As the United States attempts to grapple with Iran over its nuclear program, some worry that it will sacrifice the Islamic Republic's grass-roots opposition movement.

Karim Sadjadpour is an Iran analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington. He's regularly hobnobbing with Beltway policymakers and advisors as well as those within the kaleidoscope of think tanks issuing reams of recommendations for them.

He says that opinion in Washington is mixed. Though he himself believes that Iran's opposition movement remains a force to be reckoned with, some disagree. 

"There are certainly analysts in Washington, including within some branches of the U.S. government, who believe that Iran’s opposition movement is either dead or does not deserve to be taken seriously," he said. 

But, he said, "in numerous conversations with the key formulators of Iran policy in the Obama administration I’ve never found them to be dismissive or unsympathetic towards the green movement."

Still, for a whole bunch of reasons, the administration is also hedging its bets. 

"They feel they can’t put all their eggs in the basket of the opposition," he said.

For one thing, they worry that Iran's drive to master nuclear technology is moving faster than its move toward democracy. "The prospect of political reform in Tehran appears to be at best a medium-term process, while the prospect of Iran reaching a nuclear weapons capability is an immediate concern," said Sadjadpour, who was last in Iran in 2005.

But there's another matter, says Sadjadpour. The Obama administration worries that if it is seen as too vocally supportive of the opposition, as has been demanded by some commentators, it could end up sabotaging the movement.

"They’re concerned that enthusiastic U.S. patronage of the opposition movement could prove more hurtful than helpful to their cause," he said.

The administration's uncertainty stems in part from mixed messages it's getting from Iran and supporters of the opposition.

"Some think the U.S. could and should be doing much more, others argue that this is an internal Iranian drama and further American support would be counterproductive," he said.

Following the beatings, mass imprisonments and televised trials of opposition members, Sadjadpour said he thinks the administration could get away with being more outspoken in criticizing Iran for failure to measure up to globally accepted standards of human rights and justice.

"I have no illusions that raising the issue of human rights will compel the regime to have second thoughts about employing repression and brutality," he said. "But if we continue engagement while neglecting to talk about human rights, the United States sends the signal to the Iranian people that America is a cynical superpower willing to 'do a deal' at their expense."

While dialog with Iran is important, diplomatic engagement is not an end in itself, but a way to curb Iran's nuclear program and moderate its foreign policy, he said. 

Sadjadpour, for one, said he very much doubts that the current ruling establishment in Tehran seeks an accommodation with the U.S.

"As long as Ahmadinejad remains president and [Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei remains leader, I am skeptical about Iran’s willingness to make and adhere to meaningful compromises on issues like the nuclear issue and Israeli-Palestinian conflict," he said.

That doesn't mean the U.S. should revert back to the "regime change" policies and rhetoric of the Bush administration. In fact, Sadjadpour said he was convinced that that Khamenei and Ahmadinejad would actually welcome a military strike. 

"It may be their only hope to silence popular dissent and heal internal political rifts," he said.

But ruling out war doesn't mean the U.S. should get all lovey-dovey with Tehran's current establishment.

"We should certainly refrain from employing policies that dampen the momentum of the green movement, or alter its trajectory," he said. "This means treading carefully on 'engagement,' broadening the conversation beyond just nukes and avoiding military confrontation."

--  Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: Karim Sadjadpour. Credit: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

The subject of women's rights in the Middle East is contentious. Sensational media coverage of honor killings and child brides equates religious conservatism with gender inequality, incensing Western feminists on the one hand and provoking regional backlashes on the other.

The reality is far more nuanced, according to the the 2009 Global Gender Gap Report released in late October by the World Economic Forum, which ranks countries based on women's economic participation, educational attainment, health and political empowerment.

In Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar -- socially conservative Persian Gulf countries that all rely on some form of Sharia Islamic law -- more women than men enroll in higher education, although they have yet to be fully incorporated into the workforce. 

Syria, on the other hand, which is ruled by a nominally secular regime, has slid in the rankings for the last three years. 

Iran scores low in the fields of economic, educational and health equality, but performs relatively well on political empowerment. 

Saudi Arabia and Egypt still hover near the bottom of the list, but have improved steadily since 2006. 

Yemen remained the lowest-ranked country in the world for the fourth year in a row.

Despite some glimmers of hope, women in the region face a steeper uphill battle than their counterparts in other parts of the world. Most Middle East and North African countries "not only continue to perform far below the global average, but also do not show much improvement over the last year or have deteriorated,” the report said. Exceptions included Israel, Bahrain, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, all of which improved in their overall score compared with last year. Israel and Kuwait were ranked the highest in the region, at 45 and 105, respectively, followed by Tunisia, the UAE and Jordan.

It is important to note, however, that many of the countries surveyed since 2006 have shown improvement in their overall score over a four-year period, even as their rankings slipped. This means that women in the region are making progress within their countries, even if the rate of improvement is slow compared to the global average. Ranking is also affected by the number of countries included in the study, which has risen from 115 in 2006 to 134 in 2009.

“Countries that do not fully capitalize on one-half of their human resources run the risk of undermining their competitive potential," said the study's co-author, Saadia Zahidi, head of the Forum's Women Leaders and Gender Parity Program. "We hope to highlight the economic incentive behind empowering women, in addition to promoting equality as a basic human right."

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Kuwaiti lawmaker Salwa al-Jassar, one of four women elected to Kuwait's parliament earlier this year. Credit: Yasser Al-Zayyat AFP/Getty Images

 
Thousands of parents have been left clueless about their children's fate after a number of private and public schools were forced to close as a result of the growing H1N1 infections.
 
