Via Newsweek: One of their reporters in Iran has been taken from his home by security officers.

Among the dozens of people arrested overnight in Tehran was NEWSWEEK reporter Maziar Bahari, who has covered Iran for the magazine for over a decade. Bahari was home asleep at 7 a.m. when several security officers showed up at his Tehran apartment. According to his mother, who lives with the 41-year-old reporter and documentary filmmaker, the men did not identify themselves. They seized Bahari's laptop and several videotapes. Assuring her that he would be their guest, they then left with Bahari. He has not been heard from since.

Reporters Without Borders says more than 20 Iranian journalists and bloggers have been detained since last week's elections.

"War, children, is just a shot away."

A demonstrator has been killed by gunfire at protests in Iran. Huffington Post is live-blogging events. The violence continues. Follow the twitter feeds for the fastest updates. [More...]

Cell phone service around Tehran is currently down. Clashes have erupted.

According to Peiknet (and a translation I received by e-mail),

Telephone communication between Tehran and the rest of Iran has been completely disconnected. This corresponds with the beginnings of the arrests of the opposition. It is suspected that this is being orchestrated by the son of Mojtaba Khamenei son of The Supreme Leader, Ali.

CliffLyon at Daily Kos is following the breaking developments.

Euna Lee and Laura Ling, the two reporters for Current TV who were arrested when North Korea said they were improperly in the country, have been sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. The LA Times reports:

Ling, 32, and Lee, 36, were arrested March 17 along the China-North Korean border after top officials in Pyongyang said they had encroached on North Korean soil while reporting a story on human trafficking by Kim Jong Il's regime.

Laura Ling is the sister of tv personality Lisa Ling. Will that help her get released?

Life in a North Korea labor camp is not pleasant:

North Korean labor camps are notorious for their high death rates because of malnutrition and overwork. But thus far, the women have been fairly well treated, housed in a Pyongyang guest house and allowed occasional telephone calls. The Swedish ambassador has also been permitted to visit them.

In 2004, Tom Friedman was interviewed by Charlie Rose. He famously said "The Iraq War was the United States saying "suck on this." Friedman said the Iraq Debacle was "unquestionably" the right thing to do.

Today he writes:

I have never bought the argument that Iraq was the bad war, Afghanistan the good war and Pakistan the necessary war. Folks, they’re all one war with different fronts.

This is, of course, nonsense. All one war? Sheesh. Moreover it is nonsense Friedman cannot even sustain through this very column:

CNN provides video excerpts:

More . . .

“Cuba is the only country in the hemisphere that repudiates nearly all forms of political dissent. For nearly five decades, the Cuban government has enforced political conformity with criminal prosecutions, long- and short-term detentions, mob harassment, physical abuse and surveillance.” - Human Rights Watch

A NYTimes editorial quoted this Human Rights Watch description in criticizing the campaign to readmit Cuba to the Organization of American States (OAS). The Times wrote "we are absolutely puzzled and dismayed by this week’s frenzied push by many Latin American countries to readmit Cuba to the Organization of American States." I find it neither puzzling nor dismaying. Arguing for Cuba has always been an easy domestic political move in Latin American countries. It is all meaningless. Indeed, I urge readmittance of Cuba to the OAS so that this empty political device can be finally defanged. Then we can concentrate on what the Times urges - "[T]he O.A.S. must press Havana to join the democratic mainstream — and its errant members to adhere to the organization’s own democratic charter." Get the excuses (like the US embargo) out of the way so we can talk about the REAL issue in Cuba - its totalitarian regime.

Speaking for me only

Roxana Sarberi has been freed in Iran and reunited with her parents. She can now return to the U.S.

It looks to me like efforts by the Obama Administration and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were successful. Iran reduced Sarberi's sentence to a suspended term:

The judiciary spokesman, Jamshidi, said the appeals court reduced her sentence as a gesture of "Islamic mercy" because she had cooperated with authorities and had expressed regret.

In 2004, American Lori Berenson lost her last appeal of her 20 year sentence (earlier reduced from life) in Peru.

This week she had a baby boy. The father is Anibal Apari, a lawyer in Lima who also served time as a member of the Tupac Amaru Revelutionary Movement. They met in jail and have been married since 2003.

Lori is now 39. As horrible as conditions must be in a Peruvian jail, at least they allow her to keep and raise her baby until he's 3 years old.

She'll be eligible for parole in 2010, and if she is granted release, she'll be deported to the U.S. where her father is looking forward to helping raise the baby.

"I'm just ecstatic. This child will likely be my only grandchild, and I'm going to spoil him if I can," her father, Mark Berenson, a former college professor, told The Associated Press.

The evening news reports the number of swine flu cases in the U.S. is now at 45. The U.S. is officially warning against travel to Mexico. The World Health Organization has upped the pandemic alert level.

More cases are expected. On NBC's Nightly News, expert Robert Bazell said those masks you see people wearing do very little. And it's okay to eat pork.

The swine flu outbreak in Mexico may have killed 60 people so far.

Mexico City has closed universities and schools until further notice, suspended all major public events and advised people feeling flu-like symptoms to stay home from work. Mexico City's busiest subway stations are handing out face masks to passengers to use on crowded train carriages. The city government has closed museums, including the popular Anthropology Museum.

It is believed to have spread to the U.S. where 8 cases have been reported (Thankfully, no deaths among them.) This is a strain of flu that is quite dangerous and never been seen before.

The virus is an influenza A virus, carrying the designation H1N1 and is spreading from person to person. It contains DNA from avian, swine and human viruses, including elements from European and Asian swine viruses, according to the U.S. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC.

How do you get it? [More...]

The other day I wrote about President Obama's exhortation to Cuba to move towards democratic reforms. My conclusion was "[w]ill it happen? No. Will the embargo be lifted? No. I could be wrong of course." the first evidence is that, via Dylan Matthews, I am not wrong:

. . . Obama called on Cuba to release political prisoners and reduce taxes on remittances from the U.S. That appeared to enrage Fidel Castro, 82, who wrote in an essay published Wednesday that Obama "without a doubt misinterpreted Raul's declarations." The former president appeared to be throwing a dose of cold water on growing expectations for improved bilateral relations — suggesting Obama had no right to dare suggest that Cuba make even small concessions. He also seemed to suggest too much was being made of Raul's comments about discussing "everything" with U.S. authorities.

Speaking for me only