(all times GMT) Welcome to Middle East Live. The Arab League's monitoring mission to Syria is coming under increasing pressure: the UN says killings have increased since the arrival of monitors; protesters have been repeatedly shot during observer visits, monitors themselves have been attacked; and a observer has resigned claiming the mission is a farce.

Here's a round up in more detail:

Syria

• A senior UN official said 400 people been have killed in Syria since the Arab League monitors arrived in an escalation of the crackdown against protesters. The figures, revealed in a closed session of the security council, were seized on by the US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, who chided Syria's ally Russia for its failure to produce a promise draft resolution on the crisis. "Unfortunately after a bit of a show last month of tabling a resolution, the Russians inexplicably have been more or less Awol in terms of leading negotiations on the text of that resolution," Rice said.

• Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi has denounced attacks on Arab observers in Latakia and Deir Ezzor and said he was holding the government in Damascus responsible for their mission. He said: "The Arab League denounces the irresponsible action and acts of violence against the league's observers. It considers the Syrian government totally responsible for the protection of the members of the observer mission."

• Arab League observer Anwar Malek has resigned because he said the monitoring mission was a farce. He told al-Jazeera that Syria is failing to implement any of the League's proposals and engaging in fabrication and deception.

• Syria's embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, yesterday blamed "foreign conspiracies" supported by Arab states for the crisis in his country and promised to crack down on terrorism with "an iron fist". In a defiant speech at Damascus university he said: "We cannot relent in the battle against terrorism. We strike with an iron fist against terrorists who have been brainwashed."

• The US led international condemnation of the speech claiming it confirmed that Assad "needs to go". State department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said:

Assad manages to blame a foreign conspiracy that's so vast with regard to the situation in Syria that it now includes the Arab League, most of the Syrian opposition, the entire international community. He throws responsibility on everybody but back on himself.



French foreign minister Alain Juppe accused Assad of inciting violence in the country, AFP reports

• Assad has proved himself spectacularly ill-suited to the presidency, Simon Tisdall argues. He said Assad now has three options: flight, fight or negotiation.

• Syria's state news agency has published a full text of the speech.

A Wordle version of the text shows how much of the address was devoted to the Arab League and Arabism, and Assad's emphasis on the importance of the Syrian state.

• Former US president Jimmy Carter dismissed concerns about the success of Islamist parties in Egypt's first elections since the fall of President Hosni Mubarak, because it represents the will of the Egyptian people. His Carter Centre has sent 40 observers to monitor Egypt's staggered parliamentary elections since voting started in late November, the freest and fairest in decades. Carter said his organisation was "very pleased" with the conduct of the elections so far.

• Several thousand people held a protest on Tuesday outside the United Nations' offices in Bahrain's capital, Manama, the BBC reports. The demonstrators chanted "Down, Down, Khalifa" - a reference to long-serving Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman al-Khalifa, activists said. They also carried banners urging the UN to "intervene to protect civilians".

• The international criminal court granted Libyan authorities more time to answer its questions about Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, who is wanted by the court but is being held by Libyan fighters. Libya's new rulers said they need three more weeks to respond to questions about Saif "due to the security situation".

• Iran's interior ministry has blocked at least 33 MPs from running in parliamentary elections in March, adding to calls for a countrywide boycott. At least 33 Iranian MPs were told on Tuesday that their candidacies had not been approved even though they currently serve in the parliament, local news agencies reported. Many reformist MPs and even some conservatives are among those barred from running in the March vote.

An Iranian university professor working at a key nuclear facility has been killed in a bomb explosion, the latest in a series of assassinations and attempted killings linked by the country's authorities to a secret war by Israel and the US to stop the development of what Tehran insists would be a peaceful nuclear capability.

Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, a chemistry expert and a director of the Natanz uranium enrichment plant in central Iran, was killed after two assailants on a motorcycle attached magnetic bombs to his car, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Turkey and Cyprus have intercepted separate arms shipments to Syria.



Turkey's Zaman newspaper reported:

Turkish customs officials intercepted four trucks on Tuesday suspected of carrying military equipment from Iran to Syria, a Turkish provincial governor has said. The governor of Kilis province said the trucks were confiscated at the Oncupinar border crossing into Syria after police received information about their cargo.