The Ministry of Health announced this week that 466 confirmed cases of swine flu have been reported among students throughout the country. The increasing numbers prompted the Ministry of Education's decision to shut down at least 22 schools and quarantine students in dozens of classrooms in other schools that have remained open. 
 
The ongoing procedures have raised fear among parents, especially after the Ministry of Health said that a decision may be made to close schools nationwide if cases of pneumonia and H1N1 continue to rise. Many already doubt whether end-of-semester exams, originally scheduled for January, will be held as planned or not. 
 
"We really don't know what will happen; we paid our sons' full fees for the current school year and we are scared the ministry might end up closing down all schools," said a father of two boys studying in an international school in Cairo.
 
While private and international schools have found a saving grace in providing their students with daily curriculums and assignments on the Internet, students of public and less-equipped institutions were left with no other choice than costly and privately organized classes, which are being held at homes and nongovernmental education centers.
 
"My children never depended on private classes. They are too expensive and we were only counting on school education, but now I'm obliged to enroll my kids into one of those centers after their school was closed," says a parent whose son and daughter study at a public school in the Giza area.
 
According to official figures issued by the operations room at the Egyptian Cabinet's information and decision support center, the student cases of swine flu have raised the overall tally in Egypt to 1,881 cases.
 
So far, 1,746 people have fully recovered from the virus. The others are still being treated at hospitals.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Swine flu invades Egyptian schools. Credit: AFP

Iranian officials are up in arms over a decision by The Queen's College at the University of Oxford in Britain to establish a scholarship fund in memory of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 27-year-old Iranian woman whose videotaped June 20 death at the hands of an unknown gunman made her an international symbol of Iran's opposition movement. 

Iran's Embassy in Britain formally condemned the decision.  In a letter to the school's chancellor, the embassy called it a ploy to attract students. 

"It was a politically-motivated move," said the letter, cited in an article on the website of Iran's Press TV. "It seems that Oxford University is involved in a criminal case, which is still under investigation by the Iranian police."

Iranian officials have suggested her death was caused by foreign operatives seeking to sully the image of the Islamic Republic.

The embassy said the young woman's death took place "far from the scene of protests" after Iran's cataclysmic presidential elections and was a "complicated and planned" affair condemned by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. 

"The involvement of the university in Iran's internal affairs, particularly in the country's post-election events of which the British media played a leading role, would lead to the loss of the university's scientific prestige and academic goals," the letter said."This has nothing to do with the university's position and goals and will not help Iran and Britain improve their relations."

In a press announcement on its website, Oxford said it was "delighted" to honor Agha-Soltan, a onetime student of Islamic philosophy, thanks to "two generous gifts" from benefactors it does not name. 

"Oxford is increasingly losing out to its competitors in the race to recruit top graduate students," said Professor Paul Madden, the school's provost. "Donations such as those that have enabled us to create the Neda Agha-Soltan Scholarship are absolutely vital for us to continue to attract and retain the best young minds."

Though anyone is eligible for scholarship, which provides enough money to pay a graduate or undergraduate student's entire fees, preference is to be given to students of Iranian descent, said announcement. 

Arianne Shahvisi, a philosophy of physics student of Iranian background who is the scholarship's first recipient, called it a "great honor" to be granted the scholarship. "In accepting the scholarship, I extend my sincere condolences to the Agha-Soltan family, and hope that in succeeding in my studies at Oxford, I can do justice to the name of their brave and gifted daughter," she wrote, according to the website. 

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Even while the Lebanese press and many analysts welcomed the new Cabinet and national unity government in Tuesday's papers, many harbored doubts over whether Prime Minister Saad Hariri will be able to bridge the deep divisions between his coalition and the opposition, supported by Syria and Iran.

"Government of the Two Trenches," read a headline carried in the Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, which is considered to be close to the opposition.

Lebanon's national unity government received warm plaudits amid the questions over whether the rival U.S. and Saudi-backed majority and the Hezbollah-led opposition would be able to set aside their long-running disputes to work together. 

The new government underwent internal tussles over distribution of ministerial posts even in the first hours after its formation on Monday.

In his address to the Lebanese people on Monday night, Lebanon's Prime Minister Saad Hariri spoke of his hopes for future cooperation among Lebanon’s political factions. And Michel Aoun, leader of the opposition-aligned Free Patriotic Movement, told Al-Jazeera television that he had confidence in Hariri and echoed the prime minister's words of turning the page.

“The difficult period is over. A new page has been turned to strengthen security and to enhance the economy as well as implement development projects on the national level,” he said.

Across the Mediterranean, the European Union’s high representative for the Common Foreign and Security, Javier Solana, extended a warm greeting to the new government and emphasized the importance of Lebanon having a stable government when it takes on its new role as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council next year. 

But Solana also made sure to send a friendly reminder to concerned parties, pleading them to act “constructively” for the well-being of the region.

“As on other occasions, I call once again on all parties concerned, in Lebanon, in the region and in the international community, to act constructively to recognize and ensure the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Lebanon. Achieving this goal is crucial for the stability of the entire region."

The new Cabinet hit some bumps in the road in its first hours when reports surfaced Monday night that the Christian Kataeb party, an ally of the Hariri coalition, had threatened to withdraw from the majority coalition because its demands for the education ministry had not been met.

Meanwhile, Ibrahim Kanaan, an MP with the opposition's Change and Reform bloc, told The Times that he was not completely satisfied with the distribution of portfolios, saying his bloc "achieved what we could."

