Global Voices Online

James of neweurasia reports that Kazakhstan has freed a major opposition leader halfway through his jail term.

neweurasia reports that Tajikistan has picked on odd time to be fraternizing with Iran..

Tajikistan Travels reports on a Tajik wedding.

…yuu bna? reports on the MPRP's (Mongolian People's Revolutionary Party) new agenda.

Pestiside.hu reports that Hungary's health minister opposes the country joining Europe's organ transplant matching service, saying that he thinks Hungarian organs, “national assets” as he calls them, should only go to other countries in the rarest circumstances.

Jason Greving of Nicaragua Travels continues his cultural observations with three more notes. Rather than the North American “furrow of the eyebrows,” he says, “here the Nicas have the same concept, but they scrunch upwards with their cheeks.”

Gilbert Ramirez links to an article which says U.S. Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld will visit the country to “deepen the democratic processes in the region.”

BlogsPerú has brought back the festival of blogs (ES) where one topic is chosen for all of the community to blog about. This festival's theme is “Blogs and Journalism,” which will be discussed until the festival closes on Friday. A summary of the discussion will be published.

A.M. Mora y Leon has an entire post about the Venezuelan flag, commenting that “no one, not even north Americans or Mexicans, waves the national flag quite as intensely as Venezuelans do.” Daniel Duquenal brings up parliamentary discussion on changing the nation's flag and coat of arms. Finally, Luigino Bracci Roa uses the free and open-source software program, Blender to create a 3D image of the flag.

Jamaica Express announces a lecture on Restorative Justice in Jamaica taking place on Thursday 19 January at the Ames Courtroom, Harvard Law School at 7:30pm. The event is sponsored by the Berkman Center and the featured speakers are Kevin Wallen, Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, and Courtney Kazembe, who, according to the Berkman web site, are “working with the government of Jamaica to create a program of restorative justice that addresses the problems that often arise when inmates are paroled. . . . The program seeks to constructively bring unresolved enmities to the surface and deal with them before parole.” The event will also be webcast.

Boz has an interesting collection of links related to coffee and tequila in the Americas. The good news for margarita lovers is that the tequila behind the bar should no longer be watered down.

Angry Chinese Blogger discusses two rules when dealing with China — never put a Chinese in a situation where they will lose face and never insult Chinese culture — and applies it to China's refusal to give in to the EU's demand that it close its bear farms.

Yosef Ardi imagines the wish list of U.S. business lobbyists currently visiting Indonesia, beginning with No. 1: “Boeing: Sell more airplanes to beat Airbus.”

Kenny Sia writes an introduction to where he lives — Kuching, in Sarawak, Malaysian north Borneo — for those who have no idea where Kuching is.

On the 120th anniversary of the beginning of British colonial rule over Myanmar, Burma Digest translates an article comparing military dictatorship and colonialism. “How’s it different from today? Not much!” writes the author.

Blogs in Singapore are discussing a recent government grant to a group known as “Liberty League,” formed to help “gays and lesbians understand their sexual identity.” Sayoni Speak, a new queer blog, writes that the group's name is misleading — it's actually a Christian group of ex-homosexuals “trying to 'stamp out' homosexuality.”

The Asia Pages asks: “Who needs to study Mandarin?” While China's rise is important and far-reaching, she admits, Mandarin is difficult for Westerners to learn and Chinese in business meetings that she's attended in Korea have all said they would prefer to use English. “Even the translator messes up on the tones, completely changing the meaning of the conversation. But most importantly, both the Korean and Chinese sides speak English so why not just use the common language?”

What can you do in Dubai? It's all desert?

The black feline suggest the Big Bus tour..all of Dubai within a day on a double decker bus with an open top.

Something interesting might happen tonight in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia is going to play an international football match against Sweden, which pressured Saudis to allow women to attend the match. Sweden is going to play with their reserve team, as most of their stars refused to join the team for this match. However, according to FIFA website, the news that both Swedish and Saudi women would be blocked from attending the game did not go down well, Ahmed said.

For Khaddam, chances are he is simply too corrupt for other people in the opposition to approach. Should he drastically temper and revise his expectations, he might have a chance of appealing to some. One thing is clear though: he will not be allowed to become the leader of the external opposition, no matter how highly he happens to think of himself, Ammar said.

African HouseIT posts on a report on South African Housing crisis in the Western Cape.

Childhood beatings is the subject of KenyanMusings…commenting on her nephew who she describes as the “most spoilt child I know” and returns to his/her own childhood “I got beatings for screwing up. I got beatings, slippers, belts, sucker punches, water pipes, kicks and sticks, ngotos, hot burning ears and crying over beatings was simply asking for more.” She however insists that she was not abused.

Is Nepal Safe? - A blog that tracks safety issues like curfew time and violence in various places within Nepal has the latest on the status quo in the country.

mezba's blog on advertisements on the local Bangla channel, and a particular one that plays on the fairskin preference in the subcontinent.

Kamla does a podcast with the author of “Jewish Portraits:Indian Frames” - Jael Silliman talks about the Baghdadi Jewish community of Calcutta. Once a thriving community in Calcutta, the Arab-speaking Jewish community has dwindled to a handful of people points out Jael.

