News

A young Saudi blogger and columnist face death sentence
Posted on 26/02/2012 - 17:55
Hamza Kashgari has been deported to his homeland to face trial soon after fleeing from death threats triggered by comments on the social network Twitter seen as blasphemy against the Prophet Mohammad.

One year later: What lays ahead for the future of the Arab Spring countries?
Posted on 04/01/2012 - 15:51
The Arab Spring is entering its second year, and although the end is far from clear, certain patterns are emerging. First among them is that the people, are going to have more to say about their lives and how they are governed than they ever have before. An Egyptian journalist said to me: “This is the first free election we have had in 7000 years.”

In Egypt, volunteers support first-time voters
Posted on 29/11/2011 - 22:10
Egypt has started to vote for its first parliament since Mubarak. Some very dedicated volunteers have been working towards making every vote count.

The real technological impetus for change in the Arab World was never Facebook
Posted on 17/10/2011 - 15:13
Perhaps the only aspect of the Arab World’s recent social change more amusing than the passionate debate it inspires is the frequently pathetic attempts by “experts” to explain how one (a clearly very hypothetical “one”) could have seen it all coming. For multiple reasons, “social media”—a euphemism for Facebook and Twitter—is among the most popular chic explanations of our infallible gurus. However, the social media effect is grossly exaggerated. Actually, the greatest technological instigator of social change arrived in the region when Mark Zuckerberg was in elementary school.

"New Nasser" emerging from Ankara?
Posted on 19/09/2011 - 19:20
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been busy gearing up for an "Arab Spring tour," somewhat prematurely, in which he has visited Egypt, Tunisia and Libya, whose leaders recently have been overthrown.

Ten Years after 9/11, Arab Press Continues to Disseminate Conspiracy Theories
Posted on 10/09/2011 - 15:11
On the tenth anniversary of 9/11, as in previous years, mainstream Arab media are circulating conspiracy theories regarding the terrorist attacks, while avoiding an in-depth discussion of the events and their perpetrators.

Syria: an uprising so far, so close
Posted on 20/08/2011 - 15:58
So far, pictures coming from Damascus were very rare. Between July 4 and August 8, Carole Alfarah, a young Syrian photographer has interviewed Damascenes from the middle-class by asking them two questions: "How do you perceive the revolution in progress?" and "How do you see Syria in the future?" Below are their answers, which do not belong in any way to the photographer herself. (First published by Le Monde.)

Arab Unrest: The latest developments from each country
Posted on 22/06/2011 - 15:00
Countries in the Middle East and North Africa have been swept up in protests against longtime rulers since the January revolt that ousted Tunisian strongman Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. In many cases, these demonstrations and movements have been met with brute force and escalated into seemingly unending violence.

Women in Saudi Arabia demand their freedom and dignity
Posted on 17/06/2011 - 15:32
The kingdom's women are oppressed even by the standards of their region. But some are defying a ban on driving.

Citizen journalism keeps Syria uprising alive
Posted on 26/05/2011 - 13:33
Defying a state-imposed media blackout, Syria’s citizen journalists are keeping protest coverage alive, in a country that until only a few months ago barred access to social media networks.

Defiant Syria vows protest crackdown to continue
Posted on 28/04/2011 - 19:11
Syria defiantly vowed to restore "security and stability" across the country despite growing international censure for its violent crushing of dissent, as activists called for more protests on Friday.

Bahrain detains columnist; journalists located in Libya; violations in Yemen
Posted on 26/04/2011 - 19:15
The Committee to Protect Journalists called on Bahraini authorities to disclose the whereabouts of Haidar Mohammed al-Nuaimi, a columnist for the daily newspaper Al-Wasat.

An unconventional news source, enemy and leader
Posted on 31/03/2011 - 16:20
Whether a hero to applaud or a virus to blame, social media has held an important role in the Arab uprisings this spring. Through its global outreach, it has redefined the media and political landscape of the Arab world. Lebanese graduate Mariam Itani offers her thoughts.

Media playing central role in Arab uprisings
Posted on 12/03/2011 - 13:35
Social media may have played a central role in uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt but mainstream media is also growing in importance across the Arab world.

Arab Cartoonists Get Freer Hand as Governments Ease Censorship
Posted on 11/03/2011 - 13:41
Once a no-fly zone for caricaturists, region’s leaders now get skewered

Mixed sights, sounds and scents of a revolution in Cairo's liberation square
Posted on 10/02/2011 - 00:17
Tahrir sq, standing at the heart of the nation-wide 25 January revolution, presents a plethora of images, sounds and smells.

Tunisians observe three-day mourning for protest victims
Posted on 21/01/2011 - 15:25
Tunisia began to hold three days of national mourning on Friday for the dozens of people killed during protests before and after the ouster of former president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, state television reported.

Tunisia: Another protester killed by police
Posted on 01/01/2011 - 13:59
A protester dies after being shot by police, as activists criticise government repression of protests.

Arab Media Wonders: Where Are the WikiLeaks Cables Critical of Israel?
Posted on 14/12/2010 - 13:38
Arab media are growing more suspicious of WikiLeaks’s selection process of the released U.S cables. Many Arab journalists are wondering why none of these cables are critical of Israel, despite the controversy surrounding its wars in Lebanon and Gaza.

Wikileaks reveals the fear of Arab states against Iranian nuclear power
Posted on 30/11/2010 - 18:29
The publication of some 250,000 classified diplomatic cables by the Wikileaks website has exposed the fact that Arab states see Iran and its nuclear weapons program as the real threat to Middle East stability and their own security.