Stories about Breaking News from May, 2007
Lebanon: Fighting Toll
As fighting in Lebanon continues between the Lebanese Army and Fateh el Islam, Tom Felle takes a look at the toll: “As witnesses said there are bodies strewn on the streets inside the camp, the body count from the deadliest fighting to hit Lebanon for two decades hit 80 yesterday....
Lebanon: Fighting Continues for Third Day
“Gunbattles erupted between Lebanese troops and Islamist militiamen around a Palestinian refugee camp today, the third day of fierce fighting that has killed dozens of people. Black plumes of smoke billowed into the sky as troops fired tank shells and artillery at positions of Fatah al-Islam, a shadowy Sunni militant...
Lebanon: Fighting Update
Lebanese blogger Abu Kais updates us on the latest fighting in Lebanon between the Lebanese Army and Fateh el Islam. “The Siniora government is waging this war with the support of the international community and the Arab League, which issued a statement supporting the army's operation. The ‘opposition’, meanwhile, continues...
Lebanon: Attrition War
“The situation is sliding into an attrition war. The broad support by all Lebanese and Palestinian faction, other than ‘Fateh al Islam’, to the army and its actions against those cold blood terrorist, has been eroding rapidly…” writes Bob from Lebanon. “I think that the window of opportunity, to decisively...
D. R. Congo: Park Rangers Attacked, Flying over Katanga, Music meets Social Activism, and Ants 2 – Brian 0
Access to the Internet in the Democratic Republic of Congo is gradually improving (World Bank figures suggest there are already over 6 million users), but will remain prohibitively expensive as long as service providers are dependent on satellite connections. In such a context, it should come as no surprise that there are only a handful of Congolese bloggers. Chatrooms and instant messaging are very popular, however, and with the influence of the Diaspora, it’s easy to imagine that many more young Congolese people will soon be following the footsteps of pioneers like Cedric, perhaps blogging in Lingala, Luba, Kikongo and Swahili as well as French.
Lebanon: Violent Clashes and an Explosion
The clashes between the Lebanese army and the organization of Fatah al Islam, as well as the explosion in Ashrafieh (Beirut), took precedence over all other news and blog posts in almost all of the blogs during the past two days, reports our Beirut author Moussa Bashir. Read the full article to digest the size of calamities in Lebanon in the eyes of its bloggers.
Bukavu on the Congolese-Rwandan border: A city at the crossroads of conflict
Kakaluigi, a foreign missionary who has lived in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for 35 years describes a feeling of apprehension about the future that overshadows Bukavu. Bukavu is a city of survivors. During the First Congo War （1996-1997），Bukavu was caught in the middle...
Lebanon: Updates on Clashes between Army and Fatah el Islami
MFL is updating and commenting on the fightings going on in the North of Lebanon between the Lebanese army and Fatah-al-Islam.
Lebanon:Clashes between Army and Fath Al-Islam in North
Liliane reports on the on going clashes between the Lebanese Army and members of Fath Al-Islam in north Lebanon. It is reported that there has been seven casualties from the army and four from Fath Al Islam. The clashes started at 3am on Sunday May 20, and was still going...
Kazakhstan: A President for Life
On 18 May the Parliament of Kazakhstan adopted the changes into the Constitution in the second reading. According to one of the amendments, the first president of Kazakhstan will no more have limits on how many times he can run for the president's office. Let us see how the Livejournal...
China: Citizen blogger treading new ground?
With all the hype and money behind web 2.0 citizen media in America, is it possible that one young Chinese vegetable farmer has been able to make more gains more quickly than any Western initiatives have?
Morocco's first English-language newspaper
The View from Fez was the bearer of good news this morning, informing us that Morocco has finally released its first English-language print newspaper. Although international papers are available in Morocco, and Magharebia.com and Maghreb Arabe Presse provide anglophones with news on the internet, there's nothing better than settling into...
Kenya: Presidential debate to stream online
The Alpha Quadrant reports that the Kenya presidential aspirants debate today is to stream online: “Today (Wednesday 16th May) at 1400hrs EAT live debate stream on http://idhaa.kenic.or.ke:8001/ Follow via blog – http://beckyit.blogspot.com/ The debate is calculated to ensure that ICT issues are put on the pedestal during the campaign period...
Earthquake in Laos, Felt in Thailand
A 6.1 magnitude earthquake struck north western Laos on Wednesday afternoon. There are only a handful of bloggers inside Laos and no one has talked about the quake as of yet. In neighboring Thailand, some bloggers wrote about the tremors.
Egypt must release bloggers before UN Rights Council elections
Egypt must release jailed bloggers before Thursday's elections for the UN Human Rights Council, said UN Watch, a human rights organization based in Geneva in a statement issued today. Among other conditions, UN Watch requires that Egypt “must release journalist Huwaida Taha Mitwalli, who is currently imprisoned for attempting to...
Syria: A Challenger to Assad's Presidency
Lawyer Abdallah al-Khalil announced that he submitted an application to be nominated for presidency of Syria, days before the referendum on current President Bashar Assad. Citing a constiutional contradiction, between two articles, one calls for chosing the President through the elctoral process, while the other [which is curently put in...
Arabeyes: Muslim-Coptic Clashes in Egypt
Sectarian strife rocked the quiet Egyptian village of Bahma in Giza on Friday over alleged plans to open a new church. Blogger Nora Younis (Ar) tells us what happened and why. She also criticises the deafening silence of authorities in the civil war which saw the burning of five shops, 25 homes and an undisclosed number of casualties and provides a solution to the crisis.
Hong Kong: PLA berth at City Center
I have written up a citizen report on the PLA berth plan at the new central harbour front at interlocals.net: It is not that we are opposed to the PLA berth, but the symbolism of having PLA berth at Central waterfront is very bad. Central as a political and financial...
Egypt: The Bahma Clashes
Egyptian blogger Zeinobia updates us with the latest in a sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians in the Egyptian town of Bahma. More than 500 people were reported to have taken part in a fight, which resulted in some casualties and the burning of a few homes and shops owned...
Bahrain: Coral Reef for Sale
The Fasht Al Jarem coral reef is on sale in Bahrain for the highest bidder. Read the reactions of bloggers Mahmood Al Yousif, Mohammed Al Maskati and Haythoo (Ar). “Anyway, The Fasht has already been sold a while ago, and I personally doubt there is anything that we could do...
Syria: A Black Week for Freedom, Back to Our Golan and Censorship
It has been a particularly rough week for Syria and Syrian bloggers are venting out their frustration at the imprisonment of human rights activist Dr Kamal Labwani for 12 years, reports Yazan Badran. Bloggers are also vocal about the situation in the Golan Heights and censorship.