The new government is now set to tackle a range of issues, including Lebanon’s huge public debt. Then there is the controversial topic of Hezbollah’s weapons arsenal, which is to be left for discussion in the framework of a national dialogue.

“We have agreed this is a national dialogue issue, these weapons are not to be discussed except in the national dialogue,” Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon’s Druze community told The Times.

Hopes are that the new deal will help ease political tensions in the country, but sharp differences and long-running disagreements between the two camps remain. So further complications can be expected.

“There is a low level of trust, and I think it indicated that although the country is calm there is certainly a serious division and a dysfunction that continues and needs to be addressed,” Paul Salem, a Beirut-based Middle East expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, a Washington think tank, told The Times.

Some analysts went as far as to say that Lebanon had not formed a unity government but one of "disunity" and that the Cabinet will only be "united in name" due to deep, unresolved disputes between the rivals, especially concerning Hezbollah's weapons. 

"The formation of this so-called unity government is but a formality," Osama Safa, head of the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, told Agence France-Presse.

Also speaking to Agence France-Presse, Rafik Khoury, chief editor of the independent daily Al-Anwar, predicted that the disputes between the Hariri bloc and its rivals would carry on despite the excitement expressed by both sides over the new coalition.

"Let's not kid each other. This government was formed by Bashar al-Assad and King Abdullah," said Khoury, in a reference to the Syrian and Saudi heads of state.

"The rival ministers will be at each other's throats at each Cabinet session," he concluded.

-- Alexandra Sandels and Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, center, heads the first meeting of the new Cabinet at the Presidential Palace in Baabda today. Credit: Dalati Nohra / Associated Press

On Oct. 21, 26-year-old Zeditu Kebede Matente of Ethiopia was found dead, hanging from an olive tree in the southern Lebanese town of Haris.

Just two days later, her compatriot, 30-year-old Saneet Mariam, died after falling from the balcony of her employer’s house in Mastita, just north of Beirut.

It's been a deadly month for women working as domestic laborers in Lebanon. At least six have died under mysterious circumstances, constituting a "clear pattern that cannot be ignored," Human Rights Watch researcher Nadim Houry told the Daily Star recently.

Most of the women died after falling from high windows or balconies, except for Matente, who died by hanging, and a 24-year-old Nepalese woman who died of a heart attack. Most of these women are thought to have been driven to suicide by employer abuse or else fell while trying to escape, although homicide cannot be ruled out.

Human Rights Watch released a statement calling on the Lebanese government to conduct a full investigation and make drastic reforms to prevent more deaths.

“The death toll last month is clear evidence that the government isn’t doing enough to fix the difficult working conditions these women face,” said Houry. “The government needs to explain why so many women who came to Lebanon to work end up leaving the country in coffins.”

There are an estimated 200,000 foreign maids in Lebanon, mostly women from South Asia, the Philippines and East Africa, many of whom have defied travel bans to come work in Lebanese homes for two- or three-year contracts. 

But unscrupulous recruitment agencies often make false promises to lure the women to Lebanon, where their passports are taken and they are forced to work long hours for little or no pay, driving many to desperation. Earlier this year, Human Rights Watch estimated that one domestic worker died every week in Lebanon.

“People try to pass off suicides among migrant workers, particularly the Ethiopian community – saying that they are crazy and have higher suicide rates anyway, but you cannot attribute this to national characteristics," Houry said. “They end up taking enormous risks to escape and it results in death.”

Such fatalities often are ignored or glossed over by the Arabic press, but a number of websites and blogs have popped up with the aim of tracking the deaths and abuses of migrant workers in Lebanon and the Middle East, including Migrant-Rights.org and EthiopianSuicides.blogspot.com.

“The immediate course should be to investigate suicides of migrant workers as possible homicides, with the employer as the main suspect," said Fatima Gomar, editor of Migrant-Rights.org, according to the Daily Star. "If the investigation shows that the maid was mistreated by her employer, [they] must face consequences.”

In addition to often harsh working conditions, African and Asian workers also face discrimination from Lebanese society at large. Earlier this year, a study by Human Rights Watch revealed that more than half of Lebanon's beach clubs do no allow foreign workers in their swimming pools.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Video: A report broadcast by Al Jazeera International documents worker abuse in Lebanon. Credit: YouTube

The recent barring of Iran's Arabic-speaking news channel, al-Alam, or the World, from two Egyptian and Arabic satellite companies has prompted a number of contradicting suggestions over the motives behind the decision.

Both satellite companies -- the Egyptian-owned Nilesat and the Saudi-managed Arabsat -- ended the World's broadcast signal last week without warning.

Nilesat's executive director, Ahmed Anis, announced that the broadcasting was cut due to contract violations. But the head of the World's bureau in Cairo said he was informed by Nilesat officials that the decision came from a higher Egyptian government authority.

A statement sent by Arabsat to the World indicated the satellite company had received complaints that the channel was airing content that did not follow the region's religious and political values. Arabsat added that the World had also defamed a number of top Arab officials. Arab capitals, most notably Cairo and Riyadh, have been increasingly concerned about Iran's widening influence across the Middle East.

Some Egyptian sources suggested the World's support for the Shiite Houthi rebels in Yemen may have angered Saudi officials, who, in accordance with Nilesat administrators, agreed to stop the channel's signal from reaching millions of Sunni Muslim Arabs throughout the region.

