Global Voices Online

The Long and Winding Road reports on the trial of an Uzbek musician who was arrested for performing a song about the violence in Andijon in May of 2005.

Malaysian blogger Jeff Ooi has a post on a newspaper editor lodging a complaint against his weblog. The editor took offence to one of the comments on a post where the blogger had discussed the editor's column on former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir.

Once upon a place says Karzai, Afghan President tries to appease its fundamentalist opposition by proposing Departments for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The blogger adds this illustrates the desperation of Karzai to gain some control as his western backers slowly desert him and leave him to his own devices. He has no choice but to deal with his detractors to maintain his position….to remain alive for that matter.

Mariano Amartino points readers to a collection of “metroblogs” in Mexico, Argentina, and Spain (ES).

FayerWayer is asking all readers to turn off their cell phones on September 27th (ES) to protest the poor quality of service providers.

Pierrot Dupuy writes (Fr): “Close to 20% of Reunion drivers probably do not have a driver's license, according to [France's] national council of professional drivers' driving school division. If this number is correct, it is alarming to say the least. Especially in case of an accident, when even if the non-licensed driver is insured, he/she will see his insurance company refuse to take on any indemnification.”

Deleted By Tomorrow writes about Pravda.sk: “‘Slovakia's most widely read broadsheet,' which means I wouldn’t touch it with a ten-feet pole, the daily newspaper Pravda was sold recently to the Daily Mail. The Glory of Carniola writes about Pravda.ru: “Let's all give a warm [Pozdravlyayu] (congratulations) to the Russian online news service Pravda, which recently conflated Slovakia and Slovenia in their story about Slovakia's parliamentary elections.”

Stefan of Dykun writes that a Western Ukrainian relative has been to Kyiv “to picket the parliament and demonstrate for new elections.”

Adrian J. Erlinger of Leopolis cites a letter on the current political and economic situation in Ukraine: “Communists in the governmental coalition is the first irony of the current situation, Yanukovych is another history’s joke.”