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Yesterday – day 22 of the Tunisian uprising – the US State Department made its first public comment on events in Tunisia and neighbouring Algeria. A senior official said:
We’re certainly watching what’s happening both in Tunisia and Algeria with a great deal of interest. We did call in the… Read more
It is three weeks today since Mohamed Bouazizi lit the flame in Tunisia. How are we to regard the events since then? How should we characterise them?
Writing for the Guardian last week, I used the word "uprising", though I can't say I gave it a lot of thought at the time. Based on… Read more
Where freedom of speech is not allowed, people still find ways to express their message. Students at an engineering institute in Tunis arranged themselves to spell out the words "tunus hurra" (Free Tunisia) on Monday. Schools and colleges in the capital had been surrounded by… Read more
As the Tunisian uprising continues on the ground with no sign of abating, the battle over information is intensifying on the internet.
Yesterday there were numerous reports of Tunisians' Facebook pages and email accounts being hacked – presumably by the regime – with Yahoo users… Read more
Mohamed Bouazizi, the jobless young man who set fire to himselfin Tunisia last month triggering a wave of anti-government demonstrations across the country, died of his injuries last night, according to a report on the nawaat website.
Bouazizi, 26, was selling fruit and vegetables in… Read more
There are calls for a general strike in Tunisia tomorrow (Monday), according to various posts on Twitter. Meanwhile, more and more videos are appearing on the nawaat blog showing protests around the country.
I was particularly fascinated by one video showing a small but… Read more
Yemen's parliament has begun debating constitutional changeswhich, among other things, would allow President Salih to continue in power indefinitely.
The presidency is currently limited to two seven-year terms – meaning that Salih must leave office in 2013. Salih has already been in power in… Read more
The Saudi ministry of culture and information has finally issued its long-threatened regulations "to protect society from erroneous practices in electronic publishing".
Along with most Arab regimes, the Saudis are nervously aware that the internet and other forms of electronic… Read more
The Tunisian regime seems to be clutching at straws. Yesterday, the official news agency reported that six local organisations, including the Road Traffic Association and the Professional Association of Banks, have congratulated President Ben Ali on hisrecent speech.
They allegedly think… Read more
A bomb exploded outside a church in Egypt last night. The Egyptian health ministry says at least 21 people were killed and 43 injured. The interior ministry had earlier put the death toll at seven.
Initial reports blamed a car bomb, though officials are now suggesting it was a… Read more
ARAB ART ONLINE: Susan Hefuna: Al Sabr Gamil (Patience is Beautiful) 2007. Ink stained on wood 140 x 170 cm. More information | Click to enlarge
