Rick Santorum's poll numbers on the rise the wake of Iowa finish, but Romney may be unbeatable in the Granite State

All eyes in City on US employment data, which is expected to show 150,000 jobs added in December

The 2010 lows at 0.8065 remain some way off but are by no means out of the question at this stage. Pullbacks are likely to find resistance around the 0.8305/10 area and old December lows, while above here re-targets 0.8370. The key resistance remains around the highs for the last three weeks at 0.8425, and only a move beyond here would target a move back towards 0.8450 and even the 200 week MA at 0.8567.

After taking office in landslide, Portia Simpson Miller pledges to drop Queen as head of state and restore prosperity

Hamid Karzai reacts to being sidelined from Taliban talks by ordering US hand over main military prison within one month

Hamid Karzai, furious at being sidelined from Afghan peace talks, has thrown his government into yet another dramatic confrontation with the international community by demanding the US hand over control of its main military prison in Afghanistan.

Officials at the US embassy and Nato headquarters in Kabul scrambled to deal with the unexpected announcement, which comes amid humiliation for Karzai over US efforts to set up an overseas political office for the Taliban despite the minimal involvement of the Afghan government.

Karzai said a commission had been established to oversee the transfer, within a month, of the detention centre at Parwan, which replaced the old prison at Bagram airbase, north of Kabul. Bagram became infamous during the "war on terror" for holding the most "high-value" Taliban and al-Qaida detainees.

The shock announcement coincided with the parading at a press conference of two British private security workers who were arrested in Kabul on Wednesday with a car full of undocumented assault rifles. The government said the two men would be charged for illegal gun running and their company, a Canadian organisation called GardaWorld, would be closed.

Although the US has long agreed in principle to transfer its military prisons to Afghan control, the timetable has repeatedly slipped. The new deadline set by Karzai will be impossible to meet, not least because of grave concerns among the international community about the way Afghanistan treats the prisoners it already has responsibility for.

A UN report in October found that torture was rife in some Afghan prisons, including of inmates that had been transferred from Nato custody.

The Afghan government, however, has drawn up its own report on Bagram that Karzai said detailed "many cases of violation of Afghan constitution and other applicable laws of the country, the relevant international conventions and human rights".

A senior western official closely involved in detention issues said the US was concerned that Afghan guards would have trouble maintaining the equipment at the new Parwan detention facility

Nonetheless, Karzai has been adamant his government should gain complete control over all Afghan prisons, including Bagram and the issue has been one of the key sticking points in negotiations between Washington and Kabul over a much-delayed strategic pact that will determine the US role in the country after 2014.

"It's classic Karzai off his meds moment," said one western official in Kabul, alluding to a long track record of behaviour the international community has regarded as highly erratic.Karzai has successfully deployed such brinkmanship before, not least in August when he stunned the diplomatic corps by ordering that tens of thousands of private security guards should be disbanded within four months. A compromise was eventually reached that will lead to greater government oversight of private security contractors.

Afghan government officials said Karzai was extremely displeased at being kept out of secret negotiations between the US and the Taliban that look set to lead to the establishment of a political office for the insurgent movement in Qatar.

Last month Karzai withdrew his Qatari ambassador to express his anger at the plans. Although Karzai has long favoured political efforts to bring the war to an end, he has insisted that it be controlled and organised by his government. The Taliban think otherwise. In a statement released this week announcing its willingness to set up an office the movement made no mention of the Afghan government whatsoever.

It said the only two parties to the conflict of any importance were the US and the insurgents themselves.

Nato's International Security Assistance Force and the US embassy declined to comment.

]]> http://beemoq.net/2012/01/06/afghan-president-demands-control-of-bagram-prison/feed 0 http://beemoq.net/2012/01/06/iraqs-shias-targeted-in-deadly-bomb-blasts http://beemoq.net/2012/01/06/iraqs-shias-targeted-in-deadly-bomb-blasts#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 01:12:39 +0000 Martin Chulov http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/05/iraq-shias-targeted-bomb-blasts

At least 72 killed in co-ordinated wave of attacks in Baghdad and Nasiriyah as sectarian tension resurfaces

Bombs targeting Shia Muslims have killed 72 people in Baghdad and southern Iraq in a deadly start to a new year already heightened by fast-increasing sectarian tensions.

Most of the dead were Shia pilgrims walking to the holy city of Karbala from Nasiriyah. A suicide bomber was walking among the men and detonated himself as a soldier tried to tackle him. The blast killed 48 and wounded more than 100.

In Baghdad, a series of bombs shortly after dawn, all in Shia neighbourhoods, killed another 24 people on Thursday. The bombings hit Sadr City, in the north-east of the city, and Qhadimeyah in the north west.

They marked the second co-ordinated attacks targeting Shias, or government security forces, in the past three weeks, underscoring yet again the deep divisions that remain in Iraq nine years after Saddam Hussein was ousted.

The December bombings, which killed more than 60, were claimed by the Islamic State of Iraq, an al-Qaida-inspired Sunni jihadist group that for the past four years has attempted to reignite the sectarian divisions that tore Iraq apart in 2006-07.

The group is almost certainly also the culprit for Thursday's attacks, which were the latest in at least 15 similar events over the past three years that have taken a heavy toll on Iraq's Shias, and in some cases minorities such as Christians and Yazidis.

None of the earlier bombings had been successful in their aim of drawing the Shias back into battle. The various Shia militias, such as the Jeish al-Mehdi – a key protagonist during the sectarian war – have remained stood down for almost three years, in which time a Shia majority government has attempted to consolidate its hold on Iraq's fractured political landscape.

Though not directly related, the latest bombings appear tailored to tap in to new sectarian tensions sparked by Iraq prime minister Nouri al-Maliki's move last month to charge the country's Sunni vice president, Tariq al-Hashemi, with terrorism.

Hashemi has since sought refuge in the Kurdish north, and Sunni legislators in Baghdad have been refusing to turn up to parliament. Iraq's parliamentary speaker, Ousama al-Nujaifi, also a Sunni, has released a statement condemning the latest violence.