Saudi warplanes and troops have been clashing with Houthi insurgents on the Saudi-Yemeni border since last week. Yemen, a Saudi ally, claims the rebels are receiving aid from Shiite-dominated Iran. Yemen has offered no direct evidence of a Houthi-Iran connection, and the rebels have denied receiving help from Tehran.

Egyptian authorities temporarily shut down the World's Cairo bureau in July 2008 after a lawyer filed a lawsuit against the channel following a documentary about late President Anwar Sadat, who was vilified by Iran for signing a peace treaty with Israel. The channel went on to broadcast via a private Egyptian company.

The World, which was founded in 2003, is based in Tehran and managed by the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB).

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Al Alam TV logo. Credit: Al Youm Al Sabee

Col. Akram Soliman first appeared in front of a criminal court in the city of Alexandria in September after he was accused of detaining and beating Ragaie Soltan for eight days without any formal charges. Soltan had been taken into custody July 21 during a random police sweep of the homeless in the seaside city.

Soltan was transferred to a public hospital one week later, where he was diagnosed with brain concussion and internal bleeding after losing consciousness as a result of the physical abuse.

Human rights organizations and democracy campaigners rallied around Soltan's case as another example of the abuse many Egyptians face at the hands of police and intelligence agencies. Some activists said Soliman's five-year sentence was too lenient.

"We were really hoping for a more deterrent judgment. Article 282 of the Egyptian Penal Code states that an officer who tortured or illegally captured a suspect should receive life sentence with labor," said Moheb Aboud of the Victims Human Rights Institute, which organized a march condemning torture in prisons after Soliman's conviction.

"The Ministry of Interior deals very softly with cases like torture. If proven guilty, officers are sent to prison for short periods and they are reinstated in their jobs right after their release," the founder of the El Ghad opposition party, Ayman Nour, said. "Incidents like these have increased in our prisons because the government is sponsoring torture as a mean of dealing with suspects." 

Public anger over the torture of suspects and prisoners intensified beginning in 2007 when bloggers started posting videos of police abuse on the Internet. International human rights organizations regularly criticize Egypt for torture and civil rights violations.  

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Officer Akram Soliman. Credit: Sarah Carr
 

Iran's moderate former President Mohammad Khatami continued to question the results of the June 12 presidential election, defying the nation's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said flatly last week that publicly voicing such doubts was illegal. 

"We should not decide for people," Khatami said in an a lengthy interview (in Persian) published today by Jamaran, a news website operated by the family of the Islamic Republic's revolutionary founder, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

"Nor should we restrict our people's choice and vote," he said. "Those who do not believe in the people's vote and even allow themselves to tamper with their votes or ignore them are unfamiliar with the Islamic Republic and revolution."

Khatami is a pillar of the country's battered reform movement and, along with presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, one of the three de facto figureheads of the opposition movement, which took to the streets again this week. 

All are under heavy surveillance and intense political pressure. Grass-roots opposition activists hunger for news and direction from the leaders, but have mostly had to make do without their guidance. 

In the interview, Khatami offered no new directives or vision for the movement. Instead he accused Iran's hard-liners of tarnishing the international image of the Islamic Republic.

"Today, the world looks at our Islamic establishment as an illogical, harsh, immoral and inhumane regime that does not respect its people's vote," he said.

Although the mood on the streets is getting more radical, Khatami placed himself squarely within the traditional camp of reformists, those who want to change the Islamic Republic from within. 

"We have to enforce the constitution, but as long as it is not interpreted arbitrarily," he said. "Why is the constitution being violated today? The constitution obliges the regime's leaders to respect people's vote."

Although some hard-liners have called for Khatami's arrest, he accused "certain individuals and organs" of breaking the law. "They only want to impose their own desires on people," he said. "They are ready to sacrifice every asset and they should not be allowed to run the country. ... The problem is that certain groups intend to bring the regime under their own control and allow themselves to treat their opponents in any manner."

Unless Iran's rulers learn to tolerate dissent, they will further solidify opinion against the Islamic Republic, he warned.

"The purge of sympathizers of the revolution under cover of baseless accusations constitutes the biggest-ever conspiracy against the Islamic Republic," he said. "It will drive social forces toward enmity with the regime and revolution."

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photo: Mohammad Khatami in the U.S. in 2006. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

"From one cup of coffee, we spent the whole day together," Ben Mhenni wrote of Riahi in a series of e-mails to the Times. "In fact, I discovered an exceptional person -- funny, full of life, [an] artist [...] We talked about music, we laughed watching Tunisian television, we talked about blogs and bloggers."

They also talked about the Criminal Brigade, the investigative security force Riahi would have to answer to, and Ben Mhenni's boyfriend, Muhammad Soudani, who was arrested on Oct. 22 after giving an interview to a foreign radio station and has not been seen since.

[Updated, Saturday, Nov. 7, at 11:55 p.m. PST: Fatma Riahi was released Saturday morning, according to a statement posted on the Facebook page and blog devoted to her release. 

The statement said Riahi was in good health but was still in danger of being re-arrested.]

Still, she could see her friend was worried. Riahi had been writing ironic, thinly veiled allegorical pieces about Tunisian politics and society for her blog under the name "Arabicca." When she asked Ben Mhenni to spend the night, Ben Mhenni said she agreed without hesitation.

"I left her in the morning to my work and she went to the Criminal Brigade," Ben Mhenni wrote. Five days later, she has no idea what became of her friend.

Riahi's lawyer and friend, Leila Ben Debba, said investigators interrogated Riahi for three days in a row, accusing her of penning the infamous political satire blog debatunisie under the handle Blog de Z. No official charges have been filed yet, but authorities confiscated Riahi's computer and Ben Debba says she has not been allowed to contact her client since Wednesday. Blog de Z's most recent post is dated Thursday, three full days after Riahi was first taken into custody.

