Global Voices Online

Ishtiba on Mauritian soccer following their recent loss agains Sudan, “So much frustration among Mauritian supporters today …but 1 thing that many persons dont understand is that : how can we get good /quality football, how can “we deliver the goods” when there is no effective structure put in place to assure that we get some good players with a minimum of intelligence! So that they can use their brains when playing n not just do anything with a ball when u r a pitch!!”

Andrew Heavens blog has been blocked in Ethiopia: Surprise, surprise…meskelsquare.com is now out of sight here. Why would they block a blog which publishes stories about Miscalls and Kenyan web watchdogs? Ahunis enezih sewotch cherkavhewin tilew abedu
Of course, blogs on blogspot.com have disappeared once again.

Dili-gence describes the campaigning for the upcoming presidential elections in East Timor.

Details are Sketchy has a post on a reporter from Sexerati.com visiting Cambodia as a part of her coverage for a video podcast on sex in South East Asia.

Mungkol in Cambodia says blocking of mobile SMS during the elections is funny and unreasonable.

Publiuspundit has a post on pro-democracy protest in Thailand and the military appointed prime minister's reluctance to declare a state of emergency in Thailand.

A flower market in photographs at Trivial Matters. “A kaleidoscope for your senses. Dadar Phulgalli [flower-lane] takes your traditional Bombay smells of sweat, toil, paint, iron and turns them into the smell of marigolds.. Wipe your brow and you find petals in addition to sweat.”

Indian Muslims on the shariah, law, state and culture. “I firmly believe that in this present day world shariah laws cannot be enforced on people because Muslim society in general has diverted away from religion. Concepts which invite death punishment in Islam are now acceptable in many cultures, like live in relationships and extra marital affairs.”

Light Within on the history of Rawalpindi. “The bustling city of Rawalpindi has a lot more to offer than a traffic mess, broken roads and haze-filled atmosphere. The city’s history spreads over several millennia. Archaeologists believe that a distinct culture flourished on this plateau even 3,000 years ago.”

Rezwan on the Hizbut Tahrir. “Hizbut Tahrir, a global student organization which is very active among UK (including Bangladeshi community there) established their base in Bangladesh a few years ago. They could so far infiltrate in many high profile public and private Universities of the country and could motivate many talented students”

Sajeeb Wazed (also the grandson of one of Bangladesh's founding fathers - Sheikh Mujibur Rehman) writes an account of the killing of his grandfather and other family members due to political reasons. “Mohiuddin and his cohorts killed the security guards and made their way into the house. They confronted my grandfather on the main stairway, where they shot him. They then proceeded through the house, shooting the rest of my family. They shot my grandmother, three uncles and my two older uncles’ wives.”

neweurasia discusses chilliness in relations between Kazakhstan and Russia, but says that the relationship is far from on the rocks.

Levan finds some Georgian websites that deal with subjects that are taboo in Georgia.

At Registan.net, Teo Kay shares some the political cartoons about Central Asia he co-created for an English-language newspaper distributed in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

Bonnie Boyd notes that Rumi, the famous poet often associated with Sufism who was born in what is now Afghanistan, was born 800 years ago and she reports on a celebration of his work that took place in Washington, DC.