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Mauritania: Coup d’etat · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Mauritanian blogger Rauf writes about the apparent coup that has taken place in Mauritania. Here's a rough, machine-assisted translation of what's been posted to his blog:
Shootings with heavy weapon were heard Wednesday morning in Nouakchott after the presidential guard had taken the control of several strategic points of the Mauritanian capital, where a military coup d'etat has occurred in the absence of the Head of the State, Maaouyia Ould Taya.
As of 5H00 local (and GMT), soldiers of the presidential guard took the control of the buildings of the staff, the radio and national television and blocked  access to the presidency and the ministries, according to this source.
According to observers, they also positioned vehicles equipped with heavy weapons and anti-aircraft batteries at several strategic points of the capital.
Five shootings of heavy machines resounded with 10h15 close to the center of Nouakchott, whose streets were emptied gradually, of the population.
In the capital, the administrative buildings were deserted and  activity was weak at the end of the morning, with only some pedestrians and vehicles in the streets.
I'll try to track down more Mauritanian bloggers – hope others will do the same.


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Mauritanians report on today’s coup · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

The blog of the Parti Mauritanien pour la Défense de l'Environnement Les Verts (Mauritanian Party for the Defense of the Environment – The Green Party) is celebrating the coup against Mauritanian president Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, offering an article titled Démonstrations de joie dans les rues de Nouakchott” (Demonstrations of Joy in the Streets of Nouakchott). PMDE may have been the first blog to break the news, announcing at 12:21 local time, “Coup d'Etat de la garde présidentielle en Mauritanie, des tirs à l'arme lourde entendus à Nouakchott”. (Coup d'Etat by the presidential guard in Mauritania, shots from heavy weapons heard in Nouakchott.)
Online news service Mauritanie-Web.com reported a “tentative coup” at 7:16, a “confused situation in Noukchott” at 11:24 and a definitive report of a coup at 11:38, quoting Agence France Press. Mauritanie-Web reported later today that the Presidential Guards had taken control of radio and TV stations, ministry buildings, army facilities, and blocked access to the city. Their reporter briefly spoke to the head of the presidential guard:
Interrogé sur ce qui se passe, Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz, chef de la garde présidentielle, s'est contenté de répondre: “A vous de voir ce qu'il y a”.
(Asked what had happened, Mohammed Ould Abdelaziz, chief of the Presidential Guard, was content to respond, “You can see what's going on.”)
Summarizing the events of the day, Mauritanie-web offers the observation “Trois tentatives de coup d'Etat depuis juin 2003, la 4è a réussi” (Three attempted coups since June 2003, the fourth one succeeds.)
OULD, a new blog focused on events in Mauritania (unclear whether the author is inside or outside the country), offered speculation earlier today that the coup leader would be Colonel Ould Abdel Aziz. Posting on a message board, bould echoes OULD's speculation, listing the names of “les putschistes”:
Je vous livre les noms des principaux putschistes:
Colonnel Mohamed ould Abdel Aziz (Basep) garde présidentielle Wilaya inchiri tribu awlad Besbai
Colonnel Ely ould Mohamed Vall (Directeur de la police) et cousin de ould Abdel Aziz Wilaya inchiri tribu awlad Besbai
Colonnel Ould Mohamed Znagui 6ème région militaire Wilaya inchiri tribu awlad Lab
Colonnel Ould Gazwani Blindé (tagant assaba) tribu Ideiboussat
Colonnel Chef d'état major nationale Adjoint.
un communique sera li à la radio peut être qu'ils attendent de convaincre les autres chefs qu'ils ont mis au arrêts (Ould Riha,El Arbi,ould Eyih)
There's an extensive conversation taking place regarding the coup in the ForumDiaspora Yahoo! Group. One post appears to be a communique from organizers of the coup. Signed by “Les Justiciers du Désert” (Dispensers of Justice in the Desert) it states, in part:
Ce jour 3/08/05 doit rester à jamais immortalisé dans notre mémoire.En effet  des membres de nos vaillantes Forces Armées ont décidé de mettre fin au  calvaire de notre Valeureux Peuple,qui souffre depuis plus de vingt ans sous  le joug d'un régime raciste,ségrégationniste,esclavagiste et corrompu
(The date of August 8th must be forever immortalized in out memory. In effect, the members of our valiant armed forces decided to put an end to the martyrdom of our valorous people who have suffered for more than twenty years under the yoke of a racist, segregationist, enslaving and corrupt regime.)
Mohamed Ali Ould Veten, writing in the same forum, observes that while the African Union has condemned the coup, there's been silence from the Maghreb on the subject. He speculates that Taya's government had been too friendly with the United States – and indirectly, with Israel – and that few in the region will shed tears over his departure.
Alioune Ly, also writing in the ForumDiaspora group, condemns the coup and expresses his ongoing support for Taya:
Dans ces instants où tous les opportunistes se rassemblent et pretent allegence,  je tiens à asummer pleinement devant Dieu et les hommes mon soutien à Maao uya  Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya aujourd'hui encore plus qu'hier.    Cet homme patriote, republicain et visionnaire restera à jamais comme celui qui  a tenté contre vents et marées de sortir la Mauritanie des tenebres et cela  malgré l'opposition des extremistes islamo-esclavagistes qui viennent de prendre  le pouvoir.
(At the moment when all the opportunists assemble and pretend alliegance, I pledge before God and man my support for Maao uya Ould Sid’ Ahmed Taya today even more than yesterday.  This patriotic man, republican and visionary will stand forever against the winds and the tides of those who want to lead Mauritania into darkness, in spite of the opposition of the islamo-slave extremists who have just seized power.)
We're looking hard for first-hand accounts of the events in Nouakchott, and we could use the help of fluent French speakers in translating posts from Mauritanian blogs and discussion groups – if you're interested in helping us understand what's going on in Mauritania, please post to the comments thread associated with this post. (Apologies for my poor translations from the French. Happy to have better translations of these quotes offered in the comments thread.)

