DUBAI (Reuters) – Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri urged Algerians in a video released on Islamist websites on Wednesday to follow the example of Libyans and revolt against their leaders.

He also attacked military rulers in his native Egypt for maintaining close ties with Israel and doing nothing to back the Arab uprisings that brought down Tunisian leader Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January and Egyptian ruler Hosni Mubarak in February.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s declaration in a speech on Saturday that he would leave power “in the coming days” is yet another act of brinkmanship from a leader who has spent much of the “Arab Spring” claiming he is about to step down.

Saleh’s words were taken almost universally as a ruse by Yemenis who have seen the famed wily operator survive through thick and thin since he took power in 1978.

DUBAI (Reuters) – Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s declaration in a speech on Saturday that he would leave power “in the coming days” is yet another act of brinkmanship from a leader who has spent much of the “Arab Spring” claiming he is about to step down.

Saleh’s words were taken almost universally as a ruse by Yemenis who have seen the famed wily operator survive through thick and thin since he took power in 1978.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain’s Sunni rulers hope their reform promises and tough punishments will deter more pro-democracy protests, but majority Shi’ites are still seething, seeing scant progress on their demands for change in the deeply polarised Gulf island.

In a sign of Shi’ite radicalisation, activists in the February 14 Youth Coalition have called for civil disobedience.

MANAMA, Oct 5 (Reuters) – Bahrain’s Sunni rulers hope their reform promises and tough punishments will deter more pro-democracy protests, but majority Shi’ites are still seething, seeing scant progress on their demands for change in the deeply polarised Gulf island.

In a sign of Shi’ite radicalisation, activists in the Feb. 14 Youth Coalition have called for civil disobedience.

DUBAI (Reuters) – The United Nations condemned on Friday prison sentences of up to 15 years handed down by a Bahrain military court this week to 20 medics who treated protesters during pro-democracy unrest in the Gulf Arab state.

The doctors and nurses, who had been released in June and September on bail after international pressure over the case, said they were waiting for a police order to head back to jail after they were sentenced on Thursday.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain jailed 20 doctors on Thursday for between five and 15 years on charges including stealing medicine, stockpiling weapons and occupying a hospital during unrest in the Gulf kingdom this year, state news agency BNA said.

It also sentenced a man to death for killing a policeman by driving his car over him several times and joining illegal gatherings for “terrorist goals.” Another man was handed a life term for his involvement, BNA said.

MANAMA (Reuters) – Bahrain’s government is prepared to hold more talks with the Shi’ite opposition on political reforms to try to end protests that threaten to hold up the economy, a government official said on Thursday.

Sheikh Abdul-Aziz bin Mubarak al-Khalifa, a senior adviser at the Information Affairs Authority, also said Bahrain had begun receiving some of the $10 billion in economic aid promised by fellow Gulf Arab nations.

MANAMA (Reuters) – A Bahrain military court upheld life sentences on Wednesday against Shi’ite opposition leaders for organizing protests earlier this year that threatened the Sunni monarchy’s grip on power, but Amnesty International called the trial a “sham.”

The state news agency BNA said the eight men could still appeal the verdicts in the civilian Court of Cassation. They could be released via an amnesty from King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa.