Wolfville: Support of Egypt

Yemen now

Police and anti-government protesters clashed in Yemen on Sunday, during the third-consecutive day of demonstrations calling for political reform and the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Several thousand protesters tried to force their way into the central square in the capital of Sanaa, but faced fierce resistance from police forces.

Hosni Mubarak: a survivor comes undone

He survived assassination attempts and wave after wave of Mideast crises, a solid ally of the West whose stable image reassured many Egyptians. Hosni Mubarak ended his presidency Friday as a symbol of what was wrong with Egypt: the repression, the corruption, the lost hopes of a swelling, impoverished class.
After protests and upheaval swept Egypt, Mubarak sought to portray himself as the only obstacle to chaos, as he had done successfully so many times in the past. Yet attacks by his supporters, who roamed downtown Cairo with impunity, suggested that violence lay at the core of his system.

Research Quest: 5 student blogs

The blogs that I looked at were: Jianda, Devyn, Darlene, Jacob and Aminta. It was interesting reading all of these blogs.  I feel like I'm on the right track, and that others are pushing for an understanding of this extremely complicated and diverse world of ours. My favorite is Devyn’s blog. I agreed with his point of view of the black discrimination. I also believe that killing people because they are Blacks is unacceptable in any time. 

Hackers penetrate Nasdaq communications service

The company that runs the Nasdaq stock market said Saturday that hackers had penetrated a service that handles confidential communications between public companies and their boards.

The service run by Nasdaq OMX Group Inc. carries strategic information for about 300 companies. The company said it appears no customer data was compromised.

Nasdaq OMX said the hacking attempts did not affect its trading systems. Nasdaq is the largest electronic securities trading market in the U.S. with more than 2,800 listed companies.

The targeted application, Directors Desk, is designed to make it easier for companies to share documents with directors between scheduled board meetings. It also allows online discussions and Web conferencing within a board.

Iran opens trial of 3 Americans on spy charges

An Iranian court held closed-door proceedings Sunday to begin the espionage trial of three Americans -- two in custody and one freed on bail -- whose 18-month detention has been the subject of impassioned family appeals and backdoor outreach by Washington through an Arab ally in the Gulf.

The case highlights the power of Iran's judiciary, which is controlled directly by the nation's ruling clerics and has rejected apparent appeals by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to show some leniency.

Twitter, a new media for politicians

 The Harper government is using Twitter to release information, choosing the terse social messaging site over official channels.

The prime minister's spokesman used Twitter on Tuesday to post news of Stephen Harper's coming trip to Washington to meet U.S. President Barack Obama.

Spokesman Dimitri Soudas also used Twitter on Tuesday to communicate the government's concern about a CRTC decision that changes what Internet service providers can charge their wholesale customers.

Minutes later, a similar message was posted directly from Harper's Twitter account.

The PMO's use of Twitter as a formal communications tool above official channels is raising concern because it shuts out those who don't use the site.

Also, Harper's account links followers to the Conservative party website rather than the government of Canada site.

Soudas has also been tweeting updates on the evacuation of Canadian citizens from Egypt. In January, he used the site to confirm a cabinet shuffle.

Tory cabinet ministers such as Tony Clement, Jason Kenney and James Moore have all used Twitter in the past to alert followers to news from their departments.

Al Jazeera

Al Jazeera, literally, "The Island,"is an international news network headquartered in Doha, Qatar. Initially launched as an Arabic news and current affairs satellite TV channel with the same name, Al Jazeera has since expanded into a network with several outlets, including the Internet and specialty TV channels in multiple languages. Al Jazeera is accessible in several world regions and is owned by Qatar Media Corporation.
The original Al Jazeera channel's willingness to broadcast dissenting views, including on call-in shows, created controversies in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The station gained worldwide attention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, when it was the only channel to cover the war in Afghanistan live from its office there.


During the 2011 Egyptian protests, on 30 January, the Egyptian government ordered the TV channel to close its offices. A day after, on 31 January, Egyptian security forces arrested six Al Jazeera journalists for several hours and seized their camera equipment. There were also reports of disruption in Al Jazeera Mubasher's Broadcast to Egypt. Al Jazeera has been criticized by Egyptian newspapers and television shows for its allegedly biased coverage of news that are related to Egypt and its government, and they argue that these continuous attacks against Egypt is to destroy Egypt’s image in the region as many of them suggest.

Also some of the staff at Al Jazerra are former BBC staff members. BBC was shut down after two years of operation because of the censorship demands of the Saudi Arabian government. That former BBC staffs were hired by Al Jazeera on the promise that there would be no government censorship.