Citizens of Iraq and Tunisia who are lucky enough to have Internet connections may now find it easier to conduct Web searches.  Today, Google announced the launch of the local search domains google.iq and google.tn for the two countries. This …

Google has announced that the Iraqi government has launched a dedicated YouTube channel. It can be found at youtube.com/iraqigov.

The Iraqi government joins the Pope, the Royal Family, Queen Rania, and the presidents of the United States, France, South Korea, and Estonia in having YouTube channels to communicate with the public. Here’s a YouTube message from Iraq’s Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki:

Don’t be surprised if a lot of blog posts, tweets, and YouTube videos start pouring out of Iraq in the near future.  The U.S. State Department has led a number of corporate representatives to Baghdad, and the group includes executives from Google, Twitter, and Automattic/WordPress.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) has partnered with the Ad Council to launch a national multimedia public service advertising campaign (PSA) along with a new social networking Web site geared exclusively toward Iraq and Afghanistan veterans.

The new Web site CommunityofVeterans.org, provides information that can help veterans with transitional and readjustment issues, including a searchable database of national and local resources on topics such as jobs, education and health.

A 4,000-year-old clay tablet thought to have been smuggled illegally from Iraq was removed from eBay just before the close of an online auction.

The tablet had a wedge-shaped cuneiform script and had been put up for sale on eBay’s Swiss site. It caught the eye of a German archaeologist, who contacted the German police. They passed the information to their Swiss counter parts.

Authorities have launched criminal proceedings against the seller, who was identified only as a resident of Zurich.

Michael Yon will continue to turn to his online audience to support his reporting from Iraq, which he will make available at no cost to the National Newspaper Association.

It’s not exactly a stretch to say the White House has public relations issues. For the most part, though, footage that could be held against them has been dug up by the Daily Show more than the mainstream media. And then came YouTube.

What you might call a fringe group – global conspiracy prophets are fringe, right? – have uploaded an obscure video from 1994, where then former Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney defended the decision not to invade Iraq following the Gulf War (a decision which, if you remember in fairness, broke poor Al Gore’s heart).

Google launched its Online Security Blog this week. Their first post took a look at compromised websites and malware around the world.

During a raid on Iraqi insurgents, British Army intelligence made a chilling discovery. Insurgents were using Google Earth to locate soft targets at British bases in Basra.

As news of Saddam Hussein’s execution made its way around the web (rather quickly), people flocked to the search engines looking for video, images, and any other pertinent information about the hanging.

The US government is becoming increasingly blog savvy in the way they handle PR.

According to Wizbang President Bush during an audience Q&A encouraged supporters of the war to use blogs and word of mouth to spread good news about Iraq…

An online community for American veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, called TroopNet, went live Monday that allows former and present soldiers from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom to post profiles and pictures, search for others based on a number of criteria, link to “buddies,” and privately message other members.

Ever since Google News changed their algorithm 4 or 5 months back it just isn’t as good.

Reading and viewing online news coverage of the Katrina hurricane disaster in the US over recent days, I’m just awed by the sheer scale of so many people – thousands according to many news reports – losing their lives, family, and property.

Petrobras has agreed to advise Iraqi oil interests on bolstering oil yields that have fallen 47 percent.

For those of you that know me, you know my brother Jonah is in Iraq with his Marine Recon battalion.

Google has added a new twist to the Google Image Search (GIS). When you search for topical keywords, Google not only returns pertinent images, but it also features images based on related topics from Google News.

As bombs continue to fall in Iraq, protesters and patriotic hackers alike have stepped up their war of words on the Internet, defacing hundreds of U.S. and U.K. corporate and government Web sites, a security expert said Friday.