Presenter, Male #1
The Mauritanian parliament challenged all the calls for its dissolution and was held today in a normal session amid a state of paralysis that crippled the country, for an entire month, since the incident when President Mohamed Ould Bin Abdel Aziz was shot. The president's absence and the lack of information regarding his health raised a storm of rumors in Mauritanian society, causing the opposition to raise the ceiling of their usual demands. Reporting from Nouakchott, Mahmoudi Mohamed.

Reporter, Male #2
The opening of the parliamentary session in Mauritania this time around has a particular essence, in the wake of the absence of President Mohamed Ould Bin Abdel Aziz as the opposition and its leaders appeal the legitimacy of this session. The president of the National Assembly is making his way in his car to the session through crowds of dissidents, as everyone there is expecting him to resolve the pieces of the puzzle, even if he was the last one to have spoken to the president by phone in his headquarters in Paris.

Guest, Male #3 (Massoud Ould Belkheir, President of the National Assembly)
The most important thing to me is to make sure he is alive and well. His excellency assured me saying, "My health is improving," as he also confirmed in the conversation I had with him, that he has not suffered from memory loss, thank God.

Reporter, Male #2
Opposition members of parliament were not convinced by the narrative that the president is staying in France only for rest and recuperation. They consider the entire process as a clear fabrication to hide his ambiguous health condition, and perhaps an assassination attempt that has yet to be revealed.

Guest, Male #4 (al-Salek Ould Sayyidi Mahmoud, Deputy of the Opposition Coordination Office)
First, we want the circumstances of the incident to be revealed because that didn't convince us or anyone else. Second, we want to know his real health condition, and who is ruling Mauritania today, and with what legitimacy does he do so?

Reporter, Male #2
The constitutional vacuum, for supporters of Ould Bin Abdel Aziz, is a big lie. Therefore, parliament's session is legitimate and irreproachable. Protesting parliament's session reflects what the situation in Mauritania has reached, after the incident in which President Ould Bin Abdel Aziz was shot, and the controversy and contradicting stances of the incident as well as the president's health condition, during the past 30 days. Mahmoudi Mohamed, Dubai TV, Nouakchott.

Presenter, Female #1
Qatari Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jassim al-Thani confirmed that the opposition Syrian National Coalition is the legitimate representative of the Syrian people, and the main interlocutor with the Arab League. Russian Prime Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Riyadh tomorrow as clashes and shelling continue in several parts of Syria.

Reporter, Female #2
During an Arab foreign ministers' meeting, the Arab League recognized the Syrian National Coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian opposition. Following the meeting, the league issued a statement calling on all opposition factions to join the National Coalition so it can be inclusive of the entire spectrum of the Syrian people, without any exceptions. It also urged regional and international organizations to recognize it the way the Arab League has.

Guest, Male #1 (Hamad bin Jassim al-Thani, Qatari Prime Minister)
We call on the remaining opposition factions to join this national coalition, so that it's inclusive of the entire spectrum of the Syrian people, without any exception or discrimination. We urge regional and international organizations to recognize it as the legitimate representative of the aspirations of the Syrian people. We will work with the National Coalition and the opposition, considering the coalition to be the legitimate and sole representative-- no, just representative, I apologize-- and the main interlocutor with the Arab League. The league is also calling for granting political and financial support to this entity.

Guest, Male #2 (Nabil al-Arabi, Secretary-General of the Arab League)
The blind cycle of violence is still leading to thousands of victims. It is pushing this important and brotherly Arab nation, which is a founder of the Arab League, toward chaos and disintegration due to the intransigence of the regime that announced a war against those asking for change and reform.

Reporter, Female #2
The coalition's president, Ahmad Moad al-Khatib, asked that opposition fighters be supplied with specialized weapons. Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said that his country will support the coalition following a meeting with its leaders. He said the Syrian opposition has taken a very important step. The statement comes on the eve of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's meeting in Riyadh with his counterparts from the Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss the struggle in Syria.

Reporter, Female #2
On the ground, an explosion took place in the city of al-Raqqah that targeted the convoy of the governor of the city. The governor and his companions were seriously injured. The official SANA news agency reported an explosive device was detonated by a terrorist group near the Church of Our Lady of Annunciation in al-Raqqah, injuring a woman. The southern districts of Damascus witnessed clashes between groups of opposition fighters and regime forces that are shelling a number of areas in the district, and particularly the al-Tadamon neighborhood, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Observatory reported military reinforcement was sent by regime forces to the outskirts of the city of Ras al-Ain, in al-Hasaka Province. Opposition fighters took over the city last Friday, and it is reportedly being shelled.

Reporter, Female #2
Several other parts in the countryside of Damascus and Idlib Province have also come under artillery shelling as clashes took place in several neighborhoods of Deir az-Zour between regime forces and opposition fighters.

