The EU has banned Iranian oil imports as China & Russia step in to pick up the slack.
15 more Syrians were killed in today's violence as Syria's Bashir Assad has rejected calls for him to step down by fellow Arab leades.
Libyan Rebels killed 4 Libyan Rebel Government troops in Benghazi, as the Civil War there appears to be re-kindling.
Egyptian parliamentarians began their disputes during oathes of allegiance to a non-existant Constitution, on their first day at work. Islamists, which grossly outnumber all others, want to include allegiance to Sharia.
The soon to be ex-President of Yemen has departed for medical treatment in the US, with a layover in Oman.
The USS Abraham Lincoln has returned to the Persian Gulf, a few days after Iran backed down from vague threats if a US Aircraft Carrier did so.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet says the USS Abraham Lincoln entered the Gulf Sunday without incident for what she calls a regular and routine passage.
When the United States redeployed a carrier from the Gulf last month, Iran warned the Pentagon against sending another ship to the region. It did not specify what it would do, but Iranian officials backed down from their threat Saturday, calling the routine appearance of a U.S. carrier a normal event.
Tensions have grown between Iran and the United States in recent weeks. Washington is preparing new sanctions against Iran as evidence mounts that it may be trying to build nuclear weapons. The European Union also is planning an Iranian oil embargo.
Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful. It has threatened to respond to more sanctions by shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, a major oil shipping lane.
The United States has said it will not let that happen.
Outgoing Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh is heading to the United States for medical treatment after asking his people to forgive him for any “shortcomings” during his 33-year rule.
Mr. Saleh departed the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, Sunday on a jet for the Persian Gulf sultanate of Oman, where he is expected to stay for a short time before traveling on to New York.
A U.S. State Department release Sunday noted that Mr. Saleh's request to travel to the United States had been approved for the sole purpose of medical treatment, and that his stay will be for a limited time.
In a televised farewell speech just hours before he left, the Yemeni leader asked his people to forgive him for mistakes made during his autocratic rule. He also vowed to return to Yemen and continue leading his ruling party.
Mr. Saleh was severely wounded in a bomb attack on his presidential compound last June and spent several months recuperating in Saudi Arabia. He has spoken previously of a desire to seek further treatment in the United States.
Yemeni opposition activists have staged a year of mass protests demanding his immediate ouster, inspired by popular uprisings in other parts of the region.
Thousands of Yemenis rallied in Sana'a on Sunday, calling for Mr. Saleh to be put on trial for a violent crackdown in which hundreds of people have been killed.
The anti-Saleh protesters reject granting Mr. Saleh full immunity from prosecution. Yemen's parliament approved the immunity Saturday as part of a Gulf Cooperation Council-backed deal to encourage the president to leave office. Mr. Saleh signed the plan last November and agreed to transfer presidential powers to his deputy ahead of February elections that will pick his successor.
Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is the consensus candidate of Yemen's ruling party and parliamentary opposition for that election.
In Mr. Saleh's meeting with party officials, Yemeni state media said he declared Hadi responsible for the country and promoted the vice president to the military rank of field marshal.
Egypt's newly-elected lower house of parliament has held its first meeting since a popular uprising ousted autocratic president Hosni Mubarak a year ago, with Islamist lawmakers dominating the assembly.
The chamber's oldest member, Mahmoud el-Saqqah, chaired Monday's inaugural session, which began with a moment of silence for the hundreds of people killed in anti-government protests over the past year. Egyptian lawmakers then took turns reading an oath of office pledging to respect the constitution and the law.
Several members tried to modify the wording, with one Islamist member vowing allegiance to God's law and several liberals pledging to continue the reformist-led anti-Mubarak revolution. The improvised changes angered Saqqah, a liberal, who ordered the offending lawmakers to repeat the original oath.
The Islamist Freedom and Justice Party of Egypt's once-banned Muslim Brotherhood movement won almost half of the assembly's 498 elected seats in several rounds of voting that began in November and ended earlier this month.
Another Islamist group, the ultra Islamist Al-Nur Party, came second in the elections, winning about one-quarter of the seats.