The Cyprus Mail reported:



Authorities have intercepted a cargo of ammunition bound for Syria for checks, reports said today. A vessel carrying the cargo stopped for refuelling at the port of Limassol where the cargo was intercepted, Politis newspaper reported. The ship was carrying 60 tonnes of ammunition and had been sailing to the port of Latakia in Syria from St Petersburg in Russia, the newspaper said.

The Arab League monitoring mission appears to be falling apart, according to al-Jazeera. It has this translated version of an interview with former Algerian monitor, Anwar Malek - still in his orange vest.

"The mission was a farce and the observers have been fooled. What I saw is a humanitarian disaster," he told the broadcaster. Malek said he saw snipers on the roofs of building under the command of army officers, and claimed the security forces attacked areas as soon as monitors left.

Horrific accounts and videos have emerged of Tuesday's violence in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor during an Arab League monitoring visit to the city.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 15 people were killed in the city of Deir Ezzor when the Syrian security forces opened fire on protesters.

Graphic video highlighted by US-based blogger Ammar Abdulhamid showed the moment when a young man was shot while trying to film the shooting on his mobile phone.

Another clip shows the moment when two protesters were shot in a back street [warning: disturbing content].

The immunity deal for Yemen's president Ali Abdullah Saleh amounts to a license to kill and should be rejected by the parliament, Human Rights Watch said.

Sarah Leah Whitson, its executive Middle East director, said:

Passing this law would be an affront to thousands of victims of Saleh's repressive rule, including the relatives of peaceful protesters shot dead last year. Yemeni authorities should be locking up those responsible for serious crimes, not rewarding them with a license to kill.

The US defended the deal as necessary to persuade Saleh and his supporters their "era is over".

The Swedish football team is due to play Bahrain in an international friendly on January 18. On Twitter, Maryam Alkhawaja of the Bahrain Center for Human Rights has urged the Swedes to watch this video first.

requesting the #Swedish Football team to see this film before plying with #Bahrain- please respect Human Rights

It tells the story of A'ala Hubail, the Bahraini striker who was arrested in April last year along with his brother Mohammad, also a member of the national side, and dozens of other sports stars.

The Arab League mission in Syria has changed the rules of the game- but not in a good way, writes Amal Hanano in Foreign Policy.

The regime sends spies to take pictures of the protesters who dare speak to the observers. Before every excursion, the streets are secured in any way necessary, by bullets or arrests (for the safety of the observers or to preserve what's left of the regime's tarnished image?). The streets of Deraa have to be scrubbed clean of its people, silencing their voices and erasing any sign of dissent, to present an image of control, safely guarded by snipers lurking on rooftops.

Since the observers' arrival, the revolution's landscape has changed, writes Hanano.

The regime added tear gas, water cannons, and nail bombs to its arsenal of mass arrests, torture, live ammunition, and sniper fire used to attack protesters. Last Friday, Jan. 7, the people of Damascus awoke to news of an explosion in the Midan, the heart of the city.

And on the ground, Syrians have become rapidly disillusioned with the monitors' ability to do their work. Hanano quotes an unnamed activist in Daraa as telling him:

When the observers first arrived, the people were extremely optimistic. On the first day the team met with the mayor, so we couldn't do anything. The second day, we invited them to a protest at a martyr's funeral. They said, 'We don't have cars for transportation.' We asked, 'How could the team of observers not have cars?' So we postponed the protest. The third day, we asked them to come and observe the protest, but the regime took them somewhere else. Their work is not even at 1 percent. Nothing is happening. They aren't gathering testimonies from the families. They are witnessing the snipers and the army on the streets. They see this with their own eyes. A stranger walking in the streets would know.

Our colleague Ian Cobain is looking for help in trying to contact the family and friends of Tariq Sabri Mahmud al-Fahdaw, born in Baghdad in around 1966, who disappeared after being detained, along with about 60 other men, by coalition forces at a roadblock west of Ramadi on 11 April 2003.

If you have any information please contact Ian via Twitter: @IanCobain

نحن بحاجة للاتصال بعائلة طارق صبري محمود

مواليد ١٩٦٦

تم اعتقاله و مجموعة من الاشخاص من قبل قوات التحالف

غرب الرمادي في ١١نيسان ٣..٢

The Iranian nuclear scientist killed in an explosion this morning had been planning to attend a memorial ceremony later today for a physics professor who was also killed in a blast two years ago, according to the semi-official Mehr news agency.

