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• Arab League officials say extension likely
• Syria to devalue pound amid economic turmoil.
• Protesters rallying for Syrian prisoners
Read the latest summary
Here's a summary of the main developments so far today:
Syria
• Two senior Arab League senior officials say the organisation will likely extend its monitoring mission in Syria. A meeting of foreign ministers is due to take a decision on Sunday. The mission officially expired on Thursday. (see 11.27am)
• Protests in Syria today have bee dedicated to prisoners under the Assad regime. The Local Co-ordination Committees claim that 11 people have been killed by the security forces today, six in Idlib, two in al-Bukamal and one each in Homs, Deir Ezzor, and one in Dera'a.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government released an unspecified number of prisoners involved in protests against the regime. (see 9.33am)
• Syria is planning to introduce a managed float of its exchange rate next week, effectively devaluing the Syrian pound, the FT reports. Exchange dealers said on Thursday that the conflict in Syria had pushed the pound currency to a record low of 70 to the US dollar on the black market. (see 8.55am)
Bahrain
• An 11-year-old boy has died after inhaling teargas, activists say. He was named as Yaseen al-Asfoor and a picture of him breathing through a respirator in hospital was posted online. His family said he had acute asthma. (see 10.59am)
Egypt
• Protesters have been gathering in Tahrir Square to pay tribute to those who have lost their lives since the start of the revolution. The demonstrations are part of preparations to mark the first anniversary of the start of the uprising on 25 January. (see 10.41am)
Libya
• The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons has confirmed the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had an undeclared stockpile of chemical weapons. The organisation was told about the weapons by the new government in Tripoli last year. (see 12.21pm)
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) has confirmed the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi had an undeclared stockpile of chemical weapons.The organisation was told about the weapons by the new government in Tripoli last year. In a statement the OPCW says:
The OPCW inspectors verified the declared chemical weapons, which consist of sulfur mustard agent that is not loaded into munitions. At the same time, at the request of the Libyan authorities the inspectors examined munitions, mainly artillery shells, which they determined are chemical munitions and hence declarable.
Also in Libya, video has emerged of the ruling National Transitional Council's vice-president being roughed up bystudents in the council's supposed stronghold of Benghazi.
Abdul Hafiz Ghoga was surrounded by a crowd of angry protesters and jostled before he was pulled away to safety. The protesters called on the NTC to be transparent about its financial dealings, including how billions of dollars in Libyan assets were being spent.
Ghoga, who was attending a memorial ceremony at a Benghazi university for those killed during the civil war that overthrew Gaddafi, claimed the incident was the result of what he described as an incitement campaign against him, adding:
Some people pulled me away from the mob. I think this incident is aimed at tarnishing the standing of the National Transitional Council.
The treatment he received suggests growing popular discontent with Libya's new rulers.
The person who uploaded the video claimed it showed "the puppet regime has no support anywhere in Libya", adding that its support came from abroad.
The Idlib town of Kafranbel, which has signalled its opposition to the Assad regime each week in distinctive banners written in English in black and red block capitals, has directed its ire at Russia this Friday.
When Russia, along with China, vetoed the UN security council motion condemning Syria last year, the Kafranbel protesters raised the spectre of Stalin.
Two senior Arab League senior officials say the organisation is likely to extend its monitoring mission in Syria, with several nations that had been opposed to the extension changing their position in recent days, AP reports.
The officials said on Friday that the thinking within the League is to keep the mission in place as the international community is not yet ready for "escalation" to an intervention in Syria.
Qatar, a harsh critic of the Syrian crackdown on protesters, has called for the dispatch of Arab troops to the country, where 10 months of unrest and crackdown have left thousands dead.
Arab League foreign ministers were set to meet Sunday in Cairo to discuss the future of the one-month observer mission, which expired on Thursday.
Egyptian blogger Mostafa Hussein has news, which, if accurate, gives a clue into what kind of response the security forces are planning to protests next week to mark the one-year anniversary of the revolution that toppled Hosni Mubarak. He tweets:
According to a highly trusted source, huge amounts of teargas arrived to Cairo airport in the past few days.
Meanwhile, people are gathering in Tahrir Square for the "Friday of Martyrs' Dream".
Activists in Bahrain say an 11-year-old boy has died after inhaling teargas.
Maryam al-Khawaja from the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights tweets:
News of a new death, 11-year-old Yaseen AlAsfoor had acute asthma, died from teargas suffocation acc to relatives RIP #bahrain #arabspring
Yaseen is pictured left in hospital. Blogger Marc Owen Jones wrote on Tuesday that 15 people have died as a result of teargas inhalation since protests against the regime began on 14 February last year. Yaseen is the 10th person reported to have died since the release of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry report into human rights abuses. The death toll includes a protester who died on the morning of the release of the report and a six-day-old baby who died on 11 December from inhaling teargas.
There are also demonstrations in Egypt today, Ahram Online reports.
About 75 political groups are expected to turn up in Tahrir Square this Friday, 20 January to participate in the "Friday of Martyrs' Dream" rally to honour the revolution's dead.
The protests come only days before the first anniversary of the January 25 revolution, and are part of a week-long preparations to mobilise for the event.
The protesters are expected to dress in black to show respect and grieve for all those who died during the revolution.
Reports of demonstrations in Syria are beginning to come in. The Local Co-ordination Committees claim that seven people have been killed already, six in Idlib, in the north-west, and one in Dera'a, in the south.