The Muslim Brotherhood-backed nominee for speaker, Saad Katatni, was elected to the post late Monday with 399 votes.
Liberal factions finished a distant third and fourth in the parliamentary elections. Ten members of the assembly were appointed by the military council that has led Egypt since Mr. Mubarak resigned in February. Phased elections for parliament's less powerful upper house, the Shura Council, are set to begin later this month.
The main task of the two chambers will be to choose a 100-member panel to draft a new constitution that Egypt's military rulers have promised to put to a referendum. The military council also has pledged to hold a presidential election by June and hand over power to the winner.
The Muslim Brotherhood was officially banned during Mr. Mubarak's three-decade autocratic rule.
But Brotherhood activists competed in Mubarak-era elections as independents and built a popular network of social services for the poor, helping the movement to become Egypt's best organized political force. It had been widely expected to dominate the first free elections of the post-revolution period.
Heavy fighting broke out Monday in the Libyan town of Bani Walid, as supporters of ousted leader Moammar Gadhafi attempted to capture the city, killing at least four fighters loyal to the country's new government.
Residents said both sides fought with rocket-propelled grenades and anti-tank weapons. The clashes are said to have begun when Gadhafi loyalists angry about the arrest of some of their men attacked revolutionary fighters in the town.
Libyan media quoted Bani Walid's local council spokesman, Mahmoud al-Warfali, as saying pro-Gadhafi units took control of most of Bani Walid and that the green flag, the banner of the former government, could be seen flying in the streets.
Senior Libyan officials confirmed reports of battles in the city, 140 kilometers southeast of the capital, Tripoli, but they said the fighting may have resulted from “internal problems.” A revolutionary commander said dozens of reinforcements were sent to Bani Walid to help secure the town.
The outbreak of violence prompted pro-government militias in Tripoli, Misrata and Benghazi to declare a high alert and to secure entrance points to those cities.
Bani Walid – base of the powerful Warfallah tribe – was one of the last towns in Libya to surrender to last year's anti-Gadhafi revolt. Many people there oppose the country's new leadership.
Local tribal elders eventually agreed to let National Transitional Council fighters enter the town, but relations even after the war have been uneasy. In November, about 15 NTC soldiers were killed in an ambush by Gadhafi loyalists just outside the city.
Libya's new rulers are struggling to unify a deeply fractured country after eight months of civil war and more than 40 years of Gadhafi's authoritarian rule.
On Sunday, deputy NTC head Abdel Hafiz Ghoga stepped down, one day after anti-government protesters stormed the ruling body's offices in Benghazi.
Ghoga, one of the Council's highest-profile members, announced his resignation as thousands of university students demonstrated against him in Benghazi, where last week he was manhandled and had to be pulled to safety. The protesters denounced Ghoga's presence in the NTC, calling him and other former loyalists “opportunists.” Ghoga was a belated defector to the Libyan rebels from the Gadhafi government.
Benghazi residents also have accused the NTC of corruption, not moving fast enough on reform, and favoring former loyalists at the expense of wounded rebels who helped overthrow Gadhafi last year.
The European Union has banned new purchases of Iranian oil and frozen the assets of Iran's central bank as part of a Western campaign to pressure Tehran to suspend controversial parts of its nuclear program.
EU foreign ministers agreed to the new sanctions Monday in Brussels. Their decision allows member nations with existing contracts for Iranian oil to honor those purchases until July 1. The grace period is meant to help major buyers such as Greece, Spain and Italy find alternative sources of supply before the full ban takes effect.
Western powers accuse Iran of trying to develop nuclear weapons under cover of a civilian energy program, a charge Tehran denies.
The leaders of France, Germany and Britain urged Iran's leaders “immediately to suspend its sensitive nuclear activities,” saying they will “not accept Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon.” In Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama said the new sanctions demonstrate once more the international community's resolve to address “the serious threat presented by Iran's nuclear program.”
