Tarek Hoteit Notebook

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The DailyStar Arab newspaper reports on a recent conference regarding censorship of music:
“Silence is death - Censorship in the Arab world By Trevor Mostyn”. Quoted from the newspaper's headlines newsletter:
“Plato recognized music's ability to threaten people and society while Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholars have at times described it as a source of sin. A conference in Beirut this month on the censorship of music produced some interesting revelations about man's love and fear of this beautiful art. The Taliban, for example.”

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit

Labels: middle east, society

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments

BBC World Service to launch Arabic TV channel: "LONDON (Reuters) - The BBC World Service is closing 10 local language radio services, mostly to eastern Europe, to pay for a new Arabic-language satellite television channel."

Labels: middle east

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 12:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Some guy send me one of those chain emails showing a Google logo at some shop in Syria. No harm done, I guess. 

Labels: middle east

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 9:16 PM | Permalink | Comments

from the New York Time, Edward Rothstein reports on the United State's first museam devoted to the history of Arab-Americans:
"At the heart of the nation's first museum devoted to the history of Arab-Americans is a mosaic-decorated courtyard surrounding a small fountain, evoking the traditional courtyard of Arab lands. A symbol of hospitality, it is also, typically, a feature of one's home, and this museum is, in its way, a declaration that Arab-Americans really are at home, not just in Dearborn (where some 30 percent of the 100,000 residents identify themselves as Arab-Americans) but in the United States itself."

Labels: middle east

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments

After a ban of twenty years, Saudi Arabia will allow the opening of the first cinema next month. However the 1400-seat cinema will screen only foreign cartoon film dubbed in Arabic for children during the two-week Eid break at the end of the Muslim holy fasting month, Ramadan.click for full story from Al-Jazeera.

Labels: middle east

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments

from Aljazeera
“US exhibit sheds light on Arab talent
A photo exhibit highlighting the works of 18 Arab contemporary
photographers has opened in New York City, giving an American audience
the chance to see a politicised and sometimes romanticised view of the
Middle East through a camera lens. “
Full Story

Labels: middle east

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments

Omani women resort to walking to avoid Ramadan fat
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Draped in black robes, Omani women go for walks each evening during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan to avoid putting on too much weight during the night-time feasts that follow each dawn-to-dusk fast. The trend comes amid findings that up to as much as 70 percent of women in Gulf Arab states are overweight.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/headlines.asp

Regards,
Tarek Hoteit

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments

Mohammed ElBaradei is the fourth Egyptian to win the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize along with his International Atomic Energy team.
AlJazeera reports more on this.

Labels: middle east

Posted by Tarek Hoteit at 4:59 PM | Permalink | Comments