian cocoa farmers in hiding | Reuters

Ivory Coast’s Abidjan risks health disaster, says MSF | Reuters

Ivory Coast fighting sparks fresh influx of refugees in Liberia | CS Monitor

Analysis: Manufacturing Côte d’Ivoire’s ‘Good Guy’ | AllAfrica

AUDIO: A jewel before its decline | NPR

VIDEO: Ignoring Cote d’Iviore | AJE

Beware of internet misinformation: hoax footage of atrocities in Ivory Coast | France24 (h/t news-intercom)

Mapping the conflict in Ivory Coast | Maps With The News (h/t futurejournalismproject)

Saudi Arabia:

Saudi rights activist: Hundreds of Shiite demonstrators demand release of political prisoners | AP

Saudi unemployed graduates protest to demand jobs | Reuters

Top White House aide to visit Saudi Arabia, UAE | Reuters

Swaziland:

Swaziland bans protests | AFP

Pro-democracy campaign groups are calling for an ‘April 12 Uprising’ | AllAfrica (h/t ligao)

South Africa’s largest labour group plans to blockade a key border crossing with Swaziland next week to support planned protests | AFP

Syria:

Syrian rights group says funeral comes under fire in southern city on Saturday | AP

Four Killed on Sunday as Syria Cuts Off City | NY Times

Syria death toll rises as threats of force become more explicit | Guardian

Syrian activists distribute video of protests | The Lede

Iran blames Jordan, Saudi Arabia for Syria | UPI

Ban Ki-Moon voices concern after deadly clashes in southern city | UN News Centre

Tunisia:

Ben Ali’s brother arrested in Tunisia | AJE

Tough transition in Tunisia after “Arab spring” | AP

VIDEO: Tunisia tourism industry struggling‎ | BBC

United Arab Emirates:

UAE detains another pro-democracy activist and an academic in widening crackdown on dissent | Washington Post

Yemen:

24 children killed in Yemen unrest: Unicef | Gulf News

Yemeni forces fire on protesters in 2 cities on Saturday seeking president’s ouster; several wounded | AP

Thousands march in Yemen over protesters’ deaths | Guardian

Gulf bloc calls on Yemeni ruler to transfer power to vice president | AP

Yemen resolution unlikely as president dismisses Gulf plan to end rule | Guardian

Yemen yanks diplomat over Qatar’s resignation talk | AP

WikiLeaks: Yemen tricked Saudis into nearly bombing president’s rival | Guardian

US embassy cables: Saudi defence minister explains targeting of Yemeni rebels with air strikes | Guardian

State cables show rising concern about al-Qaeda in Yemen | Washington Post

Hard-line Islamic enclave in Yemen illustrates militant risk if regime crumbles | AP

The Yemen President’s Pariah Family | The Daily Beast

Comment: Our revolution’s doing what Saleh can’t – uniting Yemen | Guardian

Comment: Western policymakers shouldn’t accept this Saleh spin | Guardian

(Source: pantslessprogressive)

pantslessprogressive:

A Syrian woman reacts as she sits next to her son who was seriously wounded during a violence between security forces and armed groups in Latakia, northwest of Damascus, Syria, on March 27. [Photo: Hussein Malla/AP]

Bahrain, Ivory Coast, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen News Roundup: March 28.

Bahrain:

Bahrain opposition says 250 detained, 44 missing | Reuters

Bahrain shuns Kuwait’s mediation offer | AJE

World ignoring Bahrain struggle | Toronto Star

Ivory Coast:

Battle Erupts For Key Ivory Coast Town | VOA

Ivory Coast Refinery Running Out of Crude, May Shut in April | BusinessWeek

EU weighs new sanctions on Ivory Coast’s Gbagbo | Reuters

Britain announces emergency aid for Ivory Coast refugees | Guardian

The Urgent Situation in Cote d’Ivoire | David Paltiel, Yale School of Medicine

Jordan:

Jordan PM defends freedom of speech after unrest | AFP

Jordan: Set Independent Inquiry in Attacks on Protesters | HRW

Syria:

Syrian protesters come under fire from security forces | Guardian

Syrian president wavers between crackdown or compromise as southern protests continues | AP

Assad to replace emergency law with worse: dissident | Reuters

What is at stake if Syria’s regime falls | CS Monitor

A bloody mess | The Economist

As Obama talks Libya, neocons move on to Syria | MinnPost

Pawlenty: Obama administration ‘naive’ on Syria | CNN

Pawlenty blasts Clinton on Assad: ‘ignorant or frighteningly misguided’ | POLITICO

Opinion Brief: Should the U.S. intervene in Syria? | The Week

Argument: The Syrian Time Bomb | Foreign Policy

Peter Goodspeed: Syrian violence raises the stakes on Arab upheaval | National Post

Reader writes the problems of Syria are larger than any individual | CNN

Tunisia:

Tunisia’s interim president sacks interior minister without explanation, report says | AP

The Casbah Coalition | The New Yorker News Desk

Yemen:

Blast at Yemen explosives factory kills 110 | AP

Yemen fighting worsening already dire humanitarian situation, warns UN official | UN News Centre

Activists urge UN rights council to meet on Yemen | Reuters

The Unfolding Situation in Yemen | Steven Heydemann, United States Institute of Peace

(Source: pantslessprogressive)

Click through for a New York Times interactive presentation on the future of the Arab world, through the voice of their youth.

neighborhoodr-cairo:

Map of education, internet-connectivity and sociopolitical unrest in the #MidEast via @fouad_marei

(Source: neighborhoodr-cairo)

tobeshelved:

Banned books return to shelves in Egypt and Tunisia | Books | guardian.co.uk

A number of highly political titles censored by the regime of ousted Tunisian president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali are now returning to the country’s bookshop shelves.

La Regente de Carthage by Nicolas Beau and Catherine Graciet, a critical book about the former president’s family, focusing in particular on the role of his wife, Leila, is among those now openly on sale in the country, according to the International Publishers Association.

Alongside it is a previously banned study of the long-serving Tunisian president from whom Ben Ali took over following a 1987 coup: Habib Bourguiba: La Trace et l’Heritage by Michel Camau and Vincent Geisser.

Also now appearing in the country’s bookshops are The Assassination of Salah Ben Youssef by Omar Khlifi, a book about the shooting of a former Tunisian minister of justice in Frankfurt in 1961, and works by journalist Toaufik Ben Brik, a prominent critic of Ben Ali’s presidency.

Alexis Krikorian, director of the Freedom to Publish programme at the IPA, said the emergence of these and other formerly banned books within Tunisia was “very good news”. Whether censorship still existed with regard to new titles was a separate issue, he added, but it was likely that the legal submission procedure, which under the old regime had been misused to block books at their printers, “no longer applies”.

Anecdotal reports are also emerging of once suppressed titles appearing for impromptu sale on street corners and newspaper kiosks across Egypt. Salwa Gaspard of joint English/Arabic language publisher Saqi Books said accounts in the Arabic press told of books that had been hidden for years in private basements now once more seeing the light of day.

Cairo is also to hold a book fair in Tahrir Square – the focus for protests against former president Hosni Mubarak – at the end of March, according to Trevor Naylor of the American University of Cairo Press bookshop, which is based in the square. Naylor told the Bookseller that the event had been planned in the wake of the cancelled Cairo Book Fair, which was abandoned in January in the face of growing political unrest.

“Everyone around the globe now associates Tahrir Square with freedom and revolution,” Naylor said. “We really wanted to do something that celebrates what happened here, and this seems like a great way to do it.”

Amid unrest, a hard new look at online anonymity