· November, 2013

Stories about Middle East & North Africa from November, 2013

Yemen's Oud Criminal

  13 November 2013

Yemeni musician Ahmed Alshaiba shows off his Oud skills in a new video released on YouTube. Find out why Yemenis are so proud of the achievement.

Iran: Changing Facebook's Filtering Model

  12 November 2013

Minister of Information and Communications Technology, Mahmoud Vaezi, says [fa] that his Ministry proposes that Facebook's filtering model be changed. He proposes content based filtering for internet sites and Facebook because there are “useful pages” in Facebook that Iranians can read.

Global Voices Meetup in Cairo, Egypt

Rising Voices  12 November 2013

The next Global Voices Meetup is scheduled for November 16 to take place in Cairo, Egypt. Please join members of our GV community for this special gathering.

Iran: Blogger's Jail Sentence Reduced to 17 Years

  11 November 2013

The “Justice for Hossein Derakhshan” blog announced on October 16, 2013 that Iranian authorities have reduced the jail sentence of Iranian blogger Hossein Derakhshan (also known as “Hoder”) to 17 years from 19.5 years. Derakhshan was arrested on November 1, 2008.

Bad Cop, Good Cop and Other Cops in Iran Nuke Talks

  9 November 2013

Six world powers and Iran are discussing Iran's nuclear programme in a two-day meeting in Geneva. Lebanese satirist Karl Sharro comments on Twitter: The Western sides at the P5+1 talks with Iran are playing good cop, bad cop, over-enthusiastic cop and insufferably pretentious cop. — Karl Sharro (@KarlreMarks) November 9,...

Saudi Women to Continue to Challenge Driving Ban

  9 November 2013

Now that the Saudi government's position on the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia is clear, activists intend to continue to challenge the ban and “focus their effort on changing the government’s position instead of spending time trying to convince observers that society is not against lifting the ban.”...

The Curious Case of Sami Anan

  9 November 2013

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia shares her two cents on the reemergence of Sami Anan, the former Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces. Is he bidding for presidency? Global Voices Online's Victor Salama has more.

21km of Jeddah's 655km coastline accessible to public

  9 November 2013

Do you live near the sea but feel it's unreachable? That is the case for people living in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Ahmed Al Omran tweets: Total length of coastline within Jeddah Governorate is 655km. Only 21km of that is properly accessible to public http://t.co/64gTbTSEV3 — Ahmed Al Omran (@ahmed) November...

Lebanese Man Microwaves Cat

  9 November 2013

A Lebanese man microwaved a cat while his friend filmed him. They uploaded the video on Facebook, drawing a manhunt for the culprits, who have been named and shamed.

In Response to Danny Ayalon: The REAL Truth about Palestine

  9 November 2013

In a video released in July 2011, Israeli Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Danny Ayalon offered his version of the “Israel Palestinian Conflict: The Truth About the West Bank”. In the video he explained the meaning of terms such as Palestine, the West Bank and the Occupied Territories based on...

Saudi Releases Writer Tariq Al Mubarak

  7 November 2013

Saudi writer Tariq Al Mubarak, detained for supporting women in their right to drive in the absolute monarchy, has been released. Tamador Al Yami tweets: After 8 days in detention, Tariq Almubarak supporter of #Women2Drive #oct26driving is Free now. #FreeTariqAlmubarak — تماضر اليامي Tamador (@TamadorAlyami) November 3, 2013

Egypt: Not Morsi Or Sisi

  7 November 2013

On Twitter, Doaa Nada shares this cartoon above. She tweets [ar]: ياللي بتهتف (مرسي- وسيسي ) لا دة هيرجع ولا دة رئيسي @DoAaNaDa: For those chanting Morsi and Sisi, the first won't return and the second isn't my president Muslim Brotherhood member Mohamed Morsi was the president of Egypt for...

Egypt: In Search of a Home

  7 November 2013

Where does one feel at home? Egyptian blogger Tarek Shalaby shares his opinion saying: Some people say home is where your bed is, others argue that home is where your wifi connects automatically. I can say that home is where your salaries have been transferred to

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Mariam A.
Mariam A. is the editor for the Middle East & North Africa. Email her story ideas or volunteer to write.