One huge step for Palestine towards a little more international recognition and to the disappointment of The US and Israel, Palestine has moved up from being an "Observer Entity" to an "Observer State" at The United Nations General Assembly.

The change came after an impressive majority vote that comes on the 65th anniversary of the adoption of U.N. resolution 181 that partitioned Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.
As Abbas said in his speech addressing the Assembly: "The General Assembly is called upon today to issue a birth certificate of the reality of the State of Palestine".

He got a standing ovation after his speech ... But for me there's something wrong with the fact that we are asking for recognition and an issuing of a birth certificate for a state that has been in existence for more than 65 years ... don't you think so too? What sad truth that is ...

The elected Egyptian president, Mohammad Morsi, has officially proclaimed himself the new Pharaoh of Egypt ... You may ask, why? Well, although he has come after a revolution that asks for democracy, justice and freedom of practically everything, he has denounced democracy, put freedom aside and laughed in the face of the judiciary system when he announced new decrees giving him absolute power and not only that but immunity from having his decisions subject to review! That's the definition of a Pharaoh to me!

The revolution in Egypt overthrew Hosni Mubarak for similar reasons, but even his decisions were never above the law!

Preparations are underway in the East Coast and New York as the threat of Hurricane Sandy approaches. Officials in the United States are on their toes because of the massive threat posed by this massive hurricane.

According to forecasters, this hurricane could be the biggest ever to strike the U.S. You see, the storm is more than 700 miles wide and has maximum sustained winds of 75 miles per hour. No doubt it will bring about massive destruction to property and lives. Add to the fact that it is set to merge with two other systems as it approaches inland.

Hosni Mubarak was sentenced to life in prison earlier this morning and would by now be at the Tora prison where he will spend the next 25 years of his life! He will be 109 years old by the time his sentence is complete.

Watching this breaking news on TV and later checking what online newspapers wrote about this; I'm left wondering about Hosni Mubarak tears the moment his helicopter landed at Tora prison; a security official told AFP that Mubarak refused to leave the helicopter and was crying and would not get out of the helicopter.
Was Mubarak crying for real? Did he finally regret what he did ... ?

The second thing I felt confused about, is a photo of Hosni Mubarak supporters crying after they heard the verdict?!

Will the current and future Arab Leaders learn something from the death of Al Gaddafi and the historic trial of Hosni Mubarak? Will Mubarak be the last Arab leader to be tried?

Aspiring reporters and journalists in Tunisia were able to benefit from the talk delivered by famed Middle East journalist and author Robert Fisk. If you must know, Fisk is one of the most fearless journalists of this age. He’s one of the Middle East correspondents for the British paper “The Independent” and has been for many years. With his experience, he’s the perfect guy to tap as speaker in the non-profit Journalism Foundation’s project conference which aimed to train young Tunisian on “how to reports in a democracy.”

Saudi women can now shop for underwear without embarrassment and fear after the implementation of a new law that bans men from working in lingerie stores across the kingdom! The rise of this law started after King Abdullah issued a royal decree last June that all lingerie shops must only be staffed with women.

As can be expected in a conservative country, lots of people protested against it but there’s nothing they can do now because the king himself has ordered it. Saudi’s Labour Minister Adel Fakieh told AFP that all preparations are in progress to fully implement the king’s order. About 400 inspectors have now been employed to ensure the new law is followed in stores all over Saudi Arabia.

Clerics and retailers can complain all they want but the wind of change has commenced for women in Saudi Arabia. Some might not think of this as a big deal but for the women of Saudi it is! They can shop freely for undergarments now that don’t need to ask for assistance from male staff.

2011 was quite a different year especially for the Arab World! It all started in Tunisia and spread all across the Arab World, Egypt, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain, Syria ...
If you search the web today about the Arab Uprisings or Arab Spring as many agreed to call it, here are some surprising numbers of the search results that you will get:

Arab Uprising: About 18,100,000 results
Arab Spring : About 212,000,000 results
Arab Revolution 2011: About 47,000,000 results

Tunisian Revolution: About 6,870,000 results
Revolution of 14 January: About 107,000,000 results

Egypt Revolution: About 12,600,000 results
Revolution of 25 January: 90,600,000 results

Libyan Revolution: About 39,300,000 results
Revolution of 17 February: About 84,200,000 results

Syrian Revolution 2011: About 14,900,000 results

Yemen Uprising 2011: About 4,610,000 results

Our generation finally got back their voices, freedom, creativity, and souls!