However the streets of Iraq's Sunni provinces reportedly remain restive. Sunni heartland areas, such as Anbar and Diyyala, are implacably opposed to Maliki, whom they say is moving to reinforce the post-Saddam dominance of Shias, who are country's majority sect but were widely persecuted under the three-decade rule of the former dictator.

Increasing sectarian conflict in neighbouring Syria is feeding into tensions in Iraq, with tribal leaders in Anbar confirming last month to the Guardian that local men have sought permission to travel across the border to support Sunni anti-regime demonstrators and defectors in clashes with forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad. The Syrian leader is a member of the Alawite sect, which has ties to Shia Islam.

Senior US officials, including the CIA director David Petraeus, and US army chief of staff, Ray Odierno, have travelled to Baghdad in recent weeks to meet with Iraqi leaders, who they worked closely with until US forces withdrew in mid-December, formally ending the nine year war.

The US and much of Europe fear lingering divisions inside Iraq and hardening sectarian positions elsewhere in the region could prove a combsutible mix.

]]> http://beemoq.net/2012/01/06/iraqs-shias-targeted-in-deadly-bomb-blasts/feed 0 http://beemoq.net/2012/01/06/iran-clamps-down-on-internet-use http://beemoq.net/2012/01/06/iran-clamps-down-on-internet-use#comments Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:08:33 +0000 Saeed Kamali Dehghan http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/05/iran-clamps-down-internet-use

Restrictions on cybercafes and plans to launch national internet prompt fears users could be cut off from world wide web

Iran is clamping down heavily on web users before parliamentary elections in March with draconian rules on cybercafes and preparations to launch a national internet.

Tests for a countrywide network aimed at substituting services run through the world wide web have been carried out by Iran's ministry of information and communication technology, according to a newspaper report. The move has prompted fears among its online community that Iran intends to withdraw from the global internet.

The police this week imposed tighter regulations on internet cafes. Cafe owners have been given a two-week ultimatum to adopt rules requiring them to check the identity cards of their customers before providing services.

"Internet cafes are required to write down the forename, surname, name of the father, national identification number, postcode and telephone number of each customer," said an Iranian police statement, according to the news website Tabnak.

"Besides the personal information, they must maintain other information of the customer such as the date and the time of using the internet and the IP address, and the addresses of the websites visited. They should keep these informations for each individuals for at least six months."

In recent weeks, users in Iran have complained of a significant reduction in internet speed, reported the reformist newspaper, Roozegar, which has recently resumed publication after months of closure. The newspaper said it appeared to be the result of testing the national internet.

"According to some of the people in charge of the communication industry, attempts to launch a national internet network are the cause of disruption in internet and its speed reduction in recent weeks," Roozegar reported.

Some government websites, however, cited other reasons for the drop in speed.

"If the national internet comes into effect, the internet in the country will act like an internal network and therefore visiting the websites needs permission from the people in charge. Users outside Iran also need permission to visit websites running from inside the country," Roozegar's report said.

Speaking to the Guardian on condition of anonymity, an Iranian IT expert with close knowledge of the national internet project, which he described as a corporate-style intranet, said: "Despite what others think, intranet is not primarily aimed at curbing the global internet but Iran is creating it to secure its own military, banking and sensitive data from the outside world.

"Iran has fears of an outside cyber-attack like that of the Stuxnet, and is trying to protect its sensitive data from being accessible on the world wide web."

Stuxnet, a computer worm designed to sabotage Iran's uranium enrichment project, hit the country's nuclear facilities in 2010. Iranian authorities initially played down the impact of the Stuxnet but eventually admitted the nuclear programme had been damaged by the malware.

"At the same time, Iran is working on software robots to analyse exchanging emails and chats, attempting to find more effective ways of controlling user's online activities," said the expert.

A blogger in Tehran said recent news was of significant concern to the country's online community. "I'm addicted to the internet and can't imagine a day without the global internet," said the blogger. "But Iranians have always found ways to bypass the regime's censorship, for example by using illegal satellite dishes to watch banned television channels, and I'm sure in the 21st century we should be able to find alternatives should they opt to pull out of the world wide web."

The authorities have said for some years that Iran should have a parallel network which would conform to Islamic values and provide "appropriate" services. In April, a senior official, Ali Agha-Mohammadi announced government plans to launch "halal internet".

For Iranian officials, the need for such a network became more evident after the disputed presidential elections in 2009, when many protesters used social networks.

Less than two months before the parliamentary elections,- Iran's first national election since 2009, the regime warned against any online efforts to organise a boycott of the vote and said they would be considered a crime. Iran's bloggers have been prohibited from publishing any satirical materials about the elections or encouraging others to participate in a boycott.

In June, the US was reported to be funding plans to facilitate internet access and mobile phone communications in countries with tight controls on freedom of speech, such as Iran, through a project called "shadow internet" or "internet in a suitcase". Iran responded to the move by stepping up its online censorship by upgrading its filtering system.

Iran is suspected to have sought the support of China for its online censorship campaign but Huawei, a leading Chinese telecoms company, which has been accused of supplying Iran with equipment to enable censorship, denied any wrongdoing. More than 5m websites are filtered in Iran, but many Iranians access blocked addresses with help from proxy websites or virtual private network services. An Iranian official said last year that more than 17 million Iranians have Facebook accounts, although the site remains blocked in Iran.

]]> http://beemoq.net/2012/01/06/iran-clamps-down-on-internet-use/feed 0 http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/titanic-artefacts-up-for-auction-100-years-on-%e2%80%93-in-pictures http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/titanic-artefacts-up-for-auction-100-years-on-%e2%80%93-in-pictures#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 23:30:45 +0000 The Guardian World News http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2012/jan/05/titanic-artefacts-auction-in-pictures In April, to mark the 100-year anniversary of when the RMS Titanic set sail from Southampton, an unprecedented auction of artefacts recovered from the ship's wreckage will be held at Guernsey's in Manhattan. See a preview of some of the sunken treasures here

]]> http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/titanic-artefacts-up-for-auction-100-years-on-%e2%80%93-in-pictures/feed 0 http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/barack-obama-sets-out-plans-for-leaner-military-in-historic-strategy-shift http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/barack-obama-sets-out-plans-for-leaner-military-in-historic-strategy-shift#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 22:43:52 +0000 Ed Pilkington http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jan/05/barack-obama-plans-leaner-military

President says armed forces will move away from large-scale ground warfare and focus more on China in wake of budget cuts

President Barack Obama has unveiled plans for America's military future, outlining a historic shift towards a smaller and leaner force that will focus on China and move away from large-scale ground warfare that has dominated the post-9/11 era.

