Weekend News Roundup

Take it for what it is.


Sorry, but I spent a few hours at the Citadel, in scorching heat. I think you are all capable of reading the headlines and short quotes for yourselves. Suffice it to say, I am wiped out! I hope to get a photo blog together about our self guided tour. Maybe I forgot to mention the kids are in town too, complicating all sorts of daily life, which is actually a good thing, since it takes my mind off of Doggie's passing. On the other hand, the kids have taken to the Strange Cat on my Porch / Chair (feral - check out my flickr site), and have been baiting him with smoked salmon. More on that later, as well.


I'm not even going to bother separating the original quotes into the proper paragraphs this week. I just don't have the energy. Looks like Firefox did that for me, but if you're browser displays massive paragraphs, then you know what happened. Needless to say, any derogatory articles about the U.S.A. are embarrassing and we need need to fix it. What we don't need are stories about how we mistreat our expat workers in Iraq (much less in the U.S.) Someone tell me how far are we from slave labor in Iraq? And why are we allowing the abuses of the Gulf States expat worker practices to be carried out by our own government / contractors?


Islam in Europe:

In Europe, skylines reflect the rise of Islam

After decades of worshiping in basements and courtyards, Muslims are building hundreds of new mosques across the continent.

WIESBADEN, GERMANY - In the Rhine Valley city of Mannheim, the glittering minaret of Germany's biggest mosque overshadows what was once the region's most vibrant church, testifying to Muslims' new confidence as Christian churches are closing down.

Major mosque projects from Cologne, Germany, to Amsterdam to Seville, Spain, have met with fierce opposition and fears that they will serve as breeding grounds for terrorists. Family members of two of the suspects in the Glasgow, Scotland, car bombings this month said the men had been radicalized by Tablighi Jamaat, an Islamic revivalist group with plans for an 18-acre complex near London's 2012 Olympic stadium that would house Europe's largest mosque.

Only a handful existed 10 years ago, but today 159 mosques dot Germany today, with 184 under construction, according to the Central Institute for Islamic Archives in Söst.

Vatican City: Islam a Threat, Pope’s Adviser Says

Msgr. Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict XVI’s secretary and close adviser, warned of the Islamization of Europe and stressed the need for the Continent’s Christian roots not to be ignored. In comments released in advance of an interview to be published today in the German weekly Süeddeutsche Magazin, he said: “Attempts to Islamize the West cannot be denied. The danger for the identity of Europe that is connected with it should not be ignored out of a wrongly understood respectfulness.” He also defended a speech Benedict gave last year linking Islam and violence, saying it was an attempt by the pope to “act against a certain naïveté.”

Exapt Workers:

Foreign Workers Abused at Embassy, Panel Told

Foreign workers lived in tightly packed trailers and had "insufficient equipment and basic needs -- stuff like shoes and gloves," Owens said.

They worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week, and made as little as $240 a month, he said. They were "verbally and physically abused" and had their salaries docked for petty infractions, he added.

Rory J. Mayberry, an emergency medical technician who worked briefly at the embassy site under a subcontract, testified that he was asked by First Kuwaiti managers to escort 51 Filipinos through the Kuwait airport and onto a flight to Baghdad. However, "all of our tickets said we were going to Dubai," he said, adding that a First Kuwaiti manager instructed him not to tell any of the Filipinos that they were going to Baghdad.

He said the men were basically "kidnapped by First Kuwaiti to work on the U.S. Embassy." Their passports had been confiscated, and they were driven away on buses after landing in Baghdad, then were "smuggled into the Green Zone," he said.

Culture:

Two Cultures, Slowly Uniting In Matrimony

The result has been the rise of a hybrid wedding scene in which ever more Caucasian couples eschew pastels in favor of South Asian reds; Middle Eastern and African couples use the ornate South Asian wedding canopies known as mandaps; and South Asian couples include bridesmaids, unthinkable in India or Pakistan.

"It's been fascinating to watch the cross-cultural exchange going on," said Sachi Sood, 27, of Gaithersburg-based Partyland Flowers & Event Decorators. "I feel like I'm witnessing the melting pot in action."