Masoud Ali Mohammadi, a senior professor at Tehran University, died on January 12 2010 when a bomb-rigged motorcycle exploded near his car as he was about to leave for work.

Meanwhile, more detail has emerged concerning the circumstances of Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan's death this morning. AP reports:

Roshan, 32, was inside the Iranian-assembled Peugeot 405 car together with two others when the bomb exploded near Gol Nabi Street in north Tehran, Fars reported. It said the person accompanying Roshan died later of injuries at a hospital. Fars described the explosion as a "terrorist attack" targeting Roshan, a graduate of the prestigious Sharif University of Technology in Tehran. Roshan was a chemistry expert who was involved in building polymeric layers for gas separation, which is the use of various membranes to isolate gases.

China's premier will be discussing the Arab Spring with the leaders of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar during a visit to the region next week, AP reports.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun said China's views on how the Middle East unrest should develop were "clear-cut." He said:

China hopes the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of these countries will be respected by the international community.

Wen Jiabao's visit to Saudi Arabia will be the first by a Chinese premier in two decades.

Bashar al-Assad has made a surprise appearance at a pro-regime demo in Damascus's Ummayad Square, according to reports.

The crowd shouted "Shabiha forever, for your eyes Assad", a reference to pro-Assad militiamen who have frequently fought pro-democracy protesters, Lebanon's LBCI News wrote.

Assad told the crowd: "Syria is facing a conspiracy but we will beat it; I've never felt weak." "Conspiracy is in its final phase; we should be ready when the country calls for us," the Syrian presdient said.

Here's a video of his appearance.

@stephenstarr, a freelance journalist, has tweeted that Assad was accompanied by his wife, Asma al-Assad.

Appearance of First Lady and children at #Damascusrally to quell reports she had fled #Syria #Damascus #Assad

Although the picture is grainy, you can just about make out Asma al-Assad standing on the ground with her children at about 4.05 minutes in.

Assad told his supporters he wants to "draw strength" from them, according an initial take by AP.

President Bashar Assad joined thousands of his supporters Wednesday in an extremely rare public appearance at a rally in the capital Damascus, telling the crowd he wanted to draw strength from them. Assad, 46, was surrounded by security guards when he appeared in the crowd, dressed more casually than usual in a jacket but no tie. "I wanted to be with you so I can draw strength from you in the face of everything that Syria is subjected to," he said. "It was important that we maintain our faith in the future. I have that faith in the future and we will undoubtedly triumph over this conspiracy," he said.

Ian Black has been given a one-sided view of the city of Homs on a government-organised trip to the centre of Syrian uprising.

Speaking by phone from the city, Ian said:

The atmosphere remains very, very controlling. What's true for the Arab League monitors is even more true for journalists. If you are in Syria as a journalist with a visa then you are pretty closely subject to government control. This trip today is an interesting example of that. This is a government-organised trip to show the government's side of the story and they are doing that very energetically. They have brought us to the part of Homs which is controlled by the Syrian government. From here you can see virtually nothing of what's going on in the areas controlled by what people call gunmen.

A few minutes before the call Ian could hear shooting from an area said to be controlled by gunmen. Government minders want to keep parts of the city "out of the picture because it doesn't fit the official government narrative," Ian said.

A wounded soldier in a hospital in Homs told Ian that protests were initially peaceful but then turned violent. Ian said he did not get a chance to verify the claim.

You can't get to see what's happening on the other side of the city where many people don't even have the benefit of hospitals or medical care. It is interesting to see quite how fiercely the Syrian government is defending its position in the city and how much apparent loyalty it can command here.

There is a significant armed presence even in areas of the city away from the front line, he said.

In the commercial centre whole streets of shops are shut down. It doesn't look like a city that is leading a normal life at all, even on the side that is completely under government control. There are soldiers in full combat gear in the middle of the city. It has got a strange feeling to it.

Ian added:

The people you talk to here are all singing very much from the same sheet. They all talk about terrorism, murderers and treachery, and particularly they complain about the support of western governments for these enemies of the Syrian regime. There is a sense that they are all saying the same thing from the same script. A man just insisted to me that there was only a security solution to this crisis, no political solution. We are only hearing one side of the story, but it is important to say there is real strength of feeling, [and] apparently, at least, pretty unanimous support for the government.

