• Protests across Syria in tribute to Aleppo students
• Ban Ki-moon says al-Qaida responsible for Damascus bombs
• Abul Foutouh in the lead among Egypt's expat voters
• Read the latest summary
Posted by Matthew Weaver and Brian Whitaker
Friday 18 May 2012 17.08 BST
guardian.co.uk
Comments (111)
UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he believed al-Qaida was responsible for two suicide car bombs that killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week. Photograph: Spencer Platt/Getty Images5.07pm: Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Syria
• Friday protests have been taking place in Syria under the slogan "Heroes of Aleppo University" – in solidarity with students who have demonstrated despite brutal repression. Today's demonstrations in Aleppo itself were the largest the city has seen so far, according to activists.
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al-Qaida was responsible for the explosions that reportedly killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week. However, Robert Mood, head of the UN monitoring mission, says it is impossible to say who was to blame for the attack (see 3.41pm).
Guardian journalist Martin Chulov, just returned from north-west Syria, says rebels there are scornful of the regime's al-Qaida narrative (see 10.18) The influential Washington Institute thinktank has also joined those expressing scepticism about the role of jihadists in Syria (see 4.25pm).
• A UN monitor has expressed frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube (see 12.35pm).
• The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists (see 10.48 am).
Bahrain
• In Britain, the Queen has been accused of making a catastrophic error of judgment by inviting King Hamad of Bahrain to today's jubilee lunch at Windsor Castle (see 2.16pm).
• Government-backed demonstrations have been taking place today in Iran to denounce plans for closer ties between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia (see 2.17pm).
Egypt
• First results in the Egyptian presidential election – from expatriate communities around the world – show Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, though well short of the 50% needed to avoid a run-off (see 1.02pm).
4.47pm: Syria: Today's protests in Aleppo were the largest the city has seen so far, according to activists. Up to now, Aleppo has generally been loyal to the Assad regime though anti-regime sentiment increased following a raid on student dormitories last month which left four dead, the Associated Press reports.
2.57pm: Bahrain/Britain: Here's the latest on the royal lunch at Windsor Castle, via the Press Association:
Members of the British royal family attending the lunch included the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince Harry, the Duke of York and Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and the Earl and Countess of Wessex.
The King of Bahrain was joined by his wife Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa and at the reception held before lunch she was seen talking to Beatrice and Eugenie.
The event had the atmosphere of a family gathering despite the opulent surroundings with everyone chatting at loud levels as they caught up.
The Royal Family circulated around the chamber mingling with their foreign guests and at one point Harry was engrossed in conversation with the Saudi Ambassador while his brother William and wife Kate chatted to King of Jordan Abdullah II and his wife Queen Rania.
The Duchess wore a pale pink fitted dress by Emilia Wickstead.
Edward joked when he found the African rulers, Swaziland's King Mswati III and King Letsie III of Lesotho and their spouses, standing together, saying "safety in numbers?"
The Queen was hosting 98 guests for lunch in the Castle's magnificent St George' Hall. They sat at round tables seating up to 12, with each group having at least a sovereign, their spouse, a member of Britain's royal family and a member of the royal household.
On the menu was a starter of poached egg with English asparagus.
The main course was noisettes of new season Windsor lamb with artichokes, peas, carrots, broad beans, spring cabbage, braised potatoes, wild mushrooms, and a tomato and basil salad.
For dessert there were Kent strawberries and vanilla charlotte, fruit and cheese.
2.53pm: Syria: More frustration with the UN monitors... Free Syrian @HamaEcho "Dear UN observers, 15 martyrs fell since your last visit to Qusair, please don't visit us again" #Homs #Syria pic.twitter.com/nDjPXGh5
18 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
2.41pm: Egypt: No matter who wins the election, Egypt's next president will face a host of economic issues. Jane Kinninmont, of Chatham House, the London-based thinktank, has been looking at the candidates' policies:
Overall, campaign rhetoric suggests public spending is likely to rise in the next year. It can be assumed that any new government will be wary of cutting public spending on salaries and consumer subsidies, and there is clear pressure to increase public spending on healthcare, education and infrastructure.
Of the candidates, Aboul Fotouh, an independent Islamist and doctor, aims to increase healthcare spending to 15% of the state budget, and education spending to 25%, by 2016; Amr Moussa has set the same targets with a vaguer timescale; while Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force commander with links to the military establishment, and Hamdeen Sabbahi, a leftist with a Nasserist background, both favour a health insurance scheme for all Egyptians.
