Global Voices Online

Pestiside examines Hungarian government plans for the sell-off of Budapest Airport, advising potential investors to fasten their seat-belts and prepare for turbulence.

Siberian Light's Andy, sitting in a Burger King in Glasgow Airport, wonders if Russian President Vladimir Putin will indeed step down at the end of his second term, as is required by the constitution.

Neeka hangs out with a former love, beautiful but terribly damaged, and is relieved to discover she can recover the good memories but doesn't have to go back to old times.

Omnik Krikorian offers a brief history of rock music in the former Soviet Union in general, and in Armenia in particular.

Nathan at Registan rounds up his reasons for not believing rumours that the U.S. is talking to Turkmenistan about a potential location for a military base.

Zimpundit points out that the Zimbabwean finance minister is a proponent of free-market economic policies, and is trying to persuade President Robert Mugabe to try freeing prices.

FYR looks for some humorous distraction as protests continue on outside his workplace. He also says Bruce Golding, who called for the protests, has definitely lost his vote.

Sleepless in Sudan reports on local reactions to the deaths of two African Union peacekeeping soldiers in Darfur from complications related to HIV/AIDS.

The Sudanese government has executed people who were minors at the time of the crimes they were accused of, and denied a fair trial to others sentenced to death, according to a recent statement posted on Human Rights Watch.

Black Star Journal examines the relationship between a severe shortage of condoms in Uganda and the abstinence policies favoured by the Bush administration.

Timbuktu Chronicles blogs about the difficulty of stimulating e-commerce in Ghana in the absence of a reliable power supply.

Steven of Steve's Gallery visited the Joven Club de Electronica y Computacion in Matanzas, Cuba, where they are transitioning from Windows to Linux.

this, that, & whatever writes about an apparent raw sugar shortage in Barbados' supermarkets and notes the irony that the island “produces about 50,000 tonnes of the commodity a year.”

Bob Green's Anguilla News warns that late night ferry service has stopped between Anguilla and St. Martin.

Bloggers' Peace Plan. Nittewa comes up with an interesting outline of how peace can be achieved in Sri Lanka, and invites other bloggers to comment on the process, and suggest their own measures.

Imtiaz's weBlog on the cause and effect of Madrasa Education in Bangladesh, and how it impacts existing class barriers.

The 3rd World View links to and comments on David Montero's article on Extremism in Bangladesh.

The heights of sexual harassment? It could be 35,000 feet as Vislumbres discovers. Air hostesses get harassed by a group of guys, no one can really do anything about it.

A tale of courage, forced relationships, and braving the odds. Sepia Mutiny has a post on a girl who is daring to defy her community's norms.

Noodlepie translates a few entries in the contest for Vietnamtourism's new slogan, which is on until Sept. 30. One of them: “Vietnam - A Part of the World.”

Mister Wang's interview with local gay poet Cyril Wong leads Xeno Boy to thoughts on creativity from exclusion.

In Manila, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's comfortable escape from impeachment charges in Congress has provoked much commentary about politicians and popular representation.

Mack Zulkifli of Brand New Malaysian praises his PM for advocating a more innovative business culture, particularly in state-run firms, but recounts his skepticism that much will change among Malaysia's corporate ladder-climbers.

As typhoon Nabi glides into Busan, The Asia Pages muses on how, since 2000, typhoons have been given local Asian names so that “by having a name people could relate to, death would be avoided.”

Danwei observes that Olympic Beijing is correcting the public English on its signs, e.g. “Racist Park,” while down in Shanghai, Bingfeng Teahouse thinks his city ought to mimic Beijing another way: by building slums for migrant workers.

Sowtona - Our Voice - (English and Arabic) is a new blog for and about Egyptian citizens. A team of journalists interviewed more than 1,000 ordinary Egyptians to find out about their problems. These voices were the basis for a special voter guide about today presidential election.

Arab states sent deep condolences and regret to the U.S. administration over the effect of Hurricane Katrina. moodz wonders why none of the Arab Leaders sent a cable of “deep condolences and regret” to Ibrahim AlJafaari (The Prime Minister of Iraq) over the dreadful incident of AlKhademia where the lives of more than 1,000 Iraqis were lost in a shocking accident, why would Spain and other countries send their condolences while the Arab/Muslim countries not say a word?!

Clips and views from MAD Show Advertising of Zara Expo in Jabal Amman - Jordan, by Roba.

Ze'ev Orenstein of Israel Perspectives blog writes that the greatest threat being posed to the Jewish State of Israel today are not only “Palestinians”, demography and a nuclear Iran, but the inability of its educational system to produce proud, caring and knowledgeable Jews. Jews. A system where the average Jewish child graduates high school without understanding what it means to be a Jew, what it means to have a Jewish State, and why both are worth fighting, sacrificing and even dying for.

Umkahlil lists Israeli and Palestinian landownership in percentages by subdistrict, 1945 as United Nations map published in August 1950.