Tehran furiously denounced the decision. Senior lawmakers repeated threats to close the Strait of Hormuz, a vital pathway for global oil supplies. The deputy head of parliament's national security committee said any disruption to Iranian oil exports “definitely” will lead to the Strait's closure.
Last week, British Prime Minister David Cameron joined the U.S. in warning Iran against closing the waterway, situated at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The American aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, along with British and French warships, entered the Gulf without incident on Sunday.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast called the EU economic sanctions “illogical and unfair.” He said the world's long-term need for energy means it is “not possible to impose sanctions on Iran,” with its huge resources of oil and gas.
Another lawmaker predicted the embargo will have “no impact” on the Iranian economy because Iran will find other customers for its oil. Iran is heavily reliant on revenue from oil exports. The EU has been the second largest market for Iranian oil after China.
The 27-nation European bloc and the United States have been tightening unilateral measures on Iran in recent weeks in response to Iranian moves to accelerate uranium enrichment.
The U.S. imposed sanctions Monday on Iran's third largest bank, making it harder for Tehran to access the world's financial system. The U.S. Treasury Department said Iran's Bank Tejarat is accused of aiding the country's nuclear weapons program, including moving tens of millions of dollars to help a state-run agency acquire uranium.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov criticized the EU embargo Monday, saying unilateral sanctions will not help revive negotiations between Iran and six world powers on the Iranian nuclear program. Those talks have been on hold for a year, but Lavrov said he is hopeful they will resume soon.
Russia and China supported several rounds of U.N. Security Council sanctions on Iran, but they oppose further measures, saying all parties should focus on negotiations. Moscow and Beijing both have close economic ties to Tehran.
Syria has rejected a new Arab League initiative for President Bashar al-Assad to step down and allow the formation of a national unity government.
The plan agreed to by Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo Sunday requires Mr. Assad to transfer power to a deputy and allow the formation of a unity government with the opposition within two months. The country's new leaders would be responsible for organizing parliamentary and presidential elections under Arab and international supervision.
Syrian state media denounced the plan Monday as a “flagrant” violation of Syrian sovereignty. Qatar said the Arab League will ask the United Nations Security Council to support the initiative.
European envoys at the United Nations swiftly hailed the plan. Germany's U.N. ambassador welcomed it as a potential “game changer.”
The Security Council has been blocked for months over Syria, with Russia and China maintaining that any moves in the U.N. body against Mr. Assad would be the first steps toward regime change by force, as happened in Libya last year.
Also Monday, EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels approved additional sanctions on Syria, imposing travel bans and asset freezes on another 22 people and eight companies linked to the Assad government.
The Syrian uprising against Mr. Assad's 11-year autocratic rule has become increasingly militarized in recent weeks. In the latest unrest Monday, Syrian rights activists say army defectors killed five pro-Assad troops in a battle in the central province of Homs. They say government security forces also killed at least 10 civilians in operations against centers of protest around Syria.
Activists also say at least 60,000 people gathered in the protest hub of Douma, near Damascus, for the funerals of 11 people killed by pro-Assad forces in recent days. It was not possible to independently verify details of the funeral procession or the casualties because Syria severely restricts independent media coverage in the country.
In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the top US diplomat for the Middle East would press Moscow on a reported $550 million deal to sell Syria 36 advanced Yak-130 light attack fighter jets. She said Jeffrey Feltman was in the Russian capital Monday and that Syria was “issue number one on his agenda.”
The advanced training aircraft could be used for attacks on ground targets and to train pilots on Syria's more advanced fleet of Mig-29 fighters, which it ordered from Russia in 2007. Moscow is one of Mr. Assad's few remaining allies, and Syria is its top arms customer.
The respected Russian business daily Kommersant first reported the deal.
Meanwhile, the Arab League mission's Sudanese chief, General Mohamed Ahmed Mustafa al-Dabi, said violence in Syria declined after league monitors began work on December 26. Speaking Monday to reporters in Cairo, al-Dabi said the observers' job is not to stop the unrest, but to monitor it.
The United Nations says violence linked to the uprising has killed more than 5,400 people. Syria says terrorists have killed about 2,000 security force members since the unrest began.
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