Housing is another key issue: Aboul Fotouh, Moussa and Shafiq have promised programmes to redevelop Egypt's sprawling slums, while Mursi and Sabbahi both pledged new subsidised housing for the poor (and in Mursi's case, for newlyweds).
Raising revenue will be harder. All the front runners agree about the need for a more progressive tax system. The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party has highlighted the need to expand the tax base by legalising and licensing the many businesses that operate informally – but this is likely to be a long-term process, requiring reform of the labyrinthine Egyptian bureaucracy.
Several candidates have mentioned the need to cut energy subsidies to industry, which may be a relatively easy win.
2.22pm: Syria: After quoting Shakespeare last week, the Kafranabel banner maker has devised some original verse for this week's message from the Idlib town.
Banners in this style have been raised every Friday since last summer.
There is now even Facebook group called "the banners from Kafranbel".
2.17pm: Bahrain/Iran: Government-backed demonstrations have been taking place today in Iran to denounce plans for closer ties between Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
A protest march in Tehran followed midday prayers led by cleric Kazem Sedighi who said a Saudi-Bahraini pact would be an "ominous conspiracy" aimed at the "annexation" of Bahrain by Saudi Arabia, the Associated Press reports.
2.05pm: Syria: Syria: The head of the UN monitoring mission Robert Mood [pictured] has played down Ban Ki-moon's assertion that al-Qaida was responsible for last week's bombing in Damascus. Mood was asked about Ban's comments during a press conference with journalists in Damascus.
He said: "This is the kind of violence that is obviously impossible at this stage to decide where it came from, by whom. But there is a worrying incident, a worrying trend related to this incident."
So perhaps Ban's comments should not be taken that seriously (in the same appearance he also mistook Hama for "Hamas", as Inner City Press Notes).
Kofi Annan's office has emailed a full transcript of Mood's remarks. The Norwegian said the mission would be moving to full implementation phase now that almost all the monitors from 60 countries had arrived.
He also insisted that the violence had reduced since the arrival of the monitors, but that it was impossible to eradicate without dialogue between the two sides.
Mood said we was concerned about an increase in violence in the last few days.
Egypt's presidential candidates Amr Moussa (R) and Abdel Moneim Abul Futouh (L) during a televised presidential debate in Cairo, Photograph: Ahmed Hayman/EPA
9.40am: Egypt: Preliminary expat results are beginning to emerge pointing to wins for the moderate Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Fotouh.
The former member of the Muslim Brotherhood has come out top among Egyptian in the UK, according to random sampling and exit polls seen by Omar Ashour, visiting fellow at the Brookings Doha Centre.
Omar Ashour @DrOmarAshour #EgyPresElex results in UK: #Aboulfotouh wins w/1300 votes, hamdin 962, #Moussa 907, #Morsi 354 @SultanAlQassemi @monaeltahawy @seldeeb 18 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavoriteAbul Foutouh also appears to be winning among expats in the US, according to activist
Mostafa Hussein. Mostafa Hussein @moftasa Prelim. elections results from Washington DC according to @ymzada: AF 882, AM 644, HS 641, AS 404, Others 497. Out of 3068 valid votes. 18 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavoriteMore significantly perhaps Abul Foutoh looks set to get the backing of Hazem Abu Ismail, a leading Salafist who was excluded from the presidential race, according to the Egypt Independent.
9.31am: Syria: A UN panel of experts which investigates sanctions-busting has accused North Korea of providing weapons-related supplies to Syria, Reuters reports.
One of the cases involving illicit arms trade with Syria was reported to the council's sanctions committee last month.
"In April 2012, France reported to the committee that it had inspected and seized in November 2010 an illicit shipment of arms-related materiel originating from the DPRK and destined for Syria," the report [from the investigators] said.
The shipment, which was on board the ship M/V San Francisco Bridge, was said to be containing "copper bars and plates."
"However, France's inspection of the cargo revealed that it contained brass discs and copper rods used to manufacture artillery munitions (pellets and rods for crimping cartridges and driving bands) and aluminum alloy tubes usable for making rockets," the panel said.
Another case involved a 2007 shipment of propellant usable for SCUD missiles and other items that could be used for ballistic missiles. The panel had referred to it in last year's report but added details about a Syria connection and confirmed that it had been transported via China.