Riahi's friends in the Tunisian blogosphere are rallying as best they can, deploying their various avatars throughout the Internet in an effort to raise awareness and bring publicity to Riahi's case. But the same international community that expressed shock and outrage over Iran's controversial elections and media crackdown are not likely to be as stern with Tunisia, an ally in the "war on terror."

Incidentally, the bloggers' advocacy site Global Voices ranks Tunisia just behind Iran as one of the most repressive countries towards bloggers and online activists, although it is a fraction of Iran's size. The most famous Tunisian blogger prisoner is Zouhair Yahyaoui, who was arrested in 2000 after inviting readers to vote on whether Tunisia was a "republic, a kingdom, a zoo or a prison." Three years later, the 36-year-old died of a heart attack after reportedly being severely tortured.

Aymen Jamani, a fellow Tunisian blogger and friend of Riahi's, insisted she was not a political blogger, and that she wrote extensively on poetry and art.

Jamari also supplied The Times with a copy of her final post before the blog was deleted. Here are excerpts from "damage":

Wanting to live free, read the newspaper you want, meet with friends or colleagues in a coffee house to discuss the development plan proposed by the municipality or the government, for coastal protection, the devastating side effects of the construction of a Marina, the curriculum of our children, to organize a concert of solidarity with a cause, to develop a campaign for the candidate best able to convey our ideas...to create an association to safeguard the Andalusian music or Berber language or to support victims of floods, to create a journal, write an article...participate in the organization of city life, it seems that this is what POLITICS means.

Making politics essentially out of love before it is hatred for or against someone, to love the idea of freedom, of a country, to want the best for its schools, its former children, its nature and culture, and to try and leave the place in better condition than we found it as much as possible for our children to continue the project.

--Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Fatma Riahi, aka Arabicca. Credit: global voices

Khatami, not to be confused with the reformist former president of the same last name, simultaneously and contradictorily downplayed the protest, admonished opposition supporters and besought them to come back into the fold.

"Out of the hundreds and thousands of people who take to the streets, only one or two thousand shouted" opposition slogans, he said. "Americans must not be happy, as there is no red carpet waiting for them."

Then he shifted gears. 

"My brothers and sisters who have  fallen in the wrong and incorrect track, look who is supporting you," he said. 

"Those who were named by the late imam [Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini] as 'blasphemous' and their Islam was called 'Americanized Islam.' The miserable monarchists are supporting you. What is wrong if you follow the mainstream of the nation? Come back to the embrace of the nation and the nation will accept your repenting and remorse."

But, he added, "Of course the criminals’ cases are different and they should be punished." 

In a pre-sermon speech, Alaedin Boroujerdi, head of parliament's national security and foreign affairs committee, said the protesters were aping slogans on Voice of America. 

"The leaders [of the opposition] used to be high-ranking officials," he said, in a slap at reformists who once dominated the government. "Now, they repeat the same slogans."

Then Khatami, took to the podium, eventually reaching the topic of U.S.-Iran relations in the wake of attempts to jump-start talks over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

He brooked little possibility of an imminent deal.

"Our uncompromising stance is not out of being obstinate or prejudiced or sentimental," he said. "No, we believe that since the 1953 coup against [Mohammad] Mosaddegh, the U.S. has done nothing except treason against our nation, and since the beginning of our revolution, as [Khomeini] said, we can compile a book about the crimes committed by U.S."

He accused the U.S. of being involved in plots against Iran, instigating ethnic groups to revolt and imposing war on the nation. 

He said the Obama administration recently released $50 million for "toppling our system." 

"President Obama said that the U.S. did not interfere in the post-election unrest," Khatami said. "He is telling a lie. As long as the U.S. will not give up its arrogant character, our nation is not going to be engaged in satanic negotiations."

The crowd of hard-liners chanted "Death to America."

"They say Iran should build confidence," he continued. "On the contrary. Iran does not trust you."

-- Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran and Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

It was supposed to be a public show of Iranian unity during day marking the 30-year anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by Islamic revolutionaries.

But not only did anti-government demonstrators, many of them dressed in green scarves and headbands,  hijack the state-sponsored event. They also managed to steal the media's attention media, much to the displeasure of the authorities, who blamed the Western media for distorting the facts.

On the other hand, Iran's official media, also appeared to play fast and loose with reality. 

“A number of foreign media outlets such as al-Arabia, al-Jazeera, BBC, CNN, and France24 are seeking to create widespread unrest and police brutality against the people by broadcasting phony stories and images from today (Wednesday) on the occasion of the taking of the den of spies [US embassy in Tehran] and the national day against the global arrogance,” read the report issued by IRNA.

The news outlet accused foreign media organizations of turning a blind eye to the “tens of thousands of people in Tehran” it claimed took to the streets to stand up against America and instead chose to file false reports to stir discord in the capital.

“The foreign media made no mention of the epic public turnout for 13 Aban [4 November]. They have created an emotionally charged environment, have published lies, and have highlighted certain parts of the news in order to create widespread unrest in Tehran,” said IRNA.

As proof of its claims, the news agency provides a long list of allegedly false reports from the Nov. 4 rallies put out by foreign news outlets. But it appears that some of IRNA’s allegations did not entirely square with video and photo evidence as well as eyewitness reports from the scenes of the protests.

