Global Voices Online

Ana praises Georgia's new higher education entrance exams, which are designed to limit opportunities for corruption and ensure that students entering higher education institutions are adequately educated and prepared for higher degrees.

Zarchka reports on the outcome of “Hye Super Star,” Armenia's version of “Pop Idol.”

Vasili Rukhadze has a detailed and informative post on Georgia's recent capture of the Kodori Gorge from a rebel warlord, noting the significance of the event in Georgian and regional politics. He says that Georgia's success mark the beginning of a new era in Georgian politics.

At neweurasia, Delia explores whether oil revenues will be good or bad for Azerbaijan.

The Long and Winding Road has a report on Uzbek pop musicians losing their licenses to perform in public after a journalist accused their lyrics of not being authentic Uzbek poetry and them of being bad musicians.

Electric Spaghetti, otherwise known as Saaleha, reels in her man after a spontaneous and florid response to a “419″ spam/scam-mail in her Inbox.

“Lagos,” writes Jangbalajugbu, “is a city that habours the hardworking as well as the lazy. The sane and insane. It is a city with different kinds of people from the rich, educated, wealthy, brilliant & intelligent to the dejected, the accursed, the incorrigible, the hopeless, the dead but breathing-walking corpses, the pathetic and the depressed among others.”

Detectives from Scotland Yard have just arrived in Nigeria to help with the investigation into the murder of politician Funsho Williams who died last week in Lagos, writes UKNaija. “If they fail, I can just imagine the Nigerian government crowing ‘Well, even the experts from Scotland Yard couldn't crack it, so you can't blame us, can you?'”

Eddie Cross on Zimpundit posts in its entirety the speech given by former union leader and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to a National Convention held by Churches in Zimbabwe Saturday to debate the crisis in the country, and the way forward.

Writes Farrel Lifson at politics.za, South Africa's largest trade union COSATU gets a lot of media exposure, but still has fewer than two million members.

“Next year will be 25 years since you were shot ruthlessly and left to die in some ditch,” writes Farmgirl to her much-missed father. “Oh just want to tell you that Raila and his cronies plotted the whole coup thing that led to your death…I wish he would say sorry to the many families that lost loved ones. Daddy I wish he would just take a minute and say he is sorry that I grew up without you.”

Tasneem Khalil reports that Bangladesh is the cover theme for August 2006 issue of the Himal Southasian, South Asia's first and only regional magazine. The magazine's introspective comment: “Bangladesh is set to become a powerful member of the world community, once it deals with its difficult issues of mal governance and confrontational politics”.

Cigay of Bhutan Weblog writes about an age old dating tradition of Bhutan. Young men used to visit a girl's house discreetly at night, to let her know of his feelings and his intention to marry her and have children with her. With the passage of time, this rural practice has been misunderstood and grossly abused by those who are richer or more powerful.

Indonesian blogger Christine Susanna Tjhin, currently a student in China, talks about the traditional Chinese Valentine's Day. This year, the day falls on 31 July.

Reminding readers of Godwin's Law, which says that “as an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one,” Eduardo Arcos posts (ES) recent photos of election protests in Mexico.

Franco Giménez introduces (ES) SosPeriodista (ES) (”You're the Journalist”), a new citizen media space based out of Córdoba.

annabengan of annasblog reposts the Sunday Times Magazine's article on Albania, and the “official reply/explanation from the chief editor of Sunday Times.” annabengan's Albanian friends thought the article was “fair” - while her non-Albanian friends considered it “bad journalism.” One reader wrote: “[…] if this were written about a poor decrepit black neighborhood in a ghetto somewhere, it would not have been as condemning or condescending; there would have been at least a little understanding of why the squalor is so present and a bit of compassion for the people trapped in that cycle.” Our Man In Tirana links to other responses that the article has received.

Eric Gordy of East Ethnia writes on the talks of war and the pains of forming a viable democratic coalition in Serbia.

David McDuff of A Step At A Time has translated a Prague Watchdog/Radio Free Liberty broadcast on the “mystery illness” that affected more than 100 children in Shelkovsky district.

Sean's Russia Blog writes about groups present on (and missing from) the FSB's Terrorist Organizations list.

LEvko of Foreign Notes writes about the Universal of National Unity that president Yushchenko expects the leading Ukrainian politicians to sign, and some of the problems that surround the negotiation process.

Dykun posts footage from the Baltica Festival in Latvia: “More specifically, this is footage of two groups from Latgale. Latgale is a region of Latvia that has long fascinated me; it is considered by many to be the most rural part of Latvia, and it shares a long border to the east with Russia. The Latgallian dialect is quite distinct from the rest of Latvian, and Latgallians are considered a distinct group within the Latvian nation, though there is a small, small minority who consider the Latgallians a distinct Baltic ethnicity seperate from both Latvians and Lithuanians. […] In short, Latgallians are to Latvians what Hutsuls are to Ukrainians.”

Bored in Brno posts a report from the 49th “annual celebration of local music and folklore in the town of Velka nad Velickou in South Moravia”: “Being a Czech festival, the beer flows liberally. Despite the higher elevation, the region can still sustain some grape cultivation and there is a culture of wine making, though it is not as strong as in other areas of south Moravia. There is no shortage, as well, of liquors distilled from plums (slivovice), apricots, peaches, pears, walnuts, and herbs.”

Belgrade Blog writes about the new storage space for the Yugoslav film archive.

Copydude writes about two men who became (in)famous after they flew their light planes into Russia illegally: Brian Grover (1938) and Matthias Rust (1987).

KO criticizes the corruption ridden Pakistani politicians for supporting the Pakistan Air Force's bid to acquire land to establish a weapons trial range in the Hingol National Park, the largest National Park in Pakistan. This will drive away the wildlife from the park and the temple of Hinglaj, one of the holiest sites of the Hindus located there will be off limit for the devotees.

Desipundit on the global impact of the Indian Blogosphere: “while it is true that it’s only a small part of Indian population that is online, and even smaller number accesses blogs, when it comes to the online world, Indian blogs are windows, potholes and doors into India.”

According to Dr.Velayati's followers, Joschka Fisher, former German Foreign Minister will be in Tehran for two days conference on Iran-European Relations in Strategic Centre [Fa]. Fisher is going to meet Akbar Velayati, Leader's adviser on Foreign Affairs.

South Asia Biz on why the tourists around the world should travel Nepal. With the restoration of a democratic government and the end of Maoist insurgency, there are plenty of reasons to visit this land of happiness.

According to Ikna, Ahmad Batebi, activist student was arrested again [Fa]. Batebi had already spent six years in jail to participate in a student protest movement. His wife is going to start a hunger strike in front of United Nations office in Tehran.