Global Voices Online

jxhill disusses the difference in the taste in reading among mainland Chinese, Honghongese and Taiwanese. Taiwan is most diversified among the three; Hong Kong is too commercialized; while mainland China has a great potential in further development (zh).

Miss Lee in Summer discusses why one is forced to choose a leader from among Donald Tsang, Anson Chan and Regina Ip, all of them were key official in the government before the handover of Hong Kong to China (zh). ESWN has a partial translation of what she wrote.

James J. Na in Korea Liberator discusses about trafficking of women for sexual service from South Korea to D.C. “South Korea is a source, transit, and destination country for women who are trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation…“

“So what will make a newspaper special? The content, the specific content, and the breaking content. That will make people curious to know the “new” thing from the newspaper, not the thing already given in the press release, not the repeating of the stock market annoucement.” Amy in Amy in a crazy Hong Kong discusses about her expectation in her new job.

ESWN translates an article concerning the mystery of the death of a young girl: “An old cadre in Xiangfan city angrily told the reporter: the many suspicious points about this case have caused strong reactions among the people and the impact on society and the image of the Party was extremely bad. “

According to (Fr) Dijoux.re, Reunion's “volcano has been grumbling lately and local government has decided to put in place a plan of vigilence. An eruption is possible in the days and weeks to come. The last activity dates from December 2005.”

Reunion's Max Belvisee announces (Fr) that a petition is circulating to nominate Martinique's Aime Cesaire for a Nobel Peace Prize. (Aime Cesaire is one of the founders of Negritude, a francophone literary movement and the current mayor of Fort-de-France, Martinique's capital.)

UDPS Liege offers (Fr) pictures of a June 30 Congolese March in Brussels. Pictured slogans include: ” Louis Michel, the Congo is not for sale” and “All with Etienne Tshisekedi for free, democratic and transparent elections.”

Le Blog du Congolais posts (Fr) an interview of Belgian Professor Robert Crem and adds: “this university professor does not stop denouncing the systematic looting of Congolese mines in general and of Gecamines in particular. Looting orchestrated by the alliance between Congolese leaders, mafia-like business circles, international bureaucrats and western leaders.”

Titlayo celebrates the success of young Barbadian hip-hop star, Rihanna.

Simone Champagnie reports that, in light of the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative on January 1, 2007, the Caribbean is “looking at implementing a program by which the destinations will offer to reimburse Americans visiting them for the cost of the passports required to reenter the US.”

A new pair of glasses highlights the interesting domestic dynamic of an Amerindian couple, as witnessed by Guyana-Gyal.

Scratchie is displeased with the way the US Embassy in Kingston treats those awaiting appointments, but acknowledges “the roaring business opportunities that have been created surrounding the rules that one must abide with when visiting the Embassy. There are cellphone holders and baggage handlers and. . .”

“I would write a reggae novel, and I would call it, Benjamin, My Son,” writes Geoffrey Philp in his two-part account of the genesis of his first novel.

Tim Muth has reposted an interesting list of quotes from slain Salvadoran archbishop, Oscar Romero.

How Many US Citizen Expats are Living in Costa Rica? If you follow the Costa Rican blogosphere, you might assume millions. But the real statistic and its implications are surprising.

Luís Afonso Assumpção calls Google News' exclusion of the conservative, Brazilian news site Mídia Sem Máscara “a political measure of censorship.”

Are there penalty kicks in presidential elections? Perhaps there should be. With 100% of the ballots counted Felipe Calderon was declared victor by half of a percentage point. Randy Paul, in a comment, observes that Mexico is one of the few Latin American countries which does not require a 50% majority to avoid a runoff election. Publius Pundit is ecstatic and has a typically thorough review of English-language reactions. But don't think it's over yet - as Ana Maria Salazar and Mexico Votes 2006 both make clear, this presidential contest is headed to the courts. In fact, Salazar goes so far to write, “Mark my words.. We will not know who the new President is until August, possibly September. For now, there is a legal battle ahead and a media battle.”

Democracy for Nepal explores federalism as a model of governance. At one end we have people who are opposed to the very concept of federalism, or suggest turning Birendra's arbitrary five development regions into states that are at best crude concepts in administrative decentralization.”

Drishtipat points to the “Launch of Drishtipat London with the theme of highlighing the Garments workers of Bangladesh “.

Today I'm rocking out to the Argentine band Turista, whose new Creative Commons-licensed Dulce EP can be downloaded for free at Zona Indie.

