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1250 GMT: Libya has resumed oil production for the first time since the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi, tapping 15 wells and producing about 32,900 barrels per day, Italian energy firm Eni said Monday.
Eni said production had resumed at the Abu-Attifel fields, about 300 kilometres (185 miles) south of the city of Benghazi. Other wells would be reactivated soon to reach the "required volumes to fill the pipeline" between the Abu-Attifel field and the Zuetina port.
The operations are through Mellitah Oil & Gas, a partnership between Eni and Libya's state-run National Oil Corporation.
Before protests escalated in mid-February, Eni was producing 273,000 barrels of oil per day in Libya, which has Africa's largest proven reserves of conventional crude.
1245 GMT: A provocative claim in al-Akhbar about Saudi Arabian influence in Yemeni events:
Sources tell al-Akhbar that Saudi Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin-Abdulaziz pushed for Saleh’s return to Yemen. According to these sources, bin-Abdulaziz, who is also the second deputy prime minister, discussed the fate of Saleh’s presidency with King Abdullah. The two agreed that Saleh should be allowed to return to Yemen. They concluded that despite his many faults, which the Saudis have accommodated over the years, Saleh remains Saudi Arabia’s safest bet in Yemen. The decision was based primarily on Saudi interests. They believed that Saleh’s ousting might lead the Yemeni situation to spiral further out of control. The two also hope to keep power in the hands of a figure who is beholden to Saudi Arabia and can be relied upon to uphold Saudi interests and bidding.A key factor, according to the sources, was last year’s Houthi rebellion in northwestern Yemen, which necessitated Saudi military intervention. The Saudis believe that the Houthi conflict could flare up again as a result of wider regional conditions. The Houthi rebels have rearmed since their last bout against the Saudis; and given the Saudi army’s poor past performance against the rebels, they would prefer that Saleh’s forces, rather than their own, take on the Houthis in any future showdown.The Saudi kingdom is therefore reluctant to see Saleh exit quietly. In this regard, the Saudis seem at odds with the US. Washington prefers a quick resolution that would shift the focus toward more pressing matters, both locally –-- the targeting of al-Qaeda elements in Yemen –-- and regionally --– attending to the intractable crisis in Syria.
1235 GMT: Aomar Ouali, writing for Associated Press, assesses why protest is failing to take off in Algeria, nine months after activists tried to launch a campaign for political reforms. He assesses:
The civil war left deep divisions in Algerian society and a lingering fear of security forces. That, along with government largesse stemming from oil wealth, has kept the lid on the situation here."The country is on the edge of an explosion, the regime has only held on by spending billions, but for how long?" asked Sherif Arbi, a pro-democracy activist, on the day the protest didn't happen. "This is just a postponement."In fact that same day, just on the other side of town in the neighborhood of Diar Chems, there were riots over the promised distribution of new housing units. Two days later, protesters blocked the main road of the capital's Beau Fraisier neighborhood over the same issue.This month alone nearly every city in the country has seen some kind of protest, usually ranging from between dozens and hundreds of participants, of people angry over the lack of water, housing, electricity or calling for higher wages.
1055 GMT: Amidst reports that the formation of an interim Government by Libya's National Transitional Council has been delayed, The New York Times
posts an overview, "Former Rebels' Rivalries Hold Up Governing in Libya".1050 GMT: Yemeni security officials say anti-regime tribesmen have overrun a base of the loyalist Republican Guards, commanded by the son of President Saleh, north of the capital Sana'a.
The Ministry of Defense said that the base's commander, Brigadier Ali al-Keleibi, was killed in the fighting. Tribesmen captured 30 guards when they seized control of the base at Dahrah early Monday. There was no information on casualties among regime forces, but at least four tribesmen were killed and 27 others.
Claimed footage of regime forces firing at protesters in Sana'a on Sunday:
1045 GMT: Joshua Landis gives further detail on the Syrian institutions and individuals sanctioned by the European Union last week: "[The] sanctions continue to largely target [prominent businessman and ally of President Assad] Rami Makhlouf and the entities that he controls. The other notable target this time was Syria’s official and non-official media. Both the Information Minister and Addounia TV were hit with sanctions."
0845 GMT: A lawyer from Bahrain sends the Twitter message that 23 men from Kardokan have been sentenced to 15 years in prison on charges that they intentionally burned buildings.
0815 GMT: The Scholars Council, which oversees the highest-ranking Shia clergy in Bahrain, has issued a statement denouncing the regime's arrest of women and their "unethical" treatment by police. All Shia schools have been closed today and clerics have assembled in a mosque to protest.
0745 GMT: A bird's-eye view of a highway in the Bahraini capital Manama this morning --- activists called for a "Chain of Dignity" to slow traffic this morning:
0735 GMT: This weekend we carried the photograph of a group of Bahraini women who were detained as "rioters" by security forces in the City Center Mall on Friday --- the women, all in black chadors, were lying on the ground, their hands bound behind the backs.
An activist now posts another angle on the incident, showing the women lying on the ground in the Mall's parking lot.
0635 GMT: Unexpected assistance for Bahrain's regime from international media this morning --- AFPgives the regime line rather than check the actual vote count in Saturday's 14 by-elections, "The opposition reported a low voter turnout, but the government said 51 percent of eligible voters had cast ballots."
The Washington Post does give both the regime's spin of 51% and the actual figure of 17.4%. However, itattributes the latter number to opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman, failing to note that it has been posted by the Bahraini office supervising the elections.
The Financial Times does get the story right, "Bahrain By-Elections Hit by Boycott".
0633 GMT: Moussa Ibrahim, the spokesman for Muammar Qaddafi, has said that the deposed Libyan leader and his family have not helped themselves to Libya's oil wealth and that they were "among the poorest citizens".
Speaking to Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location, Moussa Ibrahim said no one had been able to show that Gaddafi or his family had assets or accounts. "That is more proof of the honesty and transparency of this family and that they are an ordinary Libyan family," said Ibrahim, who usually acts as Gaddafi's contact with the international media. "The leader of the revolution and his family are among the poorest citizens," Ibrahim said. "All the wealth of Libya is traceable to functioning companies and institutions".