IRNA alleged that the Associated Press claimed falsely that security forces were clashing with anti-government demonstrators in Tehran. But eyewitness accounts and videos circulated on the Internet (including the one above) show security forces beating demonstrators and crowds clashing with squads of riot police. 

IRNA also reported that reformist politician Mehdi Karroubi, who has become a central figure in Iran’s protest movement, did not appear in Tehran’s Haft-e Tir square to join the crowds of demonstrators despite eyewitnesses confirming his presence. 

Videos posted to YouTube (below) also show Karroubi receiving a rock star's greeting by supporters as he stepped out of his car to attend Wednesday’s rallies. 

Journalists working for foreign media outlets also came under fire.The Agence France Presse news agency reported that one of its Iranian reporters, Farhad Pouladi, was taken into custody by Iranian security forces while on his way to cover the rallies.

-- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photos: Crowds of anti-government demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran on Wednesday.  Credit:Farhad Rajabali for the Times

Videos: Scenes of protests in Tehran on November 4. Credit: You Tube.

Opposition leader Ayman Nour has attacked the ruling regime after he was barred from traveling to the United States, where he was invited to speak about Egypt's political climate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington.

Nour and a number of Egyptian politicians, including Gamal Mubarak -- a top official in the ruling National Democratic Party and the son of President Hosni Mubarak -- were invited to the Carnegie event. Nour said he is convinced that his travel ban was intended to prevent anti-government figures from spoiling Gamal Mubarak's trip. 

"Mubarak's son wants the lion's share of the Egyptian political sphere, whether that is inside or outside the country," Nour said. "But I will not give him such pleasure, and I will take part in the Carnegie seminar through video conferences." 

The founder and former head of El Ghad opposition party, who was also planning to take part in a number of conferences organized by the Egyptian community in the U.S., previously said that the Egyptian public prosecutor had issued an administrative decision preventing him from going to the U.S. and other nations in the Middle East and Europe.

Gamal Mubarak is being groomed to succeed his father, a scenario resented by many Egyptians who have suffered under the government's economic programs and repressive human-rights policies and don’t want a Mubarak dynasty. Nour and fellow opposition activists and parties recently formed a coalition under the slogan Mayehkomsh ("You don't have the right to rule"), rejecting any succession plan.

After losing to Hosni Mubarak in Egypt's first contested elections in 2005, Nour was sentenced to five years in prison on what are widely regarded as trumped-up charges of forging signatures in order to establish El Ghad party. He was released on health grounds in February and since then has only been allowed to leave the country to receive healthcare abroad.

Nour, who has been touring Egyptian cities to interact with citizens and demonstrate his political vision over the last few months, can't run in the 2011 presidential elections because of his earlier conviction.

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Ayman Nour. Credit: AFP
 

Perfect, scientists say, for directing hungry shoppers to the food court.

Students and faculty at United Arab Emirates University in Al-Ain have created what a team at the university's lab says is the world's first Arabic-speaking socially interactive robot.

Nicholas Mavrides, a professor of computer science, said the human-like Ibn Sina, named after the Islamic philosopher and scientist commonly known in English as Avicenna, said the robot could be used as a receptionist, salesman or shopping assistant at one of the Persian Gulf's many shopping malls.

"We're very close to being able to get him to work as a receptionist or a helper in a mall," he told Agence France Presse. "If we work on it in a group of five people, we will be able to develop those skills in six months to make him ready for full operations."

-- Los Angeles Times

Photo: Karim Sahib / AFP/Getty Images

Thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of Tehran today, hijacking what was supposed to be a state-sponsored celebration of the 30th anniversary of the takeover of the American Embassy by Islamist revolutionaries.  Videos posted on Facebook and YouTube show police forces clashing violently with the demonstrators, led mostly by young activists and students.

 Protesters in the above video, which was posted on YouTube, chant, "Allahu Akbar" or "God is great," an echo of the nighttime rooftop chants in protests that have taken place since the disputed presidential elections in June.

Protesters also shouted, "The Russian Embassy is a den of spies," re-appropriating an old state accusation against the American Embassy.

Reports have surfaced of security forces using violence to disperse the crowds. In the above video, a student protester is seen staunching blood from a head wound.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Video: YouTube

It is not only in the bars of New York or bistros of Paris where smokers are being pushed to the sidelines and asked to step outside to light that cigarette. Now, Saudi Arabia's health ministry is launching a public campaign to make the holy cities of Mecca and Medina smoke-free during this year’s pilgrimage season.

The move is a part of a larger health drive for the pilgrimage season that has been spearheaded by the ministry to create a healthier environment for pilgrims and prevent a swine flu breakout among them. Over 2 million people from around the world travel to the two holy cities each year to perform the pilgrimage.

Speaking to the Saudi English-language daily Arab News, Majed Al-Munif of the health ministry’s Tobacco Control Program said that brochures advertising the anti-smoking campaign are being handed out to arriving pilgrims.

“Under the ministry’s Tobacco Control Program, we have printed around 1.5 million leaflets in different languages for distribution among pilgrims — both smokers and nonsmokers,” he said. 

The Middle East, home to smoke-filled teahouses, is now slowly jumping on the smoke-free bandwagon. Beirut, for example, recently organized a smoke-free night on its bar-crowded Gemmayze strip, and Turkey banned smoking in public places earlier this year.

To speed up the ministry's goal of making Mecca and Medina free of cigarette smoke, tobacco sales have apparently been banned within a three-mile radius of the two cities and the areas have been declared tobacco-free.

The campaign doesn't end there.

