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Hundreds of hopeful Iranians, including thirty women, have registered as candidates to replace President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the forthcoming election even though they have no chance whatsoever of being elected.
Palestinian Anas Hamra, from Gaza, claims he got his Kentucky Fried Chicken delivered – after a seven hour wait. His story tallies with a recent New York Times report which says that Gazans are getting their KFC deliveries, from Al Arish, in Egypt, where they are smuggled through secret tunnels. The delivery service has since been discontinued, but at least Hamra got his KFC treat and the chance to blog his experience.
On May 11th, Reyhanlı [en] small Turkish town on Turkey-Syria border, was under terrorist attacks. This was the biggest terrorist attack [en] in country's 90 year-old republican history. Netizens react to the blast, a government imposed media ban on the tragedy and the targeting of Syrian refugees which followed.
In commemoration of Nakba Day, the ‘Visualizing Palestine’ graphic team have released their latest infographic entitled “An ongoing displacement” which “quantitatively catalogues the multiple dimensions of Palestinian displacement and loss of land.”
Six Twitter users have been sentenced to a year in prison each by a Bahrain court today for allegedly insulting King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on the micro-blogging site.
In a country where the illiteracy rate of both sexes (15 years and above) is almost 40 per cent, education and the empowerment of the women and youth is an imperative necessity for any concrete development in Yemen. Activists argue why education should be a right and not a privilege.
‘Ghost', a gay-friendly club in Dekwaneh, Matn, Lebanon, was raided by 12 policemen under the order of Antoine Chakhtoura, the municipality's head. Customers were reportedly bullied out of the club and four individuals were arrested in the incident. Online, netizens expressed their outrage.
Several reports indicate that the Iranian regime has taken another step to control the already heavily censored internet. Psiphon, Kerio and Open VPN, are no longer effective against the Iranian state's efforts to block websites.
The fifth session of the ongoing trial of Dr. Abdulkareem al-Khudar, a co-founder of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association, was held today; and as in the previous session, the judge continued to refuse to allow women to attend the public trial, saying that they shall stay at home.
Violent clashes between Turkish police and May Day protesters in Istanbul left 25 civilians and 22 police officers injured, including one man who reportedly lost an eye due to a teargas canister and another 17-year-old girl with head injuries who was left in a coma for a short time.
Hamid Tehrani is the Iran and Farsi editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
Lova Rakotomalala is the French editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.
Egyptian Ahmad Khalil tweets [ar]:
الكهرباء قطعت من الساعة 9.5 وبالتالى النت قطع ، لعلك سعيد يا ريس مرسى ؟؟ نحن نعيش فى العتمه والقادم اسؤأ
@ahmad_khalil:The electricity has been out since 9.50am and as a result there has been no Internet. Are you happy President Morsi? We are living in darkness and the future looks worse.
Lebanese blogger Habib Battah narrates how he was held against his consent, forced to delete photographs of ruins from his phone camera and repeatedly assaulted in this post on the Beirut Report. When he reported the case to his local police station, the officers in charge said it was his word against theirs. He adds:
Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform. Image from Cairobserver facebook page.
Supported by Ford Foundation and the British Council, Cluster has recently launched the Cairo Urban Initiatives Platform (CUIP), the first resource of its kind in Egypt.
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Sokhanesabz says [fa] that people send SMS to each other inviting Iranians to protest against internet interruption in front of Ministry of Communication on Saturday 11th May.
Yemeni blogger Noon Arabia writes an open letter to US President Barak Obama in which she says:
All Yemenis are against terrorism and condemn Al-Qaeda, yet are also against the violent and unethical use of predator drones in combating them. We are against the death of civilians, whom you refer to as collateral damage in the war against terror. We are against the long-term effects on their communities and their lives. We are against any extrajudicial killings.
Qifa Nabki writes:
“Lebanon’s Ministry of Energy and Water has launched a new [billboard] campaign promoting the benefits of off-shore oil exploration for the average citizen. The ads contain shots of smiling people aside captions like: “My children and I are staying in Lebanon“ or “I’m going back to work in Lebanon!“”
He continues, sarcastically “Why stop there? I think the Ministry needs a nudge in a more ambitious direction” and suggests adding: “Streets free of traffic jams, private jets, manaqeesh (a pizza-like Lebanese dish) with salmon and caviar, space exploration” etc.
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China must step in to protect indigenous Mongoloid Asiatic native people & their lands, and...