Stories about Middle East & North Africa from April, 2006
Morocco: Podcasting in Morocco
Yesterday was the first official meeting to launch youth podcasting in Morocco. The goal is to introduce young Moroccans to a new form of self-expression and to give them a site on which to post their podcasts. Although the project was orginally launched by a group of Americans living in...
Egypt: Church Attacks
Jar Elkamar wrote an eye witness account of one of the last Friday church attacks in Egypt. Elijah translated it here. Also of interest is this opinion by a Christian Egyptian who said that the attacks do not represent Islam and warning about using it as an excuse to crush...
Iran: World Have Your Say
A couple of Iranian bloggers participated in BBC's “World Have Your Say“” discussion about nuclear crisis. Several Iranian joined this discussion and shared their opinion by sending email or by giving phone calls.
Echoes from the Tunisian Blogosphere
The 12th Tunisian blogger meetup took place on Saturday, April 15th, marking a whole year of meetups. The record was broken for the number of bloggers present with around 35 bloggers showing up, and the number of new faces exceeding old ones. MMM, Marsawi (FR) and Bouzguelif (FR) write about...
Tunisia: Tunis 94th Among World Cities
MMM writes that Tunis is ranked 94th in the world wide index for quality of life. The only Arab cities ahead of Tunis are Dubai at the 85th place and Abu Dhabi at the 92nd. The lowest ranking city is Baghdad at the 215th spot.
Saudi Arabia: Illegal Nigerians in Saudi Arabia
Looks like the issue of the Nigerian citizens living in the Saudi Arabia illegally is increasingly becoming a chronic problem, Prometheus said.
Jordan: Abu Ali and the Culture Shack
“I do not sell books, magazines, and newspapers, I provide books, magazines, and newspapers because I am a link in a long chain of support for readership and learning,” states Abu Ali firmly. Lina writes about the 64-year-old man bookshop owner since 1970.
Iraq: Miss Iraq Resign
What is the second hardest to find in Iraq after the “prime minister”? It is a “Beauty Queen,” Sabbah said. On April 9, Tamar Goregian, a Christian woman, made history as the first Armenian Iraqi to be crowned Miss Iraq. Few days later, Miss Iraq announced her resignation after receiving...
United Arab Emirates: Burj Al Arab
What do you know about the only 7 star hotel in the world? NZM writes all what you need to know about Burj Al Arab Hotel, the very distinctive landmark on Jumeirah Beach, Dubai.
Pulse of the Saudi Blogosphere
It had been a relatively quiet week in the Saudi blogosphere this week. However, several good posts can be found by bloggers from inside the country, and also by those who live abroad. So, let's get it started… A new community website for Saudi bloggers has been causing much controversy,...
Flying over the Iraqi Blogodrome
I am still on holiday and the blogs are still running. So here is a summary of what I liked up to the point my kids wake up… First a special mention to new Iraqi blogger Zappy. According to his profile he is a “34 year old Male living in...
Iran: A Model Society?
Amshaspands (Persian) writes Iranian President in his declaration that Iran has started to enrich uranium, talked about Islamic Republic as a model several times. Blogger says God knows Islamic Republic is a model for whom?
The Moroccan blogosphere reacts to the threat of laying off one of its member and pays tribute to the late Fadi
This week, the Islamic world is celebrating the birthday of the prophet (PBUH). Merry Eid Al Mawlid to all Muslim bloggers. To fire or..not to fire! It's a “premiere” in Morocco. A blog about a misuse of the Moroccan money leads to the resignation of the misuser(French). But, the good...
Under Pressure Journalists & Nuclear Crisis
Saminejad’s, jailed blogger, lawyer said court rejected their appeal and he is supposed to remain in prison for next ten months. ISNA, Iranian Students National Agency, has published this news (Persian). A hot issue in blogs is Seymour Hersh, investigative journalist, article and interviews that US may bomb Iran by...
Iran: Journalists Fired!
Alpar (Persian), Iran based blogger, has informed us that many journalists who work for ILNA ( Iran Labour News Agency) have been fired. It seems that there is no budget. Most journalists worked for political section of Agency.
Jordan: Fuel rises again
Starting from yesterday, fuel prices were raised again. The extent of the rise is what is shocking to most people, with the cost of diesel and kerosene going up by 43%. There were also hefty raises in the cost of gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas. Khalaf writes that this price...
Tunisia: Censorship Ease?
Sabbah reports via a blogger report from Tunisia that reveals that some censored websites since the WSIS on November 2005 (the website of the Mediterranean Liberal Party and Neila Charchour Hachicha blog) has become accessible in Tunisia since April 8th, 2006. Nelia consider this act as a first step towards...
Israel: Planes, Trains and Automobiles
She envy her son innocence, and she marvel at all he does not yet know about the world outside his door. She imagine a world where the worst things that can happen are not getting another cookie or having a toy taken away, and where both are soon forgotten by...
Saudi Arabia: Flame War
Flame-wars are coming to the Saudi blogosphere, and they are coming very fast and furiously. Ahmed advise the bloggers which adopted this task to think in other ways to make a huge success. He suggest that instead of taking on blogs that they take on some of the many stories...
Palestine: The Earth is Closing in on Us
Laila writes: The shells keep falling. They’ve gotten inside my head. It’s like someone is banging a gong next to my ear every few minutes; sometimes 5 times a minute, like last night. And just when I savor a few moments of silence, it starts again as if to say...
The Week That Was in Bahrain
Bahrain made the headlines worldwide this week after 58 party-goers were killed when a traditional dhow sank, off the Kingdom last Thursday (March 31). Bloggers were quick to react to the incident, within hours of the tragedy, and continued to update their blogs with developments. Strav covered the incident in...
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