Bahraini woman

An unidentified Bahraini woman wears a Bahraini flag Monday, Feb. 14, 2011, during an anti-government demonstration in the village of Duraz, Bahrain, outside the capital of Manama. Demonstrations broke out nationwide in response to protest calls on social media sites and were generally dispersed by riot police firing tear gas and chasing demonstrators. AP


http://cryptome.org/info/bahrain-protest/bahrain-protest.htm

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Lanka rejects Sudan-type referendum, highlights disparity in situations

1977  இல் நடந்த வாக்கெடுப்புக்கு பதில் என்ன?
1985  திம்புக்கோரிக்கைகளுக்கு பதில் என்ன?

Lanka rejects Sudan-type referendum, highlights disparity in situations

February 14, 2011, 9:47 pm

By Shamindra Ferdinando

Responding to ongoing efforts by overseas LTTE activists to have a referendum in Sri Lanka like the recent one in Sudan, the Sri Lankan government says those supporting the move have conveniently ignored the vast difference in the two situations.

Former Secretary General of the SCOPP (Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha told The Island that the move to demand a referendum in Sri Lanka revealed total ignorance of both history and political principles. He said: "In Sudan you had a situation, in which not only did the writ of the government not run in some areas, but also the administration was not able to supply basic services to people in those areas."

The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE) led by one-time LTTE legal chief V. Rudrakumaran and some pro-LTTE NGOs want the UN to pressure Sri Lanka to agree to a referendum.

MP Wijesinha said that the government, throughout the conflict, had provided services in all provinces, health and education for instance, including in the limited areas controlled by terrorists. "Successive government the whole time paid the salaries of and issued instructions to public servants in those areas, and they communicated with and travelled regularly to meetings in the rest of the country. Significantly, though such public servants were under tremendous pressure, they continued to work loyally, and the Government Agents affected for instance continue in service with appropriate promotions."

The MP went on to say: "Sadly this was not well known outside Sri Lanka, and a former French Ambassador for instance, who was one of the most positive European envoys in the period when many were under terrorist influence, told us he had been surprised to find how much we continued to do for people in the areas under terrorist control. The impression sought to have been created in Paris was quite otherwise. Significantly a senior member of the UN, which had also been trying to control assistance programmes, but soon learned that government should take decisions albeit happy to receive advice and support, told me that many people coming to Sri Lanka were in error, thinking that we were a country like Sudan, but they had soon learnt the truth."

"I cannot comment on whether particular attitudes contributed to making the situation in Sudan worse, but I am glad we were able to clarify things here and also get rid of the terrorism that was preventing us from serving all our people well. Naturally those who still espouse separatism will continue to try to disrupt the services we provide, and will not care about making people suffer as they pursue their own ends. I hope they will not be encouraged."

قمع مسيرة سلمية في البحرين - الديه يوم الغضب 14 فبراير 2011

Middle East and North Africa rocked by protests.

Middle East and North Africa rocked by protests

Shock waves from the ouster of presidents in Tunisia and Egypt continued to roll across North Africa and the Middle East on Monday, with peoples long subject to autocratic rule demanding to be heard.
Despite many states cautiously welcoming the overthrow of Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and Hosni Mubarak, their own populations have been seized by the momentum and are demanding greater freedoms and reform.

Following is a breakdown of events, both current and planned, in the Arabic-speaking world and in Iran.

ALGERIA:
Opposition leaders planned a second protest march in the capital despite a long-standing ban on demonstrations, and France called on Algiers to allow anti-government protests to take place freely and without violence.

BAHRAIN:
Bahraini police used tear gas to disperse dozens of protesters in the eastern village of Nuwaidrat, as security forces deployed in the tiny Gulf kingdom following Facebook calls for a February 14 "revolt."
EGYPT:
The new military regime called on workers to end a wave of strikes and civil disobedience that has threatened to paralyse the country in the wake of the fall of Hosni Mubarak's government.
IRAN:
Thousands of defiant Iranian opposition supporters in Tehran staged what they said was a rally supporting Arab revolts as riot police fired tear gas and paint balls to disperse them, witnesses and opposition websites said.
IRAQ:
Baghdad will on March 29 host its first annual Arab summit since the US-led of invasion of 2003, in the wake of popular uprisings that transformed the political landscape of the volatile but long autocratic region.
JORDAN:
Justice Minister Hussein Mujalli joins a sit-in held by trade unions and describes a Jordanian soldier serving a life sentence for killing Israeli schoolgirls in 1997 as a "hero," demanding his release.
LIBYA:
Facebook groups numbering several hundred members have called for demonstrations to mark a "day of rage" in Libya on February 17 modelled on similar protests in other Arab countries.
MOROCCO:
Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi was to meet the opposition to discuss parliamentary polls, with the impact of the uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia weighing heavily on the talks.
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES:
Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas reappointed Salam Fayyad as premier and tasked him with forming a new government after his cabinet resigned.
SYRIA:
Woman blogger Tal al-Mallouhi, 19, gets five years in prison after being found guilty by a security court of "divulging information to a foreign country." Her blog focuses on the Palestinians, not Syrian politics.
TUNISIA:
The country marked a month since the overthrow of president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali.
YEMEN:
Pro-democracy protesters clashed violently with police and supporters of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, with clashes also reported in Taez south of the capital, where thousands of people joined anti-Saleh demonstrations.