With the melting comes a few misfires, of course. When Foxchase Manor, a wedding hall in Manassas, hosted its first Hindu wedding, the havan, or sacred fire, nearly set off the ballroom's sprinklers.

At Filipino weddings, Cisek is careful to get almost as many photographs of the couple's ninong and ninang -- godparent-like figures -- as she takes of the parents.

For Muslim weddings at which male and female guests celebrate in separate rooms, Cisek dons modest long sleeves and skirts. And she uses only women to process the photos because it would be improper for men who are not related to the female guests to look at them.

Cisek has also learned never to suggest that a Nigerian woman put down her purse for a formal group shot. "A lot of times the purse is considered an essential part of the outfit, along with matching shoes and these fabulous, enormous head wraps," she explained.

Travel:

Suitcases: a window on the traveler's soul

A guide to packing predicaments, from sartorial crises to rides on the baggage carousel.

THE OH-NO-NOT-ANOTHER-BLACK-BAG PACKER: Round and round they go on every baggage carousel: an endless circle of black suitcases, each without any identifying mark. "I know what my bag looks like," the owner insists. Yet he picks up each one to make sure it isn't his – then tosses it back so carelessly that the real owner must scramble onto the still-revolving carousel to retrieve it before it goes around again ... and again ... and ...

A Withered Greek Summer Festival Bursts Into Bloom

The complex at the heart of the Athens and Epidaurus Festival has been transformed from a moribund event into a vibrant arts experience.

Censorship:

Snow demands reporter change 'twisted words' in article

Referring to Snow's words on Wednesday to Kinsolving, Farah writes, "This is a rebuke, and a threat, and an attempt to control Les Kinsolving and WND's right to ask questions at the White House."

Oddly, Farah complains that longtime correspondent Helen Thomas has been "treated with with respect – even deference by Snow," when compared to Kinsolving. However, the most notable occurrences inside the briefing room the last few years have been the contentious battles between Thomas and the White House secretary, including the time when Snow thanked her "for the Hezbollah view."

Farah's column also announces that "Kinsolving will no longer attend" the "Tony-Snow-censored White House news briefings."

Study: Internet censorship spreading

"Recent moves against free speech on the Internet in a number of countries have provided a bitter reminder of the ease with which some regimes, democracies and dictatorships alike, seek to suppress speech that they disapprove of, dislike, or simply fear," the report by the 56-nation OSCE said.

"Speaking out has never been easier than on the Web. Yet at the same time, we are witnessing the spread of Internet censorship," the 212-page report said

.

Israeli textbooks anger nationalists

ABU GHOSH, ISRAEL - When Issa Jaber was teaching civics and history, he tried as much as possible to stick to the books. The texts, issued by the Israeli Ministry of Education, teach the history of the Jewish state's establishment in 1948 from a natural perspective – its Zionist founders.

Except that for an Arab teacher to stand in front of a classroom and speak about Israel's War of Independence and not mention that Palestinians call the same event the Nakba (Catastrophe) isn't so natural. Recognizing that, this week Israel's Minister of Education approved an Arabic textbook mentioning the Nakba, a move that is garnering applause in some corners and outrage in others.

This article seems very similar to one I posted previously.
Sarkozy's tight circle of media friends

The concentration of media ownership in the hands of a few well-connected industrialists has been building for years. But the circles of influence, wealth, and political power have converged to an unusual degree in Mr. Sarkozy's France. This month, the country's richest man, who was also the best man at the president's wedding 11 years ago, is negotiating to buy France's leading financial newspaper, Les Échos.

Photos embarrassing to Sarkozy have been suppressed, and unflattering articles pulled before publication. Sarkozy has denied meddling, but whether they were prompted by direct interference from above or self-censorship on the part of overly cautious editors, the incidents have set off newsroom protests.

Among Sarkozy's intimates is Serge Dassault, owner of the historically conservative Le Figaro newspaper and a senator from the president's right-wing party. Martin Bouygues, godfather to Sarkozy's youngest son, controls the biggest French television channel, TF1. A string of media properties is also owned by Arnaud Lagardère, an aerospace company chairman who once said he and Sarkozy were as close as brothers. Journalists at his publications have repeatedly accused Mr. Lagardère of politically motivated interference.

