Spanish farmers hard hit by credit crisis

The agricultural sector has been particularly hard hit by the credit crisis. FRANCE 24 takes a closer look and reports from Spain, where farmers are set to stage a strike this Friday in protest at plunging prices.

FOCUS

From Madrid, France 24 correspondent Sarah Morris explains the upcoming strike in Spain.

Spanish farmers say Spain's agricultural sector is in a state of bankruptcy, and have gone so far as to say that it’s the “worst crisis ever”. For the first time, the three main farmer’s unions have joined forces to call for a nationwide stoppage on November 20th, to be followed by a rally to protest the low producer prices that are forcing many of them out of business. They are urging the government to set up a rescue plan for the sector, and they want this package to include minimum prices indexed to costs.

According to official data, they have been squeezed by a 26-percent drop in real income between 2003 and 2008 and a hike in costs of 34.3 percent, which has added 124,000 to Spain's already growing dole queues. Farm-gate prices have also collapsed in the past year and now no longer cover estimated costs. Our reporters met Paco, a 61 year-old farmer, who's now selling at a loss.

Students in Quebec march against tuition fee hike

Student protests in the Canadian province Quebec are into their fourth month. Hundreds were arrested at marches to mark 100 days since the protests began. Students are demonstrating against an 80 percent rise in tuition fees in Quebec, the Canadian province that has until now enjoyed the country's lowest rates for higher education.

Egyptians head to the polls

Egyptians go to the polls in the country's first truly contested presidential election on Wednesday. With an array of candidates to choose from, voters will decide who's the best man to lead them through the last phase of the country's troubled democratic transition that began with Egypt's revolution in January last year. Cairo correspondents Kathryn Stapley and Sonia Dridi talked to some of the activists whose protests in Tahrir Square changed the course of Egypt's history.

A troubling time for Egypt's Coptic Christians

Egyptians go to the polls tomorrow to vote for a new president for the first time since Hosni Mubarak was ousted during the revolution last year. Two of the front-runners in the presidential race with a realistic chance of winning are devout Islamists, which is troubling for Egypt's Coptic Christians. They are Egypt's largest religious minority and many of them don't think any of the candidates are capable of protecting them from the religious violence that has been steadily increasing.

'The Battle of the Empty Stomachs'

Palestinians nicknamed it "the battle of the empty stomachs". For weeks, 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails refused food and drink in what became the longest ever mass hunger strike. Israel finally capitulated and a deal was reached, allowing those in isolation back onto the general wards, and visas for those family members wishing to visit from Gaza. In exchange, prisoners agreed not to carry out "security activities" such as recruiting for terrorist missions.

Serbia's new president - nationalist or not?

Serbia has elected a new president - and it's not the one that most people were expecting. Tomislav Nikolic has unseated Boris Tadic, the man in power since 2004. Observers are worried about the new head of state, who used to be part of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party. He once said he would prefer to be allied with Russia than join the EU, but he has since toned down the rhetoric, saying he will take Serbia to Europe after all.