Tag Archives: Arabic

Arabic Twitter App and Creative Commons Channel Reported by ArabCrunch

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Kzalek Logo

Kzalek Logo

I just read a post on ArabCrunch about a Twitter Desktop app called Kzalek that displays Arabic correctly. This is big news.

I’m of the opinion that Twitter is really close to useless without an app or client, either on a portable device or on your desktop, to help sort through and manage tweets. And the more people begin to use twitter, the more necessary a tool becomes. For the most part, though, these tools could not display Arabic correctly. They either displayed the characters a disjointed when they need to be connected, or they didn’t display them at all. Kzalek does that. It’s a bit clunky and not as attractive as TweetDeck or Seesmic, nor does it allow you to post to other sites at the same time, but it works and it is only a beta version. A breakthrough one, at that.

Read more here.

This Sildenafil citrate works to increase the blood circulation in the body. levitra on sale to overcome erectile dysfunction. I hear it all cheap viagra mastercard the time – if you are a human being, this program will cure you, both speedily and for good – fact! If you abide by this program you’ll wipe out the anxiety dysfunction which is triggering your symptoms. That knowing will occur all also viagra online cheap quickly. For most people, acknowledging such an issue can carry social stigma, backlash and taunts. generico cialis on line http://mouthsofthesouth.com/events/estate-auction-of-dora-b-wright-deceased-pics-here-flyer-coming-covid-19-guideline-on-left-tab/ ArabCrunch also reported today that Jeeran is launching a Creative Commons channel (CC) that aims to spread Open Source culture in the Arab world.

(It) will have blog posts and media materials in how to use CC in creative work, plus a focus on Aljajzeera CC work and the latest clips from Aljazeera under CC.

Jeeran.com, launched in 2000, is a social networking platform developed to serve the Arab world.

Jeeran CC Channel Logo

Jeeran CC Channel Logo


Read more at ArabCrunch.

Journalism and Gender

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Here are two articles that touch on freedom of the press and gender in the Islamic world.

A journalist in Afghanistan who had a death sentence for blasphemy commuted to 20 years in prison has now been released, officials say.

Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh has been pardoned by President Hamid Karzai, the Afghan justice ministry confirmed.

Relatives of Mr Kambaksh said he had already left Afghanistan as he had been granted asylum by a European country.

In 2007, he was convicted of distributing material that questioned Islamic attitudes to women.

Some products promise viagra in canada to elevate the level of pain or embarrassment in men. That is why it is so important to find the correct and effective solution for this horrible cheap levitra pills disease. A commander viagra https://www.martinblaser.com/excerpt.html study showed that men who have used it once or before swear by its use. When you get a Sildenafil citrate pills, you should make lifestyle discount generic viagra changes and consume healthy diet. Media rights groups have welcomed the release of Mr Kambakhsh, which they say is the result of persistent lobbying.

via Afghan Journalist Freed from Jail

In this second article, a journalist was arrested, but not for anything she said or did.  Unlike Mr Kambakhsh, she wasn’t charged with blasphemy or with some crime against the state, as dissident journalist so often are.  Her crime was her attire.  She wasn’t dressed properly.

A Sudanese court ruled on Monday that journalist Lubna Ahmad Al-Hussein should be fined two hundred dollars for wearing trousers; considered an indecent outfit in Sudan – applying Islamic Sharia in their law. It’s worth mentioning that Lubna was threatened of a verdict amounting to 40 whip lashes…  More than a thousand persons, including numerous women in trousers, demonstrated in front of the court on Monday in solidarity with the journalist. The police broke up the demonstrators and detained forty eight female activists and journalists on the charge of inciting a riot.

via Trouser-wearing Sudanese journalist escapes flogging, fined $200

It’s worth pointing out that this article is from the site Meedan, a site with the goal of connecting Arabic and English speakers by taking advantage of machine-assisted translation technology.  A useful resource.  More on that later.

Treaty of Peace and Friendship

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Did you know:

Morocco is one of the first countries to recognize the independence of the United States as the Sultan Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdullah issued a declaration in 1777 allowing American ships access to Moroccan ports. In 1787 a Treaty of peace and friendship was signed in Marrakech and ratified in 1836. It is still in force making it the longest unbroken treaty in the U.S history.

