Stories about Middle East & North Africa from November, 2006
Arabisc: Arrested Blogger Released and the Civilisation of Terrorism
Egyptian blogger Ramy Siyam – aka Ayoub – is out of jail, after spending an eventful 108 hours being moved from one detention centre to the other. According to fellow blogger Alaa Abdelfattah: “He was arrested in a sweep in downtown while securing the area for the President's visit to...
Egypt: English-language news
Commenting on the new attempt at local English-language news reporting in Palestine (Palestine Times), Matthew Carrington says: “If, as the editor claims, the Palestine Times isn't going to be beholden to any particular political or commercial interest, then this could a good thing. Palestine, as much as Egypt, needs a...
Morocco: Tourist stabbings
The famous Nejjarine Square visited by thousands of visitors every year today was the scene of a brutal stabbing attack at against three tourists. Samir and El Glaoui post some updates.
Jordan: Cultural events
If you happen to be in Amman these days; have a look at Lina's calender for some interesting cultural events that you might like to attend.
Lebanon: Open-ended sit-in by Opposition
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, terming Premier Fouad Saniora's government “failure,” called for an open-ended sit-in Friday in downtown Beirut to achieve what he described as “political partnership” in running Lebanon. Abu Kais describe this by saying: “On Friday, Syria and Iran will launch an attack on Lebanon. They have...
Syria: Direct Idiom Translation
“One of the funniest things for any bilingual person to do is to directly translate idioms from one language into another,” Omar said. Check out some of these from Arabic to English.
Kurdistance: It's Quiet Out Here
One of the hardest things about reporting on various blogospheres is the natural ebb and flow of people's writings. The past two weeks in the Kurdish blogosphere have been strangely quiet, the kind of quiet that is found before a great storm. Hiwa from Hiwa Hopes writes about the rampant...
Interview with Kosoof, a leading Iranian Photo Blogger
Arash Ashoorinia is a leading photo blogger whose blog, Kosoof, won the Reporters Without Borders prize in the BOBs (Best of the Blogs) competition organized by German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. Arash's photos have been published all over the world in publications and on web sites such as the Washington Post...
Iran:Ted Koppel interviews a blogger
Thanks to YouTube, Iranian Truth has published an Iranian Blogger interview with Ted Koppel.The blogger talks about different subjects such as filtering.
Iran:Election and Reformists
According to Alpar, two weeks before “Councils’ Election (of Cities and Villages)” [Fa], reformist groups have united their force and their lists.
United Arab Emirates: British Trash
What would the reaction be if British-owned newspaper reviewed an Arabic restaurant, and used the term “Arab trash” to describe local diners? Find out from Secret Dubai.
Egypt: The Right to Love
“What causes sons to hate their mothers, fathers to target their daughters and husbands to persecute their wives? Have Adam and Eve not co-existed long enough for love and mutual respect to take hold? In this respect, we cannot say that such an attitude is particular to the Middle East,...
Israel: Municipal employees strike
A strike is in place in many Israeli municipalities by municipal employees who did not receive their salaries for many months now. Yudit says: “Perhaps join us in the demonstration this coming Saturday, of the “Veidat Ha'Ashukim” (the Council of the Robbed), at 19.00 o'clock, opposite the David Intercontinental Hotel...
Oman: Freedom of press in Oman
“You can't stop people from writing online. It's easy to regulate the press because 1) the press needs big expensive machines to print newspapers. 2) they need trucks to distribute. 3) they need shops to sell their papers. 4) they need advertisers to pay for all the above. 5) they...
Palestine: Humanity lost
Waiting, as ever, for the border to open, Laila says: “One hour turned into two, then three, then five, as we stood shielding our eyes from the piercing midday sun on Wednesday, when we were told the Crossing would be opening for a few hours. We stood and we waited...
The Blogoma retaliates while Blaise LLorca calms the angry e-crowd
Moroccan bloggers under fire! The Moroccan blogosphere (Blogoma) is very angry. Why? Well a Moroccan blogger qualified the Moroccan blogging as being still in the “teen aging period”(Fr). Mohamed Lachyab, a Moroccan journalist who's decorating his blog with …his own pictures, gave an interview(Ar) to the Moroccan newspaper Almasae, and...
Ukraine: Kyiv No Istanbul
Carpetblogger explains why Istanbul is not Kyiv.
Iran:Friday Prayer
Kamangir has published very interesting photos about scenes from Friday prayers.
Syria: 8 Syrian Students Face Trial for Starting Discussion Group
On Novermber 28th, 2006 the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC) of Syria held the first trial for eight youth arrested for founding a public discussion group on cultural issues, including current cultural and political issues in Syria. No one has heard any news from them for over nine months as...
Jordan: toot, tan and ikbis!
Blogging is growing rapidly in the Arab world, and some smart projects are capitalizing on this growth by providing tools that were until a while ago a de facto Western made only! After the hand picked posts in the famous ‘toot’ aggregator, the same company has recently launched the first...
Lebanon: Hizbullah and communal coexistence
“With Hizbullah reportedly planning “surprise” protests this week to topple the Siniora government, many, including Shias, are not surprised by how far the foreign-funded militia is prepared to take the country, and the Shia community, in what seems to be a political jihad against the state,” Abu Kais said.