5 February 2011

Stories from 5 February 2011

Egypt: Citizen Media Exposes Violence During Media Black Out (Graphic)

During the five-day long media and communications black out in Egypt, activists succeeded in circumventing censorship, filtering out videos that captured the violence occurring on the sidelines of the "revolution," away from the peaceful scenes of ordinary traffic in downtown Cairo broadcast by State TV. Videos are graphic in nature. Viewers discretion is advised.

5 February 2011

Bahrain: Valentine's Day or a Day of Anger?

In Bahrain, both online and off, residents have expressed solidarity with Egyptians, even holding a protest at the Egyptian embassy on February 4. Though the rally was largely a solidarity action, for Bahrain's own opposition, the protest--which was sanctioned with a permit by the government--was an opportunity to vent their own concerns.

5 February 2011

Nepal: At Last a New Prime Minister

Pradeep Kumar Singh reports that Jhalanath Khanal becomes the 34th prime minister of Nepal after numerous election attempts since the resignation of Madhav Kumar Nepal on June 30 last year.

5 February 2011

Egypt: The January 25 Blacklist

On Facebook, a wall of shame is being compiled, under the title January 25 Blacklist (Ar), with the names of politicians, media personalities and celebrities who have spoken out against...

5 February 2011

Colombia: Car-Free Day in Bogotá

On February 3, the city of Bogotá held a Car-Free Day --a day when restrictions are placed on the circulation of private vehicles. The day is designed as a strategy to raise environmental awareness and improve vehicular traffic. Twitter users from Bogotá tweeted their opinions and reports about the day.

5 February 2011

Kyrgyzstan: Threat of radical islamists

Rahat informs his readers that police is on a patrol in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan's capital city, after the shootings between police and armed terrorists, who were identified by the officials as...

5 February 2011

Kazakhstan: Referendum Cancelled, Elections Announced

A group of citizens initiated a drive for signatures in support of a referendum to extend the incumbent president's authority until 2020 without elections, a move that was widely believed to be orchestrated from presidential administration. They collected more than 5 million signatures in less than three weeks during Christmas and New Years holidays

5 February 2011

Egypt: Is Amr Moussa an Acceptable Alternative to Mubarak?

Arab League's Secretary-General and former Mubarak loyalist Amr Moussa's interest in becoming Egypt's next President has drawn a range of reactions, as Egyptians continue to call upon Hosni Mubarak to resign for the 12th day in a row. Here are some of the reactions on Twitter.

5 February 2011

Egypt: Did Mubarak Resign as Head of the Ruling NDP?

News just came that Egypt's president Hosni Mubarak has resigned his post as head of the ruling National Democratic Party. This comes on the 12th day of massive demonstrations across Egypt, calling for his resignation as President. Update: The news has now changed: Mubarak may not have resigned his post. Here are Twitter reactions to the conflicting news.

5 February 2011

Egypt: Tahrir Square Calm Once Again

After two days of violence from pro-Mubarak forces, February 4 brought a new sense of calm to Tahrir Square. Though the day did not end in a Mubarak departure, protesters were rejuvenated by the new atmosphere.

5 February 2011

Egypt: Mubarak has changed his Facebook status to “it's complicated”

Egyptian and other Middle East activists used the language of social media as means of humor to describe the events as they unfolded. Fake accounts for Mubarak are also in abundance, and kept the moral high in the #jan25 Twitter stream, even in the darkest hours of the clashes on Wednesday and Thursday. Carmel L Vaisman Takes a closer look.

5 February 2011

South Asia: A Visa Free Region?

Ekram Kabir at Kotha-Chhilo opines that the urgent task for the South Asian countries would be to promote peace-building through conflict resolution before the talk of making it a visa...

5 February 2011

Global: Thoughts on interfaith harmony and world peace

In this, the first, World Interfaith Harmony Week, people from all faiths have been getting together to forget about differences and promote religious tolerance and dialogue based on the mantras "Love of God and love of one's neighbour" or "love of the good and love of one's neighbour". Worldwide bloggers share views on why this dialogue is so important – and why it is not impossible to achieve it.

5 February 2011