Another report says that three people were killed in Reef, in the Damascus suburbs, while they were getting ready to enter a mosque for Friday prayers.
There is also a report of clashes between the regular army and military defectors in Douma, in Damascus suburbs.
These reports cannot be independently verified.
A media collective responsible for collating some of the most iconic videos fo the Egyptian revolution has become the most viewed non-profit YouTube channel of all time in Egypt and the most viewed non-profit channel in the world this month, Ahram Online reports.
Mosireen collates footage of protests on its channel.
Among the videos it has produced are Martyrs of the Revolution, a tribute to those killed under the rule of Mubarak and the Supreme Council of Armed Forces and a video about the march of Coptic Christians in Cairo in October where 27 people were killed. Witnesses said security forces and thugs attacked peaceful protesters.
One of the founder members of Mosireen was the Kite Runner actor Khalid Abdalla. He told Ahram:
In periods of massive social change, there becomes a certain urgency over ownership in stories and over the truth. This is a revolution that was filmed by its people rather than by a news organisation and it is one of the first in history to be so… Mosireen is, in part, a reaction to that.
While protests in Syria today are dedicated to those behind bars, more prisoners have been released under a general amnesty issued by Bashar al-Assad, the state news agency reports.
Sana does not specify how many prisoners have been released but implies that they have seen sense during incarceration:
A number of the released at the Justice Palace in Damascus told Sana that the pardon decree forms a new start for them to practise their normal life and contribute to building the society.
''The pardon spreads amity and tolerance among people, and I am happy because it allowed me to get my life back on track as Syria needs the efforts of all its people to get out of the crisis,'' said Abdul-Hamid, a released prisoner.
A group called the Syrian Expatriates Organisation says that a US citizen, Obada Mazik, has been missing in Syria since 3 January. From the press release:
According to flight records, Obada Mzaik departed from Detroit Metro Airport on January 03-2012 on board a Royal Jordanioan Airliner, flight number RJ268 connecting in Amman, Jordan on flight RJ 435 bound to Damascus, Syria. He was never seen exiting the immigration clearance at Damascus airport according to Obada's receiving family in Syria.
The U.S embassy was promptly informed of Obada's disappearance. The family has attempted to follow up with Syrian authorities and the U.S. Embassy in Damascus but has been unsuccessful in securing any information that pertains to his whereabouts.
Obada Mzaik is a 21 year old American citizen. He is a civil engineering student at Al-Yarmouk University in Damascus, Syria. He attended Fall classes at Oakland Community College in Farmington Hills, Michigan where he also has family members there.
Welcome to Middle East Live. The mission of Arab League observers in Syria was supposed to come to an end yesterday but despite criticism, it could be extended for another month.
Syria
• The Arab League observers are to remain in the country until the meeting of Arab League foreign ministers on Sunday, when the ministers will decide whether to extend the mission for another month. Adnan al-Khudeir, head of the Cairo operations room that handles reports by the monitors, told AP the total number of monitors could reach 300. He said:
If there is a decision to extend the mission of the observers, we are ready to send more monitors after training them in three days.
Any decision to extend the mission would be controversial as the opposition claim it has served as a cover for the regime to continue its brutal crackdown against protesters. Opposition figures, human rights groups and the Free Syrian Army have urged the observers to withdraw and for the Arab League to push the UN for help. The Syrian National Council said it is sending a delegation to Cairo to lobby for the League to refer the issue to the UN.
• Syria is planning to introduce a managed float of its exchange rate next week, effectively devaluing the Syrian pound. Adib Mayaleh, the central bank governor, told the FT (behind paywall) the exchange ratehad "jumped a lot of steps" and they needed to control it. The central bank's plan, issued by the prime minister's office, seems to be that allowing private banks to sell foreign currencies at a rate of their choice will increase the flow of money in the system, though it will allow a de facto devaluation of the currency, the FT said. Exchange dealers said on Thursday that the conflict in Syria had pushed the pound currency to a record low of 70 to the US dollar on the black market. Meanwhile, the Syrian oil minister, Sufian Allaw, said sanctions were biting:
We have suffered important losses as a result of our inability to export crude oil and petroleum products.
• Protests in Syria today have been dedicated to the plight of prisoners. Despite the release of some prisoners under the Arab League plan, the campaign group Avaaz claimed earlier this month that there were 37,000 people in custody.
Egypt
• Egypt has been hit by a 32% drop in visitors as ongoing street violence hits the vital industry. There has been a £2.5bn decrease in tourist revenue with the capital taking the brunt. The Guardian's Jack Shenker writes:
Industry insiders believe the reality is worse than official claims. On Monday it emerged that officials have included Libyans fleeing war and Palestinians from Gaza taking advantage of relaxed border controls at Rafah in the tourist tally. Some experts say the actual decrease in holidaymakers is closer to 50%, though the ministry denies any discrepancies.
Iran
• Tehran has warned its Gulf neighbours that it would be "dangerous" for them to join a western-led effort to isolate Iran. The warning coming as a meeting of European ambassadors in Brussels failed to agree on the details of an EU oil embargo. The Guardian's diplomatic editor, Julian Borger, writes:
Speaking in Turkey, the Iranian foreign minister, Ali Akbar Salehi, said the US was looking for allies in the region and added: "I am calling to all countries in the region – please don't let yourselves be dragged into a dangerous position." Salehi left it unclear whether he was referring to military operations or actions on the oil market.
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