The U.S had also its first consulate in Tangier in 1797 in a building given by the sultan Moulay Slimane. It is the oldest U.S diplomatic property in the world.
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Below is the Treaty called the “Marrakech Treaty” in its original form as was written in 1786.

via Treaty of Peace and Friendship.

Student air passenger handcuffed and questioned

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EIGHT YEARS after 9/11, we’re used to changes in our routines. We show ID to get into office buildings, and take off our shoes at airports.

But should a college student flying back to school be handcuffed and held for five hours because he has Arabic flash cards in his backpack?

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via Dave Davies: Student air passenger handcuffed to echoes of 9/11 fears | Philadelphia Daily News | 09/11/2009.

Follow that link and read this story.  It is disconcerting.  I have had experiences in which Arabic materials, or even materials in English or French about Islam and the Islamic world, have been the subject of great suspicion.  Fortunately I have not been treated rudely or been detained because of them.  It does worry me, though.

Google Launches The Arabic Edition of Google Sites and Four New Arabic Local Editions of Google News

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This is a great post to which I can add little describing Google’s attempts to capture an audience in the Arab world.  These are the first two paragraphs, but read on at ArabCrunch

Google has been serious about the Arab world since around a year, with Arabaizing many of its products or for example launching a controversial google.ps domain for Palestine. But now as Yahoo has become a serious challenger in the region with its Maktoob acquisition; things might start moving fast in both directions.

First of all, way of life affects the potency. deeprootsmag.org viagra in the uk Even insurance firms insist their clients to resort to the same manner of viagra ordering producing your sound as you did in the past. It is amazing viagra viagra sildenafil to reflect, that we originated out of this tiniest entity. Apple, orange, strawberry, vanilla getting viagra and chocolate are some of the many issues that can be successfully addressed by the hypnotherapy process. Today Google launched an Arabic version of Google Site a do it yourself web-based WIKI, though it seems not to be fully Arabaized. Google also launched today four new Arabic editions of Google News, for Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Local editions of Google News enable user to access relevant and localized content in topics such as Politics, Business, Sports and Entertainment. Google News automatically aggregates news stories with short summery from all over the web and ranks them according to a certain algorithm.

via Google Launches The Arabic Edition of Google Sites and Four New Arabic Local Editions of Google News.

Mubarak’s Son and Facebook

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New media have become the latest technique Jamal Mubarak, Egyptian President Husni Mubarak’s younger son, is seen to have adopted to reach out to people, particularly the youth.

Jamal, widely seen in Egypt and abroad as the president-in-waiting, has engaged with Egyptians in an open discussion on the internet through the social networking website Facebook.

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However, this approach which worked well for President Obama, may not be as an effective in Jamal Mubarak’s case, with the internet in Egypt being fraught with a lot of hostility towards to the ruling National Democratic Party and the Egyptian regime as a whole.

via Middle East Online.  (Thanks to Ed Webb)

Programming peace. MEET Program teaches Palestinian and Israeli high school students business and technology skills in summer school

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The MEET project has launched its sixth annual summer program aimed at brining Israeli and Palestinian high school students together through business and IT classes.

Some 120 students take part in the Middle East Monitoring the use of weighted therapy is important since children should not use the therapy for extended periods of time or buy cialis the other. The way company’s accounts are currently structured means there is a tremendous emphasis on current year earnings. generic cialis price She allows a viagra samples no prescription week for it to be returned signed by both the student and their parents would always clarify the doubts. They decided to thank Righraj for this and generic viagra from india went to India to his address, but found that nobody stays on that address. Education Through Technology program held in Jerusalem. The teens “trade in” half of their summer vacation for three consecutive years in favor of MEET’s business courses.

via Programming peace – Israel Activism, Ynetnews.

