Global Voices Online

Onnik Krikorian rounds up the Armenian blogosphere.

Registan.net discusses Uzbekistan's “one family - one cow” program under which entrepreneurs are coerced into donating livestock or cows to the poor, or as is more often the case, money to bank accounts of local officials.

neweurasia reports that, a week after being forced out, protesters are returning to Sukhbaatar Square in Ulaanbaatar.

Christian Garbis raves about his favorite Indian restaurant in Yerevan and says that it has been so successful that it is taking over the kitchen at another location.

Harmick plugs his site, Andre For Armenia, promoting Armenia's entry into the Eurovision contest and rounds up Armenian pop culture news at Blogrel.

Luke Distelhorst says that racist violence–mostly between Mongols and Chinese–is on the rise in Mongolia.

Saakshi is extremely angry. Her work from her blog appears to have been flicked and plagiarised by a US based magazine website.

The quota and reservation issue heats up on the streets of India. Dateline Bombay on why it is that students of medicine who appear to be protesting far more than students studying other subjects.

Days Go By… wonders where the women's activists are when it come to the issue of the LTTE using female suicide bombers.

Driving in Lahore seems to be suspended between a nightmare and delight. Metroblogging Lahore takes a closer look at the driving culture in the city.

Rezwan talks of the Bangla Wikipedia with links on how the content can be improved, and more edits can be achieved. On the same issue of online content generation - imperfect world 2006 links to a community driven site on tourism and the link for Dhaka.

Uleewang at Non-violent Resistance blogs on the hottest story in mainstream Chinese media this past week “involving a popular tabloid, a burned-out rock star, his ex-wife the most famous Chinese singer ever, their daughter and her puppy, his second ex-wife, his erstwhile fellow rock star, some broken computers and TV sets, and last but not least, a burned car.”

Further translations from Roland Soong at EastSouthWestNorth.

Is there a fuel shortage in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen which lies next to Hong Kong?

“The government is claiming there is no shortage,” says Simon of Simon World, “and they're right. There's enough fuel, but thanks to the cap on pricing the station owners are refusing to sell. Just chalk it up to another lesson in markets for our Communist friends.”

Nina Wu, sister of illegally-imprisoned Beijing or Bust blogger Wu Hao writes of her ongoing push to find out where her brother is:

“I still remember the first time I came to Beijing for little brother's affair, freezing to the point of shivering despite wearing an overcoat. Now, it's already the sizzling summer season, and the police still haven't found evidence of little brother committing a crime, but I have yet to see the light of little brother's freedom. When will this long, long march finally reach its end?”

Two US citizens have been arrested in Barbados for attempting to smuggle 135 pounds of cocaine into the country on their yacht, according to media reports. What Barbados Free Press wants to know is “how this seized yacht will be dealt with? Is the system for disposal of seized assets transparent and accountable? … One anonymous reader asks, ‘Has the brother of someone in the government already spoken for it?'”

At World Wide Help, Angelo Embuldeniya posts a two-part update on the ongoing flood disaster in Suriname from Sharda Ganga, head of Stichting Projekta, an NGO helping to coordinate volunteer relief efforts. “The latest news from Upper Suriname … was that it started raining again. If the rainfall continues, the water is going to rise again,” Ganga reports. The good news: “Nobody can ever say that Surinamese people don't have solidarity. After one radio appeal the phone calls were pouring in.”

Dawanr at TalkTalkChina posts on the news yesterday of a strengthening Chinese yuan as the rate on the US dollar dipped below 8.0.

EastSouthWestNorth blogger Roland Soong translates a blog post which takes a humorous look at the ten hottest news stories on the internet this past week.

Guyana Resource Centre posts “An Open Letter To All Guyanese Politicians” which has been circulating online among “diaspora” Guyanese: “It remains obvious to the Diaspora that we have not received the proper leadership from our elected representatives who frequently appear more interested in attributing blame for past injustices and acts of indiscretion than they are in solving the rampant crime and abject poverty within our country”.

In a post on a fumbled protest attempt by an Amnesty International member aimed at Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Asiapundit's myrick considers search engine alternatives: “AsiaPundit still uses all Google, Microsoft and Yahoo services—though he may search for a new photo service when his Flickr pro account expires. However, for those who want to avoid all three companies, Amazon's A9 search engine is pretty good.”