Obama became the first president to announce a strategy change directly from inside the Pentagon – a theatrical gesture designed to underline the significance of the shift. Mindful of the dangers of displaying any weakness over national security in an election year, Obama said he was determined to maintain US military supremacy around the world, but he admitted that the review involved a move to "smaller conventional ground forces" and the removal of "outdated cold war-era systems".

The immediate incentive for the change in tack, set out in a Pentagon strategy paper, is the fiscal crisis and the Congress-led drive for spending cuts. Currently, the Pentagon is under orders to slash $487bn from the resources it had expected to receive over the next 10 years, and those cuts could rise to close to $1tn if Congress fails to reach agreement on alternative reductions by January next year.

Details of the impact of the cuts on military deployments and systems will gradually be rolled out in upcoming budget announcements. For now, Obama and his main advisers, the defence secretary Leon Panetta and general Martin Dempsey, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, stuck to the highlights.

Among the casualties of the new-look military will be the two elements of the military that have formed the kernel of American global might over the past decade: the army and the marine corps. But with the Iraq war over and US commanders struggling to draw back from Afghanistan, that emphasis on the long-term massive ground mission is seen as fading as a priority, and both will face reductions in personel likely to involve tens of thousands of troops from the current Army numbers of 570,000.

There will also be a move away from the decades-old mantra of US military planners that America must be capable of fighting two wars at any one time. "The two-war paradigm has been an anchor in the way we think about the future. That paradigm is a residual of the cold war," Dempsey said.

That is likely to be siezed upon by Republicans as evidence that the Obama administration is damaging US capability around the world. Obama anticipated that criticism, saying: "Yes our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority with armed forces that are agile, flexible and ready for the full range of contingencies and threats."

For good measure, he added that the defence budget would continue to be larger than it was at the end of George Bush's term, and larger than the military spending of the next 10 countries put together.

"Make no mistake, we will have the capability to defeat more than one force at any time," Panetta concurred.

The dream of a modern military based on speed and stealth rather than overwhelming ground force has long been desired by military strategists. Donald Rumsfeld made a move towards it in the opening months of the Bush era, but was thrown off course by the 9/11 attacks and the angry US reaction to them in Afghanistan and then Iraq.

Now the Pentagon hopes to get back on that track, with new strategic goals and ambitions. Top of that list, the review has concluded, will be the emerging powers of the Asia-Pacific region amid mounting Pentagon concern about China's growing naval power and investment in high-tech weaponry.

"All trends are shifting to the Pacific. Our strategic challenges will largely emanate out of the Pacific region," Dempsey said.

In terms of the fighting force itself, the increasing reliance on technological warfare is certain to be extended, with the unmanned drone as its centrepiece. Critics on the left are likely to focus on that aspect as evidence of the Obama administration's disrespect for international law and civilian lives.

Panetta said: "As we reduce the overall defence budget, we will protect and in some cases increase our investments in special operations forces, new technologies like unmanned systems, space and in particular cyberspace capabilities and in the capacity to quickly mobilise."

Panetta and Dempsey both recognised that cuts in the strength of US troops would carry security risks. But they said the risks were preferable to doing nothing.

Panetta issued a clear and yet unspoken challenge to the Republican majority in the House of Representatives that has led resistance to the administration's budget plans. He said that if Congress continued along its path towards a further $500bn in defence cuts in January, the country's national security would be in jeopardy and there would be demoralisation within what he called a "hollowed" military force.

]]> http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/barack-obama-sets-out-plans-for-leaner-military-in-historic-strategy-shift/feed 0 http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/fracking-will-poison-new-yorks-drinking-water-critics-warn http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/fracking-will-poison-new-yorks-drinking-water-critics-warn#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 21:08:24 +0000 Karen McVeigh http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jan/05/fracking-new-york-poison-claim

Opponents of controversial gas drilling method condemn plan as environmental agency sounds alarm bells over staffing levels

A former staffer at a state government agency responsible for regulating hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, has warned that allowing the controversial gas drilling method in New York would lead to contamination of the state's aquifers and would poison its drinking water.

These stark warnings, issued by Paul Hetzler in a letter to an upstate newspaper, came as a current employee and union representative at the Department for Environmental Conservation (DEC) sounded alarm bells over the under-staffed agency's ability to monitor the industry and to deal with any emergencies if the plan goes ahead.

Fracking is the process of injecting a high-pressure mixture of sand, water and chemicals thousands of feet into hard shale rocks to shatter them and release the natural gas inside.

• Click here for a Guardian explainer on fracking

Plans to remove a statewide ban on fracking advanced by New York governor Andrew Cuomo and the DEC have sparked a wave of opposition from environmental, health and activist groups.

The New York state DEC released its recommendations in July, saying that proposals to remove the ban "struck the right balance between protecting our environment, watersheds and drinking water and promoting economic development."

But opponents of the plans, which would allow thousands of new wells to be drilled across the state with the exception of New York City and Syracuse, have criticised the DEC for not properly assessing health risks and for failing to include measures to protect water supplies.

In his December 13 letter to the Watertown Daily Times, Hetzler, a former technician responsible for investigating and managing groundwater contamination at the DEC, said: "I'm familiar with the fate and transport of contaminants in fractured media, and let me be clear: hydraulic fracturing as it's practised today will contaminate our aquifers.

"Not might contaminate our aquifers. Hydraulic fracturing will contaminate New York's aquifers. If you were looking for a way to poison the drinking water supply, here in the north-east you couldn't find a more chillingly effective and thorough method of doing so than with hydraulic fracturing."

The publication of Hetzler's letter last month coincided with a report from the US Environmental Protection Agency, which linked fracking with water pollution for the first time.

Hetzler calles the proposals for hydraulic fracturing in New York state "insane", adding: "I'm not saying anywhere you drill will cause a huge catastrophe. There might be a location where geological conditions are favourable, where contaminants don't travel. But the Marcellus shale is not a homogeneous layer. You can't predict what is going to happen."

