9 August 2009

Stories from 9 August 2009

Palestine: Remembering Shafiq Al Hout

On 2 August, founder member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) Shafiq Al Hout died. Al Hout helped found the PLO in 1964, was appointed PLO representative in Lebanon, and survived ten Israeli assassination attempts during the Lebanese Civil War. Arab bloggers have been paying tribute.

Pakistan: Lawyers On A Rampage

  9 August 2009

The recent news of some lawyers harassing members of civil society, journalists and the police has raised a lot of eyebrows. Pakistani bloggers remember the heroic role of these men of law in the inspirational and much successful Lawyers movement and question these actions.

Iran: Twitter and Facebook in Trial

Yesterday, Iranian authorities held the second round the of mass trial of protestors and reformist politicians. Defendants in this round included a 24 year-old French woman, Clotilde Reiss, who was accused of spying. Almost all the defendants were accused of inciting riots and undermining national security. The Iranian judiciary went on to...

Greece: Armenian singer passes away

  9 August 2009

Unknown to most Armenians, but loved by many Kurds for his songs sung in the Kurmanji dialect of Kurdish, Aram Tigran has passed away in Athens, Greece. Born in 1934 in Syria, Tigran's death has affected many, and not least those recognizing the important contribution he made as a cultural bridge between Armenians and Kurds.

Hungary: Bloggers Mourn Tamás Cseh

  9 August 2009

It's very hard to explain the role of singer Tamás Cseh, who died in Hungary this week, in the life of the young generations willing to understand their parents' socialist past. Nobody could describe what socialism looked like, or what the real socialist gym shorts looked like. Nobody but Tamás Cseh.

Taiwan: Typhoon disaster and call for volunteers

  9 August 2009

Southern Taiwan has been severely affected by floods associated with Typhoon Morakot (颱風莫拉克). Billy Pan posted (zh) a link to a Google Map showing the sites of the disaster (zh) and places where volunteers and assistance are required. On Twitter taiwanfloods is regularly tweeting the latest news about the situation...

Georgia, Russia: Cyber Attacks on Blogger ‘Cyxymu’

  9 August 2009

In 2008, the Russo-Georgian war coincided with the Beijing Olympics, diverting some of the public attention from the peaceful sporting event. This week, cyber attacks on LJ, Twitter and Facebook, targeting Tbilisi-based blogger cyxymu, have added an extra dimension to the coverage of the war's first anniversary.