Stories from 25 May 2010
Egypt: Crackdown on the Egyptian Da Vinci Code
Dr Youssef Zidane's 2008 Azazeel created a stir, followed by resentment, when it was first published. Today, Dr Zidane is being accused of blasphemy and defaming Christianity and as insulting any of the 'heavenly faiths' is illegal in Egypt, he could face up to five years behind bars. Bloggers react to the development.
Bahrain: YouTube Blocked in Turkey
Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif is surprised to find out that YouTube is blocked in Turkey – following a court order.
Russia: Video of a Man With a ‘Little Blue Bucket’ Attacking Government Car Raises Controversy
A viral video [RUS] of a man with a little blue bucket [EN] on his head attacking a government car near Kremlin has been distributed recently in the Russian blogosphere. The action is considered to be a part of the protests against government cars using emergency vehicle lighting [EN] (“migalki”). However, the...
Iran: Economic problems and Green Movement
Culturallogic writes [fa] that Green Movement should learn lesson from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's humiliation in Khoramshar where protesters chanted “we are unemployed” during his speech. The blogger asks Green Movement talks about Iran's economic problems.
Iran: Student activist started hunger strike
Majid Tavakoli, Iranian student actvist, started his hunegr strike in prison in Tehran. Sight writes [fa] “Tavakoli is not only a name. He is a legned. He started his hunger strike but the world does not pay attention.”
China: Baidu vs. Google: in search of accessible, useful results
Joel Martinsen from DANWEI translated a blog post from Oh My Media which compared the search result of “CPU, temperature, software” in Google and Baidu.
Taiwan: Heavy metal and death penalty
One of the top public issues in Taiwan blogosphere recently is whether Taiwan should abolish death penalty or not. Thus, The Ball Music sorts out and introduces several heavy metal songs that are about death penalty(zht). “…You don't have to support the abolishment of death penalty just because you are...
France : At Cannes Film Festival, Hors-La-Loi Addresses Taboo, Raises Controversy
"Hors-La-Loi", a film directed by award-winning director Rachid Bouchareb, stirred up quite a controversy before and after its showing at the Cannes Film Festival. The film addresses the often dividing history of Algeria-France relations after the killings of Setif. Bloggers' reactions to the film are reviewed in this article.