On the future of the Arab League mission, Ian said:

It was clear from the start that this was pretty much mission impossible. But there is a strong pressure for the Arab League mission to be maintained. If it is withdrawn there is no international presence or pressure point at all on the Syrian regime.

Here's a summary of the latest developments.

Syria

• Bashar al-Assad has made a surprise appearance at a rally of his supporters in Damascus, along with his wife and children. The rare public outing, which comes just a day after he vowed to quash the "terrorist" opposition with an "iron first", offered the president a chance to rail again against the "conspiracy" facing Syria. (See 11.44am.)

• A small group of foreign journalists has been taken on a tightly-restricted government tour of Homs. The Guardian's Ian Black said his minders were "energetically" showing them "the government's side of the story" and that it was very unlikely the journalists would be taken to Baba Amr or any other restive neighbourhood. From what he had seen so far, he said, there was "apparently, at least, pretty unanimous support for the government." (See 12.14pm.)

• 400 people been have killed in Syria since the Arab League monitors arrived in an escalation of the crackdown against protesters, said a senior UN official. The figures, revealed in a closed session of the security council, were seized on by the US ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, who chided Syria's ally Russia for its failure to produce a promise draft resolution on the crisis. Horrific violence emerged last night and this morning of events in Deir Ezzor yesterday, where the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights said 15 people were killed- see 9.42am.

• Arab League observer Anwar Malek resigned from the mission, saying the work was farcical and was failing to denounce a "humanitarian disaster". He told al-Jazeera that Syria was failing to implement any of the League's proposals and engaging in fabrication and deception. (See 9.15am.)

Iran

• A scientist working at the Natanz nuclear facility was killed in an explosion which an Iranian official said had been orchestrated by Israel. Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, a chemistry expert, died after two assailants on a motorcycle attached magnetic bombs to his car, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Egypt

• Egypt risked inflaming tensions with Israel by saying it would not be "appropriate" for Jewish pilgrims to make an annual visit to a sacred tomb in the Nile Delta. An official told AP the government had told Israel two months ago that the ceremony would be "impossible" this year because of political instability.

• Human Rights Watch has called on Yemen's parliament to reject a law that would grant immunity to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. "Passing this law would be an affront to thousands of victims of Saleh's repressive rule, including the relatives of peaceful protesters shot dead last year," said a spokeswoman.

A Moroccan rapper who has become one of the monarchy's boldest critics is today awaiting a verdict in his trial for assault charges which his lawyers and right activists said were a ploy to muzzle the popular singer.

Reuters writes that Mouad Belrhouat, better known as El-Haqed, or "The Sullen One", "has become the singing voice of a protest movement inspired by Arab uprisings, demanding a constitutional monarchy, an independent judiciary and a crackdown on corruption."

The judge adjourned the case on Wednesday after an all-night hearing to consider his verdict, expected on Thursday. The 24-year-old rapper has been in jail since his arrest in September after a brawl with a monarchist. Bail requests by his defence team have been rejected and the trial has been adjourned six times.

Khadija Ryadi, who chairs Morocco's main human rights group, AMDH, said:



The charges are a farce. El Haqed is being persecuted for his critical songs. The state is keeping him in jail and repeatedly adjourning his trial to silence him.

You can hear one of El Haqed's tracks laid over images of Morocco's protests in this video.

A western journalist was killed on Wednesday and another wounded as they visited Syria's Homs city, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

We will have more details soon from Ian Black who is in Homs.

(Technical problems have meant we haven't been able to post updates for an hour or so, apologies.)

The foreign journalist killed in Homs was from France 2 TV, according to France 24.

A French journalist from FRANCE 2 TV was killed in #Homs and his colleague wounded #Syria — Tatiana El Khoury (@AswatF24) January 11, 2012

On his way back to Damascus from Homs, Ian Black has given this account of the attack which, he has been told, left one journalist and eight Syrians dead, and another journalist injured.

