Global Voices Online

Smooth Stone from Israel links to a story about how Aids patients are buried alive in Papa New Guinea.

Kamangir says according to a new law, all state-run universities are obliged to report any trip their faculty members go to outside the country. The trips have to be reported whether or not they are sabbatical or personal and for pleasure.

If you are on the Internet, Big Brother is watching you, warns Batya from Israel.

Charles Levinson, who lives in Jerusalem, compiles a list of all the items banned on flights from Jordan's Queen Alia's Airport.

Petya of Bighead writes about her Bulgarian Orthodox church wedding - and “the ability of people to reach across cultural and language barriers.”

Window on Eurasia writes about another way of looking at Ukraine's ethnic Russians and their political preferences.

Window on Eurasia reports: “Foreigners working in the Russian Federation are far from likely to be mistreated by government officials and employers than they are to be attacked by skinheads and other Russian nationalist groups, according to a poll of Tajiks now living in Tajikistan with direct experience in the past of work in Russia.”

Window on Eurasia writes that while some Russians are dreaming of a “Russian Texas,” others offer a scenario of the disintegration of the United States.

Steady State writes about Kosovo and the “de facto statelets of Abkhazia, Transnistria, South Ossetia and Nagorno Karabakh.”

Alain Mabanckou regrets the lack of new works by Black Francophone writers at the 2007 “rentrée littéraire” in France.

Faits Divers d'Afrique relates the fates of abandoned wives and children left behind by men who emigrate.

Marko Bucik spends his vacation in Albania, a country that is “an endless joy” - despite the fact that “there are almost no street names, no mailboxes, few places have drinkable tap water.”

MoTIC (fr) provides us with statistics on Livejournal, which has been blocked in Morocco for over a year, as well as other blocked sites.

Savtadotty, from Israel, marks her 19th anniversary in the country.

The general delegation for the French language and languages in France, a branch of the Ministry of Culture and Communication recently published a report on the use of the French language in the digital world. The objective of the delegation is to promote the use of the French language in international communication and multilingual projects in general (Fr).

Iraqi blogger Ladybird reports that Saudi Arabia has banned pan-Arab Saudi-owned newspaper Al Hayat in the kingdom.

D.B. Shobrawy reflects on what he describes as the Egyptian inferiority complex in this post. “..many Egyptians have an inferiority complex in regards to their Egyptian identity. Somewhere in our history during colonialism Egyptians began to believe that European culture was superior to their own, more elegant and prestigious,” he writes.

Egyptian Big Pharaoh takes us to the Moulid Al Haggag ceremony, offering us an explanation for the annual event and photographs.

Egyptian blogger Zeinobia shares her ideas on Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak's health, treatments abroad and rumours of his death.

“I got a call late tonight from a friend asking, “is Hosni Mubarak dead?” I dont quite know where he got his information from but supposedly there is a rumor that Hosni..AKA “the Great Dictator” was airlifted to a hospital in Germany and that his fate is unknown and presumed dead!,” writes Egyptian blogger D. B. Shobrawy.

A Bahraini newspaper editor is in court for defamation, writes Mahmood Al Yousif.

Bahrain's bloggers are bracing themselves for their 32nd Bloggers' Gathering on September 1, announces Mahmood Al Yousif.

Omani blogger Sleepless in Muscat hopes all Islamic countries will mark the beginning of Ramadhan on the same day. “Hopefully, this time around we would stick to one date across the whole Arab & Islamic world instead of fooling ourselves and then stating that we ‘never saw the crescent',” he writes.

Altino Machado reports a radio call [PT] from José Meirelles, who coordinates an Etno-Environmental Protection Front at the Brazil-Peru border on Acre state, deep in the Amazon Forest. He tells about gunshots that fortunately missed 2 workers on a canoe yesterday, in an event that can be linked with the illegal logging dennounced by Ashaninka bloggers. “We call for the diligence of prevention, and not for the rescue of bodies“, Meireles said.

Beirut Spring writes about an uproar surrounding a newly established public school in Brooklyn (NY), that is named after the Lebanese/Arab writer and poet Gibran Khalil Gibran. The school teaches many of its material in Arabic and has some courses on “Arab Culture”. Jewish groups demonstrated and condemned the opening of what they termed a “Madrassah”. A group called “Friends Of Gibran Council” released a press statement claiming that Gibran was Lebanese but not an Arab!

