Global Voices Online

Onnik Krikorian has a report on the Armenian parliamentary campaign.

A Chinese actress, Zhang Yu, showed 20 tapes to media of her having sex with famous Chinese directors and actors. DANWEI has the details. Wang Xiao feng's judgement is that there is commercial interest behind the event, the whole issue is a show (zh).

Zany who writes for The View from Fez, Morocco, posts part of a paper which highlights plans to increase the number of women candidates in Parliament.
Mohammad V University law professor Mohamed Mouaquit, who prepared the study for the Democratic Association of Moroccan Women, states political representation of women in Morocco “does not mean the number of seats designated to women as it might seem, but basically it means a profound change in mentality, which requires emphasising male domination of women as a particular form of the power relationships within societies, wrote Zany.

Driving in Bishkek is an adventure, says Nikki.

Thomas Seropian has photos of removal of racist graffiti in Yerevan.

Lebanese Mark who lives and works in Kuwait had to fly into Dubai for urgent business. Although he didn't like his hotel, traffic and the fact that an exhibition he wanted to visit was closed by the time he had finished his work, he found items he really wanted but could not buy and liked at the Dubai Duty Free outlets!

The abuse of domestic maids is on the rise in Jordan, reports Black Iris.
So far 10 maids have committed suicide this year in the country which has about 38,000 registered maids from abroad in addition to 60,000 illegal domestic workers.

Leila reports on protests in Kazakhstan over the the government's decision to ban the import and sale of cars with steering wheels on the right side.

Onnik Krikorian rounds up posts in the Armenian blogosphere on protests against racism.

In the United Arab Emirates, police first arrest men accused of sexual harrassment and then start questioning them, writes Lou Lou in her blog Renderings of Me.
There is zero tolerance for any type of sexual harrassment in UAE which is something that deserves respect, she adds.

KZ Blog discusses the overwhelming preference for exact change in Kazakhstan.

An Arab version of both YouTube and Flickr on one site, called Ikbis, is gaining popularity in the Arab world, writes Mustapha from Beirut Spring.
A video of a Lebanese girl belly dancing in her room is among the most watched videos in the site, which has sparked the interest of hundreds of viewers.

Ardeshir Dolat talks about an Iranian refugee family living which has made its home an airport in Moscow. According to the blogger, the Russian authorities now want to deport the family to Iran - something that the family is convinced will be devastating to their lives and safety.You can watch the video of the mother describing their situation.

Positive solution posts a question concerning the one dog policy in China: If you start banning dogs on the grounds that they are potentially dangerous and a public nuisance, why stop there? Here are a few things that I’d give the same treatment…

Survived SARS comments upon the newly released banking regulations in China: at first glance, they appear to provide more leeway for foreign banks to compete than was originally expected…

Afghan Lord says about the presence of drugs in country. The blogger quotes NewsMax site “Policemen in Afghanistan are not happy with their lives. The highest-ranking officer makes about $80 per month, and the Taliban pay better, one policeman tells me.Would he go fight with them? “They haven't asked me. But I have to survive. If they asked me I would,” he replies.

The news about Chinese wikipedia has been confusing. On Nov 13, it was widely accessible, on Nov 16, partial inaccessible, on Nov 17, a reblocked was confirmed and appeared more restrictive - Andrew Lih has the most elaborated update.

ESWN has some reflections upon his blogging: but at some point, I ought to develop some opinion or the other after recording ten thousand data points…I believe that there is some room for building up narratives from the ground up.

ESWN translates different mainstream reports concerning the sacking of SCMP editors to show the cultural gap between Chinese and English journalism.

David Weber in Japundit has a nice photo essay on the Japan cultural day.

Claire George in Ohmynews writes a personal account of her editor's life and how the job has changed her persception of the world.

Robert Koehler at Marmot's Hole lists out some anti-Korean websites. However, he disagrees with local newspapers' opinion that government should step in and intervene.

Eight recent polls on Venezuela’s elections are summarized by Reste@dos [ES]. The post includes the numbers from the Welsch / Observatorio Hannah Arendt released yesterday, as well as poll numbers from Datanálisis, Hinterlaces, Evans & McDonough, Consultores 21, IVAD, CECA, Keller, and Penn, Schoen & Berland. Main points from the analyses of this collection of polls are: 1) Chávez is ahead, 2) Chávez is losing support, 3) Rosales is gaining support, 4) Chávez is more likely to win but for a very small margin.