The Marcellus shale is a black shale rock formation between 2,000 and 7,000ft underground that extends from Ohio and West Virginia into Pennsylvania and New York. Indeed, recent earthquakes in Ohio have widely been presumed to have been caused by the disposal of wastewater generated by fracking there.

Hugh MacMillan, of Food and Water Watch, said: "Hetzler's letter exposes the shortsightedness of opening up New York to shale gas development. The inherent, long-term risks to the state's vital water resources cannot be mitigated."

A byproduct of fracking, according to MacMillan, is the trapping of millions of gallons of fluid underground indefinitely. Once subjected to geological forces over years or decades, that fluid could move about under the earth's surface in unpredictable ways.

"The dubious economic and environmental benefits of shale gas do not justify these risks," he told the Guardian.

The DEC's own environmental impact statement identifies a "significant number of contaminants" in fluids associated with fracking that could reach surface water or aquifers.

It also concludes that releases could have "significant adverse impacts" on water resources and proposes a number of mitigration measures. These include a ban on fracking in the New York City and Syracuse watersheds where the drinking water is unfiltered, and not allowing it in or around "primary aquifers."

The mitigation measures also include requirements governing spills and releases.

However, union representatives at the DEC have warned that the already-depleted department has too few staff to take on the additional monitoring and inspection fracking would require.

In a statement submitted to the DEC, Wayne Bayer, an executive for the Public Employees Federation union, which represents over half of the state's DEC 3000 employees, said: "The 25% reduction in existing staff at DEC has crippled our ability to carry out all existing federal and state regulatory and statutory responsibilities."

He continued: "DEC would also be hard-pressed to adequately provide emergency remedial response and clean up assistance for a major accident of any kind. The moratorium should be extended until there are adequate staffing levels."

Wes Gillingham, the programme director of Catskill Mountainkeeper, one of a large number of environmental groups active in opposing fracking in New York state, echoed Bayer.

"It is not just a matter of numbers of personnel. We need people overseeing the industry and inspecting the cement around the casings," he told the Guardian.

"There are not enough inspectors out in the field across the state of New York. At the moment in New York there are only 15 or 17 inspectors for hundreds of existing wells. What's going to happen when there are thousands of wells being added to every year?"

The DEC did not return multiple requests for comment.

Its public consultation period on its draft regulations, which was extended by a month due to high demand, will close on 11 January, and it will produce a final impact statement and regulations sometime this year.

Robert F Kennedy Jr, who sits on the New York State's high-volume hydraulic fracking advisory panel, recently alleged that the debate has been hampered by a campaign of "intimidation and obfuscation" by key industry players.

A prominent environmentalist, Kennedy said he was an early optimist on natural gas, but the worst of the industry had battled regulation, stifled public discourse, and persuaded regulators to grant exceptions to existing rule.

]]> http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/fracking-will-poison-new-yorks-drinking-water-critics-warn/feed 0 http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/syria-army-defectors-meet-arab-league-observers-thursday-5-january http://beemoq.net/2012/01/05/syria-army-defectors-meet-arab-league-observers-thursday-5-january#comments Thu, 05 Jan 2012 17:56:16 +0000 Matthew Weaver, Haroon Siddique http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2012/jan/05/syria-army-defectors-meet-arab-league-live-updates

• Free Syrian Army tell league they want to protect civilians
• Senior official defects from the Assad regime
• Prosecutor demands death penalty for Hosni Mubarak

• Read the latest summary

5.54pm: Here's a summary of the day's main developments:

Syria

• Defence ministry official Mahmoud Sleiman Hajj Hamad has defected to the opposition. CNN quoted him as saying that genocide was taking place in Syria and that soldiers were using Red Crescent vehicles as cover. Hamad told Al-Jazeera that more officials wanted to split from the Assad regime.

• Activists claim 24 people have been killed so far today, half of those in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor. The Local Co-ordination Committees say five were killed in Homs, three in Hamouria (Damascus Suburbs) and one in each of Aleppo, Damascus, Dera'a and Idlib. US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said the Syrian government was to blame for the increase in violence.

• More video footage has emerged of soldiers announcing their defection a day after members of the Free Syrian Army met Arab League observers in Homs. The group insisted that they aimed to protect civilians.

• The Syrian government has released another 552 political prisoners, as part of its deal with the Arab League, taking the number released since the start of November to almost 4,000. Activists claim the regime is still holding at least 25,000 political detainees.

• The Arab League has turned to the United Nations for help after admitting "mistakes" in its Syria monitoring mission, AFP reports. US assistant secretary of state Jeffrey Feltman is due to hold talks with the Arab League about the future of the mission in Cairo today. Free Syrian Army head Colonel Riad al-Asaad, called for the UN to replace Arab League observers.

• The leader of the opposition Syrian National Council has called on the international community to impose a partial no-fly over Syria to help create a safe zone for defected soldiers and refugees. In an interview with the BBC World Service, Burhan Ghalioun urged the west to examine every option but said the opposition was against a Libya-style all out assault against Syria's air defences. His comments come after the SNC rejected a draft pact with another opposition group which involved a rejection of international interference.

• More than 617 people have been killed under torture in Syria, since the crackdown began according to a report by the campaign group Avaaz. It produced a map of detention centres where it said much of the torture has taken place and called on the Arab League observers to visit them.

Egypt

• Prosecutors have formally requested the death penalty for ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak, who is standing trial for alleged involvement in the deaths of more than 800 protesters, as well as corruption charges. They said that Mubarak's former ecurity chief, Habib el-Adly, and six top police commanders, who are all being tried alongside Mubarak, should also be sentenced to death. Mustafa Khater said: "Retribution is the solution."

• Unofficial counts suggest the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party is once more leading the way in the third and final phase of elections for the lower house of the Egyptian parliament. Many analysts predict that the FJP which won an estimated 47% of the seats up for grabs in the first two rounds could end up with an overall majority at the conclusion of this phase. The FJP said turnout was 50% in the latest round of voting. The official turnout figures for the first and second round were 52% and 67% respectively.