Billboards carrying anti-smoking messages have been erected across Mecca and Medina, and pilgrims are being given fliers advertising special clinics that help smokers to quit. Buses transporting pilgrims between sites carry posters about the anti-smoking drive.

Al-Munif said he believes that the Hajj pilgrimage serves as an excellent opportunity for smoking pilgrims to rid themselves of their bad habit. 

The health ministry has even come up with a slogan that it hopes will serve as an inspiration for pilgrims to put out that cigarette: “Make Arafat Day, a Quit-Smoking Day," in reference to climactic ninth day of the Hajj.

The bid to make the holy cites of Mecca and Medina smoke-free is not a totally new initiative. Saudi’s King Abdullah declared them smoke-free in 2002, and the health ministry has since the struggled to implement the ruling. 

One factor that has caused difficulties in the implementation of the king’s decision is the language barrier with pilgrims from around the world pouring into Saudi Arabia each year for the Hajj.

Apart from making this year’s Hajj smoke-free, Saudi authorities are also working hard to make it flu-free. About 7,000 people in the country have so far become infected with swine flu, and the virus is said to have caused 62 deaths. 

With the Hajj only a few weeks away, the health ministry has begun to vaccinate local pilgrims and workers in Mecca and Medina, and surveillance is being set up in the cities to track the spread of the virus.

Arriving pilgrims have also been instructed to do their part to protect themselves from contracting the flu, including the use of unscented hand sanitizers.

Scented disinfectants are deemed a violation of Ihram, the special religious codes for the Hajj pilgrimage, according to some Saudi religious scholars.

“Pilgrims should make sure the sanitizers and disinfectants they use during Hajj are scentless so as not to commit any violation that might harm their pilgrimage,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al-Mazroua, a judge at the Court of Cassation in Mecca. 

 “There are plenty of scentless sanitizers which pilgrims can safely use,” he added. 

 -- Alexandra Sandels in Beirut

Photo: In one of the final stages of the Hajj, pilgrims hurl stones at largest of the three stone walls that represent Satan. The "stoning the devil" ritual symbolizes the pilgrims warding off temptation. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

Of course, everyone spies on everyone in the Middle East. 

But in the past, for the sake of politesse, Israel has refused to acknowledge mounting espionage operations in Lebanon, although their existence is an open secret.

Lebanon has arrested dozens of alleged spies working for Israel this year alone, and recently found and destroyed a number of eavesdropping devices attached to Hezbollah's communications network. 

At the time, Israel said allegations of spying "did not warrant a serious response."

But during a recent visit to the volatile border separating Israel from Lebanon, Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Moshe Ya'alon confirmed Israel's information-gathering activities in Lebanon, which he said targeted Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite Muslim militia and political organization that maintains de facto control over southern Lebanon.

"The moment Hezbollah renewed their attacks, we began to collect intelligence. ... We will stop when Hezbollah disarms itself and the border is a border of peace," Ya'alon said, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

"When we are in conflict with an enemy, we gather information about them," he added.

Ya'alon's admission elicited outrage, if not surprise, from Lebanese politicians. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud called it "rude" and a "clear violation of international resolutions."

Israel is unlikely to face serious criticism from the international community over its latest revelation. On Friday, Washington's special coordinator for Lebanon, Michael Williams, warned against violations of the often ignored 2006 cease-fire deal by both sides. Such violations could "destabilize the situation," he said. 

Williams was reacting to recent flare-ups along the border between Israel and Lebanon, known as the Blue Line. Over the last year, border tensions have increased because of rocket attacks by extremist groups officially unconnected to Hezbollah, and retaliatory Israeli shelling of Lebanese border towns. 

There have also been several mysterious explosions that Israel claims were caused by Hezbollah weapons caches; Hezbollah has maintained they were caused by unexploded Israeli ordnance from the 2006 conflict.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Upper photo: A Lebanese intelligence officer shows off confiscated spy equipment hidden in the top of a cooler. Credit: Wael Hamza / EPA

Lower photo: An alleged Israeli eavesdropping device that was destroyed near the Lebanese border village of Houla. Credit: Naharnet.com

The National Democratic Party's annual convention, launched on Saturday under the slogan "For every citizen's sake," is unfolding amid the fears of many Egyptians that Gamal Mubarak -- a leading NDP official and son of current President Hosni Mubarak -- is being tailored to succeed his father in the 2011 presidential elections.

While many were anxious to see if the party would announce or even drop a hint on whether Gamal Mubarak would be nominated for the coming elections, top NDP officials did not broach the matter during speeches Saturday and today. In his address to the party faithful, President Mubarak, 81, gave no indication whether he would seek another term or step aside.

"We were hoping the NDP will be brave enough to either confirm or deny that Gamal Mubarak will be running in the coming presidential elections, unfortunately ... none of the officials talked about the issue," said Hamdi Hassan, spokesman for the parliamentary bloc of the Muslim Brotherhood, the country's largest opposition party.

Former Minister of Information and current NDP Secretary-General Safwat Sherif blasted the independent news media for raising what he called "speculative" suggestions that Gamal Mubarak will be the country's next president, adding that it is too early to discuss who will be the party's presidential candidate.

Today, in what was seen as a speech to raise his popularity among Egyptians, Gamal Mubarak defended the party's policies without delving into the succession drama, stressing that the NDP is working for the good of Egyptians rather than serving the interests of the country's tycoons as the opposition claims. Many in Egypt, a country where about 40% of the population lives on $2 or less a day or, regard the ruling party as corrupt and looking out only for the rich and politically connected. 

