Global Voices Online

Reacting to recent news stories and speculation about President Preval's prostate cancer and his trip to Cuba to receive treatment, JoJo at Collectif Haiti de Provence reflects on healthcare for the everyday Haitian (Fr): “What Preval forgot to say … is to detail his plans so that all Haitians can get cured properly in Haiti … Today the indifference of health policy actors reaks of a reckless exclusion which rears its ugly head everytime a government official must go abroad for health services that all other countries in the region provide at home.“

Themediaslut writes about an ISP/Mobile provider in Singapore who fired a temp worker for putting up a video on youtube that featured him and another employee playing around in the office. Analyzing the company's response to the press story on this incident, the blogger says “Right now, Starhub is being seen as that company that doesn’t allow youtubing. It is ironic because its a telco that sells mobile phone with cameras and where do u think this videos usually end up?”

Dili-gence gives us a glimple into a native ceremony in East Timor. “One part of the ceremony involved the symbolic killing of a pig. Probably in deference to the large foreign presence, the actual kill was carried out away from the Palacio but body parts from the pig are presented to various leaders - eyes to those with a vision for the country etc. etc. At the same time, a “matan dook” (witch doctor) reads the pig entrails.”

In response to comments about Africa, Africans, African penis size and its relationship to famine on the continent made by French TV personality Pascal Sevran in a recent book, Congolese-origined blogger Alain Mabanckou writes (Fr):”Dear Pascal Sevran, Africa does not need your diagnosis. Must we remind you that a sane man would have thought twice before “spewing” such insanities?”

Doodee's Thailand takes the reader on a trip to the Arab enclave of Bangkok - Suhkumvit soi 3.

The Invest in Fiji blog talks about an group being set up to encourage tourists to spend their holidays in Fiji. The tourists may be staying out because of a recent coup in Fiji.

myHimachal on steps taken by the government in Himachal Pradesh to combat HIV/ AIDS. “The Himachal Pradesh Government would be providing free medicine to the HIV affected people, besides reimbursing the traveling charges of the patient alongwith an attendant to visit antiretroviral centre for checkup and treatment and also provide financial assistance for the studies of the children of HIV/AIDS affected parents as also orphaned children who had lost their parents due to the disease.”

“Dog's Own Country?” on the high suicide rate in Kerala. “It is a sad fact that Kerala has the highest suicide rate in India. A friend of mine once speculated that the Malayalee is a unique creature prone to caving into peer pressure which forces people to resort to extreme measures in desperate times.”

Pickled Politics points to an article by one of the authors in the Guardian. “That is, erm, me in a short article in today’s Media Guardian having a sarcastic dig at the tabloids for their annual idiotic headlines that proclaim ‘Muslims want to ban Christmas!’” Watch out for the 187 comments for the post!