Global Voices Online

Media, diplomats and even a monk were present at activist Tan Zuoren's trial yesterday where he was sentenced to five years in prison. Media activist Yang Licai today uploaded his photos from outside the courthouse.

On Facebook, around 1,300 members to date have joined a group calling for the suspension of US sanctions on Syrian Air saying: “there is no reason to apply any type of sanctions against [a] civil carrier.”

Pink Tentacle posts videos and photos of the snow sculptures at Sapporo Snow Festival 2010.

C. Custer from ChinaGeeks translated prominent blogger Ai Weiwei's comments on Tan Zuoren's trial and 5 year imprisonment sentence.

The Far-Eastern Sweet Potato writes that the Presidential Office has excluded foreign reporters from monthly briefings on ECFA. The post includes a letter of protest from the President of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents' Club to the Presidential Office.

Custódio Duma wonders whether Africans have been ‘cursed', leading to servitude of black people worldwide. He mentions biblical perspectives and says [pt]: “It's from Africa that most resources that keep the capitalism machine working comes from. Yet, Africans almost do not profit from them. […] But who has cursed Africans?”

A Voice In Colombo thinks that the victorious Mahinda Rajapaksa's government had “created another chance for opposition to gain public sympathy” by arresting general Sarath Fonseka.

An interesting panel discussion on the delicious variety of ‘Food Writing' took place at the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival in Mumbai, India. Read this and much more in The Kala Ghoda Gazette, the official blog of the festival.

On PetitionSpot, a new petition goes on to ask China officials to stop registering “Khoomii” or Mongolian throat singing in their Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in UNESCO.