Regarding the financial aspect, opposition figures were disillusioned to see NDP members boast of the country's booming economy throughout the first two days of the conference. The vice president of the opposition Democratic Front party, Sekina Fouad, said, "Every year they [NDP] talk about the success of previous plans and the bright ideas they still have for developing the country, but what we witness on the ground is further deterioration in every Egyptian's life." 

-- Amro Hassan in Cairo

Photo: Gamal Mubarak. Credit: AFP

It was near the end of a meeting Wednesday between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and a group of university students when the man who is Iran's highest political and spiritual authority asked if there were any other questions. 

He spotted a young man in the corner with his hand raised and called on him, asking him to go to the podium to speak through the public address system. 

What followed was an extraordinarily candid 20-minute speech by the student, later identified as national math Olympiad winner Mahmoud Vahidnia, in which he publicly and explicitly criticized Khamenei for the government's conduct in the unrest that followed Iran's June 12 elections. 

Vahidnia, a first-year student of mathematics at Tehran's prestigious Sharif University, spoke without notes.

[UPDATED at 4:30 a.m. PST on Nov. 1:  Despite reports of his arrest, reports surfaced that Vahidnia is okay. He told the Persian-language Alef.ir news agency in a report that appeared in the reformist newspaper Sarmayeh on Sunday that rumors of his detention were unfounded. 

He also said he made the speech on his own volition. "I had not coordinated with anyone," he told the news agency. "Even my family had no idea what I was going to say."

He added, "On the whole the meeting with the Supreme Leader was constructive."]

He criticized the violence against protesters during the election. He said Khamenei lived in a bubble, unaware of the sentiments against his rule. He critiqued what he described as Iran's "cycle of power" in which entrenched elites in institutions such as the Guardian Council and Assembly of Experts exert what he described as a stranglehold over the nation's political life.

He criticized state broadcasting and the media, saying their unwillingness to criticize Khamenei deepened Iran's divisions.

 

“Does the state broadcasting really reflect the realities of the country and the whole world, or does it draw an unrealistic caricature of the world?" he said. "Does state broadcasting permit diverse opinions?"

He said he had never seen anyone publicly criticize Khamenei in the media.

"I think if they let criticism against you get published, then simple problems are not overplayed and will not lead to schism and division and hatred," he said, according to reformist websites which recounted the exchange, but also Khamenei's own website (in Farsi). 

"When a simple criticism cannot find an environment to be expressed, then gradually it gets tainted with ill intentions," he said.

Sporadic applause punctuated his speech. A live broadcast of the event on television was shut down. A moderator interrupted, saying time was up. Somebody else interjected, addressing Vahidnia. "If criticism were not allowed, you would not be criticizing," he said.  

But Khamenei insisted on replying. Though he acknowledged that he appointed the head of state broadcasting, he said it didn't always do what he wanted. He, too, had complaints about the conduct of state broadcasting.

"We have never said not to criticize us," he said.  "We have no objection. We welcome criticism.There are lots criticism against me. We take in the criticism, and we understand the criticism.” 

Reformist websites said Vahidnia was harassed by security forces at the meeting as the event ended, and many fear that he has been locked up.

On Friday night the Sharif University dormitories erupted with cries of "God is great!" and "Death to the dictator!" in support of their fellow classmate. University activists warned that if any harm comes to the “courageous student" the campus would explode.

-- Borzou Daragahi in Beirut

Photos:

At top, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Credit: Hasan Sarbakhshian / Associated Press

Mahmoud Vahidnia publicly criticized Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei during a forum Wednesday. Credit: VOA Persian (above) and BBC Persian via YouTube

Video: Amateur clip said to show classmates of Vahidnia protesting at dormitories Friday night. Credit: YouTube

For years, Israel's main concern on its northern border was the militant Shiite group Hezbollah, a tightly organized resistance movement that participates in the Lebanese government but still maintains its own military and social infrastructure. 

But now another player has appeared, a previously little-known Islamist group calling itself the Battalions of Ziad Jarrah, a branch of the Abdullah Azzam Brigade, that has now claimed responsibility for its second rocket attack on Israel this year.  Ziad Jarrah was a Sept. 11 hijacker, and Abdullah Azzam a mentor of Osama bin Laden.

Although Hezbollah has been labeled a terrorist organization by the U.S. and Israel, it often coordinates with the Lebanese army and the U.N., which maintains a peacekeeping force in the south.

The Battalions of Ziad Jarrah, on the other hand, are thought to have connections to Al Qaeda, using the well-known Jihadist Fajr media center to claim responsibility for the rocket that was fired on northern Israel on Tuesday from the Lebanese border village of Houla. 

Israel responded to the rocket attack by shelling the area, where the Lebanese army later found four more timed rockets. No casualties were reported. 

The exchange comes just two weeks after a number of Israeli surveillance devices were found and destroyed near Houla.

The group is also believed to be behind the rocket attacks on Israel from Qleilah, Lebanon, on Sept. 11 this year.

The Battalions of Ziad Jarrah said this recent attack was in retaliation for Israel's crackdown on protesters at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, according to the SITE intelligence monitoring group.

The mosque sits on a site known to Jews as the Temple Mount and has been the site of clashes between police and Palestinian protesters who claim Israeli excavation beneath it is threatening the mosque's structural stability.

"The occupying Jews have dared to repeatedly raid the courtyard of Al-Aqsa Mosque.... In response to this aggression, a battalion among the Battalions of Ziad Jarrah" fired a katyusha rocket, the statement said, according to AFP.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut