Global Voices Online

Patrick has a good roundup of reaction to Spanish judge Santiago Pedraz's warrant for the arrest of Rios Montt based on charges of genocide while Montt was dictator of the country. Rob Mercatante points out that the news is “receiving very little attention from the media outside of Guatemala.” Otto Boye and Arturo Durán celebrate contemporary Latin America's lack of dictators (Es) and describe Montt as “responsible for the most recent holocaust; that directed against the Mayan population.”

Alex Celi, a Peruvian blogger, finds in ludicrous that a guard dog could be put to death for biting a burglar (ES).

More free and Creative Commons-licensed music from Argentina. This time Fernando Casale posts two EPs by Voltura. We are also told that “Hernán Martínez Mosquera, the creator of Voltura, is working on his first solo album.

Need a break from the sea of words online? Patrick at Guatemala Solidarity Network highlights an excerpt from the documentary, ‘Guatemala No Nos Tientes' as well as a series of links to ‘Entremosle a Guate,' a “fresh and interesting documentary series on the issues facing Guatemalans today.”

“Purple Drinks and Fried Cheese in La Paz.” I think the title speaks for itself. Also worth checking out is Dangl's post on “Hip-Hop and Electoral Adventures in Bolivia.”

Sean attends an anti-racism meeting last night in Bermuda but comes away thinking that “everyone is talking and no one is doing” and presents his own thoughts on the matter instead.

Yulia discusses the US embassy spy scandal in Kyrgyzstan, which involves allegations from the Kyrgyz government toward and the expulsion of two US embassy employees.

Tom Terry has photos from the third day of Naadam.

My 20-Cent Taxi Ride comments on the impact of the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline, which recently opened, on Armenia.

Mad Bull offers a capsule history of his experience with rock music in Jamaica and welcomes the arrival of a new rock station in the Cayman Islands.

Leila examines the potential impacts on Kazakhstan's demography of the recent Russian government decree on the resettlement of ethnic Russians from former Soviet Republics to the Russian Federation.

In an entertaining allegory involving a beach house in Negril, a barman and a “rent-a-dread”, Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp contemplates the role of one of the key players in the modern publishing business: the agent.

Elizabeth writes on the things aid workers notice in Tajikistan after working in Afghanistan, and the motives for working in one or the other.

Chronicles from a Caribbean Cubicle announces the arrival of “CaribHRNews, a Squidoo-hosted aggregator of the most recent internet-based news related to the Human Resources profession,” and takes note of an article in a Trinidad and Tobago newspaper reporting a labour shortage in that country.

The Bus Uncle incident started to die down in Hong Kong, then an African Uncle popped up in the mainstream media. The big white guy discusses whether or not the disputes on the bus was related with racism.

Marie Mockett writes Japundit about Obon festivial in Japan, it is a Buddhist holiday for memorizing the dead.

Hu hao's sister writes in huhaofamily about her birthday and how her birthday wish came true (zh). Hu Hao is back and she thanks all the friends for their suppport.

The World Cup is over. However there are still much discussion about Zidane's head butt. Ah Q magazine comments that Zidane's head butt is a perfect ending of his career (zh).

Jxhill tries to read into the political culture of how french people reacted to Zidane's act. He feels that French media was not under too much influence of nationalism, or else they would have criticized Zidane more severely.

Raymondzhou shows how Chinese graffiti is different from Amercian one.

Richard Li sold out PCCW, the biggest telecom in Hong Kong on July 11 to a pro China Hong Kong based Businessman, Francis Leung. After this contraversal move, he is now planning to buy a local Chinese newspapers, Hong Kong economic journal. Florence in Over the Rainbow blogs about her frustrating experience as journalist in interviewing Richard Li all these years (zh).

Hong Kong Media Buster has another post to explain how local media was being manipulated to get public support for the selling out of PCCW (zh).

Simon World discusses about the minorty stockholders' rights in the PCCW deal.

A Taiwanese girl created a blog and annouced that her action in shaving her hair and silent protest on her blog in order to save her father from injustice trial regarding corruption in village level election(zh).

Another blog post in Chinatimes reports that her action has got the attention of the public quickly and the Taiwan human rights association stepped in.

Kotaji blogs about the anti FTA protest in Seoul on July 12. Jamie in Two Koreas has a very detailed account of the raining day demonstration. Another witness report is written by SJ.

At Frog in a Well, Pak Noja posted some thoughts on the economics of Korean agriculture and what liberalisation means for Korean farmers.

