Turkish conscientious objector Mehmet Bal has started a hunger strike, claiming that he was subjected to violence and pressure following his arrest June 8. The Istanbul branch of Turkey's Human Rights Association and Antimilitarist Initiative said in a press release that Bal was beaten and denied water or use of the bathroom as he was kept waiting for hours the night of his arrest. The statement called for his immediate release, and that those responsible for his mistreatment be held responsible. (BIANet, June 11)

Middle East Development LLC, the Dubai-based construction company controlled by Tarek Mohammad bin Laden, half-brother of Osama bin Laden, announced it is seeking to raise $190 billion to build two new cities in Djibouti and Yemen and a 28.5-kilometer bridge linking them. This land link, across the Strait of Bab-el-Mandeb, would be the first joining the Arabian peninsula to Africa. Comments Bloomberg, June 2:

From Reporters Without Borders, via AllAfrica, May 7:

Egypt: TV Agency Boss Facing Charges Over Food Riots
Reporters Without Borders has voiced concern about legal action against Nader Gohar, owner of the Egyptian TV news agency Cairo News Company (CNC), who was charged on 5 May 2008 with unlicensed broadcasting of food riots in the north of the country on 6 April.

We warned a year ago that Yemen was on the brink of sectarian war. It is starting to look like it is going over the brink. From AP, May 2:

Motorcycle bomb explodes outside Yemen mosque, killing 18
SAN'A — A bomb rigged to a motorcycle blew up amid a crowd of worshippers leaving Friday prayers at a mosque in a rebel stronghold of northern Yemen, killing at least 18 people and wounding about four dozen, officials said.

From Article 19 Global Campaign for Free Expression via IFEX, May 2:

Turkey: Article 301 Reforms Pallid—It Should Be Abolished
ARTICLE 19 condemns as wholly insufficient recent moves by the Turkish government to amend the infamous Article 301 of the Turkish Penal Code. The article, which still criminalises denigration of the Turkish Nation, has been grossly abused in the past, including to convict leading Turkish writers such as Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk, and leading journalist and editor Hrant Dink, who was murdered in January 2007.

As last year, May Day saw clashes between workers and police in Istanbul and other Turkish cities. In Istanbul, police fired tear gas and water cannons to prevent workers from marching to Taksim Square where they planned to hold a mass gathering. A total of 530 were detained by police, with 38 reported injured in the city. The Turkish government rejected petitions to lift the decades-long ban and open Taksim for celebrations. The Labor Unions Confederation (DISK), Confederation of Public Sector Unions (KESK) and Turkish Confederation of Labor (Turk-Is) decided jointly to march on the square in defiance of the ban. Street clashes were also reported between police and followers of the Freedom and Solidarity Party (ODP) in Ankara. (Hurriyet, May 2)

There have been two explosions near the local headquarters the Canadian Nexen oil company in the Yemeni capital of Sana'a. The grenade blasts took place on April 6 and 9, and caused no casualties. Nexen began oil exploration in Sana'a in 1988 and started producing oil there in 1993. The company operates Yemen's largest oil project and produced 71,600 barrels per day in 2007. The blasts come amid ongoing unrest in Yemen, with riot police still deployed against rioters in many towns in the south. (CanWest News Service, April 10)

Tanks have been deployed in parts of southern Yemen after a fifth day of angry protests by thousands of mostly young people. Youth are blocking roads and burning tires, and up to 100 have been arrested. In al-Dalea, two police station were torched, and military vehicles burned, while riot police fired into the air and used tanks against street barricades. In response, armed protesters threw up roadblocks on the main road between the capital, Sanaa, and the port of Aden, halting traffic.