17 July 2008

Stories from 17 July 2008

Kuwait: Blogs in the News

A local newspaper has started covering Kuwaiti blogs. In many countries, this might be perceived as a positive step but some Kuwaiti bloggers have their reservations. Abdullatif Alomar reports.

Brazil: Bloggers question the 13 new cyber-crimes

  17 July 2008

In the small hours of last Thursday, July 10, the Brazilian Senate passed the 'Digital Crimes Bill', which typifies the cyber-crimes punishable by law and stipulates the corresponding penalties. The proposal will now be proceeding to the House of Representatives. Meanwhile, bloggers campaign for more debate and an online petition has been signed by over 60,000 citizens in just one week.

Palestine: Land of the Cursed

“[B]ecause Israel continues to control the Palestinian population registry (yes, even after Disengagement), it controls Palestinian movement; Palestinian life; and it tears that movement and life and the families that would want to enjoy them apart,” writes Palestinian Laila El Haddad in this post entitled “Land of the Cursed.”

Jordan: Save Water

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...

Global Voices introduces Executive Director, Ivan Sigal

  17 July 2008

We're thrilled to announce that Ivan Sigal has joined Global Voices as Executive Director. Ivan comes to us from the US Institute of Peace, where he's been researching citizen media in conflict-prone parts of the globe. Prior to his time at USIP, Ivan spent several years with Internews, an international media development organization. With Internews, Ivan worked on projects in the former Soviet Union, was Regional Director for Central Asia and Afghanistan, Regional Director for Asia, and worked on development for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Morocco to send imams to Europe

Daily Maghreb reports that Morocco will send 176 preachers to Europe to “answer the religious needs of the Moroccan community abroad, to protect them from any speeches of an extremist or irregular nature and shelter them from fanaticism and extremism.”

Israel: Intense Emotions Over the Hezbollah Prisoner Exchange

Wednesday, July 16th, was a day of mourning all across Israel. Hopes for the slight possibility that the approved prisoner exchange deal with Hizbollah will bring the two abducted soldiers, Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, back home alive were shattered as their coffins were transported across the border. Gilad Lotan brings us reactions from the Israeli blogopshere.

DRC: Kabila meets with Sarkozy

  17 July 2008

At his meeting with Congolese President Joseph Kabila yesterday, French President Nicolas Sarkozy extinguished any hopes of more debt relief.  Blogger Alex Engwete has this to say [Fr]:  “the lesson to take from the diplomatic debacle is that the development of the DRC will not happen by way of the...