ELECTIONS

French Socialists candidates for the 2011 French Socialist Party presidential primary Aubry and Hollande attend summer meeting of the French Socialist Party in La Rochell

French Socialist Presidential Primaries: Who Will Face Sarkozy?

The race for the socialist presidential candidate has now truly started after an unprecedented open primary held on Sunday saw previous presidential runner up Segolene Royale ousted, leaving Francois Hollande, and Martine Aubry to fight for the chance to run against President Nicholas Sarkozy in next year's presidential election.

Tunisia: Secular-Religious Tensions Signs of a Struggle for Identity?

Tunisian
Tunisian police on Sunday broke up a mob of angry Salafists who tried to attack a TV network that aired a film on the Iranian revolution, raising fears the growing movement could provoke more unrest just two weeks away from elections where Tunisians will choose members of a constituent assembly tasked with crafting a new constitution.

Iran sentences actress to 90 lashes

Marzieh Vafamehr
The news that Iranian actress Marzieh Vafamehr has been sentenced to a year in jail and 90 lashes for her role in a film about the limits imposed on artists in the Islamic republic speaks of a dangerous level of censorship and intolerence in the country.
More news
Obama

Obama’s Next Presidential Campaign: Underdog as A Winning Tactic?

After winning over the U.S. and the world with his 'Yes we can' slogan, Obama's next presidential campaign announces itself gloomier and harder than its precedent as a new poll suggest a majority of Americans expect him to be a one-term president, only, prompting the president to call himself an 'underdog.'
Berber

Berbers, Other Groups Stake Their Claims on the 'New Libya'

While the situation in Libya is still far from stable as the National Transitional Council forces are still fighting pro-Gaddafi forces and the new government struggles to implement the transitional plan regulating the transitional phase, emerging political voices are starting to surface. For example include the Berbers, who after fighting with the NTC now want to be assured more political space in the 'new' Libya.
Saudi-Women-Driving.

Does the Saudi Kingdom See Women’s Rights as Unnecessary?

Just two days after Saudi King Abdullah's announced that Saudi women would be allowed to participate in elections, two Saudi women were punished for breaking the ban on female driving with one being sentenced to 10 lashes by a court in Jeddah while another was detained in Riyadh, leading rights activists to question the King's apparent new reformist tendencies.
Logo IBTimes vertical

Eurozone Debt Crisis: The Pain in Spain

I was speaking to a young couple from Madrid a couple of weeks back. They were on a camping holiday, a treat paid partly by their respective parents. Things were very bad in Spain they told me and both were most concerned about getting work. The young lady said: "Everybody's going to either Madrid or Barcelona...Really the only two places in the country where you can find anything. It's not good in the north (of Spain) and the south is just devastated."
Protesters gather for Friday prayers in Tahrir square in Cairo

Is Egypt Proof that the Arab Spring Failed?

Months after ousting Mubarak, the dictator who many called the Pharaoh, Egyptians are still living under emergency laws and are ruled by a military council full of the former president's old ministers and advisors while the economic and social situation has slowly continued to degrade.
Anna Hazare

Anna Hazare: Working For or Against Democracy?

Anna Hazare is still making the headlines as, in addition to being embattled in a fight with the Indian government, the anti-corruption activist's determination to continue his hunger strike, has now been criticised by top ruling party figure Rahul Gandhi, a descendent of one of the most powerful political families in the country.
Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi

Colonel Gaddafi: The Godfather of Libya and Sugar Daddy of the African Union?

The collapse of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime has made the headlines for the last six months. An enemy of the West that went through a short rehabilitation period was seen in Africa as a Pan-Africanist. While Gaddafi had instated a real cult of personality in Libya, with statues and images of him adorning the streets, his attitude also made him a well-known figure throughout the continent.
Muammar Gaddafi

Libya Conflict and The Gadhafi Regime Collapse: Is the Revolution Over?

As the 41-year-old regime of Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi is falling apart, leaving space for the National Transitional Council to take over the country, analysts are already attempting to look at the consequences of the fall of the man that managed to cling to power for so many years.