Arab Spring bloggers to meet in Tunis

TUNIS, Tunisia – A man linked by officials to the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi has been conditionally released by a Tunisian judge due to lack of evidence, his lawyer said Tuesday. The release of Ali Harzi, a 26-year-old Tunisian, appears to represent a blow to the investigation of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Libya that killed the U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The investigation in Libya itself has been stalled due to the weak central government in the face of the powerful militias, some of whom may have been involved in the attack.

By Michael Fitzsimmons:In February of 2011 I wrote a Seeking Alpha article entitled "When Will Social Networking Promote Democracy in the United States?" That article was inspired by the "Arab Spring" and the role Google (GOOG), Facebook, Twitter, and other social media companies played in the large and very relevant social revolution going on in the Middle East.

Tunisian Islamist leader Rached Ghannouchi returned to his homeland after more than 20 years in exile on Sunday, eyeing a political future for his Ennahda movement after the fall of Tunisia's regime.British Airways told AFP his plane from London had landed in Tunis airport.The 69-year-old said he was elated as he checked in for his historic flight at London's Gatwick airport, where he posed with a Tunisian flag and embraced relatives before boarding on his way to a country he has not seen since 1989.

A Tunisian journalist and vocal critic of President Zine El Abidine Ben said on Saturday he was kept under constant police surveillance since serving a prison sentence for alleged assault."I go to have my hair cut, they go with me," Taoufik Ben Brik said of his plainclothes shadows, prompting a media watchdog to urge Tunisian authorities to leave him alone."I go to the baker's, they come too," he told AFP by telephone from his Tunis home. "It's as if I was under house arrest."

The Tunisian army launched an assault on Sunday against supporters of ousted president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali holed up inside the presidential palace on the outskirts of Tunis, a security source told AFP."The army has launched an assault on the palace in Carthage where elements of the presidential guard have taken refuge," the senior source said on condition of anonymity.

Submitted by Steve Hass of TheDiplomat.com Why Wasn’t There A Chinese Spring? It has now been two years since the self-immolation of the Tunisian street vendor, Mohamed Bouazizi, provided the spark that set the Arab world aflame. A wave of protests spread throughout the region in quick succession and led to the overthrow of long ruling autocrats in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, and possibly Syria.

Syrian opposition activists opened a conference in Turkey on Wednesday to discuss ways of a regime change in their country and draw up a "roadmap" for a peaceful transition.More than 300 dissidents, mostly exiles representing various opposition and ethnic groups, gathered at a hotel in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, a day after Syrian President Bashar al-Assad decreed an amnesty for political prisoners which they dismissed as inadequate.Organisers said their purpose was to draw up a "roadmap" of a peaceful and democratic transition in Syria.