Global Voices Online

Says Senegalese blogger Alex Seck, (Fr): “The situation in [Guinea] has started normalizing since the nomination of Lansana Kouyaté as Prime Minister on Feb. 26. Kouyaté who was one of five people proposed by unionists and civil society arrived in Conakry [on the 27th] from Abidjan where he was [an official] of L'Organisation de la Francophonie. His nomination was saluted by outcries of joy and Guineans showed up in droves to welcome him. “

Blog Politique du Sénégal has had (Fr) a hard time understanding Wade's victory in last week's presidential election but concedes: “Wade is not completely undeserving. The infrastucture he has built, the many secondary schools were necessary. His regime has built more infrastructure in 7 years than his predecessors in 20.”

Safrang says that Hamid Karzai is facing the biggest choice of his term as Afghanistan's president in deciding whether or not to sign into law amnesty bill that recently passed through legislature.

Leila reports on the increasing number of Central Asian immigrants in the Czech Republic, focusing on the story of one family from Kazakhstan who have found it better to live outside of Kazakhstan illegally than to try to find work at home.

Another case of a Latin American journalist getting a bit too much inspiration from the blogosphere without attribution. Unlike Global Voices contributing author Juan Arellano, the Peruvian daily La República published an article about the online discussions surrounding a hypothetical war between Peru and Chile. Desde el Tercer Piso writes “next time with recognition, muchachos.” Gran Combo Club adds [ES] “I think that Peruvian journalists have to learn to respect the blogosphere a little more.” Silvio goes on to bring up cases in which bloggers have corrected news reports in the United States and wonders if Peruvian bloggers will one day also have such influence. Roberto of El Morsa echoes the denouncement [ES] in “Journalist from La Republica plagiarizes a blog.”

Blogrel discusses Transparency Armenia's decision to quit the government's Anti-Corruption Strategy Monitoring Commission, saying that they no longer wish to help the government pretend it is fighting corruption.

Social Science in the Caucasus posts a partial “Big Mac Index” for the Caucasus with an explanation of what the numbers mean.

Pustolovina: adventure in Serbian writes on how the ICJ verdict is affecting her on the personal and professional levels.

Sounds like a deja vu, but Ukraine may be heading towards yet another election - an early parliamentary one, writes Foreign Notes.

Olechko writes about the Kyiv Cake and other baked goodness found in Ukraine's capital.

Myat Thura looks at the growing numbers of cybercafes in Myanmar and how the youngsters use the internet.

Neretva River reports: “Istraga, a program on Nova hosted by Robert Valdec that includes periodic re-enactments of war crimes has attracted some unwanted attention in the form of graphic death threats against the program's host.”

Robert Frische of cricketwukup.com disagrees with statements made by two former West Indies cricket greats that the presence of “minnows” (weak teams) in the Cricket World Cup devalues the tournament.

The Manicou Report posts its latest “Trinidad at a glance” list: “Weather: Cool nights. Days are getting hotter. It is, after all, the dry season.”

Iraqi blogger Raed Jarrar posts the “translation of the latest resolution of the Council of Ministers approving the oil law and submitting it to the Council of Representatives.” “You can notice that this creates an unconstitutional loophole in article 5, setting May 31st as a deadline for enacting the oil law even of the council of representatives did not approve it,” he writes.

Saddam's fans will have no trouble keeping both these ideas in their heads at the same time: That Saddam is tragically dead, and that Saddam is triumphantly still alive, writes Iraq Pundit, following news of a new film celebrating the former Iraqi president's life and a book which claims that his double was hanged instead.

Award-winning Iraqi blogger Omar (Iraq The Model) writes about the reopening of stores in Iraq - including liquor stores - a sign which “means that those shopkeepers are leaving their fear behind, and openly ignoring the threats of militias and insurgents who once ruled the streets and intimidated the people with threats and violence.”

Iraqi blogger Imad Khadduri links to an article which warns of a hasty US retreat from Iraq , if it doesn't win the war in six months.

Iraqi blogger Alaa goes down memory lane to a time when he could peacefully fly kites with his brothers in the spring and autumn.

Libya marks its 30th birthday as a Jamaheriya under the reign of Colonel Muammar Al Gaddafi today and this is what Issandr El Amrani has to say about the anniversary in The Arabist.

Issandr El Amrani, from The Arabist, links to an article which says that Iraqi Shia's had fled to “safety from the sectarian bloodshed but not from sectarian persecution” here.

ESWN summarised local mainstream news reports and polls on the Hong Kong Chief Executive Election debate.

There is something about South-East Asians in Cairo, they just get the best of bad Cairo treatment, writes Cairo-based blogger Tom Gara, after a Singaporean pop star and her managers were conned there. “I can't imagine Germans or Americans getting suckered into paying thousands of dollars into a mobile credit card machine many times thoughout a single day just because some sketchy Egyptian tells them they have to,” he adds.

Ampotant blogs the cultural meaning of tattoo by looking into the Japan history.

Edo from Pink Tentacle blogs some sketches from Edo period (1603 to 1867) of Kappa, Japan’s most well-known creature of legend, which are notorious for luring people — particularly children — into the water to drown and eat them. (zh)

Algerian blogger Lameen Souag laments the death of yet another language here. “Somebody get over there and make some recordings of Harsusi,” he urges.

Egypt is recorded as the hardest hit country outside Asia by bird flu, writes Freedom for Egyptians here.
She adds that the four-year-old girl is the disease's latest victim in her country.

Our Man in Tirana protests against being ripped off by Albania's mobile operator AMC.

Information Policy writes on Poland's computerization plan.

Blog Politique du Sénégal posts the definitive presidential election results which reflect Wade's win with 55.72% of the vote, and Idrissa Seck as the runner-up with 15.52% . Ousmane Tanor Dieng is third and Moustapha Niasse is 4th. The results are further itemized by city.

Andres Duque keeps his watchful eye on LGBT news from around Latin America with a story this week about license plates in Argentina.

Indie music lovers should give a listen to this free thirteen track compilation put together by Indie Latin American blog Comunidad Alternativa.

Tim Muth has posted a complete transcript of the official statements by US President George Bush and El Salvador President Tony Saca following their meeting on Tuesday. Hunnapuh is skeptical [ES] that either leader will follow through on their promises.

Laura V. of Viva El Salvador describes the violent history of Perquín in the mountainous region of Morazán: “it is amazing to think that just 20 years ago [during the Civil War], the place was being bombed regularly.”

John Calypso discusses the immigration difficulties that come between bi-national marriages.

Carpetblogger draws parallels between two boomtowns: Azerbaijan's capital, Baku; and, Deadwood, South Dakota.

Armenian Libertarian-Socialist Movement responds to what it calls “Nazi discourses” in Armenian politics.