The Contagion Today

Nigeria: Central bank chief Sanusi cautions leaders after North African unrest Abuja (Nigeria) - The Central Bank governor, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, warned Saturday that the current civil unrest in some countries in North Africa could be experienced in Nigeria if the nation's leadership failed to take full advantage of the enormous potentials that abound in the country.

Iran: 200 protesters 'arrested' Another 40 people were said to have been detained in the city of Isfahan. Opposition groups had called for rallies over the reported imprisonment of their leaders - Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi.

Iran for first time warns Saudis not to crack down on Shi'ite population NICOSIA — Iran, escalating its rhetoric against its Sunni neighbor, has warned Saudi Arabia of any crackdown on the kingdom's Shi'ite minority. For the first time in years, the mullah regime in Teheran has begun issuing threats against the Saudi…

Bahrain king fears split, seeks dialogue GENEVA (Reuters) - Bahrain's King Hamad Ben Isa Al Khalifa fears the current unrest could destroy harmony between different sectors of the population, a government minister from the Gulf state said on Tuesday.

Tribesmen split over political reforms amid ‘transformation’ of tribe’s social role AMMAN - Prospects of “genuine and swift political reforms” are being received with mixed views among major tribes in Jordan.

Foreign ministry secures release of four Jordanians detained in Libya AMMAN - Authorities on Monday secured the release of four Jordanians who were arrested by the Libyan authorities.

Protesters Rally Outside Bahrain's Interior Ministry (VOA) Thousands of anti-government protesters in Bahrain gathered outside the country's interior ministry Wednesday, the latest in a series of daily protests demanding the resignation of the government.

Unrest in the Middle East and Africa -- country by country (CNN)

Rival rallies demand reforms, back sultan in Oman MUSCAT (Reuters) - Rival groups demonstrated in the Omani capital Muscat Wednesday, with protesters demanding jobs and political reforms for a fifth successive day and government supporters taking part in a long parade of cars.

Vale halts work at Oman iron plant over protests "As a preventative measure, Vale has temporarily interrupted the commissioning at (the) pellet plant until the situation normalizes," the company said in an e-mailed statement. "The workers, most of them Omani, were told to stay at home."

Arab monarchs nervously watch Morocco Protests in the sultanate of Oman and in the kingdoms of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan and Morocco have shown that monarchies are not immune to the winds of change, even if their rulers are ostensibly not as despised by their subjects as the current and former authoritarian rulers of Libya, Tunisia and Egypt.

Can Morocco and Algeria long remain exceptions? (Daily Star Lebanon) With Libya set to join Tunisia and Egypt on the checklist of Arab revolutions, just two countries in North Africa remain relatively untouched. They are Algeria and Morocco. But can they long remain exceptions to the new rule of scorned youth trumping rigid old regimes?

Arab ministers say they are considering imposing a no-fly zone on Libya (Canadian Press) While no final decision has been made on an air embargo, the ministers said in a statement after talks in Cairo that "Arab countries cannot watch with their hands tied in the face of the bloodshed that the Libyan people are facing." And the fact that Arab nations are publicly discussing the option ups the pressure on Libya's embattled regime.

Tragedy in Libyan desert as poor migrants flee (Reuters) RAS JDIR, Tunisia, March 2 (Reuters) - Nigerian Ike Emanuel buried his 6-month-old baby girl in the desert last week after she died of exposure on a desperate trek to escape Libya as it lurched closer to all-out civil war.

EU Aid Commissioner Heads To Libyan Border To Evaluate Refugee Crisis BRUSSELS -- The EU commissioner for humanitarian aid, Kristalina Georgieva, is on her way to the Libyan-Tunisian border to oversee UN efforts to help the thousands of refugees fleeing the violence in Libya.

UK and France offer to rescue workers (Financial Times) Britain said on Wednesday that it would send three commercial aircraft to Tunisia to fly 6,000 people back to Egypt in the next three days. France said it would dispatch military aircraft and naval landing ships over the next week to evacuate a further 5,000 refugees stranded in Tunisia.