She has recently been involved with a rumor that she was financially linked to loan sharks who might have led to the death of Ahn Jae-hwan, who is her longtime friend’s husband and actor. His dead body was found in a car and he is presumed to have killed himself due to big debt from loan sharks.

Her death is not only regarded as a human’s tragedy, but also seems to have other influences in society. While many people are sad for her death and applauding her, others are busy finding the main cause of her death. As soon as her death was announced, media was focusing on problems of sinister abuses on the Internet. Those Internet abuses seemed to lead her to the suicidal. Politicians of the ruling party, the Grand National Party, criticize the problems of the Internet and swiftly appealed to make the Choi Jin Sil Act to control netiznes’ opinions on the Internet. Several days passed, but her death is a still hot issue. What led her to the death? Netizens are passionately arguing what her death is really from and reacting to the government’s responses to her death.

These two posts below are from one of the most active Internet panels, “Cyber contempt should be enacted” vs “Cyber contempt will control freedom of expression.”

Here is an opinion for “Cyber contempt will control freedom of expression.”

어제 고인이 된 최진실 씨의 장례식이 있었다. 그녀의 자살로 시작된 하루는 그를 알고 있는 사람이라면 누구나 가슴 아파 했을 것이다. 성실과 근검절약의 이미지는 그를 사랑했던 많은 팬들 가슴에 아직도 남아 있어 충격이 더욱 컸다. 우선 이 자리를 빌어 고인의 명복을 빈다. 그를 죽음으로 몰았던 이유에 대해 방송이나 일부 신문들은 인터넷을 이용하는 네티즌이라고 한 목소리를 냈다. 그의 죽음의 원인이 일부 네티즌의 악의적인 댓글에 있었다고 해도 사이버 모욕죄는 정보화 시대로 나가는 길에 복병일 뿐만 아니라 민주주의의 근본인 표현의 자유를 억압할 수 있는 소지가 강해 동의할 수가 없다. 그녀의 죽음은 경찰의 수사를 통해 원인을 찾고 그 원인이 네티즌에 있다면 원인 제공한 네티즌에 대한 합당한 처벌을 하면 되는 것이다. 그런데 이런 사건을 계기로 한나라당에서 이번 정기 국회에 사이버 모욕죄를 상정하겠다는 것은 사건의 본질을 잘 못 짚었다는 생각이 든다. 인터넷 상에서 이루어지는 댓글은 어떤 법을 만들어 놓는다고 해결될 문제가 결코 아니라는 것이다. 일부 네티즌들이 실명제를 주장하고 이에 한나라당 홍준표 원내 대표가 고인이 된 최진실 씨의 이름을 따 법을 상정하겠다고 한다. 나경원 의원 역시 실명제 법을 강화하자는 근거를 되며 사이버 모욕죄를 만들겠다는 목소리를 내고 있다. 정확하게 말하면 우리나라 인터넷은 이미 실명제가 되고 있다는 것이다. 누군가 글을 올려 문제가 생기면 그를 잡아 처벌하는데 전혀 문제가 되지 않는다. 한 마디로 말한다면 이름을 걸고 쓰나 닉네임으로 쓰나 잡아서 처벌하는데 시간이 걸리지 않는다는 뜻이다.