Michael Hurt reports that South Korea has a 10-stop increase in gender empowerment measure (GEM) since 2002.

JoJo at Collectif Haiti de Provence points to a haitian news article about Haiti's collaboration with Chilean architectural consultants in view of developing tourist resorts. The blogger's reaction to the story (Fr):”Nations living under the constant threat of violence certainly maintain a touristic tradition that is valid for the region. But … the palpable presence of repressive and dissuasive forces are there to reassure the traveler … Please let the government know that they must resolve the problem of insecurity.”

Lee Vanderwalker offers some historical background to Garifuna Settlement Day, which is observed in Belize on November 19, and commemorates the 174th anniversary of the Garifuna people's arrival in Belize. Lee's post also includes a link to music samples by Belizean Garifuna musician and activist Andy Palacio.

Barbados' ruling political party seems to be taking blogging quite seriously. The Barbados Labour Party has posted documents on its blog to further support its nomination of opposition party member David Thompson for the “Piggies at the Trough” awards. According to the Barbados Free Press blog, which inaugurated the award, “The “Piggy” . . . is presented annually to the Barbados politician or civil servant who, in the opinion of the judges, best misuses position, political contacts or internal knowledge to benefit self, family or friends.”

Larry Smith discusses the career of journalist, newspaper publisher and politician Cyril Stevenson — who died recently at age 92 — whose “lifetime spanned the entire modern political history of the Bahamas”.

Tinta Digital examines (ES) the issue of emigration from the Puerto Rican point of view.

Haitian-American Alice Backer reports on her experiences as participant — and lone blogger — on a panel on the future of black newspapers held last weekend in Brooklyn, New York.

Diligence in his post titled The coffee report describes the Coffee Industry in East Timor. Coffee contributes to about 90% of East Timor's export earnings.

Music and Life - Everywhere! reviews Ismail Kadare's ‘Broken April' and writes about Kanun, the Albanian blood feud laws.

Lemuel of Deleted by Tomorrow agrees that “the main sport practiced by Slovaks is jealousy.”

Stop by at Snowsquare to see pictures of Hotel Rossiya (”The last of the great Soviet-era central Moscow landmark hotels will soon be no more.”) and its demolition (”All that remains of what was one of the largest hotels in the world.”), as well as Ritz-Carlton built in place of Intourist and scheduled to open in March 2007.

Kamla Bhatt has a podcast with a Professor who teaches at the School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University. “Prof. Rajesh Rajagopalan talks about the events leading up to the India-China war of 1962. What were the perceptions, misperceptions that led to the war?”

Alex(ei) of The Russian Dilettante's Weblog writes that a “a former KGB colleague of Putin” will likely be appointed as head of “Gazprom's oil-producing arm, Gazpromneft.” Also, Russian legislators are introducing a law according to which “candidates may no longer engage in personal criticism of their opponents. Ridiculous as it sounds, the bill is awaiting Putin's approval. A nail or two more, and the coffin of political speech will be ready for a state burial.”

Atanu Dey links the importance and contribution of infrastructure (in this case good roads) to economic development. “He believed that because India was an underdeveloped economy that the roads were bad. He got the causality wrong. It is because the roads are bad (among other things) that India is a poor economy.”

The Maoist leader Prachanda on a visit to India appears to have spoken in favour of India over Pakistan. United We Blog! on the deep anti-Indian establishment sentiment in Nepal. “Every time the trade treaty nears to expiration, we have one fear: how much will Indians exploit while renewing it. Every monsoon, we have to see our lands inundated because of Indian dams. Our boarders are encroached on a daily basis.”

Drishtipat on the issue of voters list for elections in Bangladesh - providing a chronology of events and process. “Throughout the process described above, there is clear evidence of bias by the election commission towards the then ruling party and incompetence and lack of transparency in the whole process of creating the voter list and in addressing the complaints.”

Protest finds different ways of expression. Take Back Bangladesh on the black ribbon, and why your blog should wear one to support free and fair elections in the country. “Back in 1969-71, wearing a small rectangular BLACK BADGE on the arm or chest became a powerful symbol of protest against the vile political machinations of the Pakistan Government. Virtually everybody wore it.”