Bahrain

• Footage has emerged of Bahraini police firing large amounts of teargas at apparently peaceful protesters in Sitra. The Bahraini ministry of interior accused "vandals" of rioting and throwing Molotov cocktails. The demonstration on Wednesday was held to protest over the death of a 15-year-old boy, Sayed Hashim Sayed Saeed, who died last week after he was shot in the face with a teargas cannister, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights [BCHR). A 55-year-old woman, Fakhria Jassim AlSakran, died on Monday after inhaling teargas, the BCHR said. There have been more protests in Sitra today.

Libya

• The incoming UN Security Council president has called for an investigation into human rights abuses committed during NATO's bombing campaign to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. South Africa's UN ambassador Baso Sangqu, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for January, said he believed Nato overstepped its mandate enforcing a no-fly zone, killing an untold number of innocent civilians.

5.45pm: As the protests against Assad regime continue, so do those supporting the regime. For the second day running (here's the link to yesterday's blog update) the Syrian state news agency reports a large demonstration in Damascus's Sabaa Bahrat Square.

Sana reports:

The participants condemned some mass media to continue broadcasting false news about events in Syria with the aim of more shedding of the Syrian blood, reiterating rejection of any foreign interference in Syria's internal affairs.

It says there were also similar gatherings in Lattakia and Jableh (both on Syria's west coast).

5.24pm: There are reports that the Syrian actor Jalal al-Tawil/Taweel has been arrested at the border with Jordan. A TV actor and acting coach, he was one of the first artists to oppose the Assad regime.

The Local Co-ordination Committees say he was ambushed by security forces at the border:

He is being held at the military security branch in Dera'a and was wounded by a bullet to the shoulder. Prior to his arrest, he was threatened with being killed by Jamil Al-Hasan, Brigadier General and director of the Air Force Intelligence branch.

The LCCs posted the picture of a bloodied Tawil (above). Ahram reports that Tawil's wife called in to al-Arabiya "to say that she does not know about his whereabouts and that there are reports of his arrest".

Meanwhile, the LCCs claim that the death toll in Syria today has risen to 24, with half of those killed in Deir Ezzor province, in the east.

4.47pm: More video of use of teargas by Bahraini riot police in Sitra (see 11.41am) has emerged. This clip, allegedly filmed yesterday, shows a police officer casually throwing a teargas cannister into a house, with no sign of any threat present, as he walks away with colleagues.

The use of teargas does not appeared to have deterred protesters in Sitra. Another, video, purportedly filmed today, shows a group of women protesters on the island, south of Manama. They hold a banner that says "Down Hamad", a reference to King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Incidentally, the ministry of interior's explanation for the use of teargas in Sitra on Wednesday was as follows:

Group of vandals involved after the end of condolence of a deceased in Sitra in rioting, vandalism, attacking police with Molotov, continue

After attempting to reach to the main road and being warned for several times, legal procedures were taken

4.15pm: Thousands of people have taken part in demonstrations in Syria's second city Aleppo, which has been largely loyal to the regime.

Video from the city showed protesters waving banners saying, in English, "we want freedom".

Another 24 minute clip shows the scale of the demonstration.

The Enduring America blog claims the size of the protest is "huge news".

It also highlights footage of a large demonstration in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen, where a protest purportedly took place under the noses of the security force.

Enduring American said the video could show Arab League observers in the trees. You can just make oranges flashes after about 30 seconds into the clip. It is a bit of stretch to say these are observers in their orange bibs, but it could explain the restraint of the watching security forces (but not why they apparently fired later).

Arbeen is the location where protesters were filmed purportedly under the gaze of unseen Arab League observers in footage posted earlier. (see 2.44pm)

3.53pm: The three remaining members of the influential April 6 Youth Movement arrested on Tuesday for distributing leaflets calling for a demonstration on 25 January, the first anniversary of the uprising against Mubarak, have been released on bail.

Four were arrested in total but one was released on bail yesterday. The activists were detained while hanging up posters that compared heroic images of soldiers after the 1973 war with Israel with pictures of troops beating women in Cairo during protests last month, according to the April 6 Youth Movement. It said they were beaten by police while in custody and forced to fabricate testimonies. Ahram Online said they reportedly "confessed to participating in all events that rocked the nation since the 25 January [2010] revolution began, including November and December's clashes in Mohamed Mahmoud Street and Qasr El-Aini Street, and the torching of Egypt's Scientific Institute".

But the April 6 movement said charges against the activists of insulting the army and trying to overthrow the ruling order were dropped by the judge. However, charges of distributing flyers without a licence and undermining public security are pending.

Their arrests have been highlighted by human rights groups as further proof of restrictions on freedom of expression imposed by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces.

3.42pm: Martin Chulov has created this link to the full Avaaz report on torture in Syria. (see 3.14pm)

3.14pm: More than 617 people have been killed under torture in Syria, since the crackdown began according to a report by the campaign group Avaaz.

The report quotes one of the victims who survived torture after being arrested in August for possessing a satellite phone and videos of the demonstrations.

"Manhal" said:

They pulled out my fingernails and toenails. They made me stand up for eight days, tying my hands on metal bars above my head. They gave me no water, no food, no toilet, no place to sleep until I confessed to being a terrorist, and they always beat me. I have seen so much death, and I've been tortured nearly to death. They used electricity. They put it on sensitive areas on your body. They poured water on my body and they started beating me, beat beat beat. My skin became blue. My ribs were also broken ... I left many people in the same situation

.

Avaaz produced this Google Map showing the location of detention centres where much of the torture has taken place.

Stephanie Brancaforte, campaign director at Avaaz, said:

A credible Arab League mission would visit these torture chambers and ensure the regime immediately end these atrocities. Enough is enough - it's time for the UN to sanction Bashar al-Assad and his band of torturers and refer them to the international criminal court for crimes against humanity.

2.58pm: After being accused, along with other parties, of campaigning outside polling stations during voting in the Egypt elections, the Freedom of Justice party, or at least one of its members, faces a new allegation - taking part in a vote count.

A FJP representative has been arrested in northern Egypt, Aswat Masriya reports:

The representative was arrested as he sat among civil servants of Mohamed Farid preparatory school station who were counting votes inside Tanta's stadium in Gharbiya governorate.

