Global Voices Online

Joanne Rodriguez mourns the loss of jobs in La Vega, Dominican Republic where her mother once worked.

Bjorn's Blog writes about mob rule in Guatemala.

Carpetblogger wonders if rumors about nitrites injected into Azeri watermelons are true, or if they make any difference, giving the levels of environmental toxins to be found in the country anyway.

Black Star Journal comments on the release of Moroccan prisoners taken during the conflict in Western Sahara, giving concise background on this little-known story of post-colonialism and occupation.

A blog from Myanmar by Kyaw oo. Not on Aung Sang Suu Kyi, but it's about science, space and astronomy.

Cottontimer is a Chinese-American who keeps two blogs to occupy her hours as full-time mum in Vietnam - one on her daily life call Cotton Picking Days (read: MSG poisoning), and the other on genetics and public health. She's a former PhD epidemiologist.

Counter-culture blog IndCoup touches on Asian values and feels that the Malaysian government is control-obsessed. One of the old tricks seeing new spin is the “pernicious influence of corrupt Western culture“, this time manifesting itself in worm eating common in reality TV.

“On an average score of English tests out of nine ASEAN countries, our Thai counterparts came in eighth - just one above the Cambodians”. TV shows don't help much…

The e-community for Thai translators has a website at www.wanakam.com (wanakam means literature). It has an excellent link to the collection of Thai literature that had been translated to English, and world literature that had been translated to Thai. Blogger Jeep points us to interpretative translation of Thai poets.

EastSouthWestNorth preserves a surprisingly frank account by a Chinese paper about how mine owners in Ruzhou smothered news about a mine disaster — by paying off both real and pretend reporters.

Japan's parliamentary election campaign is underway. Japundit says ex-PM Junichiro Koizumi is coming out swinging.

Frustrated by the descent into yet another political scandal, a.k.a. Gloriagate, Manila tour guide Carlos Celdran points accusingly at the older generation.

United We Blog! has a photo-post on a wall that came to be known as the Bulletin board of Democracy, and how the wall has come down.

Back with a heavy heart from Gujarat on Intentblog. The riots of 2002 are hard to forget, or understand.

GreatBong offers wonderful insight into a documentary made on Sonagachi - Calcutta's Red Light area.

Identities, countries and what it means to be Bangladeshi on A sunshine too brief.

The Arabist Network report the launched of a new movement in Egypt called Shayfeenkum-We're watching you. The movement will provide an avenue for citizens to report any human rights violations, electoral mishaps, and other problems to the media and Egyptian government ministries.

Women's Autonomy and Sexual Sovereignty Movements comments on an op-ed article by a New York Times contributor in Nigeria about women's vulnerability to HIV/AIDS and coercive sex, which is often seen as a cultural norm.

Sleepless in Sudan worries about what will happen if the African Union peacekeeping troops in the troubled region of Darfur don't get paid because of funding shortfalls.

Human Rights Watch warns that the Afghan government and international monitors must take special measures to protect women from attacks and intimidation by the Taliban and regional warlords, ahead of the Sept. 18 elections in the country.

A Ugandan radio station gets a reprieve, but its outspoken chat-show host is still on bail for criticizing the government, Passion of the Present notes.

Eugene at Coalition for Darfur points to a news item from Xinhua saying that 2,500 were killed and 1,500 raped in the D.R. of Congo in the first half of this year.

Sudan: The Passion of the Present blogs about a recent report on the effectiveness of military intervention in the case of genocide.

Central Budapest challenges Hungarian speakers to come up with the untranslatable in their language for Wikipedia.

Afghan Warrior covers the death of an Afghan policeman in a remote-control bomb attack in the southern city of Kandahar.

Controversial discussion is going on between some bloggers and ‘Anonymous Blogging' which lists Bahrain, Saudi and Syria in Top Five most dangerous countries for bloggers. The director of ‘Committee to Protect Bloggers' has been criticized and accused of being an Arab-hating secret agent in Jewish pay, as he says. The unhappy bloggers are asking why Iraq and Israel are not in the list, although some bloggers in Iraq where killed and two where detained in Israel.