“Someone…is writing the evening news as if it were an opinion column. What kind of crappy reporting is that?” asks Manicou, unimpressed at the latest media faux-pas.

Jamaican Geoffrey Philp is excited about the latest issue of the Caribbean Review of Books, while Antilles highlights the issue's feature on Trinidadian fashion designer Meiling.

At Registan.net, Nathan Hamm thinks that Uzbekistan's president Islam Karimov will stay in power beyond his constitutional term.

Francis Wade examines the concept of busyness from a Jamaican perspective.

It's Day 4 of the recovery effort to find the victims of the apartment building collapse in Barbados. Barbados Underground says that a significant part of the day was “spent stabilizing and preparing the cave for the extraction of the bodies of the Codrington family presumed to be dead”, while Pull! Push! tells the story in pictures.

Bob Morris fondly remembers what Anguilla's “most famous citizen” taught him about the “unspeakable joy” of a good sea bath…

With controversy surrounding the nuclear deal between India and the US only increasing, GreatBong reflects on the political dynamics within India.

The Middle Stage on Mark Tully, BBC's correspondent who covered India for a long time and his book India's Unending Journey.

Adda reflects on the military in Bangladesh, and in light of the recent clash with the students of Dhaka University, wonders what's next.

Lanka Rising discusses politician Ranil in a scathing post.

Nepali Netbook on the political dynamics in the country and Maoist moderation.

American filmmaker Joseph Spaid tells readers about his film Kiran over Mongolia over at neweurasia. The documentary portrays a young Mongolized Kazakh youth from the urban capital who is taken into an apprenticeship by a true Kazakh eagle master.

Although the Korean hostages are likely to come free after more than a month in custody in Afghanistan, OneFreeKorea is unhappy with the deal struck with the Taliban. In the blogger's opinion, this will “stamp “kidnap me” in fluorescent letters in every Republic of Korea passport”.

Line of Sight looks in on a protest in the upscale neighborhood of Recoleta, where residents protested the demolishment of a hotel. The amateur protests did little to get others involved and many were there for the photo-ops.

A new book written by Maria O'Donnell about the Kirchner administration's use of propaganda will soon be on sale. eBlog [ES] recently spoke with the author and posts the interview.

Chong from interlocals translated an article from 1510.com about the recent move of the Broadcasting and Film Bureau in banning the Phoenix TV (one of the cable TV services).

Riku from China blogger network reminded the readers that Barcamp 2007 (zh) will be taking place in Shanghai (Sept 8) and Beijing soon (Sept 2). It is an opportunities for Internet users and developers to brainstorm the potential of Internet space.

Angry Chinese Blogger summed up the debate about the recall of dangerous toys, whether we are to blame the Chinese manufacturers, multinational toy companies, or consumers?

“When Facebook.com was created, its creators never thought it would one day be a place for racist fights,” writes Jordanian Ahmad Al Ghasmary, who writes about his disappointment with the “I Hate Iraqis” group formed by Jordanians.

A controversial video on Egypt's discrimination against Baha'iis is making the rounds, writes Esra'a from Bahrain.

Algerian Nouri shares his thoughts on the profiling of Arabs and Muslims in the US.

Jordanian Ahmad Humeid, who says he is happy he quit his job in a leading advertising company at the beginning of his career, comments on the way some agencies are celebrating an annual awards ceremony.

A favorite Moroccan blogger, Cat in Rabat announces her blogging reincarnation and move to the Spanish blogosphere, as La Gatita Gringa.

A Moro in America reports that the iPhone has been unlocked, adding: “I am sure the iPhone will be the next 3ya9a gadget in Morocco :)”

Diana Magazine complains of inappropriate scenes being shown on Arab television stations like MBC and Dubai One. The blogger says, “I defend freedom of speech and media and press freedom, but these things are not of our societies.”

Ghasbouba shares his take on democracy and the upcoming Moroccan elections.

Margot the Marrakesh Mystic shares her story of a not-so-good Moroccan maid.

Yoann describes a Vietnamese wedding from a foreigner's perspective. He is pleasantly surprised that to hear familiar french songs during the ceremony (Fr).

Marc Daniel gives a picturesque description of Casablanca in August. He notes that beaches are always full at that time of the year and that surprisingly women and men are both wearing swim suits. Keep in mind, he says, that sports clubs are still men or women only (Fr).