source: news-globalvoices

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Ethan Zuckerman


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Mauritania’s Military Council Negotiating with Hanana · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

*Al Akhbar (The News – in Arabic) reports at 19:13 that the The Military Council for Justice and Democracy is negotiating with Saleh Weld Hanana, the leader of the Reform Knights – which lead the first coup try in June 2003. Hanana was jailed for life since then.
The aim of these negotioations as describe, is to unit and merge the forces under one leadership,  and the way to deal with Reform Knights members who lives abroad.
المجلس العسكري للعدالة والديمقراطية يفاوض صالح ولد حننا
أكدت مصادر مؤكدة لوكالة أنباء الأخبار المستقلة أن أعضاء من المجلس الوطني للعدالة والديمقراطية (الذي يحكم موريتانيا منذ اليوم) قد دخلوا في مفاوضات مع القائد السابق لتنظيم فرسان التغيير الضابط صالح ولد حننا.
وحسب المعلومات فإن المفاوضات لاتزال جارية هذه اللحظات مع زعيم فرسان التغيير الذي يقضي عقوبة السجن المؤبد في السجن المركزي بنواكشوط إثر قيامه بمحاولة إنقلابية فاشلة في 8 و9 من يونيو 2003 على نظام العقيد ولد الطايع. وحسب نفس المصادر فإن هذا سيحدث توازنا كبيرا في الحكم
وتشير المصادر أيضا إلى أن المفاوضات قطعت أشواطا مهمة وتتركز حاليا على طريقة دمج أعضاء تنظيم فرسان التغيير العسكري المعارض والتعاطي مع الموجودين منهم بالخارج.
ويبدو من خلال هذه المفاوضات أن الانقلابيين يسعون لجمع كل الأطياف ذات التأثير الخطير على الساحة الوطنية ومحاولة منهم لكسب أكبر تأييد شعبي خصوصا في هذه الظرفية الحرجة.
جدير بالذكر هنا أن الضابط السابق صالح ولد حننا كان أول ضابط في الجيش الموريتاني يقود محاولة انقلابية على العقيد ولد الطايع وهي المحاولة التي ذكر أن من أسبابها فساد نظام الرئيس ولد الطايع وعلاقته مع إسرائيل.
The above post is also noting that the Hanana failed coup try was reasoned by the corruption of Weld Al Tayea system and his relations with Israel.
The question is, What is the future of this relation now?
* Al Akhbar claims to be The First Independent Mauritanian News Agency.

