3 September 2007

Stories from 3 September 2007

Iran:National Unity and Insults

  3 September 2007

Mohammad Ali Abtahi,reformist politician and blogger,says the Leader of Islamic Republic of Iran [Ali Khamenei] called this year, in domestic domain, as the year of “National Unity” but those who claim to obey the Leader from the highest level to lower levels made more insults, accusations and told more lies...

Free Speech Roundup: Tunisia, Egypt, China, Thailand

  3 September 2007

France-based video sharing site Dailymotion has been blocked, again, in Tunisia. Egyptian blogger Abdel Monem Mahmoud, who has been released in June 2007 is facing detention threats. In China people who are using China Telecom are unable to access FeedBurner feeds. And Thailand lifted its ban on YouTube but Veoh and MetaCafe still blocked.

Russia: RBN's Cybercrime

  3 September 2007

The Economist's Edward Lucas writes about RBN (Russian Business Network), a St. Petersburg-based internet company that “hosts cybercriminals, ranging from spammers to phishers, bot-herders and all manner of other fraudsters and wrongdoers from the venal to the vicious.”

Lebanon: Army Ends “Fateh el Islam”

  3 September 2007

The siege of Nahr el Bared refugee camp is finally over. The Lebanese Army ended the warfare with the so called “Fateh el Islam” militants after 105 days by killing and capturing its remaining members. It is reported that among the dead is their leader Shaker el Absi. Thousands of Lebanese took to the streets, around the country and especially in the North, to celebrate the army’s victory. Moussa Bashir brings us the latest discussions from the Lebanese blogosphere about this development.

Maldives: Inhumane Treatment of Migrant Workers

  3 September 2007

The Maldivian government was able to prevent Bangladeshi migrant workers’ community in the capital Malé from holding a demonstration on Friday, by using the threat of deportation. The Bangladeshi community, consisting of mainly unskilled workers, was trying to protest against the rise of xenophobia in the Maldives, and increasing attacks...

Kuwait: The Blogging Monster

  3 September 2007

Are bloggers swimming against the tide? Are officials losing sleep over what is appearing online everyday? Should blogging be controlled? Or is controlling what appears on blogs another form of repression and another way of brushing corruption under the carpet? Kuwaiti blogger AseeL, from bara7atmbarak (Mubarak's Square), introduces us to the blogging monster in this post (Ar), which discusses some of the questions raised above.