The opening up of Macau's casino industry in 2002 has led to some big changes in the city and the latest release from Danwei TV shows us what those are in Double or Nothing in Macau.

Indocoup remembers the May 1998 riots in Jakarta. “But it doesn’t come as a surprise. It was inevitable really. The economy’s going the drain; the rupiah’s crumbling; inflation’s soaring. And a dictator at the helm for Christ knows how many years. This is it.”

Francis Wade argues that Jamaicans aren't homophobic, but “homo-name-a-phobic”: “the particular kind of homo-related phobia that we have in Jamaica is not of gays themselves, but is instead of ‘being called gay' … it is a fear that is shared by every single Jamaican, whether they are gay or not”.

Blogger, backpacker and heritage activist Ivan is frustrated by the fact that Philippines is not able to attract as many tourists as other South East Asian countries. He offers some reasons on his blog. “Since we target mainstream tourism too much, we fail to realize that the bigger market is the budget traveler, the backpacker. You would be surprised with the ratio of foreigners to locals in major tourist cities in our Southeast Asian neighbors such as Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand. The reason they are attracting millions of tourists is because they are backpacker friendly.”

Kahaya at The Initiative Against Crime asks, “What are we doing to prevent Trinidad and Tobago from becoming a lawless nation?”, and proposes a solution: restorative justice, “a form of criminal justice that involves reparation to the victim, or affected members of the community by the offender”.

Wanna, a Cambodian currently living in neighbouring Vietnam is pleased with the positive developments in his home country.

The blogger at Timor-Leste's Underwater Wonderland goes snorkelling in East Timor and posts pictures of the sea life.

Filmmaker Yasmin is not happy with a Malaysian television channel. The channel televised a discussion on the filmmakers latest movie and the forum participants came out criticising the film maker for her plot that features love between a Muslim girl and a Chinese boy.

Adam's Gecko summarises the political situation in Thailand with news on the last round of elections (that was declared invalid) and all the parties involved - the Thai king, former prime minister Taksin and the Thai Election Commission.

Brazilian Gangs Wage War On Police. One of Brazil's biggest gangs, the First Capital Command (of First Command of the Capital — PCC), took the fight to Sao Paulo's government developing a wave of co-ordinated violence since Friday. The heavily armed gang staged 150 attacks on police stations that killed 74 (including at least 40 policemen) and 24 prison uprisings that are currently holding thousands of visitors hostage. Overnight, gangs torched buses, targeted banks and continued their attacks on police patrols and stations. So far, the government has only been able to contain six of the prison uprisings, but that more are occurring as fast as they put them down. The violence — apparently sparked in reaction to the transfer of 765 gang members from their current prisons to higher-security facilities — is an escalation of what many in Sao Paulo are calling a war between the state authorities and the First Command of the Capital (PCC) criminal faction (BBC video).

Right after his inauguration yesterday, President Preval signed the PetroCaribe Agreement with Jose Vincente Rangel, Venezuela's Vice-President, reports (Fr) AlterPresse. According to the agreement, Venezuela will deliver 500 barrils of oil per day to the Haitian government who will resell to the private sector at market prices. PetroCaribe is a credit rather than a gift, explained Preval. “Miranda (Latin-American hero) created the Venezuelan flag in Jacmel [Haitian city] and he received Haiti's help via [then Haitian President and independence hero] Petion,”said Preval in his speech. Vice-President Rangel said: “By this agreement, Venezuela repays a historic debt to Haiti, an eternal debt which constitutes the root of freedom and of the Venezuelan nation.”

President Preval officially took office yesterday amidst much fanfare but a prisoner's mutiny that was eventually quelled left at least one person dead, reports AlterPresse. The Haitian newsfeed described (Fr) the scene as follows: “Mutiny participants on the roof of the prison screaming ‘Long Live Preval' and ‘Freedom', noisy demands and tears of certain relatives of prisoners and partisans of Jean-Bertrand Aristide camped outside, sporadic shots attributed to MINUSTAH [UN Mission] agents and the National Jail Administration, constant negotations between journalists wanting to get as close to the scene as possible and Jordanian blue helmets wanting them to stay away.” An official casualty count has yet to be issued.