Temples seem to be going through a controversial time. This time, it's about a non-Hindu entering one. “National award winning actress Meera Jasmine was made to apologize and pay for purification rituals for having entered a temple in Kerala inspite of being born into a Christian family.” Drisyadrisya updates on the petition.

Arrey Baba! fresh after the cricket match between West Indies and India in the Caribbean. “We have the world champions Australia and the no. 2 team South Africa coming here for the round robin stage, so that is gonna be a good match. “

What does 20 Tajik dirhams get you? A whole lot of trouble, says Elizabeth.

Sanjar has an open letter to expatriates living in Afghanistan, coining the phrase “expatlordism” to describe what he calls a new type of oligarchy that marks the post-Taliban period in the country.

Curious predicts that Western countries will soon greatly increase flows of direct investment to the developing world, as economic opportunities in the developed world run out. “The west will be falling over itself to throw money into developing countries. Why? Not because of benevolence, but because of greed,” the blogger writes. “The desire to make money will take western conglomerates to the doorsteps of the most impoverished in the poor world.”

Mentalacrobatics celebrates the second birthday of the Kenyan Blog Webring, with a few facts about the on-line community of bloggers, which comprises 100 female bloggers, 123 male bloggers and 10 group blogs.

Andrew Heavens at Meskel Square points to a stunning level of vagueness on the part of the Ethiopian official media when reporting what Prime Minister Meles Zenawi actually did at the African Union leaders' summit July 1-2. He also links to his journalistic debut for the Ethiopian news agency.

In response to a nationwide strike protesting increases in the prices of rice and fuel, Guinea’s security forces committed murder, rape, assault and theft against demonstrators and bystanders alike, according to the latest news release from Human Rights Watch Africa.

Onnik Krikorian reports on Constitution Day celebrations in Armenia, saying that they showed off every aspect of life in Armenia.

Lara of Life in Armenia decries the destruction of Yerevan's historic structures.

LEvko of Foreign Notes posts on the latest developments in the parliament shortly before the vote for the speaker. Socialist Oleksandr Moroz wins the position (unexpectedly for many), and LJ user vaxo (journalist Vakhtang Kipiani) sums up the situation (UKR): “The Communists - who belong in the garbage pile of history - and the Regionals [Party of the Regions members] - many of whom belong in jail - have elected O. O. Moroz the speaker. Congratulations to all, and especially to citizen V. A. Yushchenko: the Orange revolution is over!”

Somaliland Diaspora writes that the Union of Islamic Courts (IUC) which took the Somali capital Mogadishu on June 4 is al-Qaeda-linked, and that the country could soon emerge as a worldwide haven for terrorists, along the same lines as the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Yacoubian Building, a movie based on Alaa Al-Aswani's bestselling novel, is to be reviewed by the Egyptian parliament after 112 MPs demanded censorship of the homosexual scenes in the movie. They have criticised the movie saying it defames Egypt by portraying homosexuality, terrorism and corruption, MMM said.

21,000 children will lose the chance to enroll in kindergarten and summer camps. Some 80,000 children will suffer psychological problems from fear of darkness and nightmares. 200,000 households lost the source of electricity. Food stuff storage for the basic commodities (wheat, rice, etc) will not last for more than two weeks, and 170,000 households will loose source of cooking energy in one week. 120 tons of food and medication stored by some 7,000 organisation and establishments in Gaza, are dependent on refrigerators and are under risk of damage… more numbers in the dark from Gaza by Naseem.

Bahrainis are being urged to dig deep into their pockets to support cash-strapped ministers. Silly Bahraini Girl says they are taking too big salaries and compensations.

Maronite church in Lebanon is under attack, and his church is suddenly facing an existential battle against forces determined to weaken its influence. Mind you, that would be a good thing if the aim was to separate church and state, but that is sadly not the objective, Abu Kais said.

One of the most interesting part of studying Arab culture are the numerous connections between so many other cultures. The interaction between the modally based traditions of the Arab World, Iran and South Asia has been quite rich. Laith have noticed that a lot of Arab pop music stars have been releasing songs that are half in Arabic and half in an other languages, particularly Hindi/Urdu.

Afromusing promises to test out a new gadget: a solar powered i-Pod and mobile phone recharger.