Long Live the Arab World.
Long Live Tunisia
Long Live Egypt
Long Live Libya
Long Live Yemen
Long Live Syria
.....

* Photo above is of ousted Presidents: (from left to right) Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Ali Abdullah Saleh, Muammar Gaddafi and Hosni Mubarak.

Two more female journalists suffered sexual assault in the hands of Egyptian police and protesters while covering the unrest going on in Tahrir Square in Cairo Egypt. One of the journalists is Egyptian-American Mona Elthawy.

Elthawy, who is an award-winning journalist and public speaker on Arab and Muslim issues, said she was sexually assaulted by the police when she was brought into detention after taking part in the protests in Tahrir Square.

The New York-based journalist revealed what happened through her Twitter account, “Besides beating me, the dogs of [central security forces] subjected me to the worst sexual assault ever. Five or 6 surrounded me, groped and prodded my breasts, grabbed my genital area and I lost count how many hands tried to get into my trousers.”

Egyptians have taken to Tahrir Square again ... they have been there for days and it seems that the Military Council is not on their side this time around!
The people in the streets are asking the Council to hand over the power to the people (as promised) and to stop oppressing the demonstrators.
Some stars, like Amr Waked, have been down there in Tahrir Square supporting the people and reporting that what's been happening over the past few days is horrendous and is more serious than what happened during the events of January 25th.
The police are violent and are clashing wit the people; over 30 people have been killed during the weekend! That's not to be tolerated!

Millions of Turks were taken unaware by the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that hit Eastern Turkey on Sunday. The 5.4-magnitude aftershock which hit the province of Van caused so much devastation and panic.

According to Turkey’s Kandilli Observatory and Earthquake Research Institute said that the aftershock hit Degirmenozu, the place located between Van and Ercis, got the worst damage. Thousands of buildings collapsed trapping and killing people who were going about their daily chores.

Tunisia uprising was the first and so is the election; Yesterday, Tunisia has a historic free election and so far it is considered successful with more than 90% of registered voters showed up at at the polling stations, voted and came out holding up their fingers with a blue stain on them feeling so proud...

The final voting results will be announced tomorrow, Tuesday, the 25th of October.

Do you think the Tunisian Election will be successful? Let us know what do you think.

- Yes, I think it will be successful
- No, It won't be successful
- I think the election was a bad idea

Click here to vote

It was all over the news yesterday that Moammar Gadhafi has finally been captured and then quickly followed the confirmation of his death ... but the question remains, was he found dead? Did he die of his wounds or was he (dare I say it) executed?

As I'm writing this post, no answer has been found to the above questions.
To say that he was found dead is an answer quickly dismissed by leaked videos online, that show Gadhafi still alive when he was captured. Al Jazeera, Al Arabyia and France 24 also broadcast these videos.

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, the wife of French president Nicholas Sarkozy, has given birth to a baby girl! According to reports, the French first Lady gave birth yesterday, October 19, at a private clinic called La Muette in the French capital. The baby came out at around 8 p.m. local time.

Unfortunately, President Sarkozy missed the birth of their baby girl because he was away in Frankfurt for the eurozone crisis talks with Angela Merkel and EU officials. He did visit her when she was admitted earlier that day and came around later in the evening after finishing the eurozone crisis talks.

In a few hours, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas will put forward a letter to the UN requesting admission and recognition of a Palestinian state.
What's so scary and wrong with that?
Don't the Palestinian people have the right to be a state recognized by the world?
Don't they have the right, as any other country in the UN, to have a full member status?
Israel has occupied the Palestinians land, thrown them out, killed them and acted as if its their right and the Palestinians are the outsiders! What a sham! The sad thing is that it's a sham that the world has believed for more than 50 years ... what great liars -and terrorists- are the Israelis!
It's a masquerade that Israel has a state and a full membership in the UN and Palestine doesn't!
What's more of a joke is that the US treats Israel as if it were its spoiled little brat and is afraid to take any step that might make Israel angry!