Global Voices Online

Christian Garbis reports on the Araz Petition, an online petition named after an Iranian teenager struck and killed by a speeding driver in Yerevan. The petition aims to pressure the government into making Armenia safe for pedestrians, which Garbis says involves addressing reckless driving and jaywalking.

drishtipat on Bangladesh as a divided family, with parallels drawn on quarrels in slums and the blogosphere. “Well, we, 150 million people are divided into two groups in support of two families who are trying to somehow grab the ruling power of the country.”

Moju on workers in Sri Lanka of Indian origin being paid less than average and the troubling times for this ethnic community. “Their call on an indefinite strike to raise their daily wages to an amount of Rupees 300 from Rupees 135 per day is staged when elsewhere in the country the average wages of a skilled labourer is between Rupees 600 and 750. What is the basis of this shocking inequality in income distribution?”

Random thoughts of a demented mind on enjoying a Bandh (strike) in West Bengal. “Postponing a bandh? What kind of lunacy is that? Don’t people understand that the bandh needed to be on 21st (Thursday), 22nd (Friday) so that with the weekend (23rd and 24th) and Christmas (25th) we would have a really really long weekend ?”

Metroblogging Islamabad on Pakistani expats returning to the city and not quite fitting in. “All they can do is complain and try to pose something they are not with their myopic perspective. If you look at foreigners, the ones who do not even belong to Pakistan, they always manage to find a way to enjoy life in the “lifeless” capital.”

Music and Life - Everywhere! writes about the Lithuanian Camerata Klaipeda - “a very interesting little string orchestra” - and other music matters.

South East Europe Online compiles a list of English-language books on the Balkans.

Itching for Eestimaa reports that the Council of the European Union now permits non-citizen residents of Latvia and Estonia to travel in the EU without visas: “Hopefully those newcomers that couldn't make it in Estonia can press their luck elsewhere.”

Slovakia's Deleted By Tomorrow writes about “the nature of the regime”: “Bit by bit the poisonous stupidities are swelling, building up, gaining momentum and threaten not only the free development of Slovak society, but, what’s infinitely much worse, also my sanity and peace of mind. It’s the little things that just might go unperceived by a foreigner, or get lost in translation, a dictum, a tone, a turn of the phrase, an ominous reminder of things long past and almost forgotten. It’s irritating beyond words.”