His first official position after the 2011 fall of autocrat Muammar Qaddafi was as the minister of housing and utilities at the General National Congress (GNC). The GNC was dissolved two years later and replaced by the internationally recognized House of Representatives (HoR), following parliamentary elections on 25 June 2014. Al-Sarraj was elected to the HoR, which was established in the eastern city of Tobruk after the military arm of the Islamist-dominated new General National Congress seized Tripoli and established a rival administration.

In her poem, Tatour praises the Palestinian resistance against Israel. She does not live in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip; she was born in a village near Nazareth, northern Israel. The poem not only criticizes the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory, it also questions Israel’s legitimacy. For example, she calls for an ‘Arab Palestine’.

When asked what they thought about the series, Palestinians were divided. While some pointed to the credible portrayal of their society, others warned of normalization of the Israeli occupation. This works on two levels: Palestinian actors who participated in the series have been accused of collaborating with the occupier. Moreover, the depiction of the mustaribeen ‘normalizes’ this kind of unacceptable Israeli infiltration into Palestinian society, critics say.

Controversy continued to follow Hassoun when he issued a fatwa (religious ruling) on SANA, Syrian state-owned television, ordering the military to express their rage by exterminating all Syrians in the besieged and divided city of Aleppo.

Through his role in the island case, Ali has become the face of Egypt’s secular revolutionaries, who were the driving force of the Arab Spring protests in 2011. His detention follows a spate of arrests targeting media and opposition figures, in what rights groups have called Egypt’s harshest crackdown on dissent in decades.

Pumuk continues to write and publish actively. However, some members of a new generation of Turks believe that the old conflicts between Western modernity and Eastern tradition have been resolved decidedly in favour of Turkey’s Ottoman past. Thus it is difficult to see Pamuk’s writings carrying the same resonance in this new future as it had before. It may be that Orhan Pamuk’s era as the voice of modern Turkey is growing fainter.

Although his comments and actions continue to stir controversy in political and religious circles, he is a revered spiritual figure for Lebanon’s more than one million Maronites.

As prime minister, El-Othmani faces the tough job of making workable a coalition that includes pro-market, conservative and socialist parties including the USFP, with whom Benkirane refused to govern, citing its poor election performance. Whatever the outcome, El-Othmani is said to be the man who can succeed where his predecessor failed.

On 16 Febraury 2017, Nadia Ahmed Abdo has been appointed as the first femal governor in Egypt. Her appointment has been hailed as a victory for women’s emancipation and it proves the government’s belief in women’s leadership capabilities

In an interview with Newsweek Middle East, al-Mazrui laid out her vision for youth inclusion. She addressed the challenge of bridging the gap between her generation and the government, and, in response to a question about how much decision-making power she would actually have, she expressed confidence in the Emirate leadership and the freedom she would be given to operate.