Global Voices Online

Joel Martinsen in DANWEI puts together some discussions about a recent skin-care adverstisment with the actress' son saying that he wants to marry his mother when he gets old. It results in a debate whether the ad has crossed the line of social standard. Joel also translated a post from Southern Metropolis Weekly.

The opposite end of China puts together some Youtube videos on the recent shooting of Tibetian refugees at the Nepal border by the China PLA.

Diligence China points out that when local software China Star sells at 10RMB while Microsoft Window sells at 500RMB, without piracy, Microsoft won't have a market share like today: Imagine what China’s software industry might look like if piracy hadn’t killed off a viable, home-grown alternative to Microsoft?

In order to prepare for the Olympic, the Beijing city has to double check its English signposts and other instructions. Sohoxiaobao has posted some translation jokes(zh): “folk culture village” is translated into “racist park”; a fired chicken dish is translated into “government abuse chicken”; and the word “dry” in Chinese is often translated into “fxxk”!

Andrew Lih shows the distribution of wikipedia's access in China in a chart form.

Days in Daechuri has the latest update on the anti US military base in Pyongtaek, independent journalists were intimidated by local thugs.

Flying in the face of Guadeloupe's status as a French Overseas Department, Convention pour une Guadeloupe Nouvelle writes (Fr): “A nation must live its past in order to be inspired by it. … We will [therefore] celebrate the birth of the Guadeloupean nation in October. It is indeed during the months of October and November 1801 that for the first time, after the long night of slavery, Guadeloupeans discovered that they are a people and rejected the colonial slave system. The Guadeloupean army seized power on October 21, 1801 and designated … an interim government. We demand that all the heros of the time be treated with pomp and that a national mausoleum be erected.”

Barbados Free Press is optimistic about the Barbados Environment Minister's attendance at a UN conference in China.

Guadeloupe Attitude writes (Fr): “Patrick Verdol, Livio Lison and Bella Mado are the 3 Guadeloupeans chosen by the seven Guadeloupean Rotary Clubs to participate in the 2006 RYLA of District 7030 … Chosen by the clubs and districts for their potential leadership, youth aged 14 to 30, attend all expenses paid seminars, camps or workshops about developing leadership and knowledge.”

Guyana-Gyal walks down to the sea — “just to see what I could see” — and has an encounter with Guyanese music star Eddie Grant that makes her ponder the true meaning of “development”.

Le Blog Politique du Senegal believes (Fr) that the head of national electricity company Senelec was asked to resign because President Wade needs a scapegoat for failing to fulfill his impossible promises. The blog is otherwise skeptical that private capital might do a better job than government spreading electricity in the country.

Adam Isaacson of the Center for International Policy recently sampled the coca-based energy drink called Coca Sek, which is produced by an indigenous community in Colombia. Even though the legal drink provided a bit of a kick needed for late night dinners, Isaacson said, “If given a drug test, however, right now I would produce a big, huge “positive.”

Kenyan Pundit posts a link to a guide to profitable opportunities in African stock markets.

Boz lays out five points regarding yesterday's Presidential elections in Ecuador. Among other things, he predicts a Rafael Correa second-round victory. In addition, Jaime Izurieta of Cambiemos Ecuador [ES] admits his political analysis may be a bit amateur, but it's very similar to the political behavior of Correa, who suffered a rude awakening on election day.

Yulia discusses the criteria for having a monument built of someone in Kyrgyzstan in light of the news that authorities in Balykchy plan to build a monument to a slain criminal.

Libardo Buitrago [ES] writes about the news of the death of ex-President Valentín Paniagua, who died earlier today. The Peruvian president took the helms of the government after the sudden resignation of Alberto Fujimori and his death was “a sad loss for Peru”.

Notes From Hareinik reports on what it calls “corruption…in play” possibly leading to the denial of visas to those behind Yerevan's popular New Delhi restaraunt.

Good Airs is shocked at the number of highway fatalities in Argentina. A recent accident claimed the lives of 12, including 10 school children. The driver and his passenger were both appparently drunk. At 7,000 deaths per year, it is obvious that the highways are out of control.

Onnik Krikorian rounds up posts on the Armenian genocide from across the blogosphere.

the East Africa Federation is an April 1st joke, “Why bother with a political union between countries when Kenya & Uganda have massive internal political problems….”

KZBlog takes a look at Kazakhstan adoption blogs, a significant sub-section of the English language Kazakh blogosphere.

Dean details effective strategies for crossing Ulaanbaatar's busy streets while avoiding strategy.

Vincent Maher reports that blog entries have been accepted in South Africa's top ICT journalism award, “A few months ago I sat down with the other judges of the competition and campaigned for the acceptance of blog entries into the Telkom ICT Journalist of the Year awards and, to my surprise, there was no resistance. In fact the idea was encouraged.”

The Glory of Carniola, Bayaland and L Files write about the fourth annual meeting of Slovenian bloggers.

Desperate Serbwife writes about what to expect if you're driving through Croatia in a car with Belgrade license plates.

Vilhelm Konnander reports on his participation in the Open Source Radio's Politkovskaya Podcast.

Vilhelm Konnander writes about the re-burial of the Russian empress Dagmar (aka Maria Fyodorovna), mother of the last Russian emperor.

Snowsquare mentions Moscow's security cameras and a ballet-shoe store.

“Anna, I see things differently with you on one score. I don’t think Putin is the problem. He symbolizes the illness afflicting this beautiful land. As one human rights activist and friend of mine said back in 2000, ‘Putin is inside all of us. He is our mirror image',” writes Raffi Aftandelian of maaskva: nashimi glazami in a farewell letter to Anna Politkovskaya, the slain Russian journalist who didn't seem to have a bit of Putin inside.

Copydude writes hilariously and posts pictures of his experience of “the raw horror of provincial Russian living” in Novgorod: “Buses here travel in eccentric circles, so you can’t get the same number bus back to where you came from. Maybe no-one can imagine you wanting to go back to where you came from. It’s understandable.”

A Step At A Time re-posts a note by the widow of Andrei Sakharov on Anna Politkovskaya's death.

Romerican writes about Romtelecom and other players on Romanian telecoms market.

Inspired by P.J. O’Rourke’s “Holidays in Hell,” Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes that the Hungarian tourism authorities should “hit the reality button and go for the masochist market.”

My Czech Republic Blog writes about the Dalai Lama's sixth visit to Prague.

The latest TOL's Belarus Blog posts cover these topics: population divided over mere symbols; the release of a young political activist; a hunger strike by members of a Minsk protestant church “New Life.”

p3 writes about a recent visit to the ancestors' home in the neighboring Ukraine.

Sub-Saharan Africa