It says the count in question was halted after complaints from other parties.

2.44pm: Activists claim the death toll in Syria has increased to 19 so far today, including 12 in the eastern province Deir Ezzor.

The Local Coordination Committee in Syria also posted video claiming to show protesters being shot at in the presence of Arab League observers.

But no observers, in their distinctive orange bibs, could be seen in the clip, and the location of the incident is not clear.

2.34pm: "There are no armed gangs, they are all unarmed protesters," Syrian defector Mahmoud Sleiman Hajj Hamad told a news conference, according to an translation by al-Jazeera English.

"We were analysing and seeing for ourselves that the regime's story about armed gangs going out and killing protestors was all lies…I confirm there are no armed gangs, they are all unarmed protesters."

On the contrary, he said that the government has spent about $40mn on loyalist militias to violently crush protests since March.

"While auditing, I found two billion Syrian Lirahs paid out to the regime's paid thugs, and seen an increase in the spending of the intelligence and defense ministries for the purpose of paying thugs.

"We saw them preparing and heading out in their armored vehicles and buses towards the young protestors and killing them. It has been happening since the beginning of the protests."

He also said that most government officials and employees want to defect but are afraid of the consequences.

2.28pm: Ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak "must" face the death penalty, a prosecutor has told the court where he is being tried.

Bringing to an end the prosecution's opening statement, Mustafa Khater said Mubarak's former security chief, Habib el-Adly, and six top police commanders, who are all being tried alongside Mubarak, should also be sentenced to death. Khater said:

"Retribution is the solution. Any fair judge must issue a death sentence for these defendants."

Earlier, chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said Adly had authorised the use of live ammunition on orders from Mubarak.

"He (Mubarak) can never, as the top official, claim that he did not know what was going on. He is responsible for what happened and must bear the legal and political responsibility for what happened. It is irrational and illogical to assume that he did not know that protesters were being targeted."

Addressing Mubarak directly, Suleiman said, "If you had not issued these orders yourself, then where was your outburst of rage over the lives of your people?"

2.22pm: CNN appears to have interviewed Syrian defence ministry official Mahmoud Sleiman Hajj Hamad who announced his defection on al-Jazeera yesterday.

Reporter Arawa Damon says he alleges that genocide is taking place.

#syria min of defense defector calls whats happening genocide, says regime uses vehicles marked w/syrian red crescent 2 shoot at protestors

— Arwa Damon (@arwaCNN) January 5, 2012

1.39pm: The head of the Free Syrian Army, Colonel Riad al-Asaad, has called for the UN to replace Arab League observers.

Speaking to AFP he said:

We hope they [the Arab League] will announce that their mission was a failure and that they will be withdrawn. We call on the Arab League to step aside and let the United Nations take over responsibility as it is more apt to find solutions.

His remarks come after France and the opposition Syrian National Council called for UN involvement in the observer mission.

1.13pm: The BBC has published an online version of that radio interview with Burhan Ghalioun, leader of the opposition Syrian National Council.

In the interview Ghalioun signals a change in the SNC attitude to foreign intervention. On Tuesday the SNC ditched a pact with the internal Syrian opposition that involved rejecting foreign interference.

The BBC reports:

Ghalioun called on western powers to establish a safe area within Syria and a no-fly zone over some of the country's territory. This would not, he said, require bombing on the scale of Libya - he wanted intervention to support the revolution, not replace it.

Ghalioun also called on the Arab League observer mission to either prove itself or leave Syria.

We only agreed to the Arab League monitoring mission because it was going to expose the regime. We were never relying on it to stop the killing.

If they could convey just a tiny shred of what's happening, that's more than enough to condemn the regime, to prove they have been telling lies since the beginning.

He added that he hoped the United Nations might take over or subsume the League's mission, on a day when the league approached the UN for help.

The French have backed the idea of UN involvement in the observer mission to Syria. The Kuwait News Agency quoted a foreign ministry spokesman as saying:

Given the risk of manipulation and dissimulation, all contributions to reinforce the effectiveness of the work of observers in Syria are useful, notably those of the United Nations.

We encourage the Arab League to resort to all means likely to reinforce the mission so that the observers can move with full independence over all Syrian territory and make all necessary contacts with Syrian civil society.

12.45pm: Here's a summary of the main developments so far today:

Syria

• Defence ministry official Mahmoud Sleiman Hajj Hamad has defected to the opposition. He told Al-Jazeera that more officials wanted to split from the Assad regime. 

• Activists claim 10 people have been killed so far today, including up to seven near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor. US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford said the Syrian government was to blame for the increase in violence.

• More video footage has emerged of soldiers announcing their defection a day after members of the Free Syrian Army met Arab League observers in Homs. The group insisted that they aimed to protect civilians.

• The Syrian government has released another 552 political prisoners, as part of its deal with the Arab League, taking the number released since the start of November to almost 4,000. Activists claim the regime is still holding at least 25,000 political detainees.

• The Arab League has turned to the United Nations for help after admitting "mistakes" in its Syria monitoring mission, AFP reports. US assistant secretary of state Jeffrey Feltman is due to hold talks with the Arab League about the future of the mission in Cairo today.
 
• The leader of the opposition Syrian National Council has called on the international community to impose a partial no-fly over Syria to help create a safe zone for defected soldiers and refugees. In an interview with the BBC World Service, Burhan Ghalioun urged the west to examine every option but said the opposition was against a Libya-style all out assault against Syria's air defences. His comments come after the SNC rejected a draft pact with another opposition group which involved a rejection of international interference.

Egypt

• Unofficial counts suggest the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party is once more leading the way in the third and final phase of elections for the lower house of the Egyptian parliament. Many analysts predict that the FJP which won an estimated 47% of the seats up for grabs in the first two rounds could end up with an overall majority at the conclusion of this phase. The FJP said turnout was 50% in the latest round of voting. The official turnout figures for the first and second round were 52% and 67% respectively.

