Experiments with truth: 2/14/11

    • Yemeni police armed with sticks and daggers on Sunday beat back thousands of protesters marching through the capital in a third straight day of demonstrations calling for political reforms and the resignation of the country’s U.S.-allied president.
    • From state-owned financial institutions in Cairo to Alexandria’s seaport, workers went on strike on Sunday, disrupting operations and forcing the central bank to declare an unscheduled bank holiday on Monday.
    • On Friday, 200 or 300 people protested in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square to demand change on multiple fronts, from specifics such as the provision of electricity and jobs to more general issues such as good governance and accountability.
    • Bahrain’s security forces clashed with marchers in at least one village Sunday as opposition groups blanketed social media sites with calls to stage the first major anti-government protests in the Gulf since the uprising in Egypt.
    • The staff of Pakistan’s national airlines on Friday ended a strike, which had grounded all flights, after their demands were met.
    • Thousands of Thais held color-coded “red” and “yellow” protests in Bangkok on Sunday, underlining persistent anti-government sentiment and deep political divisions ahead of an election planned this year.
    • Tens of thousands of Italian women took to the streets of Rome on Sunday to protest against the “sexual exploitation and negative feminine image” that in their view Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has contributed in spreading through his various sex scandals.
    • More than 20 workers were arrested Thursday evening during a labor protest outside the Hyatt Regency in downtown San Francisco.
    • More than 1,000 Nokia employees in Finland walked out of the company’s offices on Friday to protest a deal that was struck with Microsoft that will lead to the loss of potentially thousands of jobs in the country.

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