· July, 2008

Stories about Jordan from July, 2008

Arabeyes: Any Legal Foundations for Al Bashir's Indictment?

  30 July 2008

Since July 14, when the possibility of Sudanese President Omar Hassan Al Bashir's indictment by the International Criminal Court was raised, bloggers around the world have reacted to the matter. Today, we visit blogs from the Middle East and North Africa to learn how they feel.

Arabeyes: Head Over Heels for Muhannad

  29 July 2008

A strange phenomenon has gripped the Arab world and Arabs seem to agree on something. It is an infatuation with a Turkish soap opera, dubbed in Arabic, and its stunning star Muhanned (played by Kıvanç Tatlıtuğ), whose romantic trysts are beamed on television screens across the region. The obsession of some people with the soap has also prompted the Grand Mufti of the Islamic world, Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh, from Saudi Arabia, to issue a fatwa (religious edict) banning the drama, saying watching it is Haram (a sin).

Jordan: The Business of Marriage

  26 July 2008

“Marriage, is just like anything else in this life. It's a partnership that has assets, partners, resources, expenses, rights, obligations, expectations, challenges, competition, ethics, rules, standards, planning, customers and profit. Just like any business out there,” writes Jordanian blogger Qwaider.

Jordan: Aqaba's Developments

  26 July 2008

Jordanian blogger Naseem Tarawnah visits Aqaba, the only Jordanian port with direct access to the Red Sea, and writes about the developments he witnessed there.

Jordan: Batman Review

  25 July 2008

“I can say I was completely blown away! Not just the best Batman movie ever made, this is one of the best movies this year,” writes Jordanian blogger Moey, about Batman.

Jordan: Six People Killed in Shooting

  20 July 2008

“The shooting in Amman where six people were injured in a musical was a crime of despair. The shooter was an 18-year old, resident of Al Baq'a refugee camp,” writes Jordanian blogger Hareega, about the latest shoot out in Jordan.

Jordan: Book Orgy

  18 July 2008

From Jordan, Tololy is excited about the Amman Book Fair. “I had a terrific time this morning when I went to the Amman Book Fair with my sisters, bookish women like me, and we spent whatever was left of our salaries on books, sweet seductive books!” she writes.

Jordan: Save Water

  17 July 2008

Jordanian Naseem Tarawnah calls for a stricter water conservation policy. “Yes, we have little water, but there is massive, massive, massive mismanagement when it comes to this field, because we’re still acting like a country with no water problems instead of one that is striving to save every drop,” he...

Jordan: RIP Olive Riley

  15 July 2008

Jordanian Naseem Tarawnah mourns the death of the world's oldest blogger, Australian Olive Riley, who died at the age 108, and says: “for some reason, I feel a strange sense of affinity.”

Tunisia: Introducing Dahsha

  13 July 2008

Tunisian blogger Mohammed Marwan Meddah introduces us to Dahsha - an online encyclopaedia, which he describes as “one of the serious efforts to enrich Arab content on the internet.”

Jordan: King Abdullah Comments on Websites

  7 July 2008

King Abdullah II of Jordan has left two comments this past weekend on Jordanian websites, including the local daily newspaper, Ad-Dustour (Arabic), and blogger Naseem Tarawnah's The Black Iris. The King's comments were generally in response to a recent, candid interview with the local press in which he cleared up...

Israel: Earth-Friendly Middle East

  3 July 2008

Help Karen Chernick build a list of environmentally friendly blogs in the Middle East. In “Green News from the Blogosphere,”, this Green Prophet author opines: “The truth is that although borders may physically and ideologically separate us, one of the things that we all share is that we are citizens...