Middle East

Orange to Bring Free Wikipedia Access to Cell Users in Africa and Middle East

Ina Fried in Mobile on January 24 at 10:44 am PT

Over the course of 2012, the carrier will bring the service to 20 countries in the region it covers.

BlackBerry Outage Hits Europe, Middle East, Africa

John Paczkowski in Mobile on October 10, 2011 at 8:05 am PT

Another black eye for the BlackBerry.

Where in the World Is Yahoo’s Carol Bartz? (Here’s the Internal Memo GPS!)

Kara Swisher in News on June 19, 2011 at 12:03 pm PT

With its annual meeting this coming Thursday, you’d think Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz would be taking a rest. Not so! She has been a regular Carmen Sandiego, in fact, jetting to Yahoo hotspots around the globe from Dubai to Milan to New York and then back to Yahoo’s Sunnyvale HQ.

U.S. Products Help Block Mideast Web

Paul Sonne and Steve Stecklow, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on March 27, 2011 at 8:32 pm PT

As Middle East regimes try to stifle dissent by censoring the Internet, the U.S. faces an uncomfortable reality: American companies provide much of the technology used to block websites.

YouTube Moves to Play Bigger Role in Middle East With Seven Local Versions

Liz Gannes in Social on March 10, 2011 at 12:40 pm PT

YouTube today launched versions of its site for seven countries in the Middle East, a step that could add to the site’s local importance during the region’s ongoing turbulent political times by better surfacing timely citizen videos.

Clinton Calls for Global Standards for Internet Use

Jay Solomon, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal in News on February 15, 2011 at 12:35 pm PT

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called for common global standards to guide the use of the Internet, while increasing pressure on countries like Iran, Syria and China to allow the free flow of information in their societies.

Released Google Exec Speaks on His Role in Egyptian Protests (Video and Transcripts)

Liz Gannes in Social on February 7, 2011 at 3:30 pm PT

Wearing a T-shirt bearing his employer’s name, Google executive Wael Ghonim spoke with reporters after being released today from 12 days of detention for his role in protests against the Egyptian government.

Egypt Restores Internet; Army Calls for End to Protests

Margaret Coker, Charles Levinson and Jonathan Weisman, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal in News on February 2, 2011 at 2:24 am PT

Egypt’s army called on protesters to return home Wednesday, and Internet connections were restored, as the government moved to return to some normalcy after a wrenching week of protests.

The Mobile OS World: Symbian, iOS Are Superpowers; Android a Developing Nation

John Paczkowski in Mobile on December 1, 2010 at 11:43 am PT

Some sobering data points for the Droid army and a reminder that the Android onslaught is still largely a domestic phenomenon (for Koreans). Mobile Web usage statistics for the month of October compiled by StatCounter and Royal Pingdom reveal Apple’s iOS and Nokia’s Symbian as the dominant platforms, with Android besting them in a single country.