As we were leaving a march was beginning, a march in solidarity with the Syrian regime- the sort of thing that happens quite a lot particularly when foreign journalists and especially television cameras are there. There was a second group of journalists travelling separately from our group and who we've been told were filming the march as it was setting off when we think a vehicle in which they were travelling was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade. We don't have any further details. But what this does appear to be is the first time that a foreign journalist has been killed in the violence accompanying the uprising in Syria. They've told us what happened- it certainly appears to fit in with their view of how things are on the ground: the Syrian state on the one side and armed terrorists on the other. But as I say this is the first time I think that a foreign journalist has been killed and, in the way of the world, that's likely to have quite a wide resonance. Of course Syrians are being killed every day; eight others we're told have been killed in this incident. It's part of the ongoing violence in what seems to me, after a few days now in Syria, to be a conflict that is getting worse all the time, not showing any signs of stabilising - quite the opposite. So this will be another detail in that grim, still unfolding story.

The French journalist killed in Homs was Gilles Jacquier, a well-known reporter for the France 2 television channel.

According to the website of the Bayeux-Calvados war correspondents' prize, he covered most of the conflicts of the last ten years- Iraq, Afghanistan, Kosovo, Israel, Haiti and Algeria. He won the Albert Londres Prize in 2003, with Bertrand Coq, for a report during the second intifada.

You can listen here to Ian Black's account of what happened in Homs today.

The French foreign minister, Alain Juppé, has issued a statement condemning the attack and sending his condolences to Jacquier's family and friends. He added:

We ask that an investigation be opened so that light is shed on the circumstances of this incident. It is up to the Syrian authorities to guarantee the safety of international journalists on their territory and to protect that basic freedom- the freedom of information.

The circumstances of the Homs attack in which French journalist Gilles Jacquier and eight Syrians were killed remain unclear.

Ian Black, our reporter in Syria who was in Homs today in a different group of journalists, has posted this Tweet.

Homs attack that killed French journalist first described as involving mortars then changed to rocket-propelled grenade. Circs v unclear — Ian Black (@ian_black) January 11, 2012

Envoyé Spécial, the programme Jaquier worked for, has posted this video in tribute to him.

Entirely in French, it was taken in 2009 when he won a Jean-Louis Calderon prize for a piece on girls going to school in Afghanistan. Jacquier is filmed explaining how he did the report. The narrator says:

[Jacquier] is an habitué of conflict. He has covered the best-known, like Kosovo and Algeria, but also...those which go on but of which noone speaks.

His prize-winning report from Kandahar is hailed by the chief judge as "un reportage de vérité"- a work of truth.

Russia's apparent military support for the Syrian regime emerged today when a Russian ship carrying 60 tonnes of arms for Damascus was stopped in Cyprus, reports my colleague Luke Harding.

In this recently-filed report, Luke writes that the MV Chariot, which set off from St Petersburg in early December, was forced to pull into the Greek Cypriot port of Limassol because of stormy seas. It had been on its way to Turkey and Syria, inspectors said.



Customs officials who boarded the ship discovered four containers. They were unable to open them but concluded that they contained a "dangerous cargo". State radio in Cyprus went further, alleging that the Chariot was carrying "tens of tonnes of munitions". Russia is one of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's few remaining international allies. Moscow resents what it regards as western encroachment on its traditional sphere of influence and has continued to supply Damascus with advanced weapons and other arms, to the annoyance of Washington.

Mohammed Ballout, described by Le Figaro as an Arabic-speaking journalist for the BBC, has given this account of events in Homs today.

Like the Guardian's Ian Black, he was in the other group of journalists, but heard an RPG exploding either near or in the crowd of pro-regime supporters.

The journalists from Jacquier's group ran to see what was going on. At that moment, a second RPG was shot in their direction. Gilles Jacquier was killed on the spot. A journalist from the Flemish [Belgian] radio station VRT suffered a head injury. The France 2 cameraman was not injured. The attack took place in the street. Zahira is an Alawite stronghold which has been targeted several times in the past by protesters. In this neighbourhood, there is often sniper fire from protesters.

William Hague, the foreign secretary, has posted this Tweet:



Deep sympathy for family of journalist & civilians killed in Homs. Shows scale of violence & risks to those who bring it to world attention

Activists are reported to be questioning the official version of the Homs attack, accusing the regime of firing tanks at the crowd.

