In The News

Protests rage in Cairo and other Egypt’s cities, despite the government’s unprecedented attempt to cut internet, social media and cell-phone links for citizens. At least 80 percent of the population is said to be affected, but the protests only swell. Riot police enter buildings, trying to prevent broadcast of astounding footage and photographs released from Al Jazeera and other broadcasters....

Confronting ongoing economic hardship and high unemployment rates, Tunisians, Egyptians and others across the Middle East question the value of tawrith, or inherited rule – a nation’s leadership locked up by one family. As protests rise, “dynastic succession in the region’s republics is likely to emerge as the main casualty,” writes Roula Khalaf, Middle East editor for the Financial Times, adding...

Depending on one’s position, the protests that drove the Tunisian president from power inspire either hope or fear about a domino effect. Citizens living under brutal authoritarian regimes throughout the Middle East, from Algeria to Yemen, resent corruption, limited political participation and dismal economic conditions have responded with a burst of anger unnerving leaders and their foreign...