"This shipment originated in the DPRK [North Korea], was trans-shipped in Dalian (China), and Port Kelang (Malaysia), and transited through other ports," the report said. "It was en route to Latakia, Syria."
Although both shipments were made before the Syrian government launched its assault on opposition demonstrators in March 2011, diplomats said they were worrying because it showed the kinds of items Damascus had been trying to add to its arsenal – and the aid it received from North Korea and China.
The panel also reported recently on illegal arms shipments from Iran to Syria.
9.14am: Syria: Video has emerged of protesters at Aleppo university taking shelter in a graffiti-daubed UN monitoring vehicle, as the security forces beat fellow protesters outside. The footage is unverified but would be difficult to fake. The state news agency Sana acknowledged that the UN monitors visited Aleppo but made no mention of what took place. It did say an investigation has been ordered into Tuesday's events in Khan Sheikhoun when UN monitors were fired at after a protest at a funeral.
9.07am: Syria: The state news agency Sana has leapt on Ban Ki-moon's remarks about al-Qaida being responsible for last week's bomb attacks in Damascus. It says the al-Nusra Front, a shady group with links to al-Qaida, has claimed responsibility for the attack. It doesn't point out that it later denied claiming responsibility. 8.47am: (all times BST) Welcome to Middle East Live. Even before yesterday's clashes in Aleppo, protesters across the country were planning to pay a Friday tribute to students in Syria's second city. Yesterday scenes at the university, which were live streamed over the internet and occurred under the gaze of UN monitors, are likely to give added impetuous to today's demonstrations.
Syria
• The slogan for Friday's protests is "heroes of Aleppo University," in solidarity with students who demonstrated despite brutal repression against the university, Now Lebanon reports. Yesterday students called for the arming of the Free Syrian Army, it said citing an activist.
• The presence of UN monitors, prompted hundreds of students to converge on Aleppo university yesterday where they were set upon by pro-government students and security forces, the New York Times reports. The protest and the mayhem, conveyed by students who streamed live video to the Internet, was the first big demonstration at Aleppo University since security forces raided and emptied the dormitories two weeks ago in a crackdown that left at least four students dead.
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said he believed al-Qaida was responsible for two suicide car bombs that killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week. "A few days ago there was a huge, serious, massive terrorist attack. I believe that there must be al Qaida behind it. This has created again very serious problems," Ban told a youth event in New York without elaborating. Scroll forward to 41 minutes to hear Ban discussing the crisis in Syria.
• The head of Syria's main opposition council has offered to resign "as soon as a replacement is found" after a network of activists threatened to leave the group warning it had drifted away from the spirit of the country's revolution. Burhan Ghalioun said he did not wish to be a divisive figure and was ready to step down, just days after he was re-elected to a third, three-month term.
• Yesterday we featured a video of protesters and UN monitors coming under firing in Khan Sheikhoun, but we failed to spot that it appeared to show a UN monitoring crawling to safety. The New York Times's Lede blog noticed the crucial detail and a subsequent video appearing to show the same monitor being dragged to safety.
• Residents in Areeha, 50km southwest of Aleppo have an ambivalent attitude to UN monitors, according to activist Shakeeb Al-Jabri writing on the opposition website Ayyam. After each UN visit, Assad's army opened fire on the residents, a move that was seen as regime punishment for receiving the monitors. The short, and largely useless, visits enraged Areeha's residents. "We hated them for this," Ahmad, a local activist said, "They came, did nothing of use to us, they didn't even talk to us, but we still got punished." However, the activists admit that the mere presence of monitors in Idlib, the main city 15 km away, has helped reduce the regime's assaults ... The activists have mixed feelings about the monitors' potential. "Every time they visit we get punished," Jalal said "things have improved a bit, but not enough." Ahmad is more optimistic, "They made promises," he said, "we need to give them time to deliver."
• Syria's ambassador to the UN Bashar Ja'afari claims two British citizens who were "engaged in terrorist activity" have been killed in Syria. The letter, addressed to Ban Ki Moon, the UN General-Secretary, lists Hassan Blidi and Walid Hassan among ten foreigners killed in Syria's 15-month conflict, the Times reports.
