Stories about Middle East & North Africa from November, 2006
Syria: Study in Japanese
How to explain Newton's law in Japanese when your mother tongue is Arabic and you are fluent in English, but not that comfortable in Japanese? Yazan, seems to be struggling in his studies in Japanese!
Lebanon: Minister Pierre Gemayel Assassinated
Lebanon witnessed this week the brutal assassination of its minister of industry and trade. This terrorist act overshadowed all other events and topics in the Lebanese blogosphere. Nevertheless, the posts were as varied and different as the political inclinations of the Lebanese themselves. Here is a sample of what they...
Africa: Africa's economies
Eliesmith writes about the 2006 African Development Indicator, “According to the report, the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the Republic of South Africa have retained their dominant positions on the economies of sub-Saharan Africa. Both countries account for 55% of the GDP of the region.”
Iran:Clashes at AmirKabir University
According to Azarmehr three students from Amir Kabir university staged a sit in at the university entrance today.They were protesting at the decision to ban them from continuing their education.Campus marshals tried to break up the gathering by physically attacking the 200 students who had formed a human chain to...
The Balkans: EU Hopes
Neretva River writes of what may be “the end of Turkey's EU accession hopes” and the “implications for the Western Balkans.”
Arabisc: Bahraini Elections, Dying Children and Confusing Freedom!
Bahrain held its second Parliamentary elections in its modern history this week, with about 300,000 voters going to the polls. Amongst them was Bahraini blogger Haythoo, who hoped his ‘party’ would emerge victorious. أنا الأن متوجه لتغطية العملية الأنتخابية.. أتمنى أن يحالفنا الحظ و نفوز بأكثرية نيابية.. يجب أن نعمل...
Libya: A Dutch letter to Gheddaffi, “We burn migrants.”
On the 26th of October 2005 a fire raged in the Dutch Schiphol Airport Detention Centre. Eleven migrants died. In an Open Letter to Gheddaffi a Dutch media-activist informs the Libyan president about the fate of three Libyan citizens. One died in the fire; another survived but “was treated in...
Iraq: Uncle Saddam
All what you wanted to know about Saddam Hussein can be seen in ‘Uncle-Saddam’ documentary. “Uncle Saddam gives a feel for what it was like to be around the man and what sort of a man Saddam Hussein was, what he did inside the unfair system of dictatorship with checks...
Egypt: Bad Class!
What happens when your students are rude, uncouth, and highly uncivilized to their teacher and each other? “The world may be full of bad people, but it's good to know that there will always be good people walking in their midst that have the potential to make it all better,”...
Jordan: M.E. three potential civil wars
“We could possibly imagine going into 2007 and having three civil wars on our hands,” King Abdullah said in an interview with the ABC network; citing conflicts in Iraq, Lebanon and the decades-long strife between the Palestinians and Israelis.” Natasha is not optimistic either. “The situation in the Middle East...
Palestine: Border still closed!
Since then, Laila and her family are still waiting to cross the border from Egypt to Gaza. There is now some rumors that the border is opening tomorrow for three days only, in both directions. She can't be certain until she hears the same from the Egyptian border officials.
Tunisia: Censoring Wikipedia?
Sami Ben Gharbia writes (Fr): “We don't yet know if it is censorship or not but what is certain is that the Wikipedia and Wikipedia Foundation sites have not been accessible from Tunisia since the 23rd of this month. According to a subscriber to the francophone Wikipedia mailing list …...
The Week That Was in Bahrain
More than 300,000 Bahrainis went to the polls on Saturday to elect 40 Municipal Councillors and another 40 Members of Parliament. This is the second time Bahrainis vote in their modern history, after sweeping reforms initiated in 2002. According to official records, seventy-two per cent of the eligible voters took...
Egypt: Books Collection Application – Open Source
After looking for a simple clean application to hold his books collection and coming up empty, Ahmed El Zein decided to write his won application. It is written in Ruby on Rails (ROR) and is Open Source. Find some snapshots here!
United Arab Emirates: Road Toll
Moryarti explains why Road Toll is the solution for horrible roads traffic between Dubai and Sharjah. “If you live in Sharjah, you pay less rent, but in return you get stuck in traffic for at least 3 hours more every day. But with Road Tolls, main roads will clear out...
Egypt: Stop American News From MBC TV!
Omar put a petition which asks MBC 4 Channel (a Saudi Sponsored TV Network) to stop constantly and repeatedly broadcasting the Western view point (constant broadcast of American produced news). “We do not accept the flimsy disclaimer that MBC 4, for example, has chosen to hide behind stating that American...
Bahrain: Elections 2006
Election ‘coverage and monitoring‘ does seem to be the buzz of the Bahraini blogsphere.
Israel: The Crucial Difference
“Many people were upset about the fact that Olmert was invited to address the OU Orthodox Union Convention in Jerusalem because of his anti-Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) and anti-democratic policies. He wasn't the only Israeli official who spoke. After Jewish Agency Chief Ze'ev Bielski's call for American Jews to...
Flying Over the Iraqi Blogodrome
Literally this time. I am writing this as my flight to Dubai is actually flying over Iraqi airspace. First time ever. If I were to give a true summary of the Iraqi blogs these past weeks it would be one of sadness, death, and violence. But I am not going...
Dubai's Spice Bazaar to be Disneyfied!
Dubai's spice market (suq) is being Disneyfied, says Secret Dubai Diary. He has come to the conclusion after hearing from one of the stall keepers that the traditional bazaar will have a roof!
Palestinian Still Waiting to Return Home
Palestinian Leila Al Haddad is still waiting at a road block in Arish to return home. She says she has lost count of the number of says she has spent waiting and has come to the realisation that “Israeli decisions are without rhyme or reason.”
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