Facebook outstrips Arab newspapers - survey
Page last updated at 18:49 GMT, Monday, 24 May 2010 19:49 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version By Magdi Abdelhadi
BBC Middle East editor
Internet use in the Arab world is on the rise There are now more Facebook users in the Arab world than newspaper readers, a survey suggests.
The research by Spot On Public Relations, a Dubai-based agency, says there are more than 15 million subscribers to the social network.
The total number of newspaper copies in Arabic, English and French is just under 14 million.
The findings seem to confirm the increasing popularity of the social interaction platforms in the region.
Alternative
Spot On Public Relations, a marketing and communications agency, says the figures show that such platforms are beginning to define how Arabs discover and share information.
In Egypt alone, there are 3.5 million users, which is way beyond the circulation of any of the biggest dailies.
Even in conservative Saudi Arabia, people have been quick to embrace Facebook. It is the country with the second-largest membership after Egypt.
One-third of the population in the United Arab Emirates are said to be on Facebook.
The findings should come as no surprise. The majority of the region's more than 300 million people is young, and internet use is on the rise.
In societies where political freedoms are severely limited, many have also resorted to Facebook as an alternative to the public sphere.
But the survey does not provide a detailed breakdown of how it is used in Arab countries - for example how much of it is for chatting and making friends and how much is for political and social campaigning.
But it contains valuable information for advertisers who want to reach the largest possible number of people.
Saturday, May 29, 2010
Nuclear-Free Middle East.
This article is from BBC.
Israel shouldn't be complaining about Iran's attempt to having nuclear weapons if it has over 200 itself. Iran follows mutually assured destruction, MAD doctrine, Kennan's thesis if I do recall correctly.
The arguement that Iran shouldn't have nuclear weapons is a very salient one. Israelis have a point, but you can't have a double standard.
Nukes: Either everyone has them or no-one has them. I think that is smart.
I prefer no nukes to nuclear peace, but often nuclear peace prevents conventional war. After Hiroshima, nuclear weapons were never used. Yet there were many close calls, such as with India and Pakistan.
Nuclear-free Middle East is an excellent proposal. If not, a nuclear peace could prevent further invasions, such as the carnage in Iraq. Would more people have died in a nuclear attack, that was swift, or this carnage carried on for years? Which is better?
The MAD doctrine prevented World War III between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. I am not going to take sides here, just observe the merits of various arguements. They are all quite interesting. The main thing is that the status quo is untenable. Besides, 30% of Egyptians are illeterate and live on one dollar a day.
-Maria
-------------------
UN talks back conference on nuclear-free Middle East
Page last updated at 8:56 GMT, Saturday, 29 May 2010 9:56 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version Iran has faced international pressure over its nuclear programme Nearly 200 nations, signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), have agreed to work towards a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
The members, meeting at the UN in New York, called for a conference in 2012 attended by Middle Eastern states - including Iran - to establish the zone.
The unanimously agreed document also said that Israel should sign the NPT.
US President Barack Obama backed the deal but said he was "strongly opposed" to Israel being singled out.
The US says the reference could jeopardise efforts to persuade the Israelis to attend the 2012 talks.
An Israel official later denounced the document as "hypocrisy".
"Only Israel is mentioned, while the text is silent about other countries like India, Pakistan and North Korea, which have nuclear arms, or even more seriously, Iran, which is seeking to obtain them," a senior government official told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
'Important step'
The 28-page final declaration was agreed by 189 member states following intense talks on the last day of a month-long conference on strengthening the NPT, the cornerstone of global disarmament efforts.
Continue reading the main story All eyes the world over are watching us
Libran Cabactulan
NPT conference president
The document calls for the United Nations secretary general to organise a meeting of Middle East states in 2012 to agree to the creation of a "zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction".
"All eyes the world over are watching us," said conference president Libran Cabactulan, of the Philippines, as the final text was approved.
