Global Voices Online

The Kenyan blogger, Kachumbari, who wrote from a village in Central Kenya has passed away:
“I just found out from Ndesanjo that Kachumbari was killed in a car accident several weeks ago. His cousin Samuel offered an obituary and explanation of his death on the blog - Kachumbari had travelled to Nairobi to buy goods for a store he was setting up in Nyahururu, and went to visit a friend who lives in the downtown. He was hit by a hit and run driver and died while enroute to Kenyatta hospital.”

“For decades, African cinema has been poised for the kind of international breakthrough that Asian and Middle Eastern films have enjoyed. There are lots of stories to be told and there have been directors willing and able to tell them, but the financial resources available to filmmakers on other continents aren’t within easy reach of their African counterparts,” writes Sociolingo.

Zimbabwean cartoonist joins the debate around the Domestic Violence Bill, “He raises an interesting issue, writing at some length about the ill-treatment of maids by their female employers, discussing this as woman-on-woman violence and asks whether this form of domestic violence will be included in the Domestic Violence Bill,” via Kubatana Blog.

Home of the Mandinmories writes about torture and coercion of the alleged coup plotters in the Gambia: Browsing through the Point today, a story on the court martial of Captain Yahya Darbo caught my eye. I wish I can say I told you so, but the abuse and indignity suffered by the victims will make your blood boil. This was what I wrote in march when these guys were paraded on national television and forced (in my opinion) to make confessions.

At neweurasia, Vadim discusses the HIV/AIDS problem in Tajikistan.

The Atyrau Informant gives a tip on what shoes to wear to make it through Atyrau's winter mud.

Ben Paarman notes that Kyrgyzstan's Mailuu Suu has been listed as one of the ten most polluted sites on earth by a US environmental group. Elsewhere in Central Asia and the Caucasus, a site in Azerbaijan makes the list.

Kotaji puts together analysis on North Korea nuclear test and its effects.

Occidentalism summarizes the buzz over Mt Geumgang tourism project. Reports said that Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill demanded the supension of “inter-Korea project” as a part of the sanction against North Korea nuclear test.