Global Voices Online

Dan Washburn at Shanghaiist puts up a map indicating areas in China that have water issues (such as dam construction, shortage of water, etc.)

A citizen report on migrant workers' life in Hong Kong and their feelings for this society, translated from inmediahk.net to interlocals.net.

Several reports about China has blocked livejournal and Onemanbandwidth has a up -to-date summary of blocked blog hosting sites.

Joshua Kucera offers up the best YouTube videos from Georgia.

Part of Afghanistan are all but cut off from the outside world due to heavy snow, says Safrang. The author says that better transportation links would massively improve the situation.

At neweurasia, Aiman writes about myths about foreigners that Kazakhs believe.

Kyrgyz Report says that self immolation is becoming a more common occurrence in Kyrgyzstan because desperate members of society have realized that this form of protest draws attention.

Afghanistanica explains why ethnic separatism is not a problem in Afghanistan.

Milton Ramirez, himself an Ecuadorean immigrant from Loja, takes a look at the lucrative business of human smuggling and how authorities are cracking down.

Brazilian photographer Tatiana Cardeal was at the seventh World Social Forum in Nairobi, Kenya, where she captured this incredible photograph of children playing in Kibera.

Alan Patrick rounds up the Buenos Aires blogosfera and finds a list of free wi-fi hotspots and a guide to “understanding Buenos Aires women.”

Miguel Buitrago continues his coverage of the Bolivian Constituent Assembly with a summary of some of the topics being debated.

Hora Cero [ES] and Tim Muth on the death of Rufina Amaya, the sole survivor of the 1981 El Mozote massacre which claimed over 1,000 lives.

Russian Kafe pays tribute to two “child ambassadors” of the 1980s: Samantha Smith and Katya Lycheva.

A Moscow law student is sentenced to 150 hours of community service for sending an anti-Semitic SMS to a live television program, Russian Spy reports.

Vilhelm Konnander reviews the chief players in Estonia's post-election politics.

Ramblings of an African Geek posts links related to Ghana@50, “For those of you not in the know, Ghana became the first black African colony to gain its independence on the 6th of March 1957. That will be 50 years on Tuesday. We’ll get to my own thoughts on what has happened in the last half-century - especially the 27 years of it I’ve been around on Tuesday. For now though, I’ll put up some very interesting links.”

Oluniyi Ajao writes about celebrating Ghana@50, “Well, how am I celebrating it? I will be at the Independence square tomorrow, to witness the National Parade. I will also take some photos at the event.
Just last week, I was at the forum organized by busyinternet - a part of cyberseries, titled: Ghana @ 50, ICTs @ Whats?”

Marc Masferrer writes that the Cuban independent news site Payo Libre is reporting that 18 inmates, including 10 political prisoners, at the Kilo 8 prison in Camagüey, Cuba, have embarked on a hunger strike.

According to Agha Bahman[Fa],tomorrow for one hour between 14h and 15h, protestors to recent repression against women activists, will come together in front of Parliament.The blogger says it will be a silent protest.Nobody will chant slogans and nobody carries placards in order not to be arrested.

Flickr user Simon T posts some breathtaking photos of humpback whales in Silver Banks, a whale sanctuary 80 miles north of the Dominican Republic.

More than just tongue-in-cheek at Varnam, on triggering Musharraf's dopamine system. “This also explains why India is not able to get Musharraf to budge on anything. Every time there is a Pakistan sponsored terrorist attack in India, all we do is re-issue previous warnings with just a change in the time stamp on the documents. Then there is the usual accusation/counter accusation new cycle and all goes still till the next terrorist attack.

Indian Muslims on the plight of Denotified and Nomadic Tribes. “Denotified and Nomadic Tribes are defined as tribes whose people are “addicted to the systematic commission of non-bailable offences.” It is a classic example of “collective guilt”, how it has been endorsed by law, and how people are made to believe that it has indeed been created in public interest. In simple words, anyone born into such tribes is considered a criminal, not just by authorities, but by the average person on the street too.”

groundviews on the allegations against media and the comeback. “Stating there were clear attempts to stifle free media and the freedom of expression in Sri Lanka, Sunanda went on to say that journalists were extremely fearful of the hate speech directed against them.”

Metroblogging Islamabad on the menace of naked wires. “The Blue Area commercial district is a good example of the seriousness of the problem. Wires tangled in rows of electricity meters greet people at the entrance of almost every building. Like artwork, it welcomes those who enter to the thrilling journey ahead. However, most people don't realise it as a threat, until some accident happens and then they curse their fate, and the government, burn tires and block roads.”