Egypt's Maged Abedelaziz, speaking for the Non-Aligned Movement of 118 developing nations, welcomed the decision, saying it was "an important step forward towards the realisation of the goals and objectives of the treaty".
Diplomats discussing the proposals had continued talks late into the night on Thursday before resuming on Friday.
One of the sticking points involved Israel, which is not a member of the NPT, and is widely believed to have nuclear weapons. It has never admitted possessing them.
Arab states and Israel's allies had to work hard to find agreement over wording for the proposed nuclear-weapons-free zone.
Continue reading the main story However flawed some believe the existing non-proliferation machinery to be, all agree that it has at least been partially rehabilitated after a decade of failure
Barbara Plett
BBC UN correspondent
Modest progress at NPT talks
Correspondents say Arab nations want to put pressure on Israel to relinquish its undeclared nuclear arsenal.
Iran also made a late demand that the five recognised nuclear-armed nations agree to a timetable for negotiating a treaty to abolish their arsenals.
In the final document adopted, no specific timetable is set out but the five states commit to "accelerate concrete progress" towards reducing their nuclear arsenals and to report back on that in 2014.
Iran has faced repeated questions over its own nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making weapons. Tehran insists it is solely designed to meet its energy needs.
Iran, a member of the NPT, says it will stick to its obligations under the treaty.
The NPT has encountered difficulty in coming up with the best method for monitoring suspect nuclear programmes in Iran and North Korea.
India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel - which are known or suspected to have nuclear weapons - are not signatories to the treaty. They are not covered by any NPT agreement.
The NPT conference meets every five years. The last review conference, in 2005, failed to adopt a consensus declaration.
Israel shouldn't be complaining about Iran's attempt to having nuclear weapons if it has over 200 itself. Iran follows mutually assured destruction, MAD doctrine, Kennan's thesis if I do recall correctly.
The arguement that Iran shouldn't have nuclear weapons is a very salient one. Israelis have a point, but you can't have a double standard.
Nukes: Either everyone has them or no-one has them. I think that is smart.
I prefer no nukes to nuclear peace, but often nuclear peace prevents conventional war. After Hiroshima, nuclear weapons were never used. Yet there were many close calls, such as with India and Pakistan.
Nuclear-free Middle East is an excellent proposal. If not, a nuclear peace could prevent further invasions, such as the carnage in Iraq. Would more people have died in a nuclear attack, that was swift, or this carnage carried on for years? Which is better?
The MAD doctrine prevented World War III between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. I am not going to take sides here, just observe the merits of various arguements. They are all quite interesting. The main thing is that the status quo is untenable. Besides, 30% of Egyptians are illeterate and live on one dollar a day.
-Maria
-------------------
UN talks back conference on nuclear-free Middle East
Page last updated at 8:56 GMT, Saturday, 29 May 2010 9:56 UK
E-mail this to a friend Printable version Iran has faced international pressure over its nuclear programme Nearly 200 nations, signatories of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), have agreed to work towards a nuclear-weapons-free zone in the Middle East.
The members, meeting at the UN in New York, called for a conference in 2012 attended by Middle Eastern states - including Iran - to establish the zone.
The unanimously agreed document also said that Israel should sign the NPT.
US President Barack Obama backed the deal but said he was "strongly opposed" to Israel being singled out.
The US says the reference could jeopardise efforts to persuade the Israelis to attend the 2012 talks.
An Israel official later denounced the document as "hypocrisy".
"Only Israel is mentioned, while the text is silent about other countries like India, Pakistan and North Korea, which have nuclear arms, or even more seriously, Iran, which is seeking to obtain them," a senior government official told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity.
'Important step'
The 28-page final declaration was agreed by 189 member states following intense talks on the last day of a month-long conference on strengthening the NPT, the cornerstone of global disarmament efforts.
Continue reading the main story All eyes the world over are watching us
Libran Cabactulan
NPT conference president
The document calls for the United Nations secretary general to organise a meeting of Middle East states in 2012 to agree to the creation of a "zone free of nuclear weapons and all other weapons of mass destruction".