The latest focus of journalists' suspicion is Bernard Arnault, chairman of the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. The prospect of him controlling Les Échos is causing as much journalistic angst here as Rupert Murdoch's impending purchase of The Wall Street Journal in the US.

Bad News Tests China's Propaganda Arm

After a meeting of top Beijing propaganda officials, for instance, the capital's newspaper editors and television news directors last week were handed a list of newly off-limits subjects, Beijing journalists reported. The list included food safety as well as riots, fires, deadly auto accidents and bloody murder cases, they said.

"Our bosses said the next couple of months, preceding the 17th Party Congress, will be very tense," a Beijing reporter said after getting the new instructions.

Weekend News Roundup: Maadi Has Best Burger!!!

An assortment of articles this week, ranging from the world's best hamburger to just a few censorship items. Three articles about Egypt, plus a few on politics, and one on diversifying America's parks, constitute the rest of the articles (not necessarily in this order.)

How many times have I mentioned Road 9 in Maadi? Well, one establishment there, Lucille's, has been named "The Best Hamburger" by the author of Postcards from Cairo for TIME Magazine.

The World's Best Hamburger Is in Egypt

When I asked general manager Essam Mabrouk the secret of the burgers, it turned out there is indeed a special ingredient, which is lathered on the beef patty as soon as it hits the heat. (He hinted it has something to do with fish, but refused to divulge more.) Mabrouk hauled me into the kitchen to show me some other reasons for Lucille's success: fresh, organic ingredients. Six kitchen butchers double-grind ultra-lean round and rump steaks, mixing in a secret ratio of "clean" fat, and then double-press the patties in a mold to ensure cooking consistency. The lettuce, tomato and onions are grown in the Nile River basin's year-round sunshine, requiring no preservatives. "It really boils down to the fact that it's all homemade," Lucille tells me. "We've gone back to basics. I don't throw anything in the grinder that doesn't belong there."

Also, an excerpt from a book about an Egyptian family moving abroad.

Searching for My Father's Lost City

Before we fled, Cairo was a cosmopolitan crossroads. How much still remains?

My father, who had lived in Egypt since the turn of the century, had been a prosperous businessman and pleasure seeker who gambled with King Farouk. My mother was a teacher and librarian in a private school supported by a Pasha and his wife. I attended the tony Lycée Français du Caire where at five, I wore a grey uniform with a crest. We left a year later, when my father, who had tried to hold on, succumbed to pressure from my older siblings who felt there was no future for them in Egypt.

Sadly, reluctantly, Dad gave away the lease to our apartment and signed papers known as aller sans retour. It meant that we were leaving and never coming back.

It was a wrenching departure, and we never got over it. No matter where we went we always looked back on Egypt with longing. "Ragaouna Masr," my dad would cry out in Arabic, especially as he fell on hard times in America. Colloquially, it meant "Take us back to Cairo!"

My father died in 1993, having never returned to Egypt. Recently, I returned to Cairo.

Adapted from 'The Man in the White Sharkskin Suit,My Family's Exodus from Old Cairo to the New World ' by Lucette Lagnado.

From Amazon

Book Description
In vivid and graceful prose, Lucette Lagnado re-creates the majesty and cosmopolitan glamour of Cairo in the years between World War II and Gamal Abdel Nasser's rise to power. Her father, Leon, was a boulevardier who conducted business on the elegant terrace of Shepheard's Hotel, and later, in the cozy, dark bar of the Nile Hilton, dressed in his signature white sharkskin suit. But with the fall of King Farouk and Nasser's nationalization of Egyptian industry, Leon and his family lose everything. As streets are renamed, neighborhoods of their fellow Jews disbanded, and the city purged of all foreign influence, the Lagnados, too, must make their escape. With all of their belongings packed into twenty-six suitcases, their jewels and gold coins hidden in sealed tins of marmalade, Leon and his family depart for any land that will take them. The poverty and hardships they encounter in their flight from Cairo to Paris to New York are strikingly juxta-posed against the beauty and comforts of the lives they left behind.

