Whatever coalition remains from the defeated Iranian uprisings of 2009 hit the streets again today for demonstrations, hoping to build on momentum from the 2011 Tunisia-Egypt Wave of Freedom Everywhere. After all, the Iranian regime had been encouraging the demonstrations in Egypt; why shouldn't it allow such protests…
Following the popular uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt, countries all across the Middle East and North Africa are seeing small but growing anti-government protests, proving that the status quo is no longer sustainable. Here's a quick look at what's happening today in the region:
Thousands of anti-government demonstrators in Yemen's capital, Sana'a, were beaten back by police with daggers and clubs today — the third straight day of protests there.
Thousands of Yemeni protesters have kicked off their "day of rage" in Sanaa, the capital.
Anonymous took down Egyptian government websites today to protest the country's Internet censorship. Old news. Now they've moved on to Yemen, where an Egypt-style "day of rage" is scheduled for tomorrow. Hackers have already taken down the Ministry of Information.
Ali Abdullah Saleh, the longtime President of Yemen, has said he won't try to extend his term or put his son in power, according to Reuters. A large "Day of Rage" protest aimed at Saleh's government is planned for Wednesday.
In your outrageous Tuesday media column: a publisher thinks it is the boss of the DC press corps, some good news for newspaper pay walls, a Yemeni journalist is jailed for "assisting" al Qaeda, and staff departures at the NYDN.
Whoops! Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who's in Yemen for diplomatic talks, fell while getting into a plane today. She's fine, so don't worry! She was probably just drunk. Or maybe she's a klutz like the rest of us.
[A Yemeni hat vendor, Abu Mohammed waits for business in the capital Sana'a today. Image via AP]
Today in bombs: new and skeery details about just how close those Yemeni mail bombs came to blowing up. Plus: new and skeery details on the Greek anarchist mail bombers. It's bomb week. Love it or else.
U.S. officials say that militants in Yemen sent several test packages through the mail last September as a "dry run" for last week's foiled international mail bomb plot. Of course, they've been wrong about these things before.
Yemeni security officials have arrested a woman in connection with the cargo plane bomb plot.
Authorities in Yemen are looking into "dozens more packages" that may contain explosives.
A grand jury convened yesterday to see if 24-year-old North Carolina blogger Samir Khan could be charged with terrorism offenses after he created the English-language jihadi magazine Inspire, with stories like "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of Your Mom."
If you had told us on Thursday that Yemen was a dangerous Al Qaeda stronghold we would have been like, "Who or what is a 'Yemen'?" Now we've got Lieberman painting cross-hairs on the place. Here we go again!
The only survivor known survivor thus far of the Yemeni plane that crashed with 153 people aboard last night off the coast of the island nation of Comoros is a five-year-old child.