"All eyes the world over are watching us," said conference president Libran Cabactulan, of the Philippines, as the final text was approved.
Egypt's Maged Abedelaziz, speaking for the Non-Aligned Movement of 118 developing nations, welcomed the decision, saying it was "an important step forward towards the realisation of the goals and objectives of the treaty".
Diplomats discussing the proposals had continued talks late into the night on Thursday before resuming on Friday.
One of the sticking points involved Israel, which is not a member of the NPT, and is widely believed to have nuclear weapons. It has never admitted possessing them.
Arab states and Israel's allies had to work hard to find agreement over wording for the proposed nuclear-weapons-free zone.
Continue reading the main story However flawed some believe the existing non-proliferation machinery to be, all agree that it has at least been partially rehabilitated after a decade of failure
Barbara Plett
BBC UN correspondent
Modest progress at NPT talks
Correspondents say Arab nations want to put pressure on Israel to relinquish its undeclared nuclear arsenal.
Iran also made a late demand that the five recognised nuclear-armed nations agree to a timetable for negotiating a treaty to abolish their arsenals.
In the final document adopted, no specific timetable is set out but the five states commit to "accelerate concrete progress" towards reducing their nuclear arsenals and to report back on that in 2014.
Iran has faced repeated questions over its own nuclear programme, which the West believes is aimed at making weapons. Tehran insists it is solely designed to meet its energy needs.
Iran, a member of the NPT, says it will stick to its obligations under the treaty.
The NPT has encountered difficulty in coming up with the best method for monitoring suspect nuclear programmes in Iran and North Korea.
India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel - which are known or suspected to have nuclear weapons - are not signatories to the treaty. They are not covered by any NPT agreement.
The NPT conference meets every five years. The last review conference, in 2005, failed to adopt a consensus declaration.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
for my father
I miss my father and regret so much that I wasn't able to be there for him in his last days. I walk in the streets, my eyes streaming with tears like thunder, but no rain comes from the sky.
Palestinian Poet Laureate, Mahmoud Darwish,
“To faces which wither under the mask of melancholy,
I bow
To roads on which I forgot my tears,
to a father who died as green as a cloud
with a sail upon his face,
I bow ."
Ibn Abbas- "When I visit you and the moon
Isn't around to show me the way,
Comets of longing set my heart
So much ablaze, the earth is lit
By the holocaust under my ribs"
How can I be coherant with the earth is ablaze to me, in a fiery conflagration from the holocaust under my ribs, as I mourn the death of my father, who wrote in sky-azure letters the word freedom, to escape between eternities of this life and the next. I can no longer tell him, that sometimes, he cheered me up, sometimes he made me laugh hysterically and to this day, no one tells funnier stories. How can I tell him, that though I feared him, that I understood the broken man behind the anger, the human being who was my father.
The world does not have mercy, not on him, nor on me, so I must make the best of it. CTV asked for my childhood footage and now they lost it. So instead, I search for him in the rustling of trees and the fragrance of the lilacs that are abundant near the water-falls next door.
I feel almost alone in my grief. He wasn't the best father, but he was MY father, and that makes all the difference.
Much love,
Maria
Palestinian Poet Laureate, Mahmoud Darwish,
“To faces which wither under the mask of melancholy,
I bow
To roads on which I forgot my tears,
to a father who died as green as a cloud
with a sail upon his face,
I bow ."
Ibn Abbas- "When I visit you and the moon
Isn't around to show me the way,
Comets of longing set my heart
So much ablaze, the earth is lit
By the holocaust under my ribs"
How can I be coherant with the earth is ablaze to me, in a fiery conflagration from the holocaust under my ribs, as I mourn the death of my father, who wrote in sky-azure letters the word freedom, to escape between eternities of this life and the next. I can no longer tell him, that sometimes, he cheered me up, sometimes he made me laugh hysterically and to this day, no one tells funnier stories. How can I tell him, that though I feared him, that I understood the broken man behind the anger, the human being who was my father.