그런데 한나라당이 굳이 이렇게 사이버 모욕죄를 만들겠다는 의도가 궁금해진다. 혹여 인터넷에 재갈을 물리겠다는 의도가 숨어있지 않나 의심이 들기까지 한다. 한나라당의 인터넷을 바라보는 그 동안의 태도를 볼 때 사이버 모욕죄라는 것이 인격 살인을 막겠다는 취지보다는 소통의 공간의 장이었던 인터넷과 네티즌의 입을 직접 통제하겠다는 생각이 드는 이유가 어디 나뿐일까. 세계 여러 나라 중 자신의 실명을 걸고 쓰는 나라는 중국으로 알고 있다. 중국의 네티즌들은 어떤 댓글을 달고 있을까. 자신의 이름을 걸고 글을 쓰니까 나경원 의원 말처럼 인터넷 악성 글이나 댓글들이 완전히 살아졌을까. 천만에 말씀이다. 많은 전문가들은 실명제를 한다고 해서 악성 댓글들이 사라지지 않는다고 말한다. 실명제를 하나 실명제를 하지 않으나 별반 차이가 없다는 소리이다. 다시 말해서 자율규제를 통해 서로 노력하는 길이 가장 빠르다는 것이다. 사이버 모욕죄가 대체 무엇인가. 듣기도 생소하고 말하기도 생소한 단어에 고인의 이름을 따 ‘최진실법’을 만들겠다고 한다. 과연 사이버 모욕죄가 만들어지면 우리 인터넷 세상이 법을 만들겠다는 사람들의 생각처럼 깨끗해 질까. 오히려 악용될 소지는 없는지 따져보아야 한다. 그 옛날 박정희 대통령 시절 막걸리법과 뭐가 다른지 궁금해진다.[…] 찬성하는 네티즌들도 이 법의 도입에 대해 냉정하게 다시 생각해 보아야 한다. 어찌 보면 너와 나의 발목에 족쇄를 채우는 꼴과 별반 다를 게 없다는 생각이 들기 때문이다. 요즘 인터넷에 올라오는 우리 댓글(답글) 문화나 글이 예전에 비해 얼마나 자정 기능이 좋아졌는지도 생각해 보자. 몇몇 연예인 악플러들을 제외하고 나름의 노력들을 하고 있다고 생각한다. 21세기 인터넷 문화를 지금보다 더 활성화 시키고 그 활성화를 통해 보다 나은 세상을 만드는데 가장 좋은 방법은 최진실법이라는 것을 만들어 처벌하는 것이 능사가 아니라 스스로 토론이나 댓글을 통해 상대방을 인정하는 자정능력을 키울 수 있는 방법을 찾는 길이다. 그것이 보다 나은 성숙한 민주주의로 가는 가장 빠른 길이다.

Here is a counter opinion.

나의 개인적인 생각으로는 필요하다 생각을 한다. 인터넷상의 악플 내지 루머는 한사람을 죽음으로까지 내몰수 있는 폭력이다. 개인마다 차이는 있겠지만, 받으들이는 사람은 얼마나 큰 고통에 허덕일까? 당사자가 아닌 이상 그 고통을 짐작이나 할수 있을까?여기 아고라 게시판을 보면 정말 가관이다. 우리 아이들이 볼까 민망한 글들이 하루에도 수백개의 글이 올라온다. 말그대로 어떤 자신의 생각이나 논리는 전혀 찾아볼수 없는.. 말그대로 비방과 욕설들… 사이버상도 엄연한 사회라 생각을 한다. 오프라인에서도 그렇게 용감하게 할수있는지 의문스럽다. 처음보는 사람에게 반말은 기본이고, 입에 담기힘든 욕을 서슴치 않으니… 정말 안타깝다. 유명연예인의 죽음을 정치적으로 이용을 한다는등… 정말 한심스럽다. 그냥 모욕죄로도 처벌을 할수있는데,왜 굳이 사이버모욕죄를 만드느냐?? 모욕과 관련해서는 형법으로도 충분히 처벌을 할수 있다고 본인도 생각을 한다. 다만, 이와 관련된법을 더욱 세분화 시켜 처벌할수 있는 범위를 넓혔으면 하는 개인적인 바램이다. 올바른 인터넷문화를 만드는것도 기성세대가 할일이라고 생각을 한다. 사이버 모욕죄가 신설된다면, 적어도 지금과 같은 작태는 많이 줄어들것이다.

Very many netizens question whether government’s response is related to her death.

