Global Voices Online

Declan Butler links to an article by John Bohannon, which “tells the story of scientists’ actions in the Libya [Tripoli Six] case.”

“In 28 days, Slovenia will take over the rotating presidency of the European Union for the firs six months of 2008 - and for the first time ever, since Slovenia has only been a member of the EU for 1,311 days as we speak. Time then to start learning some basic facts about this often forgotten country - such as what its Internet top level domain (TLD) is,” writes Jonathan Newton of Tales from the European Underbelly.

A Fistful of Euros points out “another reason why Russia should be in the news, its growing inflation problem.”

Window on Eurasia writes on the voting patterns of Russia's Muslims: “Muslims voted for United Russia and thus endorsed Putin, according to Abdulla Rinat Mukhametov, the head of Islam.ru’s research department, in order to demonstrate that they are ‘for a strong, united and socially oriented state' and thus put to rest all charges that Muslims are linked to 'separatism, extremism, and the like'.”

Another discussion at Sean's Russia Blog: “predictable responses” of the Western media to “predictable results” of the Russian election.

Sean's Russia Blog hosts a discussion of Nicolai Petro's International Herald Tribune column titled “Why Russian Liberals Lose.”

Farideh Farhi, a USA based Iranian academic,writes about President Bush's reaction to a National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) that concludes Iran does not currently have a nuclear weapons program.Farideh has chosen “what is George Bush smoking” as title for her post.

James over at Robert Amsterdam's blog posts a comprehensive overview of the recent sale of LiveJournal to the Russian media company Sup and the possible implications of this deal.

Ukrainiana writes about a scandal over teaching methods used at a private school attended by president Yushchenko’s two daughters.

Orange Ukraine writes on various sources of aid to Ukraine, individual and institutional.

Global Voices Online's podcast with Egyptian blogger Wa7da Masrya won the praise of bloggers. Ibn Al Dunya from Egypt and the Free Kareem campaign site mention it in their posts.

Cyrus Farivar, journalist and blogger,talks about the return of President Ahmadinejad’s blog.You can listen to several bloggers and journalists who took part in this radio piece.

Bahraini blogger Mahmood Al Yousif shares his thoughts on Iran's nuclear programme, in the light of a new document which says that Iran has shelved its programme in 2003 and is only pursuing uranium enrichment for peaceful purposes.

The Arab Program for Human Rights has launched a petition in solidarity with Bahraini human rights activist Mohammed Al Maskati, who is facing trial for operating the Bahrain Youth Society Human Rights without a government permit. Mideast Youth hosts it here.

Cerno reflects on the Sri Lankan blogosphere, particularly on the sense of community at kottu.org.

Reflections on Musharraf as the civilian President of Pakistan at All Things Pakistan.

United We Blog! on the demands of Nepali Indians in India who want their own state.

TOL Georgia reports that the Georgian authorities will allow Imedi TV back on air ahead of the January presidential election. However, there are concerns that it might take as long as three months before Imedi TV can resume broadcasting.

The Armenian Economist examines the rise in real estate prices in Armenia and reports that they are still on the increase.

Sarah at Posts from Armenia reports that earlier in the week she was interviewed on Public TV along with another Peace Corps Volunteer to mark International Volunteer Day.

The Armenia Election Monitor 2008 rounds up the latest developments ahead of the February presidential election in Armenia.

Barrio Flores shot video footage of members of the Bolivian community, who marched in Buenos Aires in support of the government of Evo Morales.

Ivan Krstić was in Uruguay to help with the distribution of the OLPC XO laptops. He chronicles the visit with pictures taken at the schools.

Tambopaxi of Quito, La Carolina writes about the first actions taken in the Constituent Assembly in Ecuador.

A new map for use by cell phones will help users maneuver through the difficulties of the Transantiago public transport system in Santiago, Chile, writes Leo Prieto of Fayer Wayer [es].

Maryanne Stroud Gabbani, who lives in Egypt, draws our attention to the plight of children with a school curriculum which doesn't meet their needs in this telling post.

“I like to think that my time in Haiti has made me a kinder, more patient Tara. As it turns out maybe that is only true in certain situations”: Livesay Haiti Weblog has a new travel policy.

