Bashar al-Assad always said Syria would be different.

When the Arab uprisings first erupted more than a year ago, the Syrian president confidently said his government was in tune with its people, ready to reform on its own terms, and immune from the turmoil starting to sweep the region.

Within weeks he was proved wrong, when a few dozen protesters took to the streets of Damascus on March 15 to call for greater freedoms, setting off one of the most protracted and bloodiest of all the Arab revolts.

But while those uprisings toppled four Arab leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, the 46-year-old Assad has withstood the year-long turmoil, deploying tanks, elite troops and artillery to crush rebellion across the country.

Read more: One year on, Syria’s Assad won’t bow to uprising

“I did feel that Syria was so important, and that story wouldn’t be told otherwise, that it was worth taking risks for.” Read more: New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid dies at 43
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“I did feel that Syria was so important, and that story wouldn’t be told otherwise, that it was worth taking risks for.”

Read more: New York Times journalist Anthony Shadid dies at 43

Source: producermatthew

The White House announced plans on Monday to help “Arab Spring” countries swept by revolutions with more than $800 million in economic aid, while maintaining U.S. military aid to Egypt. In his annual budget message to Congress, President Barack Obama asked that military aid to Egypt be kept at the level of recent years — $1.3 billion — despite a crisis triggered by an Egyptian probe targeting American democracy activists. Obama proposed $51.6 billion in funding for the U.S. State Department and foreign aid overall, when $8.2 billion in assistance to war zones is included. The “core budget” for the category would increase by 1.6 percent, officials said. Most of the economic aid for the Arab Spring countries — $770 million — would go to establish a new “Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund,” the president said in his budget plan. Read more: Obama proposes $800 million in aid for ‘Arab Spring’
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The White House announced plans on Monday to help “Arab Spring” countries swept by revolutions with more than $800 million in economic aid, while maintaining U.S. military aid to Egypt.

In his annual budget message to Congress, President Barack Obama asked that military aid to Egypt be kept at the level of recent years — $1.3 billion — despite a crisis triggered by an Egyptian probe targeting American democracy activists.

Obama proposed $51.6 billion in funding for the U.S. State Department and foreign aid overall, when $8.2 billion in assistance to war zones is included. The “core budget” for the category would increase by 1.6 percent, officials said.

Most of the economic aid for the Arab Spring countries — $770 million — would go to establish a new “Middle East and North Africa Incentive Fund,” the president said in his budget plan.

Read more: Obama proposes $800 million in aid for ‘Arab Spring’

Damage is seen outside a military security building, one of two sites of bomb blasts in Syria’s northern city of Aleppo February 10, 2012, in this handout photograph released by Syria’s national news agency SANA. [REUTERS/Handout]

See more photos from Aleppo | Read the latest on Syria

A demonstrator takes part in a protest demanding the army hand power to civilians, in front of the state television building in Cairo January 30, 2012. [REUTERS/Suhaib Salem] Read more: U.S. Embassy shelters Americans amid Egypt NGO crackdown
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A demonstrator takes part in a protest demanding the army hand power to civilians, in front of the state television building in Cairo January 30, 2012. [REUTERS/Suhaib Salem]

Read more: U.S. Embassy shelters Americans amid Egypt NGO crackdown

At least 384 children have been killed during Syria’s 10-month uprising and virtually the same number have been jailed, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday. “As of January 7, 384 children have been killed, most are boys. Some 380 children have been detained, some less than 14 years old,” Rima Salah, acting UNICEF deputy executive director, told reporters in Geneva. Read more: UNICEF says 384 children killed so far in Syria
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At least 384 children have been killed during Syria’s 10-month uprising and virtually the same number have been jailed, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said on Friday.

“As of January 7, 384 children have been killed, most are boys. Some 380 children have been detained, some less than 14 years old,” Rima Salah, acting UNICEF deputy executive director, told reporters in Geneva.

Read more: UNICEF says 384 children killed so far in Syria

We’ve seen the Arab Spring. Maybe this is the Hollywood Spring.

Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales, speaking on a panel about the Stop Online Piracy Act at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Thursday. 

Read more comments from the SOPA forum on Storify

A boy holds an Egyptian flag during a protest marking the first anniversary of Egypt’s uprising at Tahrir square during in Cairo January 25, 2012. [REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany] Read: Rift on show a year after Egypt’s uprising
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A boy holds an Egyptian flag during a protest marking the first anniversary of Egypt’s uprising at Tahrir square during in Cairo January 25, 2012. [REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El-Ghany]

Read: Rift on show a year after Egypt’s uprising

Wael Ghonim doesn’t like being called an activist. The 31-year-old Google employee says he’s no different than other Egyptians who took part in the 2011 protests spurred by a Facebook page he created that forced then-president Hosni Mubarak to step down. Read: “How one Egyptian sold a revolution on the Web”
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Wael Ghonim doesn’t like being called an activist. The 31-year-old Google employee says he’s no different than other Egyptians who took part in the 2011 protests spurred by a Facebook page he created that forced then-president Hosni Mubarak to step down.

Read: “How one Egyptian sold a revolution on the Web”

Source: reuters.com

Tunisians feel pride, despair on revolt anniversary Tarak Amara for Reuters - As a symbol of how far Tunisia still has to go to fulfill the promise of the first Arab Spring revolution, Ammar Gharsallah’s death this week could hardly have been more poignant.  The 40-year-old father of three, despairing at his poverty, died after immolating himself with petrol, echoing the act of the Tunisian vegetable vendor who one year ago set off a wave of revolt that has not yet abated. Tunisia will on Saturday hold celebrations in the capital to mark one year from the day when protests forced autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, and gave birth to the “Arab Spring” uprising
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Tunisians feel pride, despair on revolt anniversary

Tarak Amara for Reuters - As a symbol of how far Tunisia still has to go to fulfill the promise of the first Arab Spring revolution, Ammar Gharsallah’s death this week could hardly have been more poignant. 

The 40-year-old father of three, despairing at his poverty, died after immolating himself with petrol, echoing the act of the Tunisian vegetable vendor who one year ago set off a wave of revolt that has not yet abated.

Tunisia will on Saturday hold celebrations in the capital to mark one year from the day when protests forced autocratic leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali to flee the country, and gave birth to the “Arab Spring” uprising