[…]최진실법은 정말 아니라고 봅니다.그것도 죽은 분의 이름을 멋대로 악용하여(사인의 원인은 정확하게 밝히지 않은 채,그저 악플로 죽었다는 식으로 여론몰이를 하고 있더라지요),그것도 고 최진실씨 사망을 활용해 사이버모욕죄를 추진하겠다는 식으로 고인을 팔아 정권의 통제를 강화하겠다는 ‘비열한 꼼수'밖에는 보이지 않습니다. 그리고 분명한 것은,현행법에 사이버 모욕에 관한 내용이 있는데도,그리고 ‘사이버 수사대','사이버 악플러 추적'이라는 규정이 있음에도 불구하고 이런 식으로 ‘정권의 입맛에 맞추는,그리고 정권이 악용할 가능성이 큰 법'을 만들자는 것은 법치주의 원칙에서 벗어난 일일텐데 말입니다. 그런데,정작 이러한 고인의 죽음을 ‘멋대로 매도'한 황색저널리즘에 대한 문제는 왜 언급을 안합니까?지금까지도 계속되고 있는 심지어 장례식장에도 기자들이 무례한 행동들을 했더랍니다).[…]그저 정치적으로 이번 기회를 ‘사이버 모욕죄 만들 명분으로 악용하자'라는 것보다는 ‘이런 언론의 몰상식 작태'부터 고쳐야 하는 것 아닙니까?

최진실법?그걸 제정하는 것보다는 지금 ‘언론에서 보여지는 무례한 행동'과 ‘보도•취재 윤리의 강화'가 중요할 겁니다.이번 사태만 보더라도 얼마나 이번에 언론이라는 곳이 연예인들의 일상에 대해서 갖가지 루머와 의혹들을 양산했던지,그리고 이러한 사례에도 불구하고 최진실씨의 죽음이 인터넷의 병폐인것 마냥 인터넷의 소통공간을 매도하는 행위로 ‘싸잡아 비난'하는 건지 적나라하게 알 수 있지 않나 싶습니다.특히나 그걸 ‘정치적으로 악용'하는 한나라당의 작태에서 말입니다. 개인적으로 한마디 하자면,국민을 ‘천민','사탄','배후','좌익'등으로 싸잡아 매도한 것은 모욕이 아닌가요?[…]

Many netizens also argue that we should give more attention to depression, not to the Internet, and ask whether there were really many sinister opinions from the Internet about her rumor. How about major media that have the more powerful function to spread over the rumor?

[…]일단, 이번 법안의 내용을 들여다보면 이전까지 포털측에 전적으로 부여되었던 삭제의 권리를 개인에게두고 ,삭제명령이 내려졌을때 의무적으로 24 시간안에 삭제하도록 하고있으며,삭제에 관한 최종적인 결정권을 방통위가 행사 할 수 있도록하고있다. 포털측이 특정한 글이 공익성이 다분한 글이어서, 비판적 성격이 다분한 글이어서 삭제할 이유가 없다고 판단된다고 할지라도 삭제하라면 삭제해야만 한다는 얘기다.다시말해, 따지고 보면 엄연한 독립체인 포털측의 권한을 아예 송두리쩨 없애버린것이다. 공영방송마저 정권의 홍보역할을 해야한다고 말하는 이 무지막지한 정권이 엄연한 독자적 권리를 가진 인터넷마저 정권의 홍보역할을 해야한다는 무언의 압력이 아니고 무었인가. 또한, 싸이버 모욕죄의 경우는 피해자의 고소 없이도 수사에 착수, 처벌할 수 있도록 하겟다는데, 이 부분에 이르러서는 최진실 법이 얼마나 처절하게 악용되고 그로인한 피해자가 얼마나 속출할지 걱정되는 부분이기도 하다.[…] 게다가 과연 이 최진실법이 최진실의 죽음을 계기로, 그것도 이미 고인이되신 최진실씨의 이름을 따서 만들만큼 악플이 최진실씨의 죽음과 직접적인 관계가 있는지도 의문이다.따지고 보면 이번 사태의 근본적인 핵심은 사채설이기 때문이다.최진실씨가 왜 죽었는가.안재환씨의 죽음으로 인해 촉발된것이다. 안재환씨가 왜 죽었나. 바로 사채 때문이다.그렇다면 이제까지 심각한 사회문제로 남아있는 사채문제에대해 대대적으로 정비하고 대한민국 사회를 떠들썩하게만든, 안타까운 목숨 둘을 앗아간 사채업에 대해서 법으로 응징하고 정비해야할 일이지 왜 엉뚱하게 최진실법인가.그리고 이미 경찰의 수사와 의사의 검시결과로 밝혀졌듯,최진실의 자살원인이 예전부터 앓아왔던 우을증 이었으며 자살또한 충동적인 상황에서 벌어진것이라 결론이 내려진 마당에 무슨 엉뚱하게 최진실 법인가.악플은 분명 앞으로 더욱더 심각해질,수 많은 사회문제 들중의 하나임은 분명하다. […]한 고인의 처참한 죽음, 너무도 안타까운 한 아이의 엄마의 죽음을 두고,그것을 정권에 악용하기 위해서 최진실 법 운운하는 저들의 입을 보고 있노라면 참을 수 없는 분노가 치솟는것은 차라리 인지상정이라고 해야할까.