author: Haitham Sabbah


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Nepal: Stories, Reflections and a Rally · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Stories and reflections on the dynamics of contemprary Nepali society, and then photos from an “anti-establishment” rally.

author: Neha Viswanathan


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Pakistan: Courage under Musharraf · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Amit Varma links to tales of courage and women in Musharraf's Pakistan.


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Philippines: Fellow journalist threatened · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Inside PCIJ reports that Glenda Gloria, the managing editor of Newsbreak magazine, recieved a chilling death threat yesterday. Ms. Gloria's recent reporting has focussed on the Philippine military.

author: Paul Frankenstein


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Philippines: iBlog Mini Conference Tomorrow · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

iBlog is sponsoring a mini-conference on the role of blogs in the President Arroyo vote-rigging scandal tomorrow at the University of the Philippines Law Center.


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Russia: Way to Go, Russia! · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Russian blog Joy de Vivre applauds the Kremlin's decision to withdraw the accreditation of ABC journalists following the broadcast of an interview with Chechen leader Shamil Basayev.


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Singapore: Singapore leaders ease up on social engineering without ceding political control · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Singabloodypore finds a news articles that says that the city-state's leaders are planning on easing up on social engineering. They have no plans, however, for easing the reins of political control.


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Somaliland: Somalia on brink of more conflict · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Inside Somaliland reports that Somalia is edging ever closer to more armed conflict.


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Spain: Day of Mourning? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Barcepundit doesn't understand why Spain has declared an official day of mourning for Saudi King Fahd.


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Sri Lanka: Different people, different designs · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A post on a designer's experiences and three different clients in Sri Lanka on Nidahas.


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Uganda: Not so tragic life of a middle class African · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Black Looks reminds us that not all the stories that come out of Africa are tragic ones.


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Uganda: Sign Petition for Peace in Northern Uganda! · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Footnotes from the Ugandan Underground asks us to : sign a petition for peace in northern Uganda.


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UK: PodcastCon UK gears up · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

UK blogger Neville Hobson announces PodcastCon UK, the first  conference in Europe that's focused on podcasting. The event takes place on September 17 in central London. (via Loic Le Meur)


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Uzbekistan: The Chill Hits The Street · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Registan.net passes on the news that now non-Uzbekistan citizens are being harrassed for their religious activities.


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Zimbabwe: The Pride of Zimbabwe: Activist Women · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Zimbabwean Pundit profiles the activist women of Zimbabwe.


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Argentina: Buenos Aires and european ways · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jorge Gobbi of Zirma takes on Buenos Aires and it's European customs and identidty.

author: David Sasaki


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Argentina: More Stencil Graffiti · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Line of sight has put up more stencil graffiti from around Buenos Aires.


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Azerbaijan: Roundup · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Registan.net has a great roundup of recent Azerbaijan news.


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Azerbaijan: US Base Moving to AZ? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

With US forces scheduled to evacuate Uzebekistan before the end of the year, there's a great deal of speculation that the US will find a willing replacement in Azerbaijan. Blogrel  looks at the the move and links to more coverage.


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Bangladesh: Symbology of Prostration · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sadiq Alam explores the symbology of prostration on his blog, Inspirations and Creative Thoughts.


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Bolivia: Cochabamba Transportation Strike · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Ray's Journal has two posts on a transportation strike currently underway in Cochabambas. Jokingly, he refers to the Bolivian variant of political activism as “33 revolutions per minute.”


