![Mafraq, Jordan: Monther Khaled, seven, from Daraa, Syria, poses for a portrait two days after crossing into Jordan with his family, at the Zaatari refugee camp. [Photograph: Mohammad Hannon/AP via the Guardian]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m9ml5p0xif1qakqyfo1_500.jpg)
Gun brandished during live Jordanian TV debate | BBC
A live television programme in Jordan descended into chaos, with a politician threatening an opponent with a gun.
The debate between MP Mohammad Shawabka and political activist Mansour Murad became heated after the two men traded insults with each other.
The politician then hurled his shoe at Mr Murad and brandished a pistol at him.
No shots were fired and no-one was too seriously hurt.
Middle East on the brink of war: analysis
As Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad clings to power with the quiet backing of regional powers Iran and Russia, the Middle East may be sliding slowly into war.
Squeezed between the rebellions of a bloody Arab Spring and growing fears of a possible military response to Iran’s growing nuclear threat, the region is becoming increasingly unstable.
“I would be very surprised if it turned into a Russian-American war, but this could be a Mid-East war: Hezbollah, Hamas, Iran, Syria, Israel all having at each other,” said Jack Granatstein, military historian and senior research fellow at the Canadian Defence and Foreign Affairs Institute.
“I believe, if I were in his shoes, I would step down. I would step down and make sure whoever comes behind me has the ability to change the status-quo that we’re seeing.”
King Abdullah of Jordan has said Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should step down in the interest of his country. (source)
Jordan revokes restrictions on public gatherings
Jordanian Interior Minister Saed Hayel Srour, bowing to public pressure to revoke restrictions on public gatherings, said protests will no longer need government permission on Tuesday.Srour said he has recommended the change to the Cabinet, which was expected to endorse it quickly.
In street protests in the past five weeks, Jordanians demanded that the government lift restrictions on free speech and assembly.
Jordan’s King Abdullah II responded by promising wider freedoms and changes to pertinent laws.
Srour said that protesters would still have to inform authorities of any gathering two days in advance to ensure public safety. However, he said the government would no longer interfere in such matters.
Daily Chart: The Shoe Throwers Index. This week we crunched lots of statistics to predict where the next Arab revolution could most likely occur. Click through to find out how we put together this “index of unrest”, and to suggest ways it could be improved.
Jordan’s King Abdullah swears in new Cabinet
Reshuffle follows protests by thousands of Jordanians demanding jobs, reduced prices of food and fuel and change to election law.
The new Cabinet includes holdover ministers, leftist unionists, a former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, Jordan’s largest opposition group, and a prominent activist for women’s rights.
The Brotherhood refused to join the Cabinet of new Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakhit.
Shortly after the swearing-in ceremony was broadcast on state television, the Brotherhood’s political arm said the Cabinet’s composition is not as important as the implementation of far-reaching change.
“This Cabinet is like previous ones, but what matters is whether the new ministers will deliver on promises of quick reforms,” said Hamza Mansour, the leader of the Brotherhood’s political arm.
BREAKING: Jordan's King Abdullah dismisses government
Abdullah tells his new Prime Minister to carry out ‘true political reforms’
WIDER MIDDLE-EAST SITUATION UPDATE:
Jordan’s powerful Islamic party said on Monday they have started a dialogue with the state, saying that unlike the situation in Egypt, the opposition in the kingdom does not seek regime change.
Yemen’s opposition turned its focus to the country’s rural areas Monday, organizing demonstrations in southern and central provinces that drew thousands—unusually large gatherings for these mountainous, hard-to-reach areas.
Sudan, Omdurman, just across the Nile from Khartoum, around 1,000 demonstrators shouted slogans against Omar al-Bashir, the president, and hurled rocks at riot police, who retaliated with tear gas and batons. A student is confirmed to have died of his wounds.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who inherited a regime that has held power for four decades, said he will push for more political reforms in his country, in a sign of how Egypt’s violent revolt is forcing leaders across the region to rethink their approaches
Tunisia, European Union foreign ministers agreed on Monday to freeze the assets of Tunisia’s former President Zine-al Abidine Ben Ali and his wife, an EU official said.
Algerian Interior Minister Dahou Ould Kablia reminded that no march will be permitted by the authorities in Algiers, in an interview Sunday with the French-language daily Liberté. Meanwhile a third Algerian has died from self-immolation on Sunday.
From Tunis to Amman to Sana’a, wave of protest spreads across the region
Tunisian unrest continues, while protesters in Jordan and Yemen demand leaders’ resignation
Elsewhere in the Arab world yesterday, police in Tunisia stormed a five-day protest demanding the interim government resign, and 200 Islamists marched in Tunis to demand religious freedom in what had been a secular state.
In Jordan, thousands marched in Amman and other cities to demand the prime minister, Samir Rifai, step down over rising prices and unemployment, in a protest after Friday prayers organised by the Muslim Brotherhood but including members of socialist parties and unions.
In Yemen, socialists, Islamists, and youth activists had shut down Sana’a yesterday to demand President Ali Abdullah Saleh resign.
Syria appeared to follow Egypt’s lead by blocking access to the web today, though an official denied this
TUNISIAN STYLE PROTESTES CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST AS FED UP POPULATIONS DEMAND CHANGE. THIS WEEK:
