WORLD

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.

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.

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.

News of the murder of prominent Syrian Kurdish activist Mishaal al-Tammo comes on the back of several high-profile assassinations and attempts on the lives of public figures around the world in the last 12 months.

Despite months of protests, Yemeni President Saleh, 69, has remained defiant, reversing repeated pledges to quit and while fears of al-Qaeda's influence have been voiced, other criteria also threaten the country's stability. With Saleh's new pledge to leave power now in doubts, the future of Yemen is once more in tatters.

The birthplace of ousted Libyan dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi, Sirte has risen from relative obscurity to become the focus both of Gaddafi's grandiose ambitions and for the revolutionaries struggling to seal their hard-won victory.

Despite its brutal crackdown on protesters and international calls to step down, the Syrian regime remains defiant, with the foreign minister Sunday threatening "tough measures" against any country that recognizes the newly formed opposition council.

Clashes between Coptic Christian protesters and Egyptian security forces killed at least 24 people and injured 200 in Cairo Sunday, authorities said.

These are a selection of images from the past few days which capture the ongoing Occupy Wall Street campaign as it begins to spread across the country.

Muammar Gaddafi is back in the spotlight, calling on Libyans to take to the streets and wage a campaign of civil disobedience against the country's new leaders, and shows he after all approves of revolution, just when they are not against him, that is.

Welcome to this weeks IBTimes Top Ten Tech Articles and Rumours. Congratulations to the technology team who have worked around the clock to cover all the events this week, although we did quite enjoy staying late to cover the Lets talk iPhone conference! Our thoughts go out to Steve Jobs, who made our jobs as technology journalists that much more fun, he will be sorely missed.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, 72, known as the "Iron Lady" by her supporters, has been named as one of three joint winners of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, just six years after she became the first elected female heads of state.

Friday 7 October marks the 10th anniversary of the foreign troop's intervention in Afghanistan and recent polls show that 66 per cent of women said they feel safer now than they did 10 years ago and 72 per cent believe their lives are better now than they were 10 years ago. However, 87 per cent of all women in Afghanistan suffer domestic abuse, proving that there is still a long way to go before Afghan women can truly feel protected.

Anonymous has released a fresh batch of videos chronicling yet more alleged incidents of New York police brutality against Occupy Wall Street protesters.

Italian Prime Minister Sergio Berlusconi caused another scandal when he joked that the Forzia Italia (Go Italy) party should change its name to "Go Pussy" to improve its ratings in the polls.

After 10 years of foreign military presence, the future of Afghanistan looks gloomy, with a weak and struggling government accused of corruption and an increase in violent insurgency as the promised withdrawal in 2014 looms.

A 47,000 tonne container vessel containing heavy fuel oil is leaking its contents after striking a reef off the coast of New Zealand.

Hundreds of people have marched through the streets of the Afghan capital Kabul, demanding the immediate withdrawal of foreign military forces a day before the 10th anniversary of the U.S. invasion.

Following the slew of alleged incidents of police brutality by New York police against Occupy Wall Street protesters, hacker collective Anonymous has issued a series of statements attacking U.S. President Barack Obama.

The Palestinian Authority has won a first diplomatic victory after the country gained initial approval of a bid for full membership in UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, a move deemed "inexplicable" by the United States.

Russia's Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced his plan to bring ex-Soviet states into a "Eurasian Union" in an article which outlined his first foreign policy initiative as he is preparing his return to the Kremlin as the country's next president.

A new group reportedly made up of Syrian military defectors which calls itself the Free Syrian Army have said they plan to overthrow President Bashar Assad's "murderous" regime.

Tributes have poured in following Steve Jobs' untimely death, including messages from Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Sergey Brin and President Barack Obama.

Steve Jobs death at the age of 56 brings to an end one of the most pioneering lives in technological history.

We take a look at the rollercoaster ride that was Steve Jobs. The ups and downs are numerous, from Jobs getting sacked, to becoming CEO of Apple Inc.

Sarah Palin has announced she will not run for President in 2012 putting an end to months of speculation about whether or not she would enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination.

Apple’s chairman and ex-CEO has been found dead just a few hours ago days after the iPhone 4S launch.

As the Battle for Sirte continues, more and more residents of the city which also is Muammar Gaddafi's birth-place, have started to blame Libya's new transitional government and its Western allies for the death and destruction brought on their city following weeks of fighting.

Samsung Wants iPhone4S Banned in Europe .Samsung wants Apple’s iPhone4S banned in Europe due to a patent infringement the company has announced Wednesday.