I thought this was... unique.
Hailstorm Sets Off Bomblets in Lebanon
BEIRUT — The season's first hailstorm Tuesday was a blessing in disguise for cluster bomb-infested parts of southern Lebanon, triggering blasts from previously unexploded bomblets. No injuries were reported.
After a long dry spell across Lebanon, hailstones as big as walnuts hit villages and struck undiscovered bomblets scattered across the landscape, the state-run National News Agency reported.
Dalya Farran, a spokeswoman for the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center (MACC), confirmed that many cluster bombs exploded when they were hit by hailstones in villages near the town of Marjayoun.
More than 30 people have been killed by cluster bombs in southern Lebanon since last year's war between Hezbollah and Israel.
The United Nations and human rights groups accuse Israel of dropping about 4 million cluster bomblets during the war. Up to 1 million failed to explode and now endanger civilians in the area.
Cluster bombs look like huge canisters. When dropped, they open in flight and eject dozens or hundreds of small bomblets, often across a wide area. Some fail to explode on impact and detonate later when moved.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Below is a recent campaign video created by Colorado's finest, Tom Tancredo. I was hoping our presidential campaigning had moved beyond the politics of fear. Apparently not. I can't think of any constructive and uplifting words to describe this video, so I'll let you think of your own.
It is about as productive and beneficial to political discussion as President Lyndon Johnson's famous mushroom cloud seen below:
For the month of Ramadan, Iranian state television aired a mini-series called "Zero Degree Turn." The story line revolved around the Iranian embassy in Paris during World War II, and a love story between an Iranian-Palestinian man and a French-Jewish woman.
The full article written for the New York Times can be seen here
Below is a brief clip of the series, to watch more click here.
Interesting storyline with the recent statements by President Ahmadinejad of Iran. Goes to show that despite Western generalizations of the country or the regime, a diversity of opinions and thoughts exists.
Here's a link to a recent blog I wrote on another site analyzing ad placements in Arab music videos. Enjoy!
http://ta3beer.blogspot.com/2007/11/singing-advertisements.html
I'm taking a class called "Media and Communication in the Arab World" this semester, in which we are examining all types of media from the region. The spectrum of available sources in unbelievable, everything from Al-Jazeera to music video channels to blogs to Qatari cartoons.
Below are some of my favorite blogs from the Middle East and Turkey.
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
An Iraqi refugee now writing from Syria.
http://beirutspring.com/blog/
Lebanese political blog analyzing events since Hariri's assassination.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/NewsSite/News.aspx?language=en
Hizbollah's official channel, it provides some interesting insights on their positions
http://www.kabobfest.com/
Palestinian-Americans discussing politics in the region
http://ta3beer.blogspot.com/
Scholarly site analyzing media in the Middle East. Run by my professor.
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/
Great blog run by a professor at George Washington University
http://www.thewhitepath.com/
Very insightful Turkish blog
Graduate school is going well, although sometimes I wonder how I will survive all the papers, presentations, and readings. Christmas break will definitely be welcome by the time it rolls around.
