Global Voices Online

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 relationship to a range of emergent issues, including politics, media, religion, culture, and international affairs,” announced the centre.

From Yemen, Omar Barsawad takes a closer look at a colony of baboons living in the valley of Hadhramout, near Seiyoun, and notes: “Humans consider baboons - pests; we always overlook the fact that it is us, humans, who are the most destructive and most dangerous here on earth.”

Alexandra Sandels, from MENASSAT, writes her interview with Walid Al-Saqaf, a Sweden-based Yemeni Internet expert, regarding the launch of his new program Al-Kasir (means the circumventer in Arabic) - during a summit on blogging in Cairo which was entitled “Blogging for the Future“.
Al-Kasir, which is currently available in its Beta test version, is a new software aiming to circumvent web censorship in the Middle East and beyond, where it allows Internet users to access blocked websites.
You can also read Esra'a's post on Mideast Youth on why Al-Kasir is different from other similar tools, and how it’s beneficial to users in the Middle East.

Yemeni blogger Omar Barsawad takes us on a trip to Tarim in this post, which is dotted with photographs.

Yemeni Omar Barsawad takes us on this photo tour of Seiyoun, the largest urban centre and capital of Wadi Hadhramout. “It's famous for its splendid, intricately built mud bricked houses; and its palm trees and wonderful souqs in narrow streets, where: frankincense, myrrh, antique silver and authentic Hadhramy souvenirs are sold,” he explains.

Morocco-based blogger Maryam, of My Marrakesh, visits Yemen and posts pictures of people she met there in this post.

Bill Gates doesn't allow his family to use Apple products and iPhones, remarks Teedoz [Ar] from Yemen.

“This is great news: the Yemeni Parliament has just approved a new minimum age for marriage. It will be seventeen now. The law raises the minimum age for marriage - for both boys and girls - to 17, and provides for the right to alimony and recognition of the mother as the sole guardian of her children,” announces Omar Barsawad from Yemen.

Yemeni blogger Omar Bawsawad takes us on a visit to Tarim, once the cultural and academic centre of Hadhramout and the Arab peninsula but which is neglected today.