Bahrain
• King Hamad al-Khalifa's invitation to the Queen's diamond jubilee gathering at Windsor Castle, has provoked widespread criticism because of Bahrain's brutal suppression of pro-democracy protests. The former Foreign Office minister Denis MacShane accused the FCO on Thursday of placing the Queen in an impossible position. The Labour MP said: "Many in Britain will regret that the foreign secretary, who approves all invitations sent in the Queen's name as head of state, has decided to include a representative of the Bahraini regime which has done such terrible things to its own people since the Arab awakening a year ago." Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell accused eight countries whose leaders may be on the guest list of human rights abuses. He said: "It is outrageous that the Queen has invited royal tyrants to celebrate her diamond jubilee. "She should not host the monarchs of countries such as Brunei, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and United Arab Emirates."
• There are three main camps in Bahraini politics - the government, the opposition, and the loyalist opposition - and they are all becoming more entrenched, according to a research paper published in Foreign Policy magazine. It concludes:
To avoid that conflagration, everyone must work toward ameliorating the distrust, street, and sectarian dynamics that threaten to rip the very fabric of Bahraini society apart. Unfortunately, potential spoilers abound within each camp, especially among the hardline factions who view the crisis with vastly different lenses and even personally benefit from the continuation of the crisis. It is unclear whether these factions can be convinced to play a productive role on the path to reconciliation. What is clear, however, is that if current trends continue, it is only a matter of time before Bahrain suffers a major escalation.
Egypt
• A week before the polls open for the presidential elections, the results from expatriates ballots are due to be announced. The Egyptian embassy in London said the counting is likely to start Friday morning with results announced by end of the day, Ahram reports.
The May 3 raid at Aleppo University was an unusually violent incident for the northern city, a major economic hub, where business ties and the presence of significant populations of sectarian minorities have kept residents largely on the side of the regime or at least unwilling to join the opposition.
On Thursday, some 15,000 students demonstrated outside the gates of Aleppo University in the presence of UN observers, before security forces broke up the protest.
Even bigger numbers took to the streets Friday. Aleppo-based activist Mohammad Saeed said it was the largest demonstration there since the start of the uprising. He said more than 10,000 people protested in the Salaheddine and al-Shaar districts alone and thousands protested in other areas of the city.
"The number of protesters is increasing every day and today saw the biggest protests," said Saeed, adding that several people were wounded when government forces tear gas and live ammunition to try and disperse the rally.
The head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, said the protest showed "it's a real uprising happening in Aleppo these days". Thousands of people across the country also staged anti-government rallies in solidarity with Aleppo.
4.25pm: Syria: The Washington Institute (an influential US thinktank widely regarded as pro-Israel) has joined those expressing scepticism about the role of jihadists in Syria.
It suggests that "someone may be trying to scapegoat the jihadis" for the May 9 bombings in Damascus, adding: "The Assad regime is the obvious suspect, but no evidence as yet supports their culpability." It continues:
Contrary to accounts in many media outlets that Syria's secular state is naturally at odds with Sunni extremist groups, Bashar al-Assad has actually built long-lasting, though indirect, relationships with such groups over the last decade ... Thus far, terrorist attacks have accounted for only a minuscule portion of the tactics used in the rebellion, although the May 9 attacks would indicate that terrorist attacks in Syria are on the rise in terms of number and scale. Yet the inconsistencies and discrepancies of the May 12 video [claiming responsibility on YouTube for the Damascus bombings] raises the real possibility that the Assad regime could be manipulating the attack to its domestic and international advantage. Claims of responsibility for future attacks should be evaluated in light of where a video or claim is released (jihadi forums or YouTube), who produces it, and the consistency of the facts it contains.
3.50pm: Bahrain/Britain: Following his royal lunch of poached egg, spring lamb and strawberries, King Hamad is not expected to linger in Britain. Meanwhile, activists are concerned about the impending visit of his son, Sheikh Nasser bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, who is head of Bahrain's Olympic committee.
An online petition to have him excluded from the London Olympics has attracted more than 7,500 signatures during the last couple of days.
3.41pm: Syria: UN officials have been busy downplaying secretary Ban Ki-moon remarks about al-Qaida being responsible for last week's bomb attack in Damascus.
Earlier, the head of the UN monitoring mission Robert Mood, said it was impossible to say who was to blame for the attack. Now Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi has urged caution about apportioning blame for the incident, but raised concerns about a "third element" in Syria that is neither opposition nor the government.
Here's a transcript of his briefing to journalists on the issue:
Question: Based on what evidence has secretary-general Ban Ki-moon declared that the bomb attacks in Syria have been carried out by al-Qaida?