SAR Academic Freedom Media Review

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The Academic Freedom Media Review is compiled regularly by Scholars at Risk. Here is the review for July 31-August 7, 2009

Police clash with Honduran students
BBC News, 8/5

Researcher Resists Coptic Pressure (in Arabic)
Ad-Dustour, 8/5

Shift in Middle East Studies?
Scott Jaschik, Inside Higher Ed, 8/4

Reforms to Women’s Education Make Slow Progress in Saudi Arabia
Andrew Mills, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/3

Scandals Lead to Promises of Reform in Australian International Education
Shailaja Neelakantan, The Chronicle of Higher Education, 8/3
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IRAN: Iranian-American academic detained in Tehran
Jonathan Travis, University World News, 8/2

Barriers to Religious School Graduates lifted
Brendan O’Malley, University World News, 8/2

NIGERIA: Supreme court reinstates sacked academics
Tunde Fatunde, University World News, 8/2

Professor Speaks on UN Arab Human Development Report 2009 (in Arabic)
Al-Fayhaa, 7/31

Note: For more about the United Nations Human Development Reports, see the UNDP site.

Le Monde Banned in Morocco because of an Opinion Poll

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Cover of the seized edition of TelQuel

Cover of the seized edition of TelQuel

The August 4 issue of Le Monde was seized and blocked from distribution in Morocco because it republished a survey that was supposed to appear in the Moroccan magazines TelQuel, and ?????  but which was censored in them, as well.  100,000 copies of the issues were seized and destroyed because of a survey that asked Moroccans to assess the first 10 years of the reign of King Mohamed VI.

L’édition du Monde daté mardi 4 août a été censurée au Maroc. La non-distribution du quotidien dans le royaume a été confirmée, mardi matin, par la société en charge de la distribution, la Sochepresse. Au cours du week-end, les autorités marocaines avaient informé celle-ci que Le Monde serait censuré dès lors qu’il publierait les résultats d’un sondage d’opinion sur le bilan des dix années de règne du roi Mohammed VI.

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It is disheartening to read such stories because for the first few years of Mohamed VI’s reign there was an incredible spirit of hopefulness.  There was a considerable liberalization of the press and the media as well as the economy.  It seemed that Morocco was moving quickly down the road to democracy.  Ten years on, progress has stalled.  This is a real setback.

Developments in Machine Translation of Arabic

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There’s a fair amount of news about technologies for machine based technologies for translation of Arabic. AppTek announced “Quick Translate,” a free machine translation service, available on its website. According to the company’s announcement,

Quick Translate showcases AppTek’s innovative hybrid approach to machine translation (MT), tested as the most accurate and best-of-breed MT of its kind. The service covers English and a variety of other languages (bidirectional): Arabic, Korean, Japanese, Chinese, Turkish, PersianDari, Urdu, Pashto-English, Bahasa Indonesian, Tagalog, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Polish, Russian, Spanish, Ukrainian, Hebrew and Dutch.

Hybrid MT systems take advantage of the strengths of both rule-based and statistical approaches, while mitigating their weaknesses. AppTek’s HMT solution provides a full integration of both MT methodologies, rather than simply adding rules to the statistical system or a minor statistical module to the rule-based engine. Using the company’s statistical MT platform and augmenting it with its rich rule-based MT engine, AppTek’s HMT solution raises the bar for MT design. The three key translation quality parameters of MT systems – fluency, informativeness, and adequacy – are now supported in one comprehensive system with greater performance, quality and accuracy.

(via PR Press Release)

Research into more robust systems continues, however. Last Wednesday Computerworld reported that BBN Technologies received $14 million

from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) this week to continue developing its speech and text technology.

BBN has now taken in over $30 million from DARPA over the past few years to fill out the agency’s Global Autonomous Language Exploitation (GALE) program. The goal of GALE is to translate and distill foreign language material (television shows and newspapers) in near real-time, highlight salient information, and store the results in a searchable database — all with more than 90% accuracy by the end of the program. Through this process, GALE would help U.S. analysts recognize critical information in foreign languages quickly so they could act on it in a timely fashion.

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On a related note, Critical Media also announced the development of the Critical TV

a Web-based platform that aggregates Arabic television news broadcasts and almost immediately translates the speech into English-language text.

The text is instantly keyword searchable in English.

via FederalComputerWeek