Recognizing the importance of youth, especially in the Arab world where they comprise upwards of 60% of the population, the Brookings Doha Center, a project of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, has launched an essay contest for young Arabs.  Here are the details:

-- You must be between 20-30 years-old to apply.

-- You must be a citizen of, and reside in, one of the 22 nations of the Arab League. | Read More »

A recent report released by Spot On Public Relations, a Dubai-based marketing company, found that the number of Facebook accounts in the Middle East and North Africa has grown to about 15 million, one million more than the copies of newspapers printed daily in the region.  Indeed, citizens in the MENA region are increasingly turning to new media tools like Facebook to not only network with | Read More »

The first season of a titillating BBC Arabic television program called "What is Not Said" (in Arabic: ما لا يقال) has ended.  As the title indicates, the program aims to shed light on -- and discuss openly --  timely and important topics that are often "not talked" about in Arab society because of cultural and religious sensitivities.  | Read More »

From Ya Libnan:

Lebanon parliament postpones vote on E-Transactions law

Spot On Public Relations, a Dubai-based marketing company, released a study | Read More »

Today a number of MPs and youth organizations publicly condemned parliament’s decision to reject an amendment that would lower the voting age from 21 to 18, blaming the failure of this bill on the allegiances many political parties have to specific religious and sectarian groups. According to reports, if the legal voting age had been lowered, the balance between Sunnis, Shias and Christians would alter in favor of the two former groups. One can speculate that this factor played a role in the decision-making process in parliament on Monday.

Lebanon’s Daily Star covered this story; here is part of the article from today's paper:

Analysts estimate that lowering the voting age would add more than 50,000 Christians to the electorate, mainly Maronites, and about 175,000 Muslims, roughly equally split between Shiites and Sunnis.

The controversial bill has sparked fears of imbalance in Lebanon’s sectarian regime, with MPs opposed to the move demanding that expatriate Lebanese also be given the right to vote outside the country.

Today a number of MPs and youth organizations publicly condemned parliament’s decision to reject an amendment that would lower the voting age from 21 to 18, blaming the failure of this bill on the allegiances many political parties have to specific religious and sectarian groups. According to reports, if the legal voting age had been lowered, the balance between Sunnis, Shias and Christians would alter in favor of the two former groups. One can speculate that this factor played a role in the decision-making process in parliament on Monday.

Lebanon’s Daily Star covered this story; here is part of the article from today's paper:

Analysts estimate that lowering the voting age would add more than 50,000 Christians to the electorate, mainly Maronites, and about 175,000 Muslims, roughly equally split between Shiites and Sunnis.

The controversial bill has sparked fears of imbalance in Lebanon’s sectarian regime, with MPs opposed to the move demanding that expatriate Lebanese also be given the right to vote outside the country.

Arab media outlets have been covering ElBaradei's return to Egypt today with great enthusiasm, this is quite understandable considering the potential role he may play in the upcoming elections. That is, of course, if he decides to run...judging by his new facebook fan page he has a number of ardent supporters. Today amid tight security at the airport he was greeted by about one thousand supporters, many of whom belong to the Kefaya and the Sixth of April Youth movements.

Blogger Issandr El Amrani of The Arabist writes about today's events and the campaign efforts that are already underway:

"Two days ago we went to the office of a small NGO in Downtown Cairo to meet Abdel RahmanYoussef, the poet, television presenter and activist who is being the campaign to draft Mohamed ElBaradei. Youssef and a handful of others are using the office as a temporary HQ for the ElBaradei campaign, and were busy preparing today's welcome at Cairo Airport. | Read More »

Yesterday I attended an event hosted by the Project on Middle East Democracy and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) that examined the current state of human rights in the Arab world. CIHRS released a report recently that criticized the human rights record in the Arab world and pointed to particular trends and developments over the past year that have threatened personal freedoms and hindered regional progress towards improved human rights standards.

I came across an article today in the Los Angeles Times that highlights some similar points made yesterday about human rights and portrays the deterioration of the freedom of expression in Morocco:

"MOROCCO: Pioneer of independent press silenced amid censorship worries"

Morocco is probably among Arab nations with the most vibrant press. But after a decade of openness, press freedom appears to be on the decline again. The latest victim: Le Journal Hebdomadaire, the first publication to openly criticize the monarchy.

One day late last month, Hicham Bennani was putting the final touches on an article for the next edition of the French-language weekly newspaper. It was about the rapid rise of the Parti Authenticité et Modernité, or PAM, also known as the "Parti de l'Ami du Roi" (the party of the king's friend.) | Read More »