Politics

A tiny courtroom was yesterday the scene of the first of a four day hearing to decide if the City of London can evict the Occupy LSX campsite by St Paul’s Cathedral. At the same time a breather was given to the protesters as the Judge dealing with UBS (which used to mean Union Bank of Switzerland) request to vacate the Bank of Ideas postponed the case till January.

The world will remember Mr. Vaclav Havel as a great man who took several personal great risks to improve the situation in his country, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Sunday, the day that the Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician died died in his sleep at dawn after a lengthy illness, at the age of 75.

With celebrations and tears of joy, the Palestinian prisoners reunited with their families and friends on Sunday in Gaza and West Bank.

Thousands of Palestinians gathered outside the Palestinian Presidential compound in Ramallah in order to welcome the 509 released Palestinian prisoners and celebrate the great moment.

In a new attempt to tighten the siege on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Occupation Forces have imposed a sea border at 3 nautical miles away from Gaza’s seashore by placing large floats with big lights signs in order to restrict fishermen’s work and ban them from crossing this border as well as imposing a new buffer zone similar to the one along Gaza’s eastern and northern border

Despite predictions that liberal, leftist and secular forces would be the main rivals to the FJP (Freedom and Justice Party), a combination of factors led to a disappointing performance.

Cairo – Morocco’s legislative elections, that took place a year early following constitutional changes as part of the kingdom’s response to the Arab Spring, resulted in a triumphant victory for the Islamist Justice and Development Party (PJD). It gained 107 of 395 seats, just over 27%, making it by far the largest party in parliament.

Paris – The Palestinian flag was raised for the first time at the Paris headquarters of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as the agency marked Palestine’s admission as a full member.

Reporters Without Borders roundly condemns the two-year jail sentence that the supreme military court of appeals in Cairo imposed today on Maikel Nabil Sanad, a blogger who has been held since March on a charge of insulting the military in a blog entry.

The Israeli prison service announced on Wednesday the names of the
detainees who will be released in the second phase of the swap deal which is
planned to be concluded next Sunday.

The first phase was implemented on Oct 18, and witnessed the release
of 447 Palestinian prisoners in exchange of the former captured Israeli soldier Gila’ad Shalit.

Dr Ibrahim Nahel Othman (alias Khaled Al-Hakim, member of Damas Doctors coordination committee), was killed last Saturday by security forces of Bachar Al-Assad in a northern village of Syria. He was helping the wounded activists protesting each day against the Syrian regime.
(from «la Mort en Vienne», Ossama Mohamed syrian filmmaker, Vienna
international film festival 2011)