An inversion of the American dream set against the stunning portraits of three world cities, Lucette Lagnado's memoir offers a grand and sweeping story of faith, tradition, tragedy, and triumph.

Egyptian attempts to curb smoking receive skeptical response

CAIRO, Egypt: In a country where perhaps the most popular national past-time is puffing on a water pipe or chain smoking while drinking tea, new laws designed to curb smoking are receiving a skeptical response.

If you want to read one piece in this Roundup, please take a look at The Obscured Continent, from the Columbia Journalism Review. It's a critique of a recent Vanity Fair Magazine, The Africa Issue. For anyone who is a Vanity Fair fan like I am, seeing Madonna on the cover of a magazine featuring articles solely about Africa, made my skin crawl. The woman "bought" an African child, for God's sake (and some controversy to go along with it) and we should look at her as a spokesman / representative of what's happening in Africa today? It's a never ending parade of celebreality angst, and let's not forget, they are today's swamis on the issue, are they not? It's like a mad dash by the "look at me, look at me, look at me" brigade screaming, "I'm a do-gooder. I've got morals too! " scrambling for (retch!) the next award - The Nobel Peace Prize? (People, please don't trample over each other now.) I don't think buying children is exactly what the Prize committee had in mind. After I received a lecture from a GAP store employee on how many vaccines $1.00 could buy, when I was purchasing a "Red" item for less than that, (and already knowing that only about ten percent actually went towards the "Red" campaign,) it seemed to me to be just another way to make more money. The business of America is business, and Africa be damned! Don't get me wrong, but as The Columbia Journalism Review critique states, Vanity Fair could've presented more Africans who are working to make a change, rather than a bunch of botoxed celebrities.  Oh and is Africa so damned desperate that ten percent will fix it?  C'mon!  What a load of capitalist garbage! Why don't they outsource to Africa and help the Africans help themselves?  

For those of you who need some comfort read  this:

In a recent story, the Washington Post tackles cause marketing's paradoxical nature, and seems to theorize that perhaps consumers are just a little too confused to participate in such initiatives: "Cause marketing soothes the compunctions of a mass-consumption culture at the same time that it contributes to that excess. It allows us to be giving at the same time that we are selfish."

Mother Jone's latest issue: Politics 2.0, describes the technological revolution in politics. It also displays how a blog like the Daily Kos can influence thousands of people to email, call, write to their representatives, or just whoever the Daily Kos is angry with at the moment, subsequently stirring them into a frenzy. Someone tell me how this is different from Osama's call to arms. These people are becoming celebrities, they get paid and advise politicians. They are basically becoming the same people they despise - lobbyists and Republicans, and they also command a cadre of thousands.  Oh, and you think Cheney's a secretive creep?  Apparently, it's contagious.

Open-source politics is the idea that social networking and participatory technologies will revolutionize our ability to follow, support, and influence political campaigns. Forget party bosses in smoky backrooms—netroots evangelists and web consultants predict a wave of popular democracy as fundraisers meet on MySpace, YouTubers crank out attack ads, bloggers do oppo research, and cell-phone-activated flash mobs hold miniconventions in Second Life. The halls of power will belong to whoever can tap the passion of the online masses. That kid with a laptop has Karl Rove quaking in his boots. And if you believe that, we've got some leftover Pets.com stock to sell you.

Picnics, Games and Culture Shock

Parks Work to Tailor Services While Educating Immigrants on Rules

Feeling helpless, parks employees turned to their computers, Googling such terms as "Persian" and "holiday" and "spring." That's how they learned that on Sizdeh Bedar, a popular celebration in Iran, it's considered unlucky to stay indoors. Now each April, the park is ready with extra staff.

Parks are changing, too: Montgomery County built a cricket field for its Jamaican and Indian expats. Fairfax County is contemplating bigger picnic pavilions for Latino families, who tend to gather in large groups and stay longer. The Northern Virginia park authority plans to offer instant kimchi, a cabbage dish, alongside hot dogs at some of its snack stands to appeal to Korean golfers.

