Global Voices Online

Larry Smith at the Bahama Pundit blog reports that a fake web site has been set up to divert users away from Bahama Pundit and the articles published there about the Rum Cay development. “It appears that some people think these comments, and later information posted by me, are impacting their efforts to sell Bahamian land of questionable title to unsuspecting buyers over the Internet. There are any number of web sites out there purporting to sell beachfront lots on Rum Cay. And this is despite the fact that the various speculators on the island are feuding among each other over who owns what.”

VivirLatino describes the spectacle surrounding a comment by Italian pop star Tizziano Ferro who accused Mexican women of being mustachioed. Carlos Bravo, with some photoshopping ingenuity, says it's going to take a lot more than an apology to win back any fans in Mexico.

ArmYouth Blog writes that there are lessons in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict for resolving the dispute between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno Karabakh.

Luke Distelhorst reports that Mongolia has possibly identified its 22nd case of HIV infection and says that widespread testing is needed in the country to determine how widespread the disease is.

The LiveJournal community has Астана и Мы (Astana & We) photos of the fire in Kazakhstan's tallest building, which was known by its nickname, “the lighter,” the name it received because of its shape. (Russian)

Onnik Krikorian has photos of International Children's Day celebrations at Yerevan's Liberty Square and of the free concert of Armenian Navy Band to end the day.

Does a section of the Media find the middle class in India an easy punching bag? Confused responds to a scathing attack on the middle class with a cogent analysis of where the Middle Class stands, and who has benefited from various programmes of the government.

“I have committed the worst sin of all
That a man can commit. I have not been
Happy….”

That is from Borges' poem “El remordimiento” [Remorse], which Jeff Barry reviews in his 12th of “30 Days with Borges”. The trilingual blog Trendy Palermo Viejo has photos of Borges' childhood home at 2135 Serrano.

Kamla has a podcast interview (in Hindi) of Indu, a masseuse. “Barely educated, Indu has been working since she was a young girl. Indu's role model is her mother, who taught her to be self-reliant and be economically independent.”

Mexico-in-English is a weblog that regularly reviews websites about Mexico that are written in English.

As the Maoists plan the Maoists Mass Meeting in Khatamandu, United We Blog! has a post on power and bargain in Nepali politics.

Misha on the Karachi Anime Convention 2006 - “Anime, as opposed to popular opinion, is generally different from cartoons in that it has a very specific way of animation that sets it apart from, say Disney or Hannah-Barberah style animations. ” and links to an Orkut Community for Anime Lovers in Pakistan.

Josh of Hacking in Tegus introduces his readers to two Honduran websites (ES). Honduras News Daily (ES) reminds him of Digg and Newsvine because anyone can register and publish a news item. La Truchita (ES), on the other hand, is more like Craigslist where registered users can post items they would like to sale or trade.

In a rare English-language post, Guccio reveals his theory on Venezuela's foreign investment of surplus oil revenue. Noting that Chile invested its copper revenue surplus in foreign banks, he suggests, “if for Chile the best option were to save in a bank, it seems that for the Venezuela, the best option is to put that money in Bolivia.”

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about Victor Orban, an ultra-nationalist politician, and his recent interview with the Economist's Edward Lucas.

Romerican writes on a dilemma he was faced with after a brief encounter with a family of friendly Roma streetcleaners in Brasov, Romania.

Referring to the student protests that have engulfed Santiago, Fernando Flores says that he has always considered education to be the Achilles heel of Chile (ES). Grafica Rebelde has photos and video of the protests. Atina Chile reminds readers (ES) that there is an entire category on the education debate. The blogs “Educate Us” (ES) and “Free Education” (ES), as would be expected, are both commenting on the protests and students' demands. Isidro Beccar Varela laments the news that some protesting students have begun throwing stones in the streets (ES).

Keefieboy describing the customer service policy of the major telecommunication company in UAE: We're only a phone company and ISP, but we behave like a totalitarian dictator. We charge enormous fees for our services. We only give you half the Internet and criminalise access to the other half. We lie to you when things go wrong. We really do think you are stupid. We will never let you use VOIP until we can find a way to make you pay at least as much as you are paying now. So just give in and give us more money.

In a united front, people (including bloggers) in Bahrain are expressing their annoyance on the Kingdom's ISP in a way never witnessed in Bahrain before, Silly Bahraini Girl said.

Issandr El Amrani report that Hossam el-Hamalawy, a locally hired journalist for the LA Times who has recently been posting on Arabist blog, has been arrested at a protest today at the Lawyers’ Syndicate.

He and any other “Christians” have a lot of nerve calling out the Muslim world, while not saying a word about the illegal, immoral unjustifiable war in Iraq which has killed over 100,000 INNOCENT Muslims. When the pope starts speaking out vociferously about American Imperialism, the Chinese government squashing its citizens basic human rights, and people being in jail for “denying the holocaust”, maybe then I will be able to take him seriously as a “Christian”, Mohammed take on Pope's latest speech.

Alaa, in his new letter from his cell says that he thought he will be happy to meet the rest of the detained activists, but ended up in disappointment and frustration from the conditions inside the prison (Arabic).

Iraqi children age 9-10 years old teach invaders ethics and morals, “It’s not right that a hospital should be bombed, children and babies.” LadyBird quoting scripts from The Women’s Story video.

Jamaican poet Geoffrey Philp writes on his blog about a family recipe for chicken soup, and gets an e-mail suggesting he contribute something to the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. Which prompts him to think about the craft of writing: “Any con man can tell you a sad story. Have you received the email from the Nigerian businessman?. . . But what interests me is how the diction, rhythm and metaphors are used (poetry does this best) to make reading about the event/story/subject pleasurable. Good writing, writing that becomes a pleasurable experience itself, is what I search for everyday and what I try to create. But it is always with a commitment to the islands about which Brathwaite, Walcott, Scott, and McNeill wrote. . . .”