The world does not have mercy, not on him, nor on me, so I must make the best of it. CTV asked for my childhood footage and now they lost it. So instead, I search for him in the rustling of trees and the fragrance of the lilacs that are abundant near the water-falls next door.
I feel almost alone in my grief. He wasn't the best father, but he was MY father, and that makes all the difference.
Much love,
Maria
Sunday, May 23, 2010
make-over, competition
Hi!
I am excited about my competition, and have since had a makeover. Here are some photos!
Me and mommy, then just myself.
Maria
My father died, found out past saturday
Last Saturday, I found out that my father died. He died two to three months ago in Yemen, heart attack, in the village. May he rest in peace. I wish to mourn, but I have a competition, and will mourn the Canadian way, like the Olympic skating athlete Joannie Rochette. She continued competition despite the death. Exercise, competition makes me in a better state and I hope to do my family proud.
Much Love,
Maria
Much Love,
Designs
Aida Flores' work, who will design my evening gown #1. Yves Jean Lacasse (Envers) evening gown#2 and suit designer is below.
DSC_0215.jpg (image)![[DSC_0215.jpg]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZ_l2edWxu2yw9xzzJg9w8ZKD9Ah9bSGicYB1Pqn6g8wxa97xoXcLUq7vCksAsZTzoT6FhyCrwKiwmuQvm9gg3jngLguPZORQkFjrf9czPKbJ6Tv8P4qD16t7wOgI4pUbEYTi5ofRZPk/s1600/DSC_0215.jpg)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZ_l2edWxu2yw9xzzJg9w8ZKD9Ah9bSGicYB1Pqn6g8wxa97xoXcLUq7vCksAsZTzoT6FhyCrwKiwmuQvm9gg3jngLguPZORQkFjrf9czPKbJ6Tv8P4qD16t7wOgI4pUbEYTi5ofRZPk/s1600-h/DSC_0215.jpg
Yves Jean Lacasse
My three designers are Aida Flores and Yves Jean Lacasse(Envers)...and myself for a couple modest cocktail dresses. I used to design.
Aida Flores won the award for best designer for project Runway in Ottawa, and Yves Jean won best up-and-coming designer at New York Fashion week.
Aida Flores (bottom left)
Yves Jean Lacasse's work. He has influences of the silk road that went through Yemen, Russia and the Middle East. I looked at his clothes and saw my soul, I never thought something so profound could happen with a garment.
http://fwnet.ipower.com/images/2010/03/enversF1020-300x399.jpg
http://www.ellecanada.com/img/photos/biz/resized_images/elleca/00032/200x200_photo32141.jpg
http://www.sweetspot.ca/uploaded_images/MTL_Fashion_wk_09_(13).jpg
DSC_0215.jpg (image)
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkZ_l2edWxu2yw9xzzJg9w8ZKD9Ah9bSGicYB1Pqn6g8wxa97xoXcLUq7vCksAsZTzoT6FhyCrwKiwmuQvm9gg3jngLguPZORQkFjrf9czPKbJ6Tv8P4qD16t7wOgI4pUbEYTi5ofRZPk/s1600-h/DSC_0215.jpg
Yves Jean Lacasse
My three designers are Aida Flores and Yves Jean Lacasse(Envers)...and myself for a couple modest cocktail dresses. I used to design.
Aida Flores won the award for best designer for project Runway in Ottawa, and Yves Jean won best up-and-coming designer at New York Fashion week.
Aida Flores (bottom left)
Yves Jean Lacasse's work. He has influences of the silk road that went through Yemen, Russia and the Middle East. I looked at his clothes and saw my soul, I never thought something so profound could happen with a garment.
http://fwnet.ipower.com/images/2010/03/enversF1020-300x399.jpg
http://www.ellecanada.com/img/photos/biz/resized_images/elleca/00032/200x200_photo32141.jpg
http://www.sweetspot.ca/uploaded_images/MTL_Fashion_wk_09_(13).jpg
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