"It's about connections rather than enforcement," said John Berlin, program section manager for the Fairfax County Park Authority. "It's putting out the welcome mat to the international community, not just saying, 'Here's how we Americans do things.' "

The "Do As I Say, Not As I Do" law of the week, coming from the U.K. in a TIME Magazine article:
Hubble, Bubble, Hookah Trouble

Despite all the predictions of mass outrage, New York, Dublin and even Paris have adjusted to bans on smoking in public places with quiet resignation rather than rebellion. But with London's ban commencing this week, the city's sizable Muslim population will not easily accept the closure of their beloved shisha bars.

Café owners allied with El-Nour are lobbying for London to follow the example of New York, which made exceptions in its smoking ban for cigar rooms and hookah bars. They point out that the British ban already exempts private homes, hospitals, prisons, hotel bedrooms and, revealingly, the Houses of Parliament. If politicians can continue to puff away with impunity, they ask, why can't we?

Censorship:

I've included the article on the mosque debate because I consider attempts to stop it from being a built a form of censorship. Decide for yourself.  And Iran starting it's own English speaking station?  Anyone who has kept up with the news knows this is another scheme to divert Iranian attention away from their country's own pressing issues (which Achmadinajed is sorely at need to do.)

Germans Split Over a Mosque and the Role of Islam

Plans for what would be one of Germany’s largest mosques are rattling an ancient city to its foundations.

But the proposal has also drawn fierce criticism from a respected German-Jewish writer, Ralph Giordano, who said the mosque would be “an expression of the creeping Islamization of our land.” And he does not want to see women shrouded in veils on German streets, he said.

“For me, it is self-evident that the Muslims need to have a prestigious place of worship,” said Mr. Schramma, who belongs to the center-right Christian Democratic Union. “But it bothers me when people have lived here for 35 years and they don’t speak a single word of German.”

Cologne, with one of the largest Muslim populations of any German city, already has nearly 30 mosques. Most are in converted factories or warehouses, often tucked away in hidden courtyards, which has contributed to a sense that Muslims in Germany can worship only furtively.

But Mr. Broder said that his underlying message was valid, and that his stature as a writer gave him the standing to say it. “A mosque is more than a church or a synagogue,” he said. “It is a political statement.”

Trial in Editor’s Killing Opens, Testing Rule of Law in Turkey

Eighteen young men are charged in the assassination of the newspaper editor Hrant Dink, a Turkish citizen of Armenian descent, who was shot and killed in January.

The trial’s verdict will have broad implications for free speech. Ultranationalist Turks have used an article of the country’s criminal code that forbids “insulting Turkishness” to push the government to bring charges against Turkish writers, including Orhan Pamuk, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist. Mr. Dink received a suspended sentence under the statute. His supporters argue that a limp prosecution of his killing will embolden nationalists.

Orkut.com banned in the UAE

Dubai: Controversial website Orkut.com has been blocked in the UAE after Gulf News highlighted the concerns of readers that it contains sexually explicit material.

Iran Expands Role in Media, via Satellite and in English

Press TV, Iran’s new 24-hour English-language satellite television channel, which aims to compete with the BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera International, launched on Monday

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told the staff during an opening ceremony on Monday that the channel “should stay beside the oppressed people of the world,” the official Islamic Republic News Agency said.

“Broadcasting the truth immediately, providing precise analysis and exposing the plots of propaganda networks of the enemy is among your duties,” he was quoted as saying.

Weekend News Roundup

The New York Times has a special travel issue dedicated to photography, including an article about sharing photos online: The Photography Issue



The Horny Toad Returns: Eating live frogs, rats "cures tummy upsets"

BEIJING (Reuters) - A man in southeast China says 40 years of swallowing tree frogs and rats live has helped him avoid intestinal complaints and made him strong.

Arab pop stars raise funds for Darfur

Sudan, under a strict version of Islamic sharia law, rarely enjoys visits from pop artists, and some Islamic scholars protested the week-long set of concerts by stars like Sherine, Hani Shakir, Mounira Hamdi and Mohammad Mounir.

But despite the charity's good intentions, some Islamic scholars in Sudan said the concerts were sinful.

