Iraq

Thousands took to the streets of  Baghdad  and Southern Shi’ite cities in Iraq on Monday in protest over the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Demonstrators carrying portraits of Nimr rallied outside the Green Zone, a heavily fortified district that houses government departments and diplomatic representations, including the newly reopened Saudi embassy.Police guarding the zone pushed back a group that attempted to cross a line of barbed wire as they chanted “Damned, damned be Al Saud!,” referring to the Saudi ruling family.

Earlier today, in the course of documenting the Mid-East melee that’s set to unfold amid a worsening diplomatic crisis between Iran and Saudi Arabia, we noted that two Sunni mosques were attacked in Iraq on Sunday.

“The attack on the Ammar bin Yasir mosque in central Hilla destroyed its dome and several walls,” Reuters reported. “Another mosque in Hilla's northern outskirts, al-Fath al-Mubeen, was also attacked,” sources said.

Earlier today, in “Mid-East Melee: Sectarian Showdown Looms As Bahrain Cuts Ties With Iran, UAE Recalls Ambassador,” we brought you the latest from the war-torn Mid-East where a worsening spat between Saudi Arabia and Iran threatens to plunge the region into chaos.

Submitted by Ingrid Carlqvist via The Gatestone Institute,

• Some 30 Muslim men thought that the woman was in violation of Islamic sharia law, by being in Sweden unaccompanied by a man. They thought that she should therefore be raped and her teenage son killed.

Submitted by David Stockman via Contra Corner blog,

After the Berlin Wall fell in November 1989 and the death of the Soviet Union was confirmed two years later when Boris Yeltsin courageously stood down the red army tanks in front of Moscow’s White House, a dark era in human history came to an end.