Global Voices Online

“In Ankawa, the Christian quarter of Arbil, there are so many alcohol shops with fake beer brands made in Turkey. There are also real beer trademarks, but that's also from Turkey (Efes). In the ‘Muslim' part of Erbil (Hawler) you can also get alcohol, but it's mostly 'sealed' off with a small wall so that other people cannot see you drinking” writes Transnational Middle-East Observer in this photo post on alcohol in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Recent Links also in Middle East & North Africa

samuraisam, from the UAE Community Blog, asks: “Has anyone else found the Israeli TLD to be unblocked from the UAE? On my Etisalat connection it seems to be open.”

UAE blogger An Emirati's Thoughts calls for action following the “recent slump in the confidence in Dubai's debt management capabilities.”

Yemeni Omar Barsawad shares with us information on the Yemeni capital San'aa. “Be it in Sana'a Old City or the mud bricked houses of Hadhramout, Yemen's architecture remains very much traditional and unique. And is still being preserved in most parts of the country,” he notes.