"We view this as a way to corrupt this country, its people, its values and morals," the Sudanese Islamic Scholar's Society said in a statement posted on an Islamist Web site.

"We urge ... the president of the republic, to intervene, stop this and protect this society and its religion and values."

Fatwas and Modernity, by Sheikh Ali Gomaa (Washington Post) - for more and the interesting responses to his post, check out the link.

The experience that Egypt went through can be taken as an example of this. The period of development begun by Muhammad Ali Pasha and continued by the Khedive Ismail was an attempt to build a modern state. This meant a reformulation of Islamic law. This process led Egypt to become a liberal state run by a system of democracy without any objections from Muslim scholars. Muslims are free to choose whichever system of government they deem most appropriate for them.

The principles of freedom and human dignity for which liberal democracy stands are themselves part of the foundation for the Islamic world view; it is the achievement of this freedom and dignity within a religious context that Islamic law strives for.

Islam in modern Europe: revivalism or alienation?

Finding out and implementing necessary changes to European integration policies will inevitably lead to less division and fear, and more prosperity and development, not to mention a sense of shared national unity, says Talajeh Livani.

The other scenario, which I believe is more likely, is that these youth are being drawn to their roots not because they are judging between cultures, but because of the feeling and conviction that they will never be accepted as natives in the European countries in which they grew up. In contrast to the United States, where an American can be white, black, Asian, Latino, Middle Eastern etc., in Europe, and most other parts of the world, there is an image of what a native of a given country looks like.

New French Political Cry: Liberté, Egalité, Diversité

Propelled by weeks of street violence in immigrant-dominated neighborhoods in 2005 and emboldened by record numbers of new voters from minority populations, French minorities are redefining the political debate and taking on the entrenched powers of one of the least diverse governments in Europe.

"We're challenging this country," said Patrick Lozes, president of Action Circle for the Promotion of Diversity in France, an umbrella organization that represents dozens of local black political associations across France. "Look at France's record: black ministers -- zero; black representatives -- zero; black senators -- zero; black ambassadors -- zero; black CEOs of the country's top businesses -- zero."

Minorities hold about 13 of the 22 assembly seats representing overseas parts of the country such as Martinique. But they hold none of the 555 district seats representing continental France, where an estimated 10 percent of the population is made up of Africans, Arabs or other minorities.

Attempts to restore “Cairo’s Belle Époque”

When passed, the law will allow for construction of new buildings that maintain the same architectural heritage as those of the 19th century, as well as allowing for restoration of old buildings without changing their original architectural façade.

“Basically, what the law aims for is to preserve architectural beauty of 19th century buildings. Officials focus on protection of archeological sites only and overlook architectural artifacts, which will also play a role in boosting tourism,” she said.

Most of these endangered artifacts stretch along Cairo’s Downtown strip, particularly in El-Tahrir Square, Talaat Harb Street, Bab El Louk, and Garden City.

The European Union has earmarked 40,000 euros to fund this project, named “Cairo’s Belle Époque.” By the end of this year, the database will include all of Cairo’s historic buildings, which are estimated to number 5,000.

We moved to Anchorage, Alaska early 1990, just when the trial of the Exxon Valdez's Ship's Captain Joe Hazlewood started. This case, after 18 years has still not been settled:
Years later, Valdez's stain remains

ExxonMobil's legal battle rages 18 years after the oil spill, as the case is likely headed to the Supreme Court.

In its ruling last month – its third in the case since 1994 – the appeals court declared, "It is time for this protracted litigation to end." Plaintiffs agree, noting that at least 6,000 of those who originally claimed to have been harmed by the massive oil spill have since died.

Earlier this year, ExxonMobil reported the largest-ever annual profit by a US company – $39.5 billion in net income.

After the 1989 spill, the Exxon Valdez was banished from Prince William Sound, renamed the "SeaRiver Mediterranean," and sent to other parts of the world. In 1990, Congress passed a law banning single-hulled tankers like the Valdez from domestic waters by 2015.