Days in Daechuri has a post on the details of a four days peace march (July 5-July 9) by human rights and peace activists from Blue House (presidential resident in Seoul) to Pyeongtaek. The march was to protest against the Korean and American governments' expropriation of the 2,850,000 pyong (1 pyong = 3.3 meters squared) of land currently belonging to the farmers of Daechuri and Doduri.

What's the national flavor of Costa Rica? Uri Ridelman writes about the salsa which ” is often used in the same way that North Americans would use ketchup.” And if you want to know what to pour it over, check out these recommendations.

A foot of umbrella?, a book of bread?. Read more about measure words in Malay language at The Daily Brunei Resources.

One of common question among backpackers who land up in Bangkok is how to get to Cambodia. Magnoy's Samsara posts a video on his blog depicting some of the places along the Thai-Cambodia border.

Malaysian blogger Kenny Sia adds colour to his coverage of Miss Sarawak 2006 pageant with usual humourous comments. Sarawak is a province of Malaysia that lies on the island of Borneo.

Vannadeth, a Cambodian citizen living in Germany is pained by the error he finds in the geographical area of his country listed on a website. The blogger talks about his feelings for his country.“How do you feel when people as you ” Is Cambodia safe now from bombs?” This is the very direct question that a foreigner ask me. During the World Cup, when people ask me where I come from. I told them proudly that I am from Cambodia. Most of them do not even know where Cambodia is. They know all neighboring countries of Cambodia, but they don't know Cambodian. Some even asked me back if Cambodia was an island.”

Extra Extra has a letter from a Bhutanese in a refugee camp growing up in Nepal.”Can you imagine growing up in a refugee camp? Having no citizenship? Discovering the slow way that the world is not going to intervene to resolve the situation, even as it frets about the dangerous radicalisation of the dispossessed?”

Sibin on the coverage of Bombay blasts in the international media. Is it adequate? Does it pale in comparison to the attention London and Madrid received?

A poll by All Things Pakistan on women's rights and Pakistan's image. “The question is about what can be done to improve Paksitan’s international image in terms of women rights.”

ProgressiveIslam.org on why one man's terrorist is not another man's freedom fighter.

Ahmed Quick posts in full the testimony of George Washington University Professor David H. Shinn, State Department coordinator for Somalia, on the emerging system of Islamic courts in Somalia. “Many Somalis…welcomed the forced departure from Mogadishu several weeks ago of most of the bickering warlords by the Islamic court supported militias,” he told the sub-committee on African affairs.

Kangni Alem writes (Fr): ” The Noma Award likes African women novelists. After Mariama Ba whose classic Une si Longue Lettre [A Long Letter] obtained the prize in 1980, the jurors of this Japanese endowed prize just awarded it to ivoiro-cameroonian novelist and playwright Were-Were Liking whose reputation as an icon and a creative mind is well established.”

Black Looks posts a long essay written by a transgendered Nigerian woman, Stephanie Adaralegbe, in which she gives a horrendous account of a beating at the hands of some 50 thugs.

Korogocho, a slum area of Nairobi, is going online, writes Kenyan Pundit, who also nods in the direction of a “computers for all Nigerians” scheme and a commentary on the use of expat consultants.

France-based Togolese blogger Kangni Alem is (Fr) headed to the Recreatrales Theater Festival in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso for a series of theater workshops that may result in a performance of his latest play, Mon Cancer aux Tropiques [My Cancer in the Tropics].

Bankelele takes a look at an article that revisits questions that have dogged the controversial Kwale titanium mine project, led by Canadian mining company Tiomin Resources, which signed a financing agreement with the Jinchuan Group, China's largest nickel producer, for C$7.4 million ($6.47 million) this year.

Says Senegalese blogger Semett (Fr) of Denis Sassou N'Guesso, the President of the Republic of Congo: ” Interrogated on the drowning of young Africans along European borders, (…) [he] had the indecency to shed a tear after blaming Europe's lack of care. As if the misery that pushes our compatriots to seek the liquid death was not the result of a handshake between him, his peers and Western predators since our independences.”

Ethiopia has been ranked 144th on a 178-nation survey of happiness ratings, writes Ethioblog. The Happy Planet Index measures life satisfaction, life expectancy and ecological footprint.

White African and Timbuktu Chronicles both report on the first company in Uganda to offer music downloads, True African. But it doesn't want to stay just doing that. Once more, writes the former, mobile micro-credit for micro-enterprise is emerging as a hot topic among the continent's digerati.

Avi in Indonesia remembers his trip to Mumbai and calls the city “the most resilient city” he has ever been to.

The blogger at Dili-gence returns to East Timor and finds life getting back to normal after the violence last month.

Torn and Frayed in Manila talks about an episode in Philippine's history where the British

Eastern & Central Europe