Is Libya well and truly on its way to democracy? Or is the country still too divided just 9 months after Gadaffi's death? Laura Baines's panel discusses Tripoli's road to democracy.
Algerian writer Boualem Sansal was due to receive a prize of 15,000 euros. But because of the novelist’s visit to Israel in May, the prize’s Arab sponsors withdrew the award and “divorced” themselves from a prize they had set up themselves.
The new, Beirut-based pan-Arab TV station Al Mayadeen attempts to redress the perceived biases of the Sunni Gulf Arab-financed channels such as Al Jazeera. But will Al Mayadeen be truly objective and independent?
At 2 pm Paris time on Monday 11th June, the Arabic news channel Al Mayadeen will go live on a satellite network around the world. Its slogan: "Reality like it is". The channel's bosses and a dozen or so of its staff all used to work at Al Jazeera. Now they say their former employer's coverage of the Arab Spring was biased, and that it seeks to push the diplomatic agenda of its Qatari founders. But Al Mayadeen has its own political ties - with Damascus and Tehran.
In his new documentary, “The Oath of Tobruk,” Bernard-Henri Levy details how a self-promoting leftist intellectual persuaded a conservative French president to back the Libyan revolt.
Egypt's presidential run-off next month will pit former prime minister Ahmed Shafiq against Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohammed Mursi. An outcome branded a nightmare scenario by many of those whose protests ousted Hosni Mubarak last year. As each candidate seeks to win allies and woo the Egyptian public, the campaign is becoming increasingly divisive. On Monday night Ahmed Shafiq's campaign HQ was attacked.
Egypt has just held the first free and democratic presidential election of its history. The run-off will take place mid-June. A few days before this historic vote, France 24 went to meet Egyptian voters.
Marc Perelman meets Ali Soufan, former FBI special agent and expert on Yemen. They discuss the role of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. Ali Soufan explains why he believes the Yemen-based branch of al Qaeda is probably the most dangerous of the whole group.
Ask Algerians about their parliamentary elections and they’ll talk about "le pouvoir", the murky military-backed clans that pull the strings of power. François Picard’s panel weighs in on why elections may not matter just yet in an oil and gas-rich nation wary of Arab Spring protests against inequality.
For years, Arab citizens were unfairly demonised or totally ignored. Now, they are not only reclaiming their history but many of them, especially the younger generation, are giving the rest of the world a lesson in freedom and democracy. Douglas Herbert meets Marwan Bishara, Al Jazeera's senior political analyst, who analyses the situation in his new book, “The Invisible Arab”.