IndoIan has a post describing some of the tropical fruits in Indonesia.

Gayle in Singapore discusses a minister's speech where the minister commented on Singapore government's stand on alternative media platforms like blogs and podcasts.

Ray Zepp returns to Cambodia after a gap of two years and talks about the changes he encounters.

The blogger at the citizen on mars is looking forward to his son entering elementary school. This also reminds him of a memorable incident from his school days.

Jeff Ooi in Malaysia has the latest on the IPCMC (Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission) issue. The IPCMC idea was proposed by the Royal Commission on the Police Force to keep a check on the conduct of the police force in Malaysia. An internal report by the police criticising the setting up of the IPCMC was put online by mistake on the police website. The report was later taken down but netizens managed to read and get a glimpse of the attitude of the police.

Club Soda and Salt asks Trinidad and Tobago's Minister of Education for some data to support her assertion that “with the establishment of the religious schools over 75 per cent in the primary sector, we have been able to see in the school system emphasis on morals and values and when the morals and values are not there, there are problems in the school system.” While he agrees that denominational schools do perform better than secular schools, he wonders whether this might not be due to “the schools being independently run, relatively speaking?. . . . This has nothing, NOTHING, to do with religion, and everything to do with having less meddling from the MoE in the school’s affairs.”

Reunion Passion (Fr) posts a scenic slideshow of La Reunion's Piton de la Fournaise volcano.

On his blog, President Boni Yayi announces (Fr) a process he hopes will make Benin competitive: “I have started, with my team, a series of discussions with the daily actors in our key economic sectors. I think that nothing should be done without social collaboration and input. Any announcement made without discussion or an impact study will only bring negative results … Please share your thoughts, comments and suggestions with me.”

After a recent visit, Andy H of Csikszereda Musings posts his notes on Lithuania: “All male nouns in Lithuanian have to end in “s”. Thus there is a bankas, a baras, and various other things that end with “s”. Georgeos Bushos, for example, gets a mention in the papers. Seriously.”

More young Belarusian activists are hunger-striking now, TOL's Belarus Blog reports: “Twenty-two activists of the unregistered youth group Young Front are carrying out hunger strike to protest the harassment and persecution of their friends. It started with seven activists in Salihorsk, Minsk region, and was joined by the activists in Hrodna and Minsk. As of now, a total of 22 young boys and girls are on hunger strike now. Police tried to enter the apartment in Salihorsk where the initial group started it up, and tore down the banner saying ‘Hunger strike’ from the balcony. The youngsters put on white-red-white flag.”

The beatroot reports on the lack of progress in the investigation of the attack on the Poland's Chief Rabbi that took place a day before the Pope's visit to Auschwitz: “If they want to show the world that they are a modern, civilized government then they should just get on with investigating the incident […].”

The beatroot writes on the Pope's first visit to Poland: “Pope Benedict has been getting good crowds for his first visit to Poland since taking over the pontificate but nowhere near as good as what John Paul II could muster. In Pilsudski Square in Warsaw yesterday about 250,000 turned out (in the pouring rain) for mass and homilies. Whenever JP II turned up in the same place, however, he could expect around one million.”

The beatroot comments on the Polish component of an international fascist organization's black list posted online: “Krakow’s students, feminists, gays and academics have been put on the internet “black list” of fascist organization ‘Blood and Honour'.”

Living in Peru is collecting excerpts from foreign press stories on this weekend's election. Meanwhile, both Peru Election 2006 [ES] and Gran Combo Club [ES] comment on Vladimiro Montesino's latest assertion that Ollanta Humala is an intelligence pawn of Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.

Unilag Faces considers that Nigeria's space programme has the potential to lift the country out of poverty by”acting as a catalyst for social-economic transformation”

Ethnic Loft reports on a theme park on 15,000 arces of land just outside Nigeria's capital Abuja…Heritage City otherwise known as the African Kingdoms and Empires Theme Parks and Resorts is “designed to showcase Africa’s rich history, enhanced with modern technology to produce a total experience in learning, entertainment and relaxation for tourists and visitors

Weichegud!ET Politics comments on Ethiopias receipt of $1billion aid package from the world bank. She writes
“See what blocking opposition websites, repressing free speech, jailing the opposition and being an AK-47 wielding goon in a silk tie gets ya? Schweeet”.

Enough is Enough comments on the proposed new “Interception of Communications Bill” …which will enable the government to monitor telephones, email and mobile phones of anyone “suspected of threatening national security”

Today June 1st is Madaraka Day….“Madaraka Day commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule following an important milestone on the road to independence.” Members of the Kenyan Blogs Webring are celebrating Madaraka Day by writing a series of posts on Kenya.

A recent article by Le Monde “finally looks at the Congo with sincere eyes,” says (Fr) blogger Tony Katombe. The article states that the DRC government includes “former war criminals, known incompetents and unscrupulous business-types.” The blogger credits [opposition party] UDPS, Bishop Laurent Monsengwo and his own efforts for this turnaround in western media perception.

Tony Katombe contends (Fr) that [ruling party] PPRD paid many of those who participated in a gigantic march in its favor on Wednesday May 31. The march protested “negotiations demanded by the political opposition before elections.” The blogger also contrasts the authorities' treatment of the PPRD march to that of past opposition protests: ” For this march, no one was treated to tear gas in their eyes or blows to their bodies.”