Bahrain

• Footage has emerged of Bahraini police firing large amounts of teargas at apparently peaceful protesters in Sitra. The demonstration on Wednesday was held to protest over the death of a 15-year-old boy, Sayed Hashim Sayed Saeed, who died last week after he was shot in the face with a teargas cannister, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights [BCHR). A 55-year-old woman, Fakhria Jassim AlSakran, died on Monday after inhaling teargas, the BCHR said.

Libya

• The incoming UN Security Council president has called for an investigation into human rights abuses committed during NATO's bombing campaign to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. South Africa's UN ambassador Baso Sangqu, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for January, said he believed Nato overstepped its mandate enforcing a no-fly zone, killing an untold number of innocent civilians.

12.29pm: The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party says turnout in the third and final round of elections to the people's assembly, the lower house of the Egyptian parliament was 50%, although that does not appear to be an official figure.

The figures in the first and second rounds were 52% and 67% respectively.

The FJP also notes "some violations by numerous candidates formerly affiliated with the dismembered NDP [Hosni Mubarak's former National Democratic Party] who ran independently in these elections were recorded".

11.41am: Powerful footage has emerged purportedly of the moment that Bahraini riot police fired teargas at protesters in Sitra on Wednesday. It shows protesters approaching police lines with their arms outstretched to signal their peaceful intent. The police are then showed firing large quantities of the chemical agent.

The demonstration - mentioned in Wednesday's blog - was held to protest over the death of a 15-year-old boy, Sayed Hashim Sayed Saeed, who died last week after he was shot in the face with a teargas cannister, according to the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights [BCHR).

The scenes underline analysts fears that the crackdown has increased in Bahrain since the Kingdom pledged to implement reforms following criticism by an independent inquiry of the way it had handled dissent.

At the demonstration, protesters had earlier unfurled a banner criticising Barack Obama for the appointment of the controversial former Miami police chief John Timoney by the Bahraini government.

Another Bahraini died on Monday as a result of teargas, according to the BCHR. It names the latest victim as 55-year-old Fakhria Jassim AlSakran. It says:

According to testimony taken by BCHR from her son, Fakhria was taken to hospital on 2 Jan 2012 and doctors tried to save her life and said she has shortness of breath before she was announced dead. She had good health and wasn't suffering from illnesses until she inhaled tear-gas on the new year's eve, her health had deteriorated and was taken to the ICU [intensive care unit]. Fakhryia lives in JidAli, an area that is regularly being attacked with excessive amount of tear gas.

The BCHR claims that more than 50 people have been killed at the hands of the security forces since protests against the Bahraini regime began on 14 February last year.

11.26am: Activists claim 10 people have been killed so far today in Syria, including up to seven near the eastern city of Deir Ezzor.

The Local Coordination Committees in Syria said two others died in Homs and another in Idlib.

It named six of the seven people who died after the security forces stormed the town of Ghariba, in Deir Ezzor province.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least four civilians were killed in Ghariba.

Yesterday activists hoisted a large independence flag on a suspension bridge leading to the city of Deir Ezzor.

11.09am: The Muslim Brotherhood has been accused by many Egyptian revolutionaries of planning to carve up p power with the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (Scaf).

The Brotherhood has not refrained from criticism of the military. But activists claim it is too close the generals as evidenced byits willingness to stick to Scaf's timetable for elections and to not join calls for the presidential election to be brought forward.

Such fears were fuel on Tuesday when a spokesman for the Brotherhood suggested it would back a deal allowing military rulers immunity from prosecution in return for a peaceful handover of power.

In the Washington Post, Leila Fadel writes that analysts believe the Brotherhood is just waiting for the new Islamist-dominated parliament to convene before taking on the military in earnest.

The long-term interests of the military leaders and the Brotherhood "do not converge," said Shadi Hamid, an Egypt expert at the Brookings Doha Center.

"The military wants to effectively stay in power behind the scenes. That certainly is not what the Brotherhood wants."

In the bloody run-up to the elections, which began in November, the Brotherhood faced a storm of criticism from more centrist and liberal revolutionary parties, which alleged that the group was too close to the ruling generals. The Brotherhood's non-Islamist rivals have accused it of turning a blind eye to Mubarak-style human rights abuses at the hands of the military rulers and betraying the cause of the revolution for seats of power ...

But that reluctance to challenge the military rulers will change, analysts said, noting that the convergence of interest between the Brotherhood and the generals is only short-term.

Analysts say the Brotherhood is waiting to be part of a strong elected body, which the group sees as the only legitimate tool to push the generals out of power and to guarantee its own.

"They are purely political animals," said Marc Lynch, a Middle East expert at George Washington University. "They think that the only way to unseat the [generals] is to create an alternative institution, a strong parliament with electoral legitimacy."

Fadel also notes that Mohamed Beltagy, a leading member of the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party has said that Egypt's, peace treaty with Israel will be respected, at least during the transitional period.

But, he added, "the parliament has the right to revise whatever happened without the public's consent." A report in Haaretz on Monday
quoted Rashad Bayoumi, the deputy head of the Brotherhood, as saying it "will not recognise Israel under any circumstances" and that a referendum would be held on the future of the accords.

10.41am: It will come as no great surprise that the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice party is leading in the third and final round of elections for Egypt's lower house of parliament, according to al-Masry al-Youm.

The report is based on unofficial counts and only has details from a few of the 150 seats up for grabs but already suggests that the results are mirroring those in previous rounds.

In a pattern also reminiscent of the first two phases, the Salafist al-Nour party appears to be in second place. There were 100 party-list seats (where people vote for a party rather than an individual) and 50 individual seats up for grab in the third phase. Where no candidate obtained 50% or more of the vote, run-offs will be held on 10 and 11 January.

After the first two phases, the FJP had won an estimated 47% of the seats voted on, while al-Nour had won an estimated 24%.

Meanwhile, the FJP has sought to reassure critics that it will not use its position of power in the new parliament (some anticipate it will have an outright majority after completion of the third phase) to dominate drafting of the new constitution.

Chairman Mohamed Morsi said:

No party will be marginalised when the constitution is drafted. The constitution is for all of Egypt and not just the FJP and it will be chartered by individuals and intellectuals from different parties. All citizens regardless of their ideological and political principles will be represented.

10.20am: The US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford has denied that his government is encouraging violence in Syria.