Ahmad Fawzi: That is a very important question and I would refer you to the spokesman for the secretary-General. I am aware, and the joint special envoy is aware, of what the secretary-general has said, and I quote from the transcript: "I believe that there must be al-Qaida behind it." So Ban has said that he believes that there must be al-Qaida behind it. The joint special envoy has also said that there is a third element that appeared on the ground in Syria, which is worrying. We have not yet been able to ascertain who this element belongs to – who it is – and we are in the process of doing so. But any further questions on the statement by the secretary-general should be directed to the spokesman for the secretary-general.
Question: Just a follow-up on that. You are talking about a third element. So could you please elaborate on that third element? And I believe that if the Secretary-General is making such statements, he is certainly also relying on elements, documents and evidence that you provide him because you are taking care of that region?
Fawzi: When we speak about third actors on the ground, we mean there are the hallmarks of activities and incidents and explosions that appear to come from sources other than opposition or government sources. This has yet to be verified. We have to be very, very careful. As you know, the twin suicide bombs in Damascus that had horrifying casualties were claimed first by a jihadist group. The same jihadist group denied that that claim was authentic a few days later, denied that the video that was posted on the internet was authentic, called it a fake. So we have to be very, very careful who we apportion responsibility to.
3.18pm: Syria: The activist group the Local Co-ordination Committees in Syria, claims 20 people have been killed so far today in Syria. Its tally includes nine deaths in Homs, and the killing of an eight-year-old boy in Hama. Graphic images of the boy's body have been circulating by activists. Activist claim he was killed when the Tareeq Halab neighbourhood of the city was shelled. These accounts cannot be independently verified.
3.00pm: Britain/Bahrain: Activist Ala'a Ashehabi tweets the scene at the Bahrain embassy during a protest against King Hamad's invitation to Windsor.
Dr Ala'a Shehabi @alaashehabi Protestors outside Bahraini embassy now shouting "Down with Hamad" as Hamad dines in Windsor #Bahrain pic.twitter.com/2SmfWT4I
"Bahrain and regional nations, as well as the Muslim world and the Iranian nation will never accept the conspiracy," Sedighi said. State television said similar rallies took place in other cities and towns in Iran, with thousands participating. Many nationalist and hard-line conservatives in Iran consider Bahrain, which gained independence from Britain in 1971, as a rightful part of the Persian country as it was before it fell under Britain during colonial times. Until 1971 and under the Western-backed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi who was toppled by the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran kept two empty seats in its parliament for supposed representatives from "Bahrain province".
2.16pm: Bahrain/Britain: The Queen has been accused of making a catastrophic error of judgment by dining with King Hamad of Bahrain at Windsor Castle, the Press Association reports.
The head of state and her family sat down to lunch with the Middle East ruler and other controversial foreign royals as they celebrated her diamond jubilee.
Guests from controversial regimes include Swaziland's King Mswati III, the former prime minister of Kuwait Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Sabah, who stepped down over a corruption row, and Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Britain.
When King Hamad arrived at the castle he was personally greeted by the Queen, who smiled as she shook his hand and the pair laughed as they shared a joke, the Press Association says.
It quotes Graham Smith, chief executive of the anti-monarchy group Republic:
The Queen cannot hide behind protocol and precedent, this is a crisis of her own making. The British people strongly support the struggle for democracy in the Middle East and around the world - this is a catastrophic error of judgment that has already prompted a fierce backlash.
The Queen owes a personal apology to all those fighting for freedom in those countries and to the families of those who have died doing so.
The Queen's decision to personally invite these tyrants to lunch sends an appalling message to the world, and seriously damages Britain's reputation. Thanks to the Queen's misjudgement, her jubilee will forever be associated with some of the most repressive regimes in the world.
Demonstrations are planned this evening outside Buckingham Palace when the foreign guests attend a dinner hosted by the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, but the King of Bahrain will reportedly not be attending that event.
We are seeing in the areas where we are deployed that we have both a calming effect on the ground and we are seeing that we have a good dialogue and the dialogue is expanding both with the authorities and the opposition elements. I think it is too early to say that it is a trend that we can be conclusive about. But I share the worries of everyone who is concerned that we are seeing more violence in the last days than we did in the previous days.
