Global Voices Online

Alejandra Noemi writes on El Rancahuaso, a citizen journalism site, that autos híbridos, or hybrid cars, have already hit the streets of Chile (ES).

neweurasia reports on Mongolia's environmental protection campaign.

The Golden Road to Samarqand writes that the silence of Kyrgyzstan's president on all the recent troubles in the country hardly inspires confidence.

Luke Distelhorst has a few updates on the continuing protests in Mongolia.

At the Caribbean Beat Blog, Nicholas Laughlin solicits suggestions for inclusions in a West Indian literary canon.

Nessuna writes that the benefits of getting an American University of Armenia education go far beyond just improving one's English.

MediaCritic links to a “brutal historical account of Guyana”. An excerpt: “The present-day Republic of Guyana is an insignificant remnant of the old British Empire, the only possession Britain ever held on the mainland of South America, uneasily resting between Venezuela and Brazil and adjoining two other fragments of European colonial empires. . . . Guyana has no great economic or strategic value.”

The Limey links to a series of videos featuring humpback whales off Bermuda's south shore.

LEvko of Foreign Notes continues to watch Ukraine's seemingly endless coalition-building endeavor.

Michael of The Glory of Carniola reviews a number of lists featuring Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

Snowsquare.com reports on how Moscow prepares for the summer.

Nasha Niva - “the last independent paper” - is about to be shut down, according to br23 blog and TOL's Belarus Blog. “Department of ideology wants to close it down because the editor-in-chief… was in jail for 10 days. That’s the reason they give for wanting to close their offices. Let me remind you, the editor-in-chief Andrej Dynko was detained at a bus stop on the October square on March 21st, when he tried to bring some food to the protesters on the square […],” writes br23 blog.

Doug Merrill of A Fistful of Euros reviews the English-language edition of Paul Lendvai's The Hungarians: A Thousand Years of Victory in Defeat.

United We Blog! on the choices before Nepal - “Nepali people are in a historical juncture to decide on what they want: constitutional monarchy or a republican Nepal”

In a fascinating analysis of football and economics, Asad Yawar thinks both spheres will perform strong in 2006.

“But the playing philosophy of the 2006 selection is befitting of a country that has produced the archetypally modernist literature of Borges, the endlessly innovative music of Soda Stereo, the sensual eroticism of the tango and the Buenos Aires institution of the telos or “love hotel,” frequented by amorous couples who cannot wait for night to express their passion: eclectic, improvisational, impulsive and irresistibly sexy.”

More photographs of protest from Nepal at Democracy For Nepal and Nepali Netbook comments on the apparent changing face of the King's diplomacy.

London, Lanka and Drums muses on how technology makes information easy to access and shrinks the world. However somebody ” pointed out that, when Columbus, Sir Walter Raleigh and Hong Kong Phooey were bringing their discoveries back from far flung corners of the globe, the populace felt like the world was shrinking then.

The Narmada Bachao Andolan finds more support in the celebrity crowd. Dateline Bombay has more on the actor Amir Khan lending his voice to the cause of those displaced by the dam.

Clean Slate on a project called Aaqua by IIT Powai that functions as a user/expert exchange targeted at the Indian agricultural community.

Taran Rampersad tries to answer the question: “Why isn't modern technology more prevalent in Trinidad & Tobago.”

Francis Wade offers a thoughtful response to TIME magazine's designating Jamaica “the most homophobic place on earth”. “We sound like some Chinese or Cubans when we argue that human rights issues are an internal matter, and that any outside comments are just “interference in our internal matters,” he says. “We sound like some Iranians, Israelis, or Irish when we use scripture to justify prejudice, bigotry and hatred in the name of religion, and use fundamentalist beliefs to write laws that oppress minorities.”

Stunner visits Reggae Falls and partakes of various Jamaican delicacies, including “mannish water”. He posts photos too.

Daniela Thompson describes the “extraordinary voice” of famed Brazilian vocalist, Lucio Sanfilippo.

The Sun Bin blogger raises two issues he expects to see addressed during Chinese president Hu Jintao's visit to the United States this week: plans for Iran and Tibetan independence:

“Dalai [Lama] is showing to Hu that he can command all the Tibetan separatists (I guess I can use this term now as Dalai clarified his objective) outside, or is taking a challenge from the negotiator. If this is the case, he is bold, brave and confident. This also explains the non-coincidental visit of Dalai himself, who follows Hu's footsteps to the hotspots. Being able to command the majority is something, being able to command every faction, at every instance is really something. He might have to do it a couple more times.”

China Confidential's Confidential Reporter starts off a series of posts this week looking at the Chinese government's presence abroad with ‘China Spins a Tale of Two Washingtons‘.

“In preparation for Chinese President Hu Jintao's visit to the United States, his propaganda meisters have been playing up Beijing's notion of dramatic differences between America's two Washingtons: the capital district, where the world's most powerful man, US President George Bush, lives and works, and the Pacific Northwest state that is home to the world's wealthiest man, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates, with whom Hu will meet before his White House summit with Bush,” the blogger begins.

