Amira Al Hussaini · June, 2009

Latest posts by Amira Al Hussaini from June, 2009

Jordan: MPs Drafting a Law which requires Website Passwords

A new electronic sites law is being reviewed and drafted by the Jordanian Parliament which requires website administrators to provide their site's passwords to the government's Printing and Publication Directorate. In case the admins refuse, says the draft, the sites will be closed down by the concerned authorities. Blogger Osama Romoh reacts to the news.

Egypt: American High School Students Visit Farm

From Egypt, Maryanne Stroud Gabbani writes about the two-week visit of a group of California secondary school students to her farm to learn more about real life. “They've stayed at my farm in the midst of Egyptian farmers and visited some of the less touristy sites of Cairo […] two...

Jordan: Hands off private schools

At Creative Jordan, Yusuf Mansur argues in favour of private schools. “Jordanian policy makers, lacking the resources to promote world-class educational systems, have focused their attention on overregulating the private schooling system,” he writes.

Bahrain/Tunisia: Censors of the Net

Sesawe‘s blog publishes an English translation of an article which appeared in France's Le Monde 2, entitled Censors of the Net, written by Claire Ulrich, which focuses on censorship, including that in Bahrain and Tunisia, to name a few.

Egypt: Sign Avaaz Settlements Petition

Egyptian Dalia Ziada announces that she has just signed an Avvaz petition, which supports US president Barack Obama's call to stop the building of Israeli settlements on Palestinian territories. So far, 179,699 people have signed the petition.

Arab World: Berkman Launches New Arab Blog Study

Harvard University's Berkman Centre for Internet and Society has released a study of the Arabic blogosphere entitled Mapping the Arabic Blogosphere. About 35,000 active blogs were covered. “The goal for the study was to produce a baseline assessment of the networked public sphere in the Arab Middle East, and its...

Arab World: “Iran is a Democratic Dictatorship”

Reactions continue to pour across the Arab world over developments in Iran, in the aftermath of the country's presidential elections which saw Mahmoud Ahmedinejad winning a second term, with 66 per cent of the overall votes. In this round up of reactions, Arab bloggers compare between the political scenes in their countries with that in Iran as well as offer their insights to developments on the ground.

Iraq: Getting ID Badges

Writing at Baghdad Observer journalist Mike Tharp describes the ritual he went through at the International Zone in Baghdad to get his “U.S. military ID badges so we could be street legal and enter places we couldn't go without ‘em.”

Qatar: Log Book for Bar Patrons

Paraglider, at the UAE Community Blog, reports: “The Qatar Tourism and Exhibition Authority and Ministry of the Interior (!) requires that access to any bar shall be on production of a valid ID or Passport. Originals only, no copies. But it is not enough just to flash the card. The...

Israel: Dubai Futuristic Farm out of Star Trek

Writing at Mideast Youth, Green Prophet from Israel, discusses development in the UAE and notes: “Environmental projects including specially designed buildings, business parks and residential centers are years ahead of other countries. And now, a project in Dubai is developing something even more awesome: A vertical farm that looks like...