Metroblogging Islamabad on humanitarian efforts in the cold - “Several days of heavy snow and rain that have badly hampered aid distributions in earthquake-affected Pakistan and grounded helicopters since 15 January, are also causing continued misery for survivors.”

South African blog, Idland posts on the retraction of a $40M grant that was coming to town to prevent mother-to child transmission of hiv by the Global Fund because of a discrepancy between the treatment cost per head and the drug cost per head. He comments “It seems so much more vile to be literally stealing the HIV treatment from small children. I guess believing that HIV/AIDS is a Western conspiracy offers some consolation to the thieves.”

The Nigerian media and blogs has been full of comments on the recent interview with Gbenga Obasanjo, son of the President, in The News “interview”. Here Gbenga of Oro blog points to one response “Well, you need to read the materpiece… quite revealing, and worthy of an additional category in my blog, “Naija Politricks” — which hopefully will become “Nigerian Politics” when the politicians of the New Nigeria appear on the stage with good governance on their shoulders. For now, enjoy Omoyele Sowore’s reaction”

Dateline Bombay on how Indian Bollywood Cinema appeals to young Indian diaspora that connects to its “coolness” and the culturescapes that impact their tastes.

The topic of returning home is currently popular in the African blogosphere. Here ThinkersRoom writes an imaginery two week visit by a Kenyan to her/his homeland then goes on to discuss how things would change for the better if Kenyans began returning home and contributing to the building of the country” That the post got 73 comments shows how important this issue is to Kenyans and Africans in general.

Friends of Ethiopia wonders if the coming visit by US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs to Ethiopia and Eritrea is bad news for the pro-democracy movement in Ethiopia…..”" Washington's leverage over Ethiopia is a promise to help Meles deal with a turbulent political situation at home and to persuade European donors to give back $375 million in aid they withheld over an opposition crackdown last year,” writes Reuters….That's precisely what the US appears to be doing.”

Black Star Journal comments on objections to the trial of former Chadian dictator, Hissène Habré, taking place in Belgium stating “But if one is going to get outraged at Belgian hypocrisy regarding crimes against humanity, isn't it more compelling to invoke one of the worst crimes against humanity of all time? Specifically the horror of Belgian King Leopold's Congo Free State“

Uganda-Can writes that ignoring “Northern Uganda is not a coherent policy” and points to an op/ed in the Stanford Progressive that argues for more US involvement in working for peace in the region.

The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa writes about Ethiopia's search for a port in Somaliland and Djibouti...”"Ethiopian officials want an alternative port because they don't want to be fully dependent on Djibouti,” says an expert in the forwarding business. “If Ethiopia could use other ports like Berbera and Port Sudan it would have a better bargaining power in dealing with Djiboutian officials.”

Somebody seems to think the issue of child soliders is a joke. According to the Archivex Haiti Archives, photos of child soldiers, allegedly Haitian and “led supposedly by gang leaders who have announced that they will vote for René Préval,” have been circulating on the internet. The photos have been identified by the site admin at haitforever.com as having been taken in Liberia.

In Zemestan ( means Winter), blogger shares his feeling about peace and war. He says nothing is more preciouse than life (Persian) and a smile on a child's face. He remembers his experience of war ( Iran-Iraq war) where many young people were killed and their parents suffered. Zemestan adds some praise war but in thousands years war has not had a positive outcome.

MediaCritic commends Stabroek News reporter Christopher Yaw for his coverage of the flooding and the plight of the residents in the Mahaica/Mahaicony area.

VSO worker Michiyo reports on a visit to the Iwokrama Field Station in the Rupununi region of Guyana.

The Caribbean Beat Blog speculates on whether V. S. Naipaul may have Indian citizenship. The Trinidad-born Nobel laureate, a long-time British subject, has been nominated for a Hutch Crossword Book Award — “the Indian ‘Booker Prize'” — whose eligibility rules state that authors “must be Indian citizens or must hold an Indian passport or should have been born in India”.

Andrés Duque links to a Jamaica Gleaner report which states that arrests have been made in connection with the murder of AIDS outreach worker Lenford “Steve” Harvey. Harvey was abducted from his home by gunmen and shot last November.

Jamaican robotics instructor and pioneer Marvin Hall reports on the Jamaican robotics team's experiences at the Northern California FIRST LEGO League, where they were the recipients yesterday of a Judges' Award. The Jamaica team was the Caribbean's sole representative at the event.

Indira takes issue with references to the ethnicity of a couple accused of murder in a headline in the Trinidad Express.

Peter of neweurasia relays some disturbing Russian language reports of severe pension cuts or cancellations in Turkmenistan.

Tajikistan Travels reports on a visit to the Kurgan Teppa Women's Center, the only center of its kind in the country, and tells the story of one of the women there.

Chris Miller has some thoughts about Mongolia's political turbulence, including some observations that the situation is less dramatic than it is being portrayed by the foreign media.

Russia Marketing Blog reports that a new movie, Dnevnoy Dozor (Day Watch), is smashing Russian box office records and raking in lots of profit.

Our Man in Tirana reports that the roads in Albania are a nightmare and that there are no signs that things will improve in the near future.