Global Voices Online

The hoops he's being made to jump through by the two large multinational banks where he's trying to open accounts, reminds Trinidadian blogger Seldo (who recently relocated to San Francisco from London) why he doesn't worry too much about globalisation: “Humanity is a lot more resistant to homogenization than we think. McDonald's has to serve salads in the UK and can't serve beef in India. Multinationals that ship their call centres to India discover that cultural and linguistic problems cause customer satisfaction rates to plummet. Coca-Cola has to change its recipe in every nation it goes to. Globalization is self-limiting.“

Sanjaghak writes that according to new law, women can not have makeup or carry jewlrey or necklace inside her university[Fa].

Jordanian blogger The Black Iris was in for a treat during the Canadian Film Festival, held in Jordan. “It’s been a pretty enjoyable experience getting to watch a handful of Canadian films at the Balad Theater these past few days. I hope they’ll get to host another one come next year,” he writes.

“Estonia is the first country in the world to hold such a parliamentary election by a web-based system in which voters can cast ballots online,” reports A Step At A Time.

Watch a satirical Moldovan cartoon and read more about the country at Scraps of Moscow.

A campaign spear-headed by Jordanian bloggers to preserve the Dibben Forest has been declared a success, announced Jordanian blogger The Black Iris.

Polonium-210 poisoning is a central theme of the latest episode of Law & Order: Criminal Intent, reports Scraps of Moscow.

Zeid Nassar posts a video link for a commercial featuring Egyptian heart-throb Amr Diab as well as American divas Beyonce and J Lo. “I’m not sure if this is a fancy special effects/post-production job or if Amr Diab was actually on a set with Jennifer Lopez and Beyonce for this Pepsi commercial.
WOW! It’s another East pop-star meets West pop-star from Pepsi,” he writes.

Sochi Travel Info blog reports on yet another recent energy accident that took place in the city that aspires to host the 2014 Olympics.