Mood also revealed that bullet holes were found in damaged UN vehicles recovered after Tuesday's shooting incident in Khan Sheikhoun. He gave this carefully-worded account of what happened:
In Khan Sheikhoun, we had an incident with four UN vehicles that came into the village. There was an explosion in front of or close to the first vehicle. Two of the vehicles were not able to drive. Six observers spent the night in the village and the day after, they found good coordination and cooperation both from local authorities and from the opposition inside the village. We sent a patrol and picked up both the two vehicles and the observers.
This is also a situation in which it is very easy to speculate. The fact we know is that I spoke with my observers by telephone in the evening, during the night, and in the morning. They told us: we feel safe, we want to stay overnight, we want to be picked up in the morning because as light was falling and there were still explosions and fighting in the area, they felt it more unsafe to try to organise a departure from the village.
This is what we know. We also know that we have bullet holes in one of the vehicles, and we know that the explosion damaged the first vehicle. That kind of violence is a kind of violence that we need no more because that is not only challenging, targeting the UNMOs on the ground, it is targeting the efforts of the international community.
So I would ask anyone that, out of whatever motives, would conduct something like that, to rethink, because we, the international community, we are there on the ground to facilitate a reduction in violence and terrible incidents for the Syrian people. We are only 300 observers, so we are not trying to solve all the problems of Syria. The other stakeholders need to be genuine in their commitment and demonstrate that by action.
1.40pm: Syria: A couple of new videos said to show protests in Syria today:
The clip above is from Marea, with a surfeit of revolution flags ... and a long one from Aleppo
1.23pm: Here is a summary of the latest developments:
Egypt • First results in the Egyptian presidential election – from expatriate communities around the world – show Islamist candidate Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, though well short of the 50% needed to avoid a run-off (see 1.02pm).
Syria
• Friday protests are under way in Syria, under the slogan "Heroes of Aleppo University" – in solidarity with students who have demonstrated despite brutal repression. The presence of UN monitors prompted hundreds of students to converge on Aleppo university yesterday where they were set upon by pro-government students and security forces.
• A UN monitor has expressed frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube (see 12.35pm).
• The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists (see 10.48 am).
• UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon has said he believes al-Qaida was responsible for the explosions that reportedly killed at least 55 people in Damascus last week.
• Guardian journalist Martin Chulov, just returned from north-west Syria, says rebels there are scornful of the regime's al-Qaida narrative (see 10.18).
• Syria's ambassador to the UN, Bashar Ja'afari, claims two British citizens who were "engaged in terrorist activity" have been killed in Syria. Bahrain
• King Hamad al-Khalifa's inclusion in the guest list for the Queen's diamond jubilee gathering at Windsor Castle today, has provoked widespread criticism.
1.02pm: Egypt: More presidential election results are coming in from expatriate communities around the world. Similar results from inside Egypt next week would lead to a run-off, since no candidate seems close to winning 50%. Ahram Online has figures from the UAE, Austria, France, Sudan, Yemen and Washington (with results from other US voting centres still to come). The results from the UAE, where more than 21,000 voted, show a similar pattern to those from the UK (see 11.30am), with Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh in the lead, followed by Hamdeen Sabahi, Amr Moussa, Mohamed Morsi and Ahmed Shafiq (in that order). Sabahi came top in France, while Morsi was top in Sudan and Yemen (based on a comparatively small number of votes).
12.35pm: Syria: A UN monitor has expressed his frustration at being being filmed by activists in Dera'a, advising them not to post clips of him to YouTube. The citizen journalist ignored the request. The monitor, who spoke with a Yemeni accent according to our colleague Mona Mahmood, said: "We are here to watch the two sides and file a report." Asked repeatedly whether he had seen army checkpoints the monitor said: Listen man. We are not here to give press statements. Please let us do our job properly, with honesty and impartiality. Whatever I see I will report. Please let us do our job and don't waste our time. There is no reason to film me or to put it on YouTube. All these are useless. At the start of the clip the monitor was challenged to take pictures of the destruction of Dera'a. Gesturing at the scene, a resident said: "Wherever you go you will find destruction. My family has fled to Jordan. This is the house of my cousin this is the house of my sister. No one can stay here." The encounter appears to reflect a growing frustration from the UN at activists filming their work. The Guardian asked Kofi Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi to confirm video which appeared to show a UN monitor crawling to safety in Khan Sheikhoun on Tuesday. He said: "We don't comment on videos posted on the internet."