In his latest Facebook posting Ford (pictured) suggested that the Syrian government was to blame for the increasing bloodshed.

The question is what started all this violence and how to stop it? Can the Syrian government oppress a large part of the population that demands dignity and respect of basic human rights or is its violence making things even worse?

He said it was "not true" that the US was helping extremists or encouraging violence.

Ford added:

What concerns me the most about Syria right now is that one side refuses to recognise the legitimate grievances of the other side and by calling all peaceful protesters "terrorists" or "gangs" it makes finding a solution even harder.

On Wednesday foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi accused the US of
"inflaming and instigating violence" in Syria.

9.43am: Syrian dissident and blogger Ammar Abdulhamid has more news of defections in his daily round up on the Syrian uprising.

Mahmoud Sleiman Hajj Hamad, the defence ministry official who defected on Wednesday, told al-Jazeera that more officials also wanted to split from the regime, according Abdulhamid.

He said that the Assad regime has so far spent over $35m to support the activities of his loyalist militias. He also said that most Syrian officials are under tight watch making it difficult for them to defect, but, he asserted, most of them want to defect.

Abdulhamid also highlights two video clips, here and here, or army officers declaring their defection at a rallies in Homs.

9.31am: The Syrian government has released another 552 political prisoners, taking the number released since the start of November to almost 4,000, according to the state news agency Sana.

The figures give an indication of the scale of the arrests since the uprising began. Activists said Syria was still holding at least 25,000 political detainees, according to AP.

Sana said those released were "not involved in terrorist bloody acts of killings and explosions against the Syrians".

Syria agreed to release political prisoners as part of a deal with the Arab League to end its crackdown against dissent.

9.18am: Soldiers who defected to the opposition after army checkpoints were overrun by armed militia in Idlib on Monday have appeared in video footage uploaded by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The defection video shows around 15 troops, some of whom appear to be teenagers, announcing their allegiance to the opposition and displaying their identity cards.

The Observatory said more than 20 members of the regular army defected after the operation. The raids were seen as a sign that the Assad regime has failed to snuff out armed resistance in Idlib's Jabal al-Zawiya mountains despite reports last month of a massacre of more than a hundred people in the area.

9.06am: Qatar's prime minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani has admitted that the Arab League mission to Syria has made "mistakes," according to AFP.

On a visit to the United Nations Jassem (pictured with head of the league Nabil Alaraby) said:

We are coming here for technical help and to see the experience the UN has, because this is the first time the Arab League is involved in sending monitors, and there are some mistakes.

8.30am: Welcome to Middle East Live. There is lots to catch up on in Syria, so here's a round up of the latest developments:

Syria

• Defectors from the Free Syrian Army have met Arab League monitors in Homs, according to new video footage.

The meeting was hosted by local activist Khalid Abou Salah (in the striped blue jumper) who has appeared regularly in videos showing the observers around Homs. Activists claim the defectors insisted that they aim to protect civilians.

• A senior figure has defected from the Assad regime, Now Lebanon reports, citing al-Jazeera's Arabic channel. Mahmoud Sleiman Hajj Hamad, head inspector at the Syrian Defense Ministry and first inspector at the Monetary Center of the Interior Ministry, told Al-Jazeera television that he split from the regime.

• The leader of the opposition Syrian National Council has called on the international community to impose a partial no-fly over Syria to help create a safe zone for defected soldiers and refugees. In an interview with the BBC World Service (not yet available online) Burhan Ghalioun urged the west to examine every option but said the opposition was against a Libya-style all out assault against Syria's air defences. His comments come after the SNC rejected a draft pact with another opposition group which involved a rejection of international interference.

• Members of the Syrian National Council tried to unseat Ghalioun over the proposed pact with the National Coordination Body for Democratic Change, according to Syria watcher Joshua Landis. "Much of the criticism came from opposition members who reject that declarations renunciation of foreign intervention," Landis writes.

• Twenty more Arab League observers are due to arrive in Syria. The reinforcements are made up of 12 Iraqis, two Tunisians, and six Bahrainis.

• The presence of Arab League observer is creating effective safety zones for protesters, according to the Syrian blogger 7ee6an, in some rare support for the league's mission. The post says: 
 

As long as the observers are in Syria, the regime has no hope whatsoever of subduing the main hotspots. A de facto safe haven is therefore in the making, where defectors can seek shelter, safe from the regime's retribution.

Apparently, someone at the AL has thought things through more thoroughly than junior's conspiracy obsessed advisers have.

[Nabil] Alaraby [head of the league] wants desperately to show that the observer team is producing results. On the surface, his talk of the army completely withdrawing from cities might have seemed strange. But when you think about it, that's all the encouragement a defector-to-be-needs; when he knows that there are areas where his pursuers cannot go to chase him.

 
• The Syrian opposition and the Free Syrian Army can do little to control the increasing militarisation of the uprising, according to leading analyst Peter Harling from the International Crisis Group. Speaking to Reuters he said: 

I don't think the Syrian National Council has much leverage over the Free Syrian Army, and I don't think the Free Syrian Army has much leverage itself over what is happening on the ground. People see a source of legitimacy in this (FSA) label, but what you have is groups emerging on a very local level, mostly composed of civilians, joined by defectors. But it's local dynamics rather than national.

Egypt

• The prosecution in the trial of Hosni Mubarak says Egypt's ousted president, along with his security chief and six top police officers, were the "actual instigators" of the killing of more than 800 protesters during last year's uprising that brought down his regime. Chief prosecutor Mustafa Suleiman said the defendants clearly authorised the use of live ammunition and a shoot-to-kill policy against peaceful protesters.

Libya

• The incoming UN Security Council president has called for an investigation into human rights abuses committed during NATO's bombing campaign to oust Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. South Africa's UN ambassador Baso Sangqu, who holds the rotating Security Council presidency for January, said he believed Nato overstepped its mandate enforcing a no-fly zone, killing an untold number of innocent civilians.

Iran

• European governments have agreed in principle to impose a ban on imports of oil from Iran in a significant escalation in the international pressure on Tehran. On Wednesday night a European diplomat said there was now a consensus that the ban on crude imports would be applied, but that there was still debate on the timing and duration of the measures.

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