Ammon has been reporting about a book written by an Iraqi author, called “The Rain of God”, which seems to “insult God” and has slipped Jordanian censors and made its way onto the market. It’s kind of ironic because I’ve never seen Ammon so much in favor of censorship! What makes this more interesting, is […]

Last night, Amman joined the list of cities all around the world and turned its lights off in honor of Earth Hour, a WWF initiative to raise awareness about global warming. Here’s a picture of the Capital that I took last night as it was plunged into darkness.

Ok, ok, so that picture was totally photoshopped. […]

Here’s a selection of my delicious pickings for this week:
Some Politicking:
- The Unpopular Hilary: Nicholas Kristoff has an interesting oped in the New York Times on how Hilary will have to drop out if she can’t win the popular vote over Obama. The article is timely considering Senator Casey’s endorsement of Obama that might help […]

The above is a map of the New York Times’ coverage of certain hot spots. The point of the heat map is to indicate the regions that some of the major papers, and even the blogosphere, gives more attention to (red). Guess which media is most balanced in its coverage?
These maps allow you to […]

As Israel continues its illegal land grab of Palestinian territory, by caging in the West Bank, the controversial barrier wall has become more than just oppressive concrete slabs to some; it’s become an easel for various artists. Two Palestinians have come together to put a new spin on rendering the wall into an art form, […]

While in Uganda to open a large mosque for the Muslim community…
Ugandan Church leaders have asked Christians to forgive Libya’s leader for suggesting the Bible was forged as it didn’t mention the Prophet Muhammad.
LOL!
Ugandan clerics pointed out the Bible was written before Muhammad was born.
ROFL!
At Kampala’s Christ the King Church, Monsignor Paul Ssemwogerere said: “Since […]

To break the political monotony of the last couple of posts here are a few of my delicious pickings for the last couple of days that are more entertaining than serious.
- Recycled Wonderlands: Simply put, some of the craziest architectural creations you’ll ever see.
- Muppet President: You know how they say every president is […]

As most people know by now, there is a massive shortage of bread in Egypt these days with reports of actual deaths as many Egyptians line up in long bread queues. Mubarak has even declared a sort of martial law on subsidized bread, by ordering the army to increase production and aid in the distribution […]

AMMAN (Reuters) - Jordanian authorities on Wednesday released Jordanian Sheikh Abu Mohammad al-Maqdisi, a leading al-Qaeda mentor, after several years imprisonment without trial, security sources said. They said Maqdisi, who was regarded as the spiritual mentor of slain al Qaeda leader in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, had been in solitary confinement since he was rearrested […]

I attended this Jordan Media Survey event the other day and I’ve been looking over the results of the survey which you can read for yourself here (PDF). While I think the polling sample was too small, there are a few unique results that I wanted to sum up in bullet points. Radio now outranks […]

A Jordanian court has sentenced a French national of Palestinian origin to three months in jail for slandering King Abdullah. The court was told Muntaser Shehab became abusive after a row at a five-star hotel in the capital, Amman. [source]
Ah! To be convicted of lesé majesté. Note, that he was originally given a year but […]

Now this is pretty interesting. Six hours a week can cause quite a ruckus, but I guess it’s more about the principle.
BOSTON - In a test of Harvard’s famed open-mindedness, the university has banned men from one of its gyms for a few hours a week to accommodate Muslim women who say it offends […]

No one liked the last Lower House but this one is just acting retarded these days. AmmanNet, which is now Radio Al-Balad, has been banned from broadcasting the Lower House of Parliament sessions because apparently they’ve insulted MP’s. Apparently the “insult” came by way of a comment posted by a reader on January 29th.
According […]

While everyone waits with bated breath the results of today’s deadly primaries in the US, here are a few del.icio.us pickings I’ve been reading these past couple of days:
- A Rose By Any Other Name: An Iranian court has ordered a man to give his wife the 124,000 roses that he promised in her dowry, […]

Following the 9/11 attacks, President Bush claimed that Muslims hate America for its freedoms. Since then, 50,000 Muslims in 35 countries were surveyed by Gallup, the largest poll of Muslims ever. The results represent over 6 years of study and are outlined in a new book by Dalia Mogahed and John L. Esposito entitled “Who […]

Probably in response to Abbas’ decision to break off contact with Israel, but I found this incredibly ironic, but you be the judge…
“Absence of negotiations would lead to a ‘Gazaization’ of the West Bank, and anyone who can’t see this is lying to himself,” - Prime Minister Olmert. March 3, 2008. [source]

addthis_url […]