Mideast Wire On May 6, the pro-government Hariri-owned Al-Mustaqbal daily carried the following report by Fares Khashan: “A month ago, Lebanese officials tried to contain the issue of the telephone communication network that was established by Hezbollah throughout Lebanon with direct funding from the Iranian Islamic Republic. However, the party …

Mideast Wire On May 3, the English language website of the Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat carried the following report by Lahem al-Nasser: "There has been a focus upon Islamic banking by different forms of media, including television, over the past two years. The programs that are broadcast by television channels …

Al Jazeera Press Release DOHA, 2 May 2008: Al Jazeera is pleased to declare that Sami al Haj, their cameraman who has been held for six years in Guantanamo Bay, has finally been released from American military custody and has returned to Sudan.  After six years without due process and over …

Mideast Wire On April 28, the independent Al-Khaleej daily carried the following report by Hussein al-Bajalati: “Satellite channels were put up for rent before the candidates running in the Kuwaiti parliamentary elections, in light of official reassurances stating that the Kuwaiti government has abstained from engaging in the political conflict …

Mideast Wire On April 21, the Hariri-owned Al-Mustaqbal newspaper carried the following report by Fadi Shamiyan: “There is enough evidence that the telephone network of Hezbollah has become a reality. This is not only the case in the towns that form "defensive lines" in the south where there are rocket …

IRIN News DUBAI, 20 March 2008 (IRIN) - The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will launch an independent humanitarian and environmental TV satellite channel by the end of 2008 - the first of its kind in the world, according to UAE Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahyan. “The TV …

MideastWire Asharq al-Awsat, an independent Saudi owned newspaper, wrote on April 4: “Amine Basyouni, the chief executive officer of Nilesat and head of the Arab media committee in the Arab League, confirmed in a phone call with Asharq al-Awsat that he has no knowledge of the decision to ban the …

Mideast Wire On March 26, the Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya.net news website carried the following report by Naser al-Qahtani: “A Saudi Islamic preacher demanded that Facebook be blocked in his country and considered it to be a door to lust. He warned against “the accession of women to it” after young Saudi …

Mideast Wire On March 17, the reformist daily E’temad reported: “Suspension of the licence of Donyaye Tasvir magazine by the Press Monitoring Committee at its best sounds like an April fool joke or a new-years present to the press in the run up to the new year. Yesterday, after the …

Mideast Wire On March 18, the Palestinian-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi daily carried the following opinion piece by Toufiq al-Rabahi: “Thank God we lived to see the day when Israel decided to boycott an Arab television channel and not the other way around. Now we are waiting to see the day when …