Today's 4...Anniversaries, beheadings, bloggers & Al-Qaeda

Al Jazeera reported on the heavy police presence in Bahrain following an outbreak of protests in Manama and its outlying villages on the one year anniversary of the pro-democracy protests that have rumbled on in the small island kingdom since. To some extent, the current surge in protests can be attributed to the anniversary, but mostly the recurring demonstrations reiterate the sense of frustration towards the ruling regime which prevails throughout the country

RTT news news reported that a Syrian man and a Saudi man have been beheaded for drug trafficking, bringing the total number of beheadings in the Kingdom this year to 8. It is a sombre reminder of the scale of conservatism in the ultra-strict kingdom.

Gulf News reported that the ccontroversial Omani blogger Muawiyah Al Rawahi has been released after 10 days in custody. Interestingly, Al Rawahi denied being captured by security forces and claimed he went to them of his own accord. He will not give out any further information. This sounds a little suspect to me. I suspect that ahead of his release he was heavily primed on what he could and couldn't say.

And finally...

Boston.com reported that Yemeni troops have killed 12 al-Qaeda militants in Zinjibar, South Yemen. 2 Yemeni soldiers also died in the attack. The action signifies a mini-victory for Yemen in re-gaining control of Zinjibar but also highlights the scale to which al-Qaeda militants are embedded throughout the country.