Palestinians honor the dead returned by Israel

Al Jazeera -  The Palestinian Authority received the remains of 91 Palestinian martyrs, including 12 from the Gaza Strip. For years, the remains were nothing but a number in a mass grave inside Israel. Today, they are reclaiming their identities. And on their tombs, a story of life, revolution, and martyrdom will be written. The oldest remains belong to seven martyrs who carried out the Savoy Hotel Operation in Tel Aviv in 1975. The Palestinian Authority hopes to receive another wave of martyrs in a few weeks.

Angry Egyptian portesters torch Shafiq's campaign headquarters

Al Alam - Egyptians took to the streets to express their anger towards presidential candidate Ahmed Shafiq, who is participating in the runoff round, and possibly becoming Egypt's first president after the revolution. Once again, the revolutionaries took to the squares in different governorates to protect their revolution, which would be at stake if Shafiq won the elections, given that he was one of the figures of the regime they revolted against.

The enraged protestors reached Shafiq's campaign headquarters in several governorates and set them on fire, throwing his campaigns'advertisement materials outside his headquarters in the Dokki area in Cairo, where some of his supporters gathered.

Syria faces diplomatic backlash over Houla massacre

BBC Arabic - The Geneva-based UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights said that in its preliminary investigations, at least 20 of the victims in the Houla massacre, which took place last Friday, were killed in artillery shelling. A spokesman for the U.S. State Department told the BBC that the U.S. administration decided to expel the Syrian charge d'affaires in Washington, Zuheir Jabbour. French President Francois Hollande announced the expulsion of the Syrian ambassador in Paris, and Australia also announced that it has requested the charge d'affaires, as well as other diplomats in the Syrian embassy in Canberra, to leave Australia within 72 hours, all in response to the massacre.

UAE revokes citizenship of seven rights activists

Al Alam -  A United Arab Emirates court issued its final decision, withdrawing the citizenship of seven activists. Another Emirati court is looking into the case of blogger Ahmed Abdel Khaleq, who is expected to be exiled to the Comoros Islands. Media and legal reports indicate that in 2009, the Emirates paid 200 million dollars to the Comoros Islands to issue Comorian citizenship to residents of the Emirates who do not have one, or the stateless who are subject to persecution, abuse and are deprived from citizenship rights. It is a chronic problem in the Emirates and several countries of the Persian Gulf.

Six bomb attacks in Baghdad kill at least 17 people

Dubai - In the bloodiest attacks on the Iraqi capital in weeks, six bombings rocked Baghdad today, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens. These attacks broke the weeks of relative calm in Baghdad as the country is witnessing conflict inside the Iraqi government over a political crisis that threatens to fuel sectarian strife again. The bustling residential neighborhood of Shuala in the northwestern part of Baghdad was the most targeted by a wave of bombings that also hit the areas of al-Ghazaliya, al-Ameriya, al-Yarmouk, al-Zafaraniyah and al-Dora. As usual, booby-trapped vehicles and explosive devices claimed the lives of dozens of innocent people, and a state of emergency was declared at the hospitals in the Iraqi capital amid today's new wave of violence targeting civilians.

Image: A Palestinian woman shouts as others carry a flag-covered coffin containing the remains of a Palestinian militant following a ceremony in the West Bank city of Ramallah May 31, 2012. The remains of 91 Palestinian militants whose attacks killed hundreds of Israelis were returned to the West Bank and Gaza on Thursday in a gesture Israel said it hoped could help revive peace efforts. REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

Tonight, the BBC’s Arabic language channel reports on the ongoing demonstrations throughout Syria which call for the end of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime. In a number of Syrian cities today, confrontations erupted between protestors and security forces leading to a number of deaths and injuries. Reports indicate that over 30,000 people participated in the day dubbed by Syrians as the “Day of Dignity.” The Syrian government tried to avoid the anticipated protests with an initiative that the government said would provide better services to citizens, guarantee better living conditions, and restore their freedom and dignity. Despite these efforts, protestors took to the streets chanting the familiar slogan, “The people want to topple the regime.”

In Libya, al-Jazeera reports that new countries have joined the international coalition forces, including the United Arab Emirates. Coalition warplanes continue their air strikes to prevent Gaddafi's brigades from advancing. The UAE has agreed to send 12 warplanes, including six F-16 fighters and six Mirage jets. In the past 24 hours, coalition forces carried out 130 raids. In Misurata, a medical source reported that 109 people were killed and nearly 1,300 others were injured in one week of battles.

Dubai TV reports that supporters of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh held a protest rally to mark what they referred to as the “Day of Steadfastness and Loyalty.” Saleh called on his supporters to hold solidarity protests around the presidential palace while thousands of anti-regime protestors held massive rallies in Change Square, marking a day dubbed the “Friday of Departure.” This news comes a week after 52 people were reportedly killed when Yemeni security forces opened fire at protestors. In a speech to his supporters, Saleh described protest organizers as “adventurous conspirators and drug traffickers.” He also said that he doesn't want to hold onto power but will only hand it over to “honest and capable hands, not malicious or corrupt ones.”

Tonight, ANB interviews the secretary-general of the Progressive Democratic Forum, Dr. Hassan Madan, about the current situation in Bahrain. Dr. Hassan believes that the situation in Bahrain should have been dealt with peacefully by meeting the public’s demands for political and constitutional reform. He said that the intervention by Gulf nation forces has complicated the issue and created an even deeper divide in the country. He states, “We welcome the Gulf to play its role. But this role should be limited to a political one that helps bridge the gap between the opposition and the government, which hasn't been the case so far.”

Al-Alam also reports on Bahrain, as massive protests broke out in Daraz, Dayer, Samahij, and Beni Jamra.. Eyewitnesses say that in response, eyewitnesses say Bahraini security forces launched fierce attacks on protestors, firing tear gas and live ammunition. The authorities also closed down all health centers, and threatened to burn down protestors' homes and strip protestors of their Bahraini citizenship if they don't put an end to the protests and sit-ins. Bahraini opposition blocs called on the U.N. and other Islamic countries to intervene to stop the crackdowns and massacres that are being carried out by authorities.

(Al Jazeera English: 0820 PST, February 8, 2011) Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian president, has been meeting the foreign minister for the United Arab Emirates and announced a roadmap for changes. Mubarak set up three different committees to tackle the changes, but for the protesters in Tahrir Square it is not enough.

The protesters want the president and the government to go now, they want free elections, and a whole new beginning. Al Jazeera's Alan Fisher reports.

Click here for important background information on the unrest in Egypt.

Watch Al Jazeera English's live broadcast stream, online now.