As Egyptian protestors gather for a fourth day of mass demonstrations on Friday, the government appears to be making a major push to restrict communications. Almost every internet service provider in the country stopped working Thursday evening and...
CATEGORY: Middle East and North Africa
Curly-haired Iranians Talk
Some of the curls were thrusting out of the obligatory veil, but last week on 1 Bahman 1389 (21 January) Iranians with curly hair staged a great gathering in Tehran’s Mellat Park in celebration of the glory of their hair. The result is this great...
Update: Egyptian protests
As Egyptian anti-government protesters battled security forces for a second day, the fight over the flow of information was becoming a fascinating side battle. On Tuesday, when a 10,000 strong protest overwhelmed police forces and took control of...
Egyptian protesters hope to follow Tunisia’s example
A few memorable snapshots from today’s “Day of Rage” protests in Egypt: • A group of about 100 protesters is marching along the Nile corniche chanting anti-government slogans. From the other direction comes a much larger group of demonstrators. The...
Open politics will stretch Tunisian Islamists
Rohan Jayasekera asks if the return of Tunisia’s Islamists help or hinder the national democratic project
Algeria: Protesters injured in unrest
A number of protesters have been injured during clashes with the police in a pro-democracy rally held in Algiers. The rally was held in protest to a new law that banned public gatherings. Protests to rising costs and unemployment started in Algeria...
Yemen: No place for change
Despite the eruption of Tunisian inspired protests in Sana’a and other cities in Yemen calling for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to step down, regime change seems unlikely. Iona Craig reports
Google lifts restrictions for Iranian users
Google lifted some of its restrictions for on-line users in Iran on 21 January. Google unblocked access to Google Chrome, Google Earth and Picasa, previously US trade sanctions had prevented Iranian users from accessing the site. The restrictions...
Chilcot Inquiry will not publish Blair notes to Bush
Britain's top civil servant, Sir Gus O'Donnell, has refused permission for notes between former prime minister Tony Blair and former US president George Bush to be published by the Chilcot Inquiry into the Iraq war. Head of the Inquiry, Sir John...
Iran: Imprisoned lawyer’s husband arrested
Reza Khandan, husband of imprisoned lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh has been detained by authorities. His detention occurred after he was summoned to Evin prison court. One opposition website has claimed his arrest is due to his activities and interviews in...