Russia Blog reviews Andrei Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev.

Copydude writes about contract killings and inefficiency of police investigations - and about singer Igor Talkov, who was killed in 1991 and whose case hasn't been resolved yet.

The beatroot inquires: “Is building a 400 square metre replica of the Warsaw Ghetto out of 50,000 Lego bricks ‘offensive’?”

Adventures in Moldova describes two situations witnessed in the capital Chisinau, both pretty vivid.

Itching for Eestimaa writes about nostalgia for the Soviet Union and citizenship issues in Latvia and Estonia.

TOL's Belarus Blog writes about “Soviet retro” - which includes something quite surreal: a new regulation introduced by the Belarusian government, requiring “the Ministry of Education to create and approve a state concept for youth fashion by the New Year.”

Neretva River reports on an animal rights group targeting a Croatian contemporary arts exhibit - and, coincidentally, some artwork “commemorating the 200th anniversary of the founding of Zagreb’s Jewish community,” which is on display at the same location.

Electricity is the most neglected technology in Africa, writes Africa Unchained in Electrifying Africa.

The mistreatment of Ngugi wa Thiong'o in California, “After a relaxing morning of a good walk and breakfast, he returned to his hotel to sit in the veranda section of the Hotel restaurant reading his newspaper. What happened next could have been a scene from a pre-Civil Rights Era of a Black man caught in a “White Only” section of a hotel.”

Beth Kanter interviews Maria Estela Godinez, a high school student from San Francisco del Rincón, México who “built a glove that allows speech-challenged people to move their fingers in a similar fashion to Braille language and have those signals recognized by software that converts them into speech.” The interview was translated to English by Ricardo Carreón.

Notas al Margen links to the various Guatemalan bloggers [ES] who attended the recent “Firefox Party,” celebrating the launch of Firefox 2. Blissy [ES], the only female attendee has pictures.

Patrick of the Guatemalan Solidarity Network laments the lack of attention focused on Milton Friedman's legacy in Latin America.

“Like any metropolis, Buenos Aires has been subject to the whim of urban planners for its entire history. Imagine 426 years of change since its foundation in 1580. Mix in the chaos of political & economic crises (no shortage there), & it’s surprising that Buenos Aires is even here at all.” So begins Robert Wright's intriguing two part look at the past and future of Buenos Aires' urban planning.

Salvadorean blogger Ethel looks through her “Google biography” and finds an entertaining article about her wrestling days.

Pillow fighting fans around the world will be overcome by jealousy after reading Alan Patrick's account of this past weekend's blog-organized pillow-thumping flash mob. Make sure to check out the videos at the bottom of the post!

Bolivia's constituent assembly had been at a deadlock over whether votes would be decided by majority or require two-thirds. A decision was reached/imposed this past weekend, reports Miguel Centellas, Jim Shultz, and Miguel Buitrago.

French literary blog Topolivres posts (Fr) a podcast of an excerpt of Haitian poet and playwright Syto Cave's show Voisins Complices [Neighbors and Accomplices]. Voisins Complices has been performed in Haiti and Barcelona and is scheduled to go to New York in 2007.

Pointing to a Haitian news story about a schoolgirl who was recently kidnapped and shot despite her mother's delivery of $4,000 out of a $30,000 ransom, JoJo at Collectif Haiti de Provence writes (Fr): “Who will have the courage to ask public officials to describe in detail the nature of the steps taken so that their families remain exempt from this anarchic violence? Who will have the courage to make them understand that we have understood that they do not really care about insecurity because their belongings and families are tucked away abroad?”

AfricaBeat on the militarization of U.S. Africa aid, “Ironically, while U.S. may see strengthening military assets in Africa as another way to wage its “War on Terror,” it is also the fastest way to make the Horn of Africa a hotbed of terrorism.”

Mr Lim and a friend in Singapore launch a community moderated news site. “YOU are the editor, you decide what’s interesting and what’s not.”

Darly at Laocuisine.net blogs about Lao picnics and the food that would “knock one off ones feets”.

Vutha in Cambodia reports that Buddhist Monks gathered in a park to commomorate victims of road accidents. Accidents are now the second leading cause of death in Cambodia after HIV/AIDS.