After hiding from Justice for four years in Mexico, former President Alfonso Portillo was extradited to Guatemala, where he will face serious charges of corruption and other felonies.

Blogger Tigre 007 [es] said that Guatemala is celebrating the capture. It might just be the case to mark the beginning of declining corruption levels in Guatemala. Happy news for Guatemalans, because  one of the largest frauds with public money might have been forgotten … but not anymore: a former President will be prosecuted in one of the countries with the highest levels of corruption.

However, many people, according to Megachapines Blog [es], still sympathize with the “Zacapaneco” (Portillo's nickname) alleging that this prosecution is fueled by political pressures and is not a fair process. Some hours later, the thought that this would be a fair process was dispelled, and the sensation that it was all a media smokescreen floats around.

At Carpe Diem, Luis Figeroa writes [es]: “Fixed like wrestling or church pews”:

Más arreglada que la lucha libre, o que las bancas de una iglesia, estuvo la entrega de Alfonso Portillo. ¿Va usted a creer que en la Torre de Tribunales había gente que, espontáneamente, gritaba ¡Zacapa te apoya!?

Karim El Behiry reports from the Gharbeia governorate:

Karim continues:

Back to Arabawy who notes the probable cause of the fire could be “electric sparks as the machines were re-started after the holidays. The textile factories of course are full of raw cotton supplies and inflammable materials. Fire spread quickly.”

The series of fires is really fishy, and a conspiracy theory is quite appealing for so many Egyptians, given the recurrence of the severe fires hitting influential/historic Egyptian buildings which started with the Egyptian Parliament on August 19th, 2008, followed by the National Theatre in Cairo.

Linuxawy lists the fires and tries to speculate which building's turn is it next?

He adds:

”

Pará - Brazil, 2007. Photo by Deborah Icamiaba.

The Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has disclosed the news of a huge increase in deforestation in the past few months, particularly in the States of Pará and Mato Grosso. In some States, the rates are three times higher than they were in August 2007.

The Minister for the Environment, Carlos Minc, interpreted this as due to the election period. According to him, “No mayor wants to be obstructive at such times. No governor wants to be obstructive either. The IBAMA (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) staff do their job, but they need the support of the local police.” Minc has also disclosed a list of the top 100 agents of deforestation, which puts the government agency for colonization and agrarian reform (INCRA) as the top deforestation agent of the Amazon.

Brazilian bloggers have been slow to react to the news, but Greenpeace [pt] points out it had been indicating increasing deforestation rates in the past few months, thus the INPE data has come as no surprise to them. Amazon Greenpeace Campaign Director Paulo Adario says:

“Lamentavelmente não é nenhuma novidade. Há meses, o Greenpeace vem alertando para a tendência de aumento do desmatamento na Amazônia, confirmada novamente pelos dados do Inpe divulgados nesta segunda-feira”

Also, regarding the presence of INCRA at the top of the list, Greenpeace had published a report called Paper Land Reform Settlements [pt] denouncing the way in which in some parts of the Amazon INCRA staff have been “partnering” small peasants and illegal loggers to create “fake” land reform settlements which serve to cover up illegal logging activity under the gloss of land reform and social justice. The set up helps INCRA to meet their land reform targets, earn their local agents' monetary rewards and makes way for what is still the main economic activity in numerous Amazonian municipalities: illegal logging.

