11 July 2011 — williambowles.info

Syria Draws Vocal Critics at Talks
Wall Street Journal
Syria’s government on Sunday opened a first meeting for talks with the opposition as most opposition figures boycotted the event and some of those attending unleashed criticisms of the regime unusual in a government-sponsored setting. …
http://india.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304584404576437901903136370.html

Syria’s cyber war against dissidents
Ninemsn
The Beirut-based 28-year-old, who goes by the pseudonym Malath Aumran, is part of a growing army of cyber dissidents tapping into social networks to cover events in Syria. Rights groups say that security forces have killed more than 1300 civilians and …
http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8271489

Iraqis who fled to Syria for safety now returning
AFP
BAGHDAD — When his six-year-old son was killed in a 2006 Baghdad gun battle, Seif Rashid decided to flee with his family to Syria, but the deadly unrest there forced him to return to Iraq last month. “When I saw the lifeless body of my little Abdel …
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jxtWz6VgPyVP1WLSTQslSxcSIoHQ?docId=CNG.4a1063b353feeb83042fbb1fa0c71853.3a1

Syria, Egypt and Middle East unrest – live updates
The Guardian
The Syrian vice-president Farouk al-Sharaa, centre, at the national dialogue meeting in Damascus which he claimed could lead to ‘the transformation of Syria into a pluralistic, democratic state’. Photograph: Louai Beshara/AFP/Getty Images 9.31am: …
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/middle-east-live/2011/jul/11/syria-egypt-middle-east-unrest-live

Gulfsands Petroleum announces high quality oil from wells in Syria
Proactive Investors UK
The firm also updated investors today on two further exploration wells on its operations in north east Syria: The Yousefieh East exploration well (“Yous-8”) will target an untested structure in Cretaceous age carbonates around 3 kilometres to the east …
http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/news/30473/gulfsands-petroleum-announces-high-quality-oil-from-wells-in-syria-30473.html

Wildfire ignited gunpowder on board ship seized en route to iran/syria in 2009
Daily Mail
Containers of gunpowder had been confiscated by the Cypriot authorities in 2009 from a ship sailing off its coast are thought to have ignited. The ship, the Cypriot-flagged Monchegorak, had been suspected of heading from Iran to Syria, with gunpowder …
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2013417/Deadly-explosion-naval-base-Cyprus.html

Syria, Libya figure in Davutoglu’s Riyadh talks
Arab News
(Reuters) By GHAZANFAR ALI KHAN | ARAB NEWS RIYADH: Regional developments including the political unrest in Syria, which shares an 850-km border with Turkey, topped the agenda of talks Sunday in Jeddah between Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and …
http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article469775.ece

Syria Begins National Talks On Political Crisis
NPR
Opposition to the meeting comes from street protesters and from Syria’s traditional opposition figures. They are boycotting the meeting. Guest host Linda Wertheimer gets an update on the talks from NPR’s Deborah Amos. LINDA WERTHEIMER, host: This is …
http://www.npr.org/2011/07/10/137742808/syria-begins-national-talks-on-political-crisis

Syria: Bloggers Rally for Anas Maarawi
Wall Street Journal
Anas is a well known blogger in Syria and beyond. Apart from his personal blog, Anas Online, he ran a number of tech-blogs and projects, most prominently, Ardroid, which was the first Arabic-language blog to focus on Google’s Android OS. …
http://online.wsj.com/community/groups/censorship-america-1369/topics/syria-bloggers-rally-anas-maarawi

US investigates Syrian diplomats for spying on protesters
Washington Times
Hamdi Rifai, director of Arab Americans for Democracy in Syria, said he filed a complaint with the State Department in June about reports of the ambassador’s attempted intimidation and surveillance of Syrian-Americans. “I was told they were actively …
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/10/us-investigates-syrian-diplomats-for-spying-on-pro/

Syria is main line of resistance against extremism – Syrian Deputy …
By RT
It is months since an uprising began in Syria against the Assad regime with hundreds of civilians allegedly killed. Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad told RT it is the extremists and not peaceful protesters that are behind the …
http://rt.com/news/syria-extremism-miqdad-russia/

Blogger Anas Maarawi detained in Syria – TNW Middle East
By Nancy Messieh
Well known blogger and web developer Anas Maarawi was detained in Damascus, Syria and has not been heard from in over a week.
http://thenextweb.com/me/2011/07/10/blogger-anas-maarawi-latest-online-activist-to-be-arrested-in-syria/

Syria Comment » Archives » Syria Closes in on Four Months of …
By Joshua
….the turmoil that has engulfed Syria possesses a geographic and demographic profile opposite to that of Egypt – it was the urban middle class who turned out to reject the abuses of the Mubarak regime. Coptic priests said Mass in …
http://www.joshualandis.com/blog/?p=10649