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Bolivia: Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Blog From Boliva profiles the current front runner in Bolivia's presedential campaign, Jorge “Tuto” Quiroga.


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Bolivia: René Joaquino – The Third Option? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eduardo of Barrio Flores says a third ideological option has emerged in the Bolivian presidential race leading up to December's election.


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Cambodia: People and Phone · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

ThaRum's Web writes about the very rapid changes that cell-phone culture is causing in Cambodia.


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China: One Country, Two Flowers · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Simon World looks at the critically important issue of China's lack of a national flower.


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Chinese Blogger’s criticism over Bokee.com · Global Voices
Frank Dai

Bokee.com, formerly known as Blogchina, is the largest Blog Service Provider in China, with 2 million blog accounts. However some Chinese bloggers have been very critical of what Bokee did and the word “Boke”, Chinese translation of “Blog”, which Bokee has been trying to promote, was a highly controversial term in Chinese Blogosphere. It's quite impossible to understand the culture of Chinese blogosphere without mentioning the argumentation concerned with Bokee.
So here I want to introduce some of the criticism over Bokee by Chinese bloggers. Those perspectives I've picked up are totally personal viewpoint but already had attracted significant attention. Also since many of the controversies happened before Bokee changed its original name, I would prefer the use of Blogchina instead of Bokee when refere to it.
1 The translation of “Blog”: As I've just mentioned Blogchina adopted the term “Boke” as Chinese version for “Blog”. In Chinese it was comprised of two characters “Bo”(博) and “Ke”(客). The former means “great, open-minded” while the latter means “person”. But some bloggers thought this translation isn't appropriate because they thought Blogchina misunderstood the core nature of blog. Issac Mao, co-founder of CNBlog, initiated a movement called “I am not boke“, calling Chinese bloggers to stop using the term. Instead they offered another translation, a literal one named “WangZhi”(“Wang” means “Web” and “Zhi” means “Log”). In the “I am not boke” page they claimed that “Blogchina has abused the term and spoiled the culture of blogging”.
This was the most wide-spread argumentation in Chinese blogosphere and even some major newspapers has reported it in the end of 2004.There are many perspectives from bloggers regarding the issue. More views and criticism can be found via Del.icio.us tag and archived entries on CNBlog between June and December 2004.
2  Sexy Blogger. In year 2003 Blogchina didn't have much influence and there are very few people who were bloggers. It was sexy bloggers, who post her almost naked photos and described the details of their sexual life, that made the name “blog” widely known to mass population of netizens. MuZiMei, a pioneer in this field, published her dairies about her sexual activities and gained her fame overnight , which instantly became hot discussion on both online and offline communities.  Blogchina made use of the opportunity, copying those diaries on its own websites. It attracted ten of million visitors daily. And this year another similar phenomenon happened when FuRong JieJie(Sister Lotus) triggered off public interest. Just before authorities put a stop to it, Blogchina had been the major power promoting her.
So some Chinese bloggers were unsatisfied with the behaviors made by Blogchina thinking that it used those sexy bloggers for its own propaganda and attracted visits. Ironically Blogchina has  initiated an  anti-pornography movement before, aiming at the pornographic photo and information on Chinese internet.
3  Copyright infringement. At its early stage Blogchina was more like a research center that did not provide blog hosting service. It featured column as what their counterparts did. But most of the articles on the column were not original, i.e. Blogchina copied the articles from other websites. Sometimes they even created a column for an author and copied their post from other places even though the author himself or herself didn't know he had already became a columnist for Blogchina.
It should be noted that it is a common practice for Chinese Internet when at that time legislation regarding the sphere was rare and out of date. However many articles they put on their website were collected from blogs which adopted Creative Commons license. Blogchina did not pay attention to the point and used those material without properly giving the author's name and hype-links to original sources. (Here is an example). So some of bloggers were very angry about this as one entry in CNBlog wrote(translation):”Though some blogs are hosted on Blