Global Voices Online

Lost in Smallness reports that the same day a judge released all three suspects in the Natalee Holloway case, Aruba's famed Natural Bridge collapses.

After a brief absence, Caribbean Free Radio's 30th podcast covers Hurricane Katrina, remembers the Martiniquans who died on a plane crash in Venezuela, and has plenty of good music from around the Caribbean.

Roberto Borrero says an article in El Nuevo Dia “perpetuates myths and writes a slanted, ugly story about the Taino people”

Tim's El Salvador Blog says the Salvadoran police will begin monitoring lawyers who represent gang members.

Like Tomas Sancio did with the 1999 La Guaria floods, Oil Wars compares the US response to Katrina with the Venezuelan response to the February, 2005 floods of Vargas, Caracas.

Daniel of Venezuela News and Views writes of the prison conditions in Venezuela.

As Diana Zorrilla Ríos notes, PeruBlogs is trying out an online radio station where listeners can send their requests via Instant Messenger. They are also looking for more volunteer DJ's, but do not specify whether one must be living in Peru.

Eduardo Ochoa of Li-1 notes that Ecuablogs, which he helped set up just a few months ago, already has more than 600 registered bloggers. The 600th blog, from Quito, is dedicated to the soccer club Emelec.

Ana of Nivel 13 sums up a recent online chat [ES] with Alaskan-born, Argentine rock star, Kevin Johansen.

Newley Purnell gives his impressions of a New Yorker piece on Ecuadorian soup.

If you've ever wondered what “geophagy” means, it happens in Kyrgyzstan, and it's explained on Registan.

Registan revisits the argument that it would be a mistake for the United States entirely to cut off ties with Uzbekistan over its human rights record.

Ethiopundit dissects his country's ruling ideology, “Revolutionary democracy”, exposing language and concepts which would be strangely familiar to anyone raised on Mao Zedong Thought.

Bonjour l'Estonie describes the custom in Estonia of setting aside large individual trees as landmarks and tourist attractions.

Marianna Idrisova Gurtovnik writes about efforts to ensure widespread voter registration ahead of the Azerbaijan elections in November, especially in the mostly ethnic Armenian region of Nagorno Karabakh.

Afghan Warrior goes into more detail about the problems faced by prospective women candidates in the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.

Kenya-based Mental Acrobatics highlights the awarding of a multi-million dollar reconstruction contract in hurricane-hit Louisiana and Mississippi to Halliburton, a company with strong ties to U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Kenyan blogger Mshairi celebrates one year in the blogosphere, looking back on 12 months of life, love, poetry, Africa and gender activism.

Sleepless in Sudan has found a man! and blogs hilariously about what can go wrong with a date in Darfur…

Thea Burger reports on bursaries aimed at getting South African women into careers in IT.

Kenya Democracy Project posts a long poem and photos depicting the ravages of Katrina, and picks up on the infamous (white) “finders” and (black) “looters” captions on AFP photos out of New Orleans.

Culture lockdowns in Bangladesh, as the government bans innocuous advertisements. Rezwan wonders why more obvious “indecent” content isn't being filtered out.

Metroblogging Lahore links to photographs that showcase the 1965 war, and wonders how they held up against the Indian troops.

A volunteer working in the Tsunami hit areas reports that things are nowhere near finished. It's time to yell at the NGOs.

In what appears to be a rare feat, Indian and Pakistanis were together on the same side in a Cricket match in Bonn to celebrate their Independence Days.

Varnam has a stinging reminder for Arundhati Roy. Cellphones are more than just tools for the rich - they can be lifechanging for others!

AsianSmiles has a post which profiles stereotypes of women from all over the world. Pay close attention to the comments section!

In a bid to stop money flowing into the country as bets are mounting on further rises in the yuan, China will extend a one-year crackdown on money laundering in the securities and insurance industries.

These days when there is a disaster, hackers and virus propagators are taking full advantage of the situation. In the case of Katrina Hurricane, bogus e-mails are making the rounds to infect PCs in the guise of offering news updates about the New Orleans disaster.

Professional Australian model Michelle Leslie embraces Islam but continues to model swimwear or underwear. “When should a person be considered to be part of a religion?” Brunei-born, Australia-based blogger raised a question that aroused many feedback.

The Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union has been pressing Coca-Cola Canada to stop sourcing Coke-branded garments produced under military dictatorship in Myanmar (Burma). Coca-Cola Ltd is accommodating the union's wish.

Aniruddha Bahal, the famous investigative journalist from India's online news site Tehelka.com, gave a talk at the Singapore National University in late August. An audio recording is now available.

Wither universalism? An AFP story recounts pledges of aid and help to Katrina Hurricane victims coming from the rich and poor of Asian countries except Malaysia. Tech blogger LiewCF is calling all bloggers to help run a Red Cross donation ad on their blogs.

Despite the love-hate politics on both sides of the Singapore Causeway, journalist-blogger Eyeris has eight reasons for liking Singapore. Via Tomorrow.sg.

Wannabe Lawyer is using wikispaces to build a wiki for Singapore Policy. “We know we are capable of robust political debate without descending in chaos, rioting and a destruction of our society,” the blogger says.

Godcasting, anyone? “Religious and spiritually themed podcasts” are making their way into iPods, allowing those in hospitals, oversleepers, and others who can’t make it to their place of worship the opportunity to catch up on their time with God.