IBA reports that it was quiet in the Golan Heights following Israeli retaliatory fire after Syrian mortars fell on Israeli territory over the past two days. Officers of the Northern Command said that they do not expect further flare-ups, but the troops remained on high alert just in case. Along Syria's northern border with Turkey, at least one person was killed and several wounded when Syrian fighter jets hit the town of Ras al-Ain, which Syrian government forces lost to the rebels last week.

Meanwhile, at a meeting with Arab League ministers in Cairo, European Union policy chief Catherine Ashton and UK Foreign Minister William Hague welcomed the formation of the new Syrian opposition coalition. The International Red Cross organization also announced that 2.5 million Syrians have been uprooted from their homes due to the war.

Israeli taxpayers will spend three billion shekels to bail out the Israel Electric Corporation. The Knesset Finance Committee approved the Treasury's decision to pay off the debt run up by the public utility company, and will immediately hand over one billion shekels, with another two billion set to be allocated in 2013. The Treasury says that if it failed to come up with the money, the public would have to have paid much higher prices out of pocket for electrical costs. The Finance Committee has conditioned the bailout on the IEC's implementation of a long-awaited reform designed to improve the corporation's efficiency.

Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister for Arabic and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian says it will host the Syrian national dialogue next week. The one-day meeting will be held with the main theme of "No to Violence, Yes to Democracy," and will include the participation of different ethnic, political, and governmental representatives to Syria.

Egypt's ambassador to Lebanon, Ashraf Hamdi, says his country supports Hezbollah as an important force to protect Lebanon against Israel. He made the comments in a meeting with Hassan Ezzeddine, Hezbollah's official in charge of Arabic affairs and relations.

In Iran, more high-tech air defense technologies, jets, bombers, and drones are put to the test on the second day of the military drills called "The Defenders of Velayat Skies 4," the biggest aerial defense drills in Iran's history. During the exercises, Iranian air defense systems successfully targeted and brought down mock enemy planes. Members of the Iran Air Force say that they are using new scramble techniques and tactics, and are testing new Iran-made drones and aerial systems that track and destroy them. In other drills, they also successfully neutralized psychological warfare and software attacks.

Press TV reports that talks between the US and Taliban are continuing in the Qatari capital Doha, where the group has a political office, but many in the war-torn country say the US has resorted to these talks because it has failed in its campaign there. Britain, a key US ally, has also put its sway behind the negotiations. Afghan MP Farkhonda Naderi says that she isn't opposed to talks between the Taliban and the US, but says they should be led by Afghans, not Americans. The talks were suspended by Taliban leader Mullah Omar after US forces burned copies of the Quran in Bagram Air Base earlier this year. In Afghanistan, fighting continues as the Taliban step up their attacks on foreign troops.

Presenter, Male #1
Speaking about Afghanistan, a top-ranking commander at the Haqqani network, considered the most dangerous insurgent faction in Afghanistan, said the network will take part in peace talks with the United States, but only under the direction of its Afghan Taliban leaders. On the ground, at least four rockets were fired today in the Afghan capital, killing one person and injuring three others.

Presenter, Male #1
The rockets fell in the northeastern part of Kabul, near a private television station and an office used by the Afghan intelligence service. The renewed rocket attacks are a reminder of the security challenges the country faces, as most NATO forces are getting ready to leave by the end of 2014.

Presenter, Male #2
Not far from Afghanistan, two people were killed and nine others were injured after a bomb planted on a bicycle exploded in Balochistan Province. The bomb targeted Pakistani security forces. Rescue teams rushed to the scene to begin their operations, while security forces cordoned off the area and started an investigation to catch the culprits.

Reporter, Male #3
The scene of destroyed cars is now familiar, as some Pakistani cities have recently been witnessing explosions. The latest was a bomb blast that occurred Tuesday morning in the southwestern city of Quetta, killing at least two people and injuring dozens, including three Pakistani security personnel. The bomb was placed on a bicycle and detonated from a distance as police were patrolling a main road in Quetta, the capital of the turbulent Balochistan Province.

Reporter, Male #3
The bomb seemingly targeted a vehicle belonging to these forces. The blast also led to the destruction of a number of stores and houses in the area. According to media reports, the blast was followed by gunfire. No party has claimed responsibility for the blast. The oil and gas-rich Balochistan Province that is surrounded by Iran and Afghanistan is frequently subjected to armed attacks by insurgents that reside in the province. The province also faces sectarian violence and attacks launched by the extremist Taliban movement.

Presenter, Male #1
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees warned today of a growing humanitarian emergency in western Burma, calling on neighboring countries to open their borders to the Rohingya Muslim minority fleeing the sectarian violence directed against them. Meanwhile, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi embarked on a visit to India today, her first in four decades. Burmese citizens gathered outside New Delhi Airport to welcome her. Burma is dealing with sectarian tension between Buddhists and Muslims that has led to the killing of 180 Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State since July. It has also led to the displacement of 110,000 others.