Edward Lucas, the Economist's Central and East Europe correspondent, writes about a disappointing conversation with former prime minister and opposition politician Mikhail Kasyanov: “That seems very odd to me. Russia is increasingly nasty at home and abroad - and the main pro-western challenger for the presidency says that we shouldn't defend its victims, for fear of making things worse. It's a familiar tune from the past ('give us what we want or it'll get much nastier'). But here it is again, coming from rulers and opposition alike.”

Paul of Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar describes how the Hungarian taxing system doesn't really work and thus ensures many people's survival. He also writes about declarations being made to fix the system and the dire consequences this may bring: “Like I said before, in a democracy everyone should be paying their taxes. But in a modern democracy every citizen has a right to expect a certain minimum level of health-care, pensions and unemployment benefit. The Hungarian state simply does not provide this and until it does, any proposed enforcement of employment taxes can only have catastrophic social consequences.”

Our Man in Gdansk wonders whether it's appropriate to award journalists for “defending the principles of market economics independently of political circumstances”: “I disagree with the none-too subtle implication that running an economy is apolitical. If economics is removed from the domain of politics, as GW, Reuters, the Polish National Bank and the Association of Polish Journalists seem to think, it means that the plebs cannot influence it. And they moan about low voter turn-out…”

Our Man in Gdansk quotes a Polish satirist explaining why his job of making politicians appear funny is too easy.

David McDuff of A Step At A Time has translated a Prague Watchdog story about a recent special operation conducted by the Russian troops in a Chechen village. He also reports that Tom de Waal, an expert on Chechnya, has been denied a Russian visa.

LEvko of Foreign Notes continues the saga of the Ukrainian parliamentary confrontation.

Dictionary of the Serbian Mess points out the similarity between Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Serbo-Croation languages and wonders why they should all be represented on Wikipedia.

Iran Emrouz says according to Iranian Central Bank statistics prices of basic products such as bread or sugar go higher and higher. The blogger says the majority of Iranians just cover twenty percent of their needs and they should do second or third jobs to survive. The blogger adds most people in Iran do not live a life ; they just survive (Persian).

Collectif Haiti de Provence, a France-based Haitian blog, points to a Radio Kiskeya article that writes (Fr): “125 newly-minted Chinese police officers will be sent to Haiti in August in order to join the UN Mission [MINUSTAH] (…) Specialized in anti-riot operations, Chinese policemen were among the UN units that helped prison guards quell a mutiny in Port-au-Prince's main prison a couple of hours after President Rene Preval's inauguration on May 14.”

Of the three telecoms (Orange, Digicel and Only-Outremer Telecom) offering an increasing number of perks to new customers on the Martiniquan market, InternetRapide.com writes (Fr): “the battle between the two challengers of Orange is promising to take place against an unprecedented inflation of new subscriber recruitment costs. And of advertising investments … Hundreds of billboards reserved by the telecom operators on the sides of our roads make the roads dangerously monotonous to drivers (…) The coming months will be fascinating.”

North Korea missile test causes a number of reactions from the East Asia blogsphere. China Confidential discusses about China's moderator role in the issue: “Beijing either failed to persuade Pyongyang not to launch the missiles or fooled Washington and Tokyo into thinking it was trying.”

Sun Bin discusses about other theories: “this may be a successful collaboration of the Korea's about Dokdo. But definitely not a good move for NK in the long term. It provided Japan with the excuse it needed to re-arm, and it was a major slap on China's face, especially after China openly appealed for NK not to do that.“

JP from Japundit informs others that Japan’s public broadcasting station NHK canceled its normal serial drama yesterday morning in order to provide news coverage of North Korea’s missile launches.

Robert Koehler from Marmot's hole reports that Koreans in Japan fear backlash from N.K. missile launch.

Richardson from Korea Liberator collects some editorial excrepts from South Korea mainstream newspapers.

Sunfai blogs about an activist gathering in Guangzhou and discusses the differences among foreign, Hong Kong and China activists. He comments that whenever foreigners showed their concerns about China, the nature of the issue was usually shifted or deviated; while Hong Kong activists continued to act like comprador between western foundation on China problem (zh).

Dan Washburn in Shanghaiist reports that the tourist spot Xiangyang market was closed down on June 30 under the pretext of IPR violation in the Xinhau news. Was it real or not? The blogger points out “we guess the $450 million land deal had nothing to do with it. Man, it really sucks that we'll never be able to buy counterfeit goods in Shanghai anymore now that they shut down Xiangyang Market.”

While another blogger jxhill puts up an analytical piece on the blooming of property market in China. The post argues that it reflects the fragility of social trust as the banks always prefer real estate mortgage (zh).