Chinese president Hu Jintao “falls to 6th place as world's worst dictator,” reports the Adrift in a sea of phlegm blogger.

The Taiwanese blogger from Pingya's Bistro gives her account of Chinese president Hu Jintao's meeting with leader of Taiwan's Kuomintang Lien Chan just prior to the Communist leader's visit to the United States:

“Those two people do not represent me, and cannot represent the entire people of Taiwan or of China. No matter what they say, that moving the economy is priority, for me freedom is the priority.

I don't care if I have one million dollars, when I don't have the freedom to speak.

And many people in the world don't have that freedom. Seeing Hu Jintao makes me sad, and if I would have had a chance to shake his hand, I would have avoid at all costs. Shaking hands with a man that represents the very system of evil, that very system that allows for the curtailment of civil liberties is definitely not my cup of tea.”

Illegally-detained Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao is a legal permanent resident of the United States. Posted today on his sister Nina's website is a letter sent by Wu's Congressman Jim Gerlach to China's ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong.

“I would greatly appreciate if you would inform me as to the reason(s) Mr. Wu is being detained and what your government's intentions are relative to a criminal prosecution or his release,” writes the Republican representative for Pennsylvania state's 6th district.

April 18 is illegally-detained documentarian and Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao's birthday and 56th day in prison. An English translation from the blog of Wu's sister Nina gives us an idea of how his disappearance is affecting the family:

“Everyone believes he will be out soon, which is why previously they had still shouted noisily: ‘After Haozi gets out we'll have a party! Must give him a good ass-kicking.' Although later they no longer mentioned the matter of the party, they're still making plans for his life ‘post-detention'. A few friends even sent over messages about job applications, hoping Haozi, after being freed, will be able to immediately use the busyness of work to temporarily forget the shadow of those times. Now, the deadlines for those applications have passed.”

Richard from The Peking Duck writes with a link and a post on two Chinese journalists arrested within the last year who according to Chinese law are being held illegally.

“Hao Wu's sister, blogging about her helplessness in the face of her brother's disappearance into the black hole of Chinese justice, reminds us of how human a problem this is, how there are real people, real lives at stake,” he writes.

Asiapundit's myrick gives us an update yesterday on detained Chinese blogger Wu Hao's situation: “With the initial burst of reporting and support having failed to secure his release, [Global Voices] has launched a petition to directly appeal to President Hu Jintao,” and today a clarification on any possible mischaracterization of the search engines Yahoo! and Google, whose restricted Chinese-language service have brought accusations of censorship: “Essentially, Google is still providing uncensored search results in China while AOL now is buying Chinese content from a state-linked media group to broadcast outside of China.”

Bankelele reports on the opening of the Kenyan parliament to the media to show the hearing in which members spoke on their colleagues who died in the recent plane crash. He doesnt see why more sessions should not be broadcast to the electorate…”this brief window into Parliament procedures demonstrated again, as on all budget speech days, that it is already possible to broadcast parliamentary hearings – which have been promised numerous times.”

CyBlug reports that Nokia are the first telecoms company to introduce the use of Nigerian languages on their phones (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo)

Just Thots of a Naijaman discusses the third term issue in ethnic terms.…”With the fight over a fresh third term in office for President Obasanjo gathering momentum, it is becoming evident that oppinions are sharply divided not on the basis of ideology but on the basis of ethnic leaning.”

White African still needs your vote on the “African Network” project - “please email your friends from the ChangeThis website. I’m sitting right around 160 votes and could really use everyones help to get the second half of the votes needed by this Thursday.”

Adventures of a Retired Armchair Traveler points to two reports on changes in the church's approach to HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The bad news is couples wanting to get married must be first be tested for HIV. The good news is that a netword of religious groups have come up with a new strategy towards HIV/AIDS..”safer practices, available medications, voluntary counseling and testing and empowerment through education…”

Zimbabwe blogger, David Coltart posts an a letter from both factions of the MDC on “a plea for non-violence”.

The Voice of Somaliland Diaspora-Ottawa comments on the possible threat from Yemen on the Horn of African countries and the Red sea eco-system, providing details on both.….”Nevertheless, the self-righteous Yemen continues to unabatedly step on the toes of other states and is presently threatening the interests of the countries in the Horn of Africa region, the interests of the West, and the security of the Allied Forces in the region”

Carpe Diem Ethiopia comments on the government's (EPRDF) announcement that opposition leaders will be charged with genocide and he wonders how does”one defend against the charge of genocide”.

ET Weichegud!ET Politics comments on the “the mushrooming ETblogverse.” and theorizes why more Ethiopians in Ethiopia are entering the blogosphere and provides an excellent review of the blogs.

Enough is Enough writing on the eve of Zimbabwe's independence day wonders if anyone will be celebrating the day..”In hollow statements Arthur Mutambara and Morgan Tsvangirai, the two leaders of the MDC’s bickering factions issued blurry calls for action from the Zimbabwean people.”