Egypt launches first Arabic Internet domain

Cairo (Earth Times - dpa) - Egypt is to create the world's first Arabic language internet domain, with registration opening Monday, the country's telecommunications ministry said Monday. Website owners will now have the option of using ".msr" in the Arabic script, which means ".Egypt," instead of the more common ".com" or in the local instance ".com.eg."

Last month, Icann, the organization that regulates the internet, decided to allow non-Latin domain names, opening the way for Chinese, Korean and other scripts to feature at the end of addresses.

Egypt is expected to officially announce the opening of registration later in the day, during the internet Governance Forum (IGF) it is hosting in the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, according to the BBC. The forum will last through Wednesday.

According to experts speaking at the forum, some 65 per cent of Arabic Internet users do not understand English. They said this highlighted the need for more user-friendly interface in people's native tongues and the advantages in generating content in all different languages.

However, Reporters Without Borders, an advocacy group, has criticized the decision to let Egypt host the United Nations-founded forum.

"It is astonishing that a government that is openly hostile to internet users is assigned the organization of an international meeting on the Internet's future," the group said in a statement, citing incidents of alleged police harassment of bloggers.