Global Voices Online

Ceci Connolly and Ana Maria Salazar both have thorough updates on Mexico's election that refuses to end. Meanwhile, Juan Luis Hortelano wonders (ES) how many regular readers of ALT1040 and Isopixel are tired of the recent political focus and would prefer a return to the weblogs' “normal content.” Mariano Amartino asks (ES), “has the moment arrived in which we “must” respond to an audience and their expectations?”

Uri Ridelman has launched Tico Food, a food blog with recipes and news on Costa Rican cuisine.

Creative Commons Chile has linked to the English-language presentation given by Claudio Ruiz at iSummit.

Tedfox has pictures from the latest Cosplay (or Costume Play) festival in Singapore.

An interesting conversation has sparked up between Boz, A.M. Mora y Leon, Boli-Nica, and Randy Paul on the extent to which Hugo Chavez and Evo Morales might politically damage Brazil's Lula da Silva as the presidential election approaches.

Melo Bichuetti describes the nexus of Brazil's indigenous population, legal system, and Ministry of Education.

Miguel Centallas writes that the official numbers from Bolivia's Sunday elections are now available. Morir antes que esclavos vivir says the narrow voting on the autonomy referendum reveals a divided country.

The blogger at When in Doubt, Blame the Traffic introduces the Indonesian Jimi Hendrix. “A lifelong disciple of Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn, Gugun's setlist consists primarily of note for note versions of Jimi and SRV tunes, together with a vocal performance that is on par with the originals. An SRV-style hat and sunglasses completes the image, but this Indonesian guitarist is not a soul-less copycat trundling out benign covers of the original artists. Gugun is the real deal - a virtuoso showman who plays his ass off and never misses a beat, aided by the rest of his trio, who are also very accomplished in their respective support roles.”

Unspun in Jakarta is talking about large US papers cutting back on foreign bureau. The blogger wonders if this would mean more opportunities for local freelancers. Unspun also posts the views of a foreign correspondent who thinks otherwise.

Robert Wright begins what will hopefully be a long-lasting series of posts comparing old and new photographs of Buenos Aires. For the first installment: subway signs.

Liz Henry has a great introduction to women in the Ecuadorian blogosphere.

Vadim of neweurasia reports on the stifling heat in Dushanbe and discusses some of the ways to deal with the heat.

Onnik Krikorian reports on threats against Hetq Online, the publication for which he works in Armenia.

Raffi K. of Life in Armenia says that central Yerevan was a World Cup watching zone, with people watching games on the streets and in restaurants.

Tom Terry has photos of Naadam preparations in Mongolia. Naadam is centuries old festival during which participants compete in the “three manly games” — archery, wrestling, and horse racing — in cities throughout Mongolia.

Chippla comments on the application of Islamic law by the new regime in Somalia. “Why should 21st century African societies be subject to 7th century Arabic laws?” he writes.

White African talks to talented young developers and mobile phone experts.
“We talked at length about the need for a mobile/web payment system that could be used by non-techies and those with little internet access. Basically a mobile/web bank that supplies micro-credit to applicants.”

Nitin writes for DesiPundit on how issues of Foreign Policy are covered in the Indian blogosphere.

Musings of a Naijaman meets London mayor Ken Livingstone at an anti-racism festival and comments on the banning of the movie The Da Vinci Code in Nigeria.

Is the Nepali army accountable to the people of Nepal? United We Blog! on how the army runs like a parallel government in the country.

Ghana-based David Ajao presents a round-up of blogger reaction to the sending off of French soccer captain Zinedine Zidane in the final of the 2006 World Cup in Berlin after he headbutted an Italian player.

Drishtipat has a post on a Bangladeshi parent in the US grappling with all the medical advice being given to him before he goes to Bangladesh with his children.

Nepali Netbook on an iling premier and the politics of inertia. “Nepalis, for their part, are still trying to figure out why a premier with an unspecified ailment relating to the lungs returns from Bangkok after undergoing laser surgery of the prostate.”

Robert at CodeZed reports the arrival of Open Source Zambia, a new forum for open source software.

Musing over a copy of Blaine Harden's book Africa: Dispatches From a Fragile Continent, Yebo Gogo asks what went wrong with Nigeria.

Thanesh poses a question on the nature of the Sri Lankan constitution. “Ok I heard from a friend that according to the constitution of Sri Lanka, a Sri Lankan Tamil or any other non-Buddhist for that matter will NOT be able to run for Office of the President.” The discussion in the comments is rather heated.

Black Looks posts a poem about the lives of African migrants looking for work and a better life, and Nigeria, What's New? picks it up with a link to a photo-essay on the same subject.

Both Barbados Free Press and the Barbados Labour Party blog report on the launch of Senator Lynette Eastmond's web site.

Abeni reports briefly, but not uncritcally, on some of St. Vincent's Carnival activities.

Hossam el-Hamalawy post some troubling news that Youth for Change detainee Mohamed el-Sharqawi has been subject to death threats in Tora prison, where he’s currently detained.

Farzaneh Ebrahimzadeh, who has studied history for about twenty years, talks about recent Abbas Salimi Namin's, head of Iranian Studies department in Tehran, interview with Sarmayeh newspaper. Salimi Namin says Persepolis, the ancient ceremonial capital of the second Iranian dynasty, was not constructed by Iranians and Persepolis was an unfinished construction of Russian tribes ! The blogger says according to all sources Persepolis was constructed by Iranians and all Iranian & non Iranian history academics agree on this fact (Persian). The blogger adds Salimi Namin had denied Holocaust a few months ago.

Trinidadian artist/activist Elspeth Duncan “baptises” one of her artworks in the ocean, with interesting results.

Caribb has a Flickr photoset devoted to the 32nd annual Carifiesta, Montreal's Caribbean street festival, which took place on July 8.

Vilhelm Konnander reports on last Thursday's blast in Tiraspol, the capital of the breakaway region of Transnistria: a territory which is “an ignored and absurd anachronism in contemporary Europe.”

LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about president Yushchenko's numerous mistakes and other factors, which have resulted in the current crisis.

Flickr user Anaderi - who lives and works in Moscow - reports a problem many people in certain countries (e.g. Russia, Ukraine) face when they attempt to upgrade their Flickr accounts to Pro status: their payments are not accepted. Anaderi is beginning to have doubts about Flickr: “I'm a bit confused now whether or not consider Flickr as the best photo sharing service?”

Snowsquare.com writes about a “stiletto run” that took place in Moscow this past Saturday. To participate, one's heels had to be 9 cm or over. Two more similar races are being planned by Glamour magazine, a sponsor: in St Petersburg on July 22 and in Novosibirsk on July 23 .

Sean's Russia Blog quotes Vladimir Putin's response to an Internet user's question about sex: “‘I can't remember exactly when I did it for the first time,' a laughing Putin said. ‘But I certainly remember when I did it the last time, to the exact minute.'”

Barbados Free Press sees the usefulness of the regional police team that is being formed among Caricom nations to provide security for the Cricket World Cup and will become a permanent fixture in the region thereafter, but cautions against the potential misuse of the force by Caricom countries less “stable” than Barbados, especially in the absence of an effective legal framework protecting citizens' privacy.