Carl Fridh Kleberg, a Swedish journalist, has posted these Tweets:

Uncertainty re: #Homs attack that killed French journo (not to forget several others). Accusations from both sides, overt or implied. #Syria Spksmn för #Syria Obs. for HRs accuses regime for #Homs attack that killed French journo + others. Claims residents saw tank fire 2 shells. 8 killed, 25 "very severely" injured in #Homs attack that killed French journo today, #Syria Observatory for Human Rights tell me.

A Dutch freelance journalist was injured in Homs today, according to a foreign ministry spokeswoman quoted by AP.

The spokeswoman says the man was treated in a local hospital and released Wednesday. She declined to identify him or detail his injuries. The Dutch foreign ministry spokeswoman could not confirm the Dutch reporter was part of the reporting trip when he was injured.

The details of the Homs attack remain murky. Several sources have identified the injured journalist as an employee of the Flemish Belgian VRT radio station.

The Arab League is postponing a decision to send more observers to Syria after three monitors were mildly injured in an attack this week, an official has said. AFP quoted him as saying:

The Arab League will not send more observers to Syria for the time being until the situation calms down.

Three monitors- two Kuwaitis and one from the UAE- had been hurt in the attack in Latakia when protesters attacked their vehicle, he said.

The AL is also showing signs of wanting to distance itself from an Algerian observer who quit the mission, saying he had witnessed an "humanitarian disaster". The official said of Anwar Malek:

He was ill and bedridden at his Syria hotel. So how could he make those claims?

Here's a summary of the latest developments from across the region.

Syria

• A French journalist and up to eight Syrians were killed in an attack in the city of Homs. The death of award-winning Gilles Jacquier- the first of an international journalist during the Syrian crisis- occurred in unclear circumstances during a government-led tour of the city by two groups of journalists. The Guardian's Ian Black said he had been told that the vehicle in which Jacquier and others had been travelling had been hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, but cautioned that details remained unclear. A BBC journalist said Jacquier was killed "on the spot" by a second RPG- the first of which had been fired earlier near a crowd of pro-regime protesters. (See 4.45pm.) A Dutch journalist was also injured, according to the foreign ministry in the Hague.

• France called for an immediate investigation into the attack, which it described as "odious". Alain Juppé, the foreign minister, said France held the authorities responsible for the protection of foreign journalists on Syrian soil.

• Activists questioned the official version of the attack. A spokesman for the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said residents had seen two tanks firing at the area where the attack took place.

• Bashar al-Assad made a surprise appearance at a rally of his supporters in Damascus, along with his wife and children. The rare public outing, which came just a day after he vowed to quash the "terrorist" opposition with an "iron first", offered the president another chance to rail again against the "conspiracy" facing Syria. (See 11.44am.)

• An Algerian former observer for the Arab League said he had resigned from the mission because it was a "farce". Anwar Malek told Al Jazeera that a humanitarian disaster was unfolding in Syria and the authorities were engaging in fabrication and deception. The Arab League moved to discredit Malek; an official said he had been bed-ridden during the mission and was therefore speaking with no authority.

• The Arab League said it was going to postpone sending more observers to Syria after an incident left three monitors lightly injured. An unnamed official said the attack earlier this week in Latakia, when protesters stood on and broke windows of an Arab League vehicle, had made the League reconsider. (See 5.18pm.)

• Russia's apparent military support for the Syrian regime emerged when a Russian ship carrying 60 tonnes of arms for Damascus was stopped in Cyprus. The MV Chariot, which set off from St Petersburg in early December, was forced to pull into the Greek Cypriot port of Limassol because of stormy seas. It had been on its way to Turkey and Syria, inspectors said.

Iran

• A scientist working at the Natanz nuclear facility was killed in an explosion which Iran said had been orchestrated by Israel and the US. Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan, 32, a chemistry expert, died after two assailants on a motorcycle attached magnetic bombs to his car, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Yemen

• A Yemeni committee tasked with demilitarising the capital gave armed opponents and backers of outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh 48 hours to begin withdrawing after months of street fighting, state news agency Saba said. Reuters said the presence of armed elements in Sanaa, defying an earlier deadline to leave their positions by the end of December, underlined the ongoing volatility of the country.

• Human Rights Watch called on Yemen's parliament to reject a law that would grant immunity to President Ali Abdullah Saleh. "Passing this law would be an affront to thousands of victims of Saleh's repressive rule, including the relatives of peaceful protesters shot dead last year," said a spokeswoman.