12.01pm: Syria: Videos of post-Friday prayer protests are beginning to emerge. Despite reports of a fresh bombardment in Rastan today, protesters took to the streets to chant in support of students in Aleppo. Protests have also been filmed in Idlib, and Abu Kamal in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor.
11.52am: Britain: From the official guest list, these are the Middle Eastern royals who will be dining with the Queen today: HM The King of Bahrain HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa (Bahrain) HM The King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan HM Queen of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan HH Sheikh Nasser Mohamed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait HRH Princess Lalla Meryem of Morocco HH The Emir of The State of Qatar HH Sheika Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned (Qatar) HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Nawaf Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia HH The Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi
11.30am: Egypt: The Egyptian embassy in London has confirmed that Abdel Moneim Abul Foutouh won the most votes among Egyptians in the UK. He secured 1,300 of the 4,286 votes casts in the UK presidential election, a spokeswoman told the Guardian. The leftist Hamdeen Sabahi came second with 962, followed by former foreign minster Amr Moussa who secured 907. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi came a distant fourth with 354 votes. The turnout was 60% the spokeswoman said. Votes for the minor candidates are not yet available. 11.13am: Libya: UN human rights experts say they will visit Libya next week to examine the use of mercenaries to fight the uprising that eventually brought down the Gaddafi regime, AP reports. Faiza Patel, head of the UN Human Rights Council panel, says it also aims to collect "direct and first-hand information" on private companies offering military aid, consultants and security to Gaddafi's regime. Patel and another expert said Friday they will spend four days in Libya at the invitation of the government, which claims to have evidence linking Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam Gadhafi, to the supervision and planning of the recruitment of mercenaries in the civil war that ended the regime. 10.48am: Syria: The opposition stronghold of Rastan, between Hama and Homs, has come under more bombardment, according to video from activists. One clip showed smoke billowing from behind a minaret, another purported to show the town's skyline during an attack. There are unconfirmed reports that four people were killed.
10.18am: Syria: The Guardian's Martin Chulov has just returned from north west Syria and is tweeting snippets of what he saw and heard.
Martin Chulov @martinchulov Back from 5 days around Idlib. Insurgency raging. Rebels scornful of regime's AQ narrative. Defectors streaming in, but not weapons. #Syria 18 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Martin Chulov @martinchulov 'If u find me a man from al-qa'ida i'll buy u lunch,' an FSA Leader near Idlib told me. 'All lies. The regime's the terrorists'. #Syria 18 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
Martin Chulov @martinchulov All defected officers i spoke to in #Syria had 1st hand accounts of regime plots that were blamed on AQ. 18 May 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite
The Guardian is planning to publish Martin's dispatch in the next few days.
9.58am: Bahrain: A journalist who criticised Bahrain's proposed union with Saudi Arabia was seized from his home near Manama on Wednesday and his current whereabouts are unknown, the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists says.
Ahmed Radhi, a freelance who contributes to local news websites and has an Arabic blog called Silahi Qalami ("My weapon is my pen"), was reportedly arrested by security forces at 4am after they broke down his door.
Although there is no information about any charges against him, Radhi was arrested in the wake of comments he made in radio interviews on Monday and Tuesday criticising the proposed union with Saudi Arabia, his family members told the London-based Bahrain Press Association.
He later posted notes about the interviews on Facebook in Arabic (here and here) and also tweeted about them.
9.52am: Syria: Robert Mood (pictured) the head of the UN's monitoring team, appears to have given a gloomy assessment about the effectiveness of the mission.
He told a press conference that no amount of observers in Syria can achieve a permanent end to the violence without dialogue, according to AP.
There are currently 257 monitors deployed in Syria. A further 43 monitors will be deployed by the end of the month.
(to be continued ... )
Chân thành cám ơn Quý Anh Chị ghé thăm "conbenho Nguyễn Hoài Trang Blog".
Xin được lắng nghe ý kiến chia sẻ của Quý Anh Chị trực tiếp tại Diễn Đàn Paltalk: 1Latdo Tapdoan Vietgian CSVN Phanquoc Bannuoc .
Kính chúc Sức Khỏe Quý Anh Chị .
conbenho
Tiểu Muội quantu
Nguyễn Hoài Trang
19052012
___________
CSVN là TỘI ÁC
Bao che, dung dưỡng TỘI ÁC là đồng lõa với TỘI ÁC
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