Meanwhile, in Cordova, Alaska – the fishing village most devastated by the oil spill – villagers recently erected a "ridicule pole." It's a traditional native yellow cedar totem pole mocking a company official's promise shortly after the Exxon Valdez ran aground: "We will do whatever it takes to keep you whole."

VFW Backs Vet in Trouble Over Protest

Marine Corps veteran Adam Kokesh talks with reporters during a news conference in Washington, Friday, June 1, 2007. Kokesh had already received an honorable discharge from active duty before he was photographed in April wearing fatigues - with military insignia removed - during a mock patrol with other veterans protesting the Iraq war. A military panel in Kansas City, Mo., will hold a hearing Monday to decide whether he should be should be discharged from service and, if so, with what type of discharge.

"Trying to hush up and punish fellow Americans for exercising the same democratic right we're trying to instill in Iraq is not what we're all about," said Gary Kurpius, national commander of the 2.4 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars.

"We all know that people give up some individual rights when they join the military," Kurpius said. "But these Marines went to war, did their duty, and were honorably discharged from the active roles. I may disagree with their message, but I will always defend their right to say it."

More on this story and on others being charged:For US military veterans, a free-speech dispute





Ex-spy Plame vows to battle CIA over free speech

"Just as we have to be vigilant to protect our national security -- something I believe in passionately -- we have to be vigilant to protect our freedom of speech and First Amendment rights," Valerie Plame Wilson said in a speech at a book convention.

Brotherhood blogger release ordered

Defense says international pressure played major role in decision

CAIRO: The general prosecution in Nasr City issued a release order Wednesday for detained Muslim Brotherhood blogger/journalist Abdel Moneim Mahmoud, lawyer Islam Lotfy told The Daily Star Egypt.

Mahmoud has been held at Mahkum prison since his arrest on April 14 pending investigation into his membership in a banned organization. The release order was made for lack of evidence.

Following Egypt’s accession to the UN agency last week, reputable rights group Human Rights Watch immediately urged the Egyptian authorities to “turn a new page on human rights and uphold international standards.”

“Egypt has for too long committed serious and systematic abuses at home while consistently undermining UN mechanisms to defend rights. Its appalling domestic rights record includes routine torture in police stations, arbitrary arrests of non-violent dissidents, and crippling restrictions on civil society organizations. If Egypt is serious about cleaning up its human rights performance, it should start by allowing the Center for Trade Union and Workers’ Services to reopen, and by freeing Ayman Nour and Abd Al-Moneim Mahmoud,” the organization stated in a recent press release.

However, Brotherhood member Ibrahim El-Houdaiby emphasized that while the release serves as an “important decision for Egypt with regards to the country’s poor human rights conditions,” he stressed that “one must not forget those opposition activists still in detainment in Egypt.”

YouTube: The Battle of Technology vs. Censorship

Although authorities in Iran filter thousands of websites including YouTube, it is increasingly used by many Iranians who manage to by-pass the censorship; they regularly place their home made or semi-professional controversial videos on the web, to challenge the Islamic government's social and political restrictions.

Three articles about Musharraf's recent attempts to censor the news.
As TV Coverage Feeds Protests, Musharraf Reacts



Musharraf Issues Decree Cracking Down on News Media



Pakistan Arrests 300 Workers From Opposition




Afghans Seek Men Who Killed Broadcaster as She Slept

Zakia Zaki was the director of a private local radio station. She was shot seven times as she slept beside her 10-month- old baby.
Rahimullah Samander, the leader of the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, attended the funeral for Ms. Zaki and said she was the third Afghan journalist to be killed this year. He added that there were many other cases of threats, mistreatment and obstacles presented to Afghan journalists, both by the Taliban and by people who hold power in the government.

China: No More New Net Cafes in 2007




Opposition journalist assaulted

BAKU — The editor of a minor opposition daily in Azerbaijan was abducted and severely beaten by unknown men on 18 May in what critics say is part of a government crackdown on the opposition media.

RWB said the attack on Haziyev was the second apparent murder attempt against an opposition journalist in Azerbaijan in the past three months. Fikrat Huseyinli, a reporter with the opposition Azadliq newspaper, was kidnapped and beaten up by unknown men on 5 March.