Presenter, Male #1
The situation in the Gaza Strip is still prone to further escalation in the wake of Israeli threats that resistance factions are taking seriously. Meanwhile, the factions took surprising action in the latest clashes as they met to agree on a unified position to confront the possible Israeli scenarios.

Reporter, Male #2
There were Israeli strikes despite talks of a truce. These strikes mainly targeted training facilities of the Palestinian resistance. And with that, Israel seems to be disturbing the calm to accomplish a specific goal. Palestinian resistance factions had something to say about this Israeli policy.

Guest, Male #3 (Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas Spokesman)
As long as the aggression continues, we will continue to protect our people. We will not blink. A return of calm is tied to Israel stopping its aggression on our Palestinian people.

Reporter, Male #2
This time, the resistance factions adopted a unanimous position, demonstrating a development credited to the Palestinian resistance's understanding of its circumstances, and its accuracy in addressing probable Israeli scenarios.

Guest, Male #4 (Kayed al-Ghul, Member of the Political Office of the Popular Front)
We confirm the importance of forming a single resistance front, and unifying the efforts of all the forces, and unifying plans to resist the Israeli aggression that can happen at any moment.

Reporter, Male #2
Amid the surprising actions of the resistance on the ground, Israel's choices are no longer as easy as they were in the past. This is what led Israel to seek an international umbrella for an attack that can rebuild its deterring capability without engaging in a major war.

Guest, Male #5 (Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel)
Our people have the right to defend their land and to carry out any appropriate response to stop these attacks. This is not only our right, it's our duty.

Reporter, Male #2
These threats are being taken seriously in Gaza. And the expectations of the government and the factions in Gaza were made clear in the series of security procedures they adopted.

Guest, Male #6 (Talal Awkal, Political Analyst)
Israel will focus on assassinations, on limited incursions here and there, on shelling some installations, on shelling some rocket launching pads, or hiding places.

Reporter, Male #2
In most cases, calm between the two sides is fickle. But today, it could disappear if Israel takes a harsh stance on Gaza, the repercussions of which will surely extend beyond the Strip's geographical borders. Wael al-Dahdouh, Al Jazeera, Gaza, Palestine.

Presenter, Male #1
In the city of Ramallah in the West Bank, work to open the tomb of the Palestinian Authority's late president, Yasser Arafat, has started ahead of completely opening it on November 26.

Presenter, Male #1
The goal is to take samples of his remains in the presence of international experts who are investigating the cause of his death. Today, the work began to remove the layer of concrete and stones that surround Arafat's tomb, and the work will continue for almost 15 days.

Presenter, Male #1
Arafat was buried in the city of Ramallah after he died in a French military hospital in 2004, but the cause of his death was not determined.

Presenter, Male #1
Six years have passed since the death of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat; however, Abu Ammar remains an essential figure in Palestinian society. Through people who are proud to resemble him and drawings of him on walls and streets, Arafat remains alive in the hearts of the Palestinians.

Reporter, Male #2
Among the lines of shoppers in the Ramallah fruits and vegetable market, there is a familiar face, but the real Yasser Arafat is in his grave. Salem Smirat is a look-alike of the late Palestinian president. He offers his services at weddings and birthday parties.

Guest, Male #3
Everyone here, our entire people love Yasser Arafat.

Reporter, Male #2
Since his early years in the armed resistance, the real Arafat rarely stayed away from headlines. For many Israelis he was a terrorist, and then he was an untrustworthy peace partner. As for the Palestinians, their memories are completely different. He was a person who tirelessly worked every day for their cause, and embodied their struggle against the Israeli occupation. Much of Abu Ammar's archives are available at the Yasser Arafat Foundation in Ramallah. The president of the foundation believes Arafat is the father of the Palestinians, and he does like to engage in the allegations of corruption during Arafat's era.

Guest, Male #4 (Mansour Sahboub, Yasser Arafat Foundation)
A person loves his father and respects him, but if you recall everything he did throughout his life, you'll find some mistakes here and there.

Reporter, Male #2
There is no doubt that Yasser Arafat was a hero, a symbol, and a person who unified the Palestinian cause for the majority of Palestinians. People here speak about him with genuine warmth, and not many criticize him, publically at least, but there are a few who do. Some say Arafat was an old-school Arab leader, and they wonder how he would've reacted to the era of the Arab Spring.

Guest, Male #5 (Hazem Abu Hilal, Political Activist)
There was a lot of corruption in Yasser Arafat's era, and in some cases he was dictator-like in the way he managed the situation here in Palestine.

Reporter, Male #2
Perhaps Arafat's greatest legacy is his very powerful and influential personality. No one has been able to fill his place. For example, there are not a lot of pictures that glorify the current president, Mahmoud Abbas. Palestinians may have a look-alike of Arafat, but for many of them, the real Abu Ammar is irreplaceable.

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