TUNISIA

French Prime Minister Francois Fillon has condemned the petrol bomb attack on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hedbo, saying it was an assault on freedom of expression.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad fully accepted an Arab League peace plan on Wednesday to end seven months of violence and protests.

The offices of the French satirical weekly Charlie Hedbo, which published a special Arab Spring edition Wednesday with the prophet Muhammad as guest editor-in-chief, were destroyed in a petrol bomb attack overnight, police said.

Charlie Hebdo, a French satirical weekly says it has named the Prophet Mohammed as editor-in-chief for its next issue to celebrate the election win of Tunisia's Islamist party.

Fears grew at the time that the disturbances were largely organized by youths using their mobile phones.

Qatar will hold its first legislative election in two years, Qatar News Agency reported, citing a statement by the ruling emir.

President Barack Obama's official Facebook page has been targeted by a sustained string of Facebook comments comparing him to oppressive Arab leaders and questioning the handling of the Occupy Wall Street protests.

The magazine will be temporarily renamed ‘Sharia Hebdo,’ for its next weekly issue.

A warrant has been issued by Tunisia, summoning the widow of deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat over a corruption scandal, the state news agency reported Monday.

North Koreans in Libya are in a trapped in a diplomatic limbo. Their brethren in Tunisia and Egypt have also been prohibited from returning home.

Tunisia's first democratic elections were marred by violent protests in the city of Sidi Bouzid on Thursday night and into Friday.

The leader of the Islamist party which won Tunisia's first free election appealed for calm in the town where the Arab Spring began, accusing forces linked to the ousted president of fanning violence there.

Following the death of Saudi Arabia's Prince Sultan bin Abdelaziz Al Saud on Saturday, King Abdullah has named his half-brother Nayef bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud the country's Crown Prince.

Claiming election fraud, nearly 100 Tunisians protested Tuesday outside the headquarters of the independent electoral body, saying the country's first-ever elections have been marred.

The Islamist Ennahda party was officially declared the winner of Tunisia's election Thursday, setting it up to form the first Islamist-led government in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings.

Scott Olsen, a former U.S. Marine who completed two tours in Iraq, is in critical condition on Thursday, after being hit in the face by a police projectile during an Occupy Oakland protest Tuesday night. Will his injuries galvanize the Occupy movement?

Tunisia's moderate Islamist party said on Wednesday it would put forward one of its officials for the prime minister's job, after it scored a resounding victory in the first election after the Arab Spring uprisings.

After becoming the first Arab Spring country to revolt against the establishment and overthrow a dictator, Tunisia has yet again set an example for emerging Middle East democracies by holding an election that, according to international observers, have been free and fair.

The Islamist Ennahda party, which has won Tunisia's first free election, said on Wednesday it would not impose restrictions on how foreign tourists dress on beaches and would not impose Islamic banking rules, according to state media.

Tunisian Islamist leader Rachid Ghannouchi is seen by many secularists as a dangerous radical, but for some conservative clerics who see themselves as the benchmark of orthodox Islam -- he is so liberal that they call him an unbeliever.

The Islamist leader whose party is now Tunisia's most powerful political force met stock market executives on Wednesday to send the message that the government ushered in by the Arab Spring revolt will be business friendly.