Jamie from Japan Probe blogs the diverse opinions on Japan's fingerprinting policy.

Thebookmann features a Trinidad and Tobago version of the Sphinx.

Zhengyi has listed out major fake news in 2007 with some background information. Some of his picks are (zh): 1. Paper Baozi, 2. Cruelest Step mother, 3. Guangzhou's property price goes down upon government regulation; 4. the gunman of campus shooting in Virginia is Chinese; 5. Province government gives order to protect the pig once fed by Maggie Cheung; 6. standard salary of white collar worker; 7.

“It strikes me that if we had a bigger world view, we might relax a little and be able to see that our problems are for the most part, common ones”: Francis Wade says that Jamaica's challenges are not unique.

The State Forestry Administration said whether the Tiger picture is fake or not doesn't matter. Xu Ming from 1510 said that the government's response made God mad (zh). And Rose Lu from 1510 insisted that truth does matter! Or people would eventually lose trust on the government eventually.

Child of the Revolution presents two opposing scenarios about Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's reaction to the defeat of his constitutional referendum.

Metropolitician is drafting a counter proposal to the new foreign teacher's visa. He calls for help in the collective drafting and translation process.

As the February presidential election in Armenia approaches, Oneworld Multimedia makes available the Armenian-translation of Solana Larsen, Zephyr Teachout and Mary Joyce’s Election Blogging Guide.

Unzipped comments on news that Armenia will for the first time ever introduce exit polls for February's presidential election.

Social Science in the Caucasus looks at a recent international study of schools in Azerbaijan and says that the results are concerning.

Maciula reports about launching the construction of the Uzen-Gyzylgaya-Bereket-Etrek-Gorgan transnational railway, which will link Iran, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and probably also Russia.

Almaz says that, according to World Bank’s forecast, the remittances by the Kyrgyz labor migrants will constitute about 100% of the Kyrgyzstan’s 2007 budget or 1 billion US dollars.

Asel tells about the scandal in Kyrgyzstan ahead of the nation's parliamentary vote. An opposition politican put a picture of voting ballot in his blog, and was deregistered as a candidate, while the authorities ordered to eliminate all ballots and print new ones - with the costs to be reimbursed by a politican.

Bboyd reports that Russia's Gazprom agreed to hike its price for Turkmenistan’s gas: from USD 100 per cubic meter (cum) to USD 130 starting January of 2008.

Indonesia Matters has compiled a list of top Indonesian blogs based on their rankings across a range of search engines.

tokyodo-2005 [ja] quotes a November 14 newspaper article which reports 16 cases of suicide among Self-Defence Forces personnel deployed in the Indian Ocean and Iraq this year (up to October). The blogger speculates that the number may actually be larger since some cases might be misclassified as “natural causes” and personnel who retired from service are not included.

Serkan at Tokyotronic translates from Japanese to English instructions for using a new service, KakikoTV, which allows users to modify videos and photos online. The service also allows for the integration of a range of visual and sound effects, as well as comments and subtitles.

“There has been anecdotal evidence that the military is getting increasingly greedy about encroaching on the civilian sphere, particularly when it comes to prime land and business,” notes The Arabist, from Egypt, who brings us the latest story of the military's plans to take over Qursaya Island, off Cairo.

CK from Jewlicious shares scenes of Hanukkah festivities in this photo feature.

IsRealli brings us a special Hanukkah recipe in this vlog.

“This year, the celebration of Hanukkah coincides with a slow-motion genocide the legions of Zionism are carrying out against nearly 1.5 million helpless human beings in the Gaza Strip,” notes Palestinian blogger Khaled Amayreh.

Sleepless in Muscat, from Oman, shares links of newspaper articles written to mark the International Aids Day on December 1.

Re-entry Japan is a collaborative blog site which offers information and discussion on the newly introduced fingerprinting of non-Japanese nationals in Japan. The site has a protest leaflet which people can put in their passport when they go through customs.

Ukrainiana posts one of the four videos released by Yulia Tymoshenko's Bloc, in which “an Orange MP” is allegedly offered to be paid in return for his switching to the opponents' side (translated transcript provided): “There’s your capital — this one thing, the voting card. You have no other capital.”