North Africa, Uprising | featured news

...The truth is that there is no single explanation. One answer is that last year's wave of political uprisings, the so-called Arab Spring, is responsible. After all, protests began in Egypt, which last year became the most populous Arab democracy, and spread to Libya, which became the largest by area.

Libyan rebels said on Monday they had seized a second strategic town near Tripoli within 24 hours, completing the encirclement of the capital in the boldest advances of their six-month-old uprising against Muammar Gaddafi.

An Egyptian judge has fined Hosni Mubarak and two other former officials $90 million for government-imposed telecommunication disruptions during the popular uprising earlier this year.

Algeria on Thursday lifted a 19-year-old state of emergency in a concession to the opposition designed to keep out a wave of uprisings sweeping the Arab world.