Stories from 11 April 2008
Saudi Arabia: A Day at Ogair Beach
Saudi Jeans spent the day at Ogair beach with his family and shares some pictures here.
Dubai: Stunning Algeria
From Dubai, Moryarti visits Algeria, and promises to provide his readers with images of the beautiful country and its ‘stunning’ capital.
Egypt: Journalists Arrested for Doing their Job
Sunbula from Kabobfest writes about the arrest of journalists in Egypt for interviewing people at Al Mahalla Al Kobra, the scene of a workers’ revolt.
Bahrain: Alcohol and Islam
Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif writes about a controversial new fatwa (religious edict), by a leading Islamic scholar, which decrees that Islam allows alcohol consumption in small quantities!
Morocco: Shopping Addict
Moroccan Maryam talks about her addiction to shopping and shares with us her latest haul in lovely pictures.
Jordan: Parliament and Corruption
Jordanian Batir Wardam (Ar) asks whether the Jordanian parliament has become the biggest institution of corruption in his country.
Jordan: Coming out of the closet
Jordanian 7aki Fadi discusses what coming out of the closet means to gays and lesbians in the Middle East.
Albania: Sali Berisha
Living in Shkoder writes about Albanian PM and ex-president Sali Berisha.
Ukraine: Yushchenko vs Tymoshenko?
Foreign Notes writes and translates on “the battle” between president Yushchenko's secretariat and prime minister Tymoshenko.
Russia: The Future
Eternal Remont writes about Vladimir Putin's future: “Indeed, this new order will more closely approximate the former Soviet model of federal governance, whereby the presidency is relegated to a symbolic office, one party dominates the legislature, and the party general secretary – in this case Putin – will exercise true...
Latvia: Referendum
Peteris Cedrins of Marginalia is one of the 213,000 people who “signed in favor of amendments to […] Latvia's Constitution, that would make it possible for the people to initiate the dissolution of Parliament”: “Still, I signed… because I trust our people — our nation — a lot more than...
Hungary: Neo-Nazi
Hungarian Spectrum writes about Budapest's neo-Nazis and those who oppose them – here and here.
Czech Republic: Drunk Driving and Expensive Cars
According to the Czech Daily Word, Czech police are not allowed to seize “expensive” cars belonging to DUI drivers.
Angola: No to Guillermo Habacuc and the starving dog.
Admario Lindo, who writes Angola Haria (and many other blogs in Portuguese), shares his shock[pt] about a Guillermo Habacuc Vargas‘[en] art instalation staged last year, in which a dog was bound to a wall and starved to death in front of the Costa Rica Visual Arts Biennial attendants. Admario links...
Cape Verde: Ave Mayra
Virgílio Brandão [pt] is one of the many bloggers celebrating today: Cape Verdean singer Mayra Andrade, at just 23, won the best newcomer in the BBC Radio 3 World Music Awards. “Mayra Andrade, besides excellent artist, has showed some unusual wit and clarification for someone of her age – she...
Iranian bloggers write letters to Christ
It may seem surreal, but several Muslim bloggers have written letters to Jesus Christ in their blogs complaining about Western insults against Muslims, and particularly Dutch MP Geert Wilders‘ anti-Islamic film, Fitna. Meanwhile, young Islamist Basij paramilitaries demonstrated in front of the Netherlands embassy in Tehran condemning Wilders’ film. Kosoof,...
Mozambique: Cell phone and society
Sociologist Elísio Macamo [pt] is working on an interesting series of posts about cell phone use in Mozambique. There have been five articles so far, starting with this introduction to the series last Monday: “The mobile phone, I suggest, has become the way of negotiating individuality and sense of community...
Trinidad & Tobago: Cricket Lovers
As a One Day International match comes to a nail-biting finish at the Queen's Park Oval in Trinidad, Discover TnT Blog explains why West Indians love cricket.
Bermuda: What is Racism?
Bermudan blogger Politics.bm examines the concept of racism.
Jamaica: Teenaged Sex
Blogging at Yardflex.com, Rootzgirl says: “Teenage sex is rampant, as is the increasing number of teenaged pregnancies…something needs to be done…before there is no hope for this generation.”
Armenia: Post-Election Death Toll Rises
Unzipped reports that the death toll from the 1 March clashes between opposition supporters and security services has risen to nine. The latest casualty is a nineteen year old serviceman who sustained gunshot wounds during the post-election unrest. The same blog also reports that a case investigating the hit and...