Candido Cunha [pt], a blogger from Santarém, Pará, was quick to expose some of the political interests behind the recent news. According to him, there is disagreement between Minister Carlos Minc and Pará’s Governor Ana Julia who was not happy to see Pará at the top of the deforestation list. Candido suggests she had been able to keep Pará out of the notorious deforestation limelight during Marina Silva’s period of office (she is Minc’s predecessor), whose focus was to attack Governor Blairo Maggi from Mato Grosso State, whilst keeping herself free to “partner” deforestation agents, particularly those linked to large mining and logging projects.

A mistura explosiva dos aliados petistas no Pará, madeireiras e mineradoras parece ser o combustível perfeito para a derrubada e queima da floresta amazônica. Para isso, não há “simpatia” que dê jeito!

They being all PT (Workers’ Party) politicians, this is indicative of inner schisms in the party. In Candido's view, Minc’s strategy to reveal the links between local politics and deforestation rates is intended to help him gain the support needed to set up a Federal Military Force to support IBAMA’s fiscalization proceedings.

Pará - Brazil, 2007. Photo by Deborah Icamiaba.

In Mércio Pereira Gomes’ blog [pt], we see the view of an anthropologist (and ex-president of FUNAI, Brazilian National Indian Foundation, during Lula’s office) who has witnessed the threat of having INCRA's land reform settlements near indigenous reserves, particularly in Mato Grosso.

Parece que houve um acirramento do desmatamento no mês de agosto. O ministro Carlos Minc culpou as eleições por isso. O Pará está tomando o lugar do Mato Grosso como campeão do desmatamento. A governadora do Pará desmentiu que as eleições provocaram esse aumento, que não há correlação entre uma coisa e outra.

He seems to support Ana Julia's refutation that there is any link between elections and deforestation and argues that the deforestation battle is being lost due to Minc’s strategies being too “mediatic” (seeking to draw attention to himself, primarily) and not consistent enough on the ground. He does not believe Minc will last in the Ministry. Is he perhaps an ally to Ana Julia?

According to Globo’s site [pt] on the Amazon, Carlos Mincs’ idea is to partner the General Advocacy of the Union and the Public Ministry to sue the top 100 deforestation agents in Brazil.

Os dados do Ibama apontaram situação grave, segundo Minc. Pelo levantamento, além de áreas de assentamentos, houve desmatamento também em reservas indígenas e parques de preservação ambiental. “Todos aqueles mencionados (na lista) terão de responder na Justiça sobre o que aconteceu. O mais importante é mudar a atitude e recuperar as áreas devastadas”, afirmou o ministro.

Finally, the blog Pense [Think, pt], run by the couple Adriana and Henrique, indeed makes us think about the issue of who will sue the top 100 deforestation agents, particularly INCRA, which is itself a Federal Government Agency.

Quem será processado pelo ministro? O Incra? As famílias assentadas?

Mediatic or not, the fact is that deforestation rates are on the increase and as difficult as it is to disentangle the network of interests which converge to maintain such high rates of deforestation in the Amazon, Carlos Minc is using the tools that he has in order to tackle the problem. Drawing attention to the increase in deforestation rates and listing top deforestation agents, as well as following this up with legal proceeds against them, are strategic tools to combat deforestation.

However, as he himself has been saying in the media recently, closing down illegal logging activities does not resolve the problem, because “you don’t create sustainable jobs as quickly as you close down illegal sawmills.” Perhaps the conflict between himself and the Governor of Pará is that his duty is to denounce and close down the illegal deforestation related activities, whilst hers (and that of all the local mayors about to be elected) is to create all those sustainable jobs.

View from a plane, north of Mato Grosso - Brazil, 2007. Photo by Deborah Icamiaba.

You can read a lot about many "first places" on rankings by Guatemala: corruption, poverty, low literacy rates and violence against women. That is why bloggers and the artist community were thrilled when we finally had great news. We won the Best Latin American Movie award at the San Sebastian Festival in Spain. Actually we did not. Guatemalan young film producer, Julio Hernandez did, with his film "Gasolina".

Everyone under thirty-five is thrilled! Smiles and nice comments everywhere!

