A criminal court in Abidjan, the capital of Cote d’Ivoire, on 6 December 2011 dismissed criminal charges brought against three staff members of the pro-opposition Notre Voie newspaper accused of insulting President Alassane Ouattara in articles published in the newspaper on 21 November 2011. The Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) correspondent said the three were tried on new charges of 'violating the press laws' after the Public Prosecutors Department had amended the earlier charges of 'incitement to theft, looting and destruction of the property of others through the press'.

A group of Egyptian women’s rights advocates in Alexandria organised a protest recently calling for greater participation for women in public and political life, coinciding with the anniversary of the human rights declaration. The stand was organised by the Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women in Alexandria and took place outside the Alexandria library. The participants called for a parallel parliament for women, where their causes are presented and discussed away from the shortcomings of the current political system that helped eliminate female participation.

Economic inequality is on the rise worldwide - the rich are richer than ever before and their distance from the poor is greater - yet the character of that inequality is changing, according to Branko Milanovic, an economist at the World Bank. Poor people in rich countries have an income vastly higher than their counterparts in poor countries. The Occupy Wall Street protesters, who declared themselves part of the 99 per cent of poorer Americans, are still within the 95th percentile of 'world income distribution', Milanovic said. 'What we have now is the world of migrants,' he told researchers at a Cairo forum titled 'Inequality in the Arab Region,' organised by the Economic Research Forum.