Kenyan Pundit points to an interview with Khwezi by the One in Nine campaign.

Some of the smaller rebel groups in Darfur region are still refusing to sign the peace deal. Sudan Watch reports that the situation is complicated by the presence of so many different groups.

Meskel Square comments on the 9 bombs that exploded in Addis Ababa on Friday. “Again, easy “civilian” targets were chosen…… the timing seemed designed to get commuters on their way to work. If you put bombs on line-cab buses on busy traffic routes it means you are out to maim and kill “ordinary” people.”

EthioBlog reports that the Ethiopian government has deployed troops in the south east region of Ogaden. The move appears to be to protect the upcoming seismic survey by Chinese and Malaysian oil firms next month. Rebels are operating in the region which may provoke outbreaks of violence

Uganda-Can reports that 5 LRA rebels including one commander were killed last week.

Ethiopian Politics publishes an audio interview he had with Mr. Obang Metho Director of International Advocacy, for Anuak Justice Council (AJC) in which he discusses various human rights and political issues.

EM of TOL's Belarus Blog thinks it'd be better for the Minsk flashmob community to move underground: “The problem with all of that is that KGB is reading those online communities as well, so there are usually security people present at the flashmobs even before they start. […] Or is the whole point of this flashmob movement to draw attention to the arrests that follow the action? If so, I can see their point, but shouldn’t they be more honest about their goals then?…” LJ user litota_ posts pictures from a recent flashmob, during which young people were detained for somethin as innocent as eating ice cream at Oktyabrskaya Square. (On this post's first pictures one can see the plainclothes KGB agents in action, dragging a young girl away.)

Brian posts first hand accounts of the ongoing war in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Tobias Ljungvall writes about Europe's relations with Russia: “At a time when Russia is reviving the Cold War the EU pretends to be seeing positive signs, as if there is no conflict neither in interests nor in values.”

Sibestan writes about gunmen who have shot dead 12 people on a road in a remote part of south-eastern Iran.
Blogger says these groups started to use same methods in Iraq and its effects will be visible even in Tehran soon (Persian). He adds terror is sign of cancer!

Daut at Ufa Blog posts two banners of the Russian Movement Against Illegal Immigration and writes: “Fascists claiming the legacy of the defenders of Leningrad. Child killers declaring themselves protectors of children. These people live in opposite land.” Megan Case writes about swastika graffiti in St. Petersburg and her own and other people's multiple attempts to get rid of them.

Brigid of Laughter in the Dark posts a wonderful vignette about Tamara Ivanovna, an elderly Russian woman she met at a cafe in Krasnodar: “‘Tell me,' she inquired, ‘how much did you just pay for that teensy little salad?' ‘100 rubles.' ‘And your coffee?' ‘Eighty.' ‘My, my, my! I can go home right now and make that same measly salad for 15 rubles!' ‘A lot has changed here, hasn’t it?' ‘I couldn’t begin to tell you how much!' she said without any trace of bitterness.”

Brigid of Laughter in the Dark describes a ride in a Krasnodar tram - “a fast-moving game of Twister inside a sardine can”- and an encounter with two Roma women and their children: “Half-way home, I suddenly hear a young woman whispering in my ear, ‘Young lady, be careful! You can’t see them, but a pack of Gypsies have just entered the tram. Hold onto your purse tight!'”

Jane Keeler of From Russia With Blog posts the third and fourth installments of her Siberian travelogue: “Adventures on Olkhon Island” and “Olkhon to Irkutsk to Moscow.”

Russian Marketing Blog and Snowsquare.com both write about eggs: the former posts a picture of a box of quail eggs, a “masterpiece of DIY advertising and design;” the latter writes about the secret of “mysterious” ads featuring eggs recently revealed.

Students and teachers protested this week in Poland against the appointment of Roman Giertych - “catholic-nationalist, arch-conservative” - as Minister for Education, the beatroot reports - and then muses on what “Polish education curriculum [would] look like if [Giertych] had a free rein to do what he liked.”

Giustino of Itching for Eestimaa writes that Estonian and Finnish trade unions have signed a deal to ensure that workers' rights in both countries are not violated.