22 January 2009

Stories from 22 January 2009

China: Obama, can you?

Obama has been sworn in as the first African American president, with a popular support peaking at its high.  His inauguration summoned as many as two million people, and his...

22 January 2009

Middle East: Boycott as a Political Weapon

Many people across the Middle East have decided to boycott Israeli and American products in response to the Israeli war on Gaza. Tarek Amr reviews what bloggers have to say about this.

22 January 2009

Egypt: Bye Bye Bush

“I admit…it feels very good that George W. Bush is no longer President of the United States of America,” writes The Arabist, from Egypt.

22 January 2009

Egypt: Blogger Facing Lawsuit

“I spoke before about the Egyptian citizen Journalism blog from Port Said “El Hakika”. Its owner and blogger Tamer Mabrook was facing the first civil lawsuit against a blogger for...

22 January 2009

Palestine: Coexisting?

Palestinians who choose to co-exist with Israelis “fare no better than any other Palestinian,” observes Ummkahlil, a Palestinian blogger, who lives in the US.

22 January 2009

Russia: Migration Issues

Window on Russia writes about a Ryazan Tajik activist's appeal to the Russian media to stop “fanning the flames of ethnic hatred against migrants” and the launch of the Migration-007...

22 January 2009

The Egyptian Bloggers Bookfair

With more than 15 new titles, Egyptian bloggers take the 2009 Cairo International Book Fair by storm. Marwa Rakha reports how bloggers are planning to organise group visits to make the most out of the annual show.

22 January 2009

Israel: A Plea to Obama

An Israeli human rights activist makes an impassioned plea to the new American president in a video: “Obama, take away the pain in my stomach.”

22 January 2009

Philippines: The root cause of the flooding

In the Philippines, media reports have cited weeks of heavy rain brought by a cold front as the immediate cause of the massive flooding and landslides. Some Filipino bloggers have started asking more questions. What was the root cause of the flooding? What is really happening? Here are some efforts of Filipino bloggers to make sense of the disaster.

22 January 2009

Armenia: Homophobic Media

Despite the country's recent endorsement of a UN declaration against discrimination on sexual orientation, Unzipped: Gay Armenia continues to expose the prevalent homophobia in Armenian society. Following recent discriminatory and...

22 January 2009

Pakistan: Taliban ban music in buses

Deadpan thoughts reports that after banning shopping for women in the troubled North of Pakistan, the Taliban threatened to ban all music and videos shown in public buses in their...

22 January 2009

Nigeria: Nigeria's Football Online Community

711football.com is a football platform where Nigerian football fans meet to discuss and share views on football. Launched in June 2008, the site is gradually becoming Nigeria’s hottest destination for...

22 January 2009