The most interesting detail is that recently awarded films do not portray Guatemala as a Paradise, as a perfect, happy place, but rather show different realities. It was the second film in the year to be awarded.  The first to recently report that a Guatemalan movie had received an award at the San Sebastian film festival was one of crew member's relatives, Blogger Jacri :

Son las 8:00 de la mañana hora de Guatemala y entra una llamada yo en ese momento todavía estaba durmiendo y mi mama contesta el teléfono luego solo escucho que ella empieza a llorar de la emoción al recibir la noticia desde España diciéndole de que habían ganado a la categoría en la que estaban nominados Horizontes Latinos

Charakotel , a rural Guatemalan blogger living in Denmark,congratulated Julio from his distant location, and briefly described the plot:

Haber logrado realizarla en Guatemala supone ya un triunfo, por la escasa -o nula- presencia institucional en el apoyo al arte, los obstáculos financieros, los cangrejos, etcétera, etcétera. El galardón es, entonces, doblemente merecido.

Also from Brasil, Guatemalan poet spending his year as artist in Residence in San Pablo was the second to report it, and dedicated a space on his blog, with a meaningful tittle: Little Faith: Latin American Horizons :

Este merecido premio le dará la resonancia que merece a la película de nuestro querido Julio, al mismo tiempo que podrá poner en los ojos y oídos de muchos las imágenes y sonidos de la tan cacareada Guatemala de posguerra, con sus juventudes perdidas e incendiarias. Desde ya me pongo a ver cómo traemos ese largometraje para el Brasil, donde de seguro disfrutarán tan particular historia y la espléndida forma en que Julio la cuenta.

This much deserved award will give a voice to the film of our beloved Julio, and at the same time it will present before many eyes and ears the images and sounds of the  troubled postwar Guatemala, with its youth lost, incendiary. From now on I will lind the way to bring the film to Brasil, where people will enjoy for sure the singular story and the splendid way that Julio recreated it.

Thanks to the honest effort of a bunch of young Guatemalans (the actors where almost all teenage amateur actors) and a great Director, WE will share our city, our stories, our reality, with many others in the world. It is not a perfect place, but it is a place that still has some corners left where dreams can become realities. Hopefully you will see Gasolina in your city! Habemus Guatemalan Cinema!

A post on Lebanese Tag offers informative details and images from the scene:

A car bomb exploded Monday near a military bus carrying troops on their way to work in northern Lebanon, killing at least five people and wounding 25, Lebanese security officials said.
The officials said most of the casualties were soldiers. It was the second deadly attack targeting troops in northern Lebanon in less than two months.
A senior military official told The Associated Press that three soldiers were among the dead, but had no breakdown of the number of injured among the troops.
The security officials said the car packed with explosives was parked on the side of the road and was detonated by remote control as the bus drove in the Bahsas neighborhood on the southern entrance to the northern port city of Tripoli.
They said the explosives used were mixed with metal balls to maximize casualties.

Middle East Watch, a news blog dedicated to the Middle East region also reports on the event not long after it happened:

Lebanon's LBC TV reports that the car-bomb was detonated by remote control just as the minibus carrying Lebanese Army soldiers went by. Those who were less seriously wounded were taken to Tripoli's main soccer stadium for treatment.  The explosion was the second targeting a Lebanese Army bus in less than two months. At least 18 people were killed, many of them soldiers, on August 13, when a bomb hidden inside a duffel bag exploded outside a passenger bus in Tripoli's city center.
Tripoli's Sunni-Muslim mufti Malek Sha'ar insists that those behind this lastest explosion were not from Lebanon and that they were attempting to sow discord inside the country. He said the people behind this act are trying to sow discord among Lebanon's different religious groups but he said all Lebanese will unite to fight this attack

Now Lebanon published a post rounding up responses from the Political figures upon hearing the news:

…Former PM Najib Mikati, who is from Tripoli, told LBC on Monday morning that the explosion was “a terrorist and criminal act against the army, who has been targeted since the Nahr al-Bared events…
…Marwan Hamadeh told LBC that the reconciliations in Tripoli did not remove weapons from the streets and did not stop explosions, “which were not planned in Lebanon, but which come from the outside…
…Interior Minister Ziad Baroud called for an exceptional meeting of the Central Security Council for Monday afternoon, and Police Brigadier General Antoine Shakur visited the site of the explosion in Tripoli.”

Rodge at Ouwet Front, posted his reaction to the Tripoli’s bus explosion, and accuses Syria for being the mastermind behind this incident in an effort to execute its regional agenda:

2 days after the explosion in Damascus, and about 45 days after the first one of its kind, here they are again, this morning an explosion hit a mini bus transporting Army soldiers and some civilians, some 10 killed or injured are reported, and I’m confident the same people planned and executed the 3 explosions.
Now the question should be what is the relation, and I think many of you girls and guys have already answered the question, cause it seems, and since the summer of 2007, the Syrians are trying all they can to return to Lebanon through the north gate, mainly Tripoli, and at the same time they are implementing their own part of the deal done with the Americans and Israelis, so they are assassinating some of the officers involved in Hariri’s death, while blame it on the extremists.

Holger Danske, who blogs at his personal space Holger Awakens, argues in his latest post that the hand behind today's explosion is Fatah Al-Islam which has been operating in north Lebanon for the past two years now:

…There is no question in my mind that this was the world of Fatah al Islam which is the al Qaeda linked group that vowed revenge against the government and its military after they were squashed in operations in northern Lebanon. Fatah al Islam is a Sunni group and of course, the landscape of Lebanon is dominated by Shia Hezbollah…
…The Lebanese have tried to sweep Fatah al Islam under the rug ever since last year but as we can see, they aren't going away and they certainly haven't given up their vow of revenge. I would have to say that this bombing is going to probably force the government into a huge crackdown in the nothern areas and if that happens, it could really get bloody - and not just with Fatah al Islam …

Manuela Paraipan posted an interesting article, discussing how extremists are benefiting from the instability in Lebanon and how the Army can't contain such groups due to the same reasons:

My point is that this group of extremists can be contained, but for that you need the army to go to the places well known to many in the country, take away the weapons [this time for real], put check points in the problematic areas, and the intelligence to keep them under surveillance. The problem is that here even when they act its a half measure. They need more approvals, more green lights from countless leaders, self called leaders, imaginary masters and so on. This type of mentality harms the security of the country. I have no reasonable explanation [I am not interested in excuses] for it.

After reading the news on her laptop in the morning, A Diamond in Sunlight reacts to the event while watching it from abroad:

And this morning the cheers stopped when I sleepily turned on my laptop to read the news over breakfast.

At first I didn’t quite believe it. I saw “Deadly blast rocks Lebanese city” on the BBC news site and thought: there’s something wrong with the BBC today. Its broadcasting old news - this bombing happened in August.

But it didn’t. I’m so sorry for the people of Tripoli, who already face the challenges of deep poverty and political powerlessness. And I am terribly sorry for the Army, whose soldiers and commanders do not need these terrorist attacks when they are trying to build a strong institution for all Lebanese to be proud of.

And blinkx.com uploaded a video clip capturing the scene moments after it happened while Friday Lunch Club linked to a picture that shows the blown up car and the targeted bus.

Zeinobia, at Egyptian Chronicles, dedicated a post here to the Egyptian special forces fir their heroic role in the rescue.

I do not know if anyone of them will ever read this but thank you for bringing joy, faith and hope to people who are really missing a lot these days, thank you for standing up as usual as expected when it needed.

Those kidnapped included 11 foreign tourists - five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian - who were snatched in a remote border region of Egypt, which has cave paintings thought to be about 10,000 years old. The region is accessible by desert vehicle from the conflict zones of Darfur and eastern Chad.

Meanwhile, The Arabist links to news sources and announces:

The word is the 19 hostages are now free and healthy.

Writing in The Skeptic, Elijah Zarwan earlier reported:

Sudanese government officials are telling reporters that the Sudanese forces killed six men accused of complicity in the abduction of 11 tourists and eight Egyptian guides after a high-speed chase through the desert. The Sudanese say they captured two people involved, who said that the hostages had been moved to Chad. If all the reports coming out have been true, then the hostages have been moved from Egypt, across the border to Sudan, across the border into Libya, then back into Sudan, and again across the border into Chad.