Half-Jamaican, half-Ghanaian poet Kwame Dawes posts a lovely and atmospheric meditation on the occasion of Ghana's 50th anniversary of independence: “A more responsible poet, a genuinely nationalist writer, would have planned the publication of his next book to coincide with this date. He would have written an epic poem with a central character called Quackoo who will turn fifty tonight, and who carries in his body the narrative of a nation, its promising birth, its giddy childhood of sudden and dramatic growth, its turbulent preteen years of juvenile delinquency. . . “

Caribbean Free Radio goes to collect tickets for the Cricket World Cup, and is given number C92: “The saleswoman who handed out the first batch of number-papers did so with the speed and furtiveness of a drug pusher distributing gram-bags on a street corner. . . .“

Jamaican blogger Stunner has started a photoblog called My World My Lens.

Israeli blogger themiddle links to a webcast put up by the Israel Antiquities Authority showing the dig near Temple Mount in real time. “It’s really quite boring, unless you’re someone who believes the Jews are destroying the Haram al Sharif compound, in which case this will be very exciting for you. Stop believing the agitators, they’ve been agitating like this since the 1920s,” writes the blogger.

Israeli blogger Desert Peace links to a Christian Science Monitor article which says that Palestinian children are starving here.

Israeli blogger Danya Ruttenberg says Virgin: The Untouched History is the next must read book! The book, which even has its own blog, has “lots of commentary about virginity-related issues in the contemporary world (think honor killings, abstinence education, Virgin Mary sightings, etc)” says the blogger.

Bahraini blogger/doctor Haitham Salman has escaped the Alaskan winter to Florida - where at least his wife can walk outdoors “without getting frozen.”

Africabeat writes about China-Africa billboards, “At the Delhi Hibiscus meeting in December I remarked how the billboards - which featured photographs of pyramids, Kenyan safaris, and scantily-clad Africans - showed just how little the Chinese know about Africa. Here, you can see some of them for yourselves. Apparently one billboard features an “African native” who is actually, Jeremy Goldkorn tells us, from Papua New Guinea. But he has brown skin so that counts, right?”

Taras Kuzio writes about the not-so-peaceful visit of Moscow's Mayor Yuri Luzhkov to the Crimea and about Yulia Tymoshenko's very cozy visit to Washington, D.C.

Wordpress blocked in Kenya?, “But then after reading the comments on this post I thought to myself, what if someone was blocking access to WordPress.com making it impossible for anyone on a Kenyan IP address to view the site? Luckily there are quick ways of checking this.”

Hell is… To Darkness At Noon, it's “the intersection of bureaucracy and academia that is the Russian university”: “Today I had to enter the fifth circle (reserved for the wrathful and slothful) for a meeting. As hell has not yet frozen over, it is still necessary to check one's coat at the entryway to the large academic building before plunging into the inferno.”

Zhang rui writes a letters to his reporter friends and suggests to adopt a multi-dimensional news report method for avoiding monopoly of news angle by big news company (zh).

Saudi blogger Reema is in love with Omar Sharif. Read all about her infatuation here.

Saudi blogger Khloud links to an article on interacting with members of the opposite sex here. She says it is a must-read article.

Saudi blogger Yazeez links to a news article which claims: An Iraqi national wearing wires and concealing a magnet inside his rectum triggered a security scare at Los Angeles International Airport on Tuesday but officials said he posed no apparent threat.

Saudi-based British diplomatic spouse/blogger Chris Neal says emergency exercises in embassies have their benefits. “I won't go into any more detail than that, but from what I hear the exercise was a very worthwhile activity and the lessons learned will help to further strengthen the emergency plans,” he writes.

The Syrian government is sponsoring a project that will destroy the last pieces of the Old City of Damascus [World's oldest continuously inhabited city] remaining outside the city walls, including Souqs (bazaars) that date back to the Mamluke period, reports Ammar. “Despite ample protests by civil society advocates, current residents and international NGOs, the Syrian authorities are said to move forward with plans to destroy the last pieces of Old Damascus that remain just outside the Old City Walls, especially the area known as Souq al-Manakhliyyah. Should this indeed take place, thousands of Damascene families will be thrown out of their dwellings with little or no compensation, and a piece of history will perish forever,” he wrote.

James from Japan Probe points out a report from local Kyodo News about Anti-Japanese painting goes on display in China. He double checked with official press release, the painting is about an anti-Japanese street drama about 918 incident (Japan's invasion of China): A painting of a young girl acting out an anti-Japanese street drama, but an “Anti-Japanese painting?” Come on, Kyodo News, you can do better than that.

A few youtube video at Japan Probe showing the weekend protest of North Korean residents in Tokyo against human rights abuse.

VeryRussianTochkaNet posts someone's YouTube video of the opposition rally that took place in St. Petersburg this past Saturday and shares his doubts: “We made a leap of faith in 1991 that was worth the risk. Back then, we had Yeltsin, the white-blue-red flag, and a pre-1917 revivalist spirit that blended well with Westernesque aspirations. Since then, the West has been instrumental in showing us that the world is a jungle and you won’t be respected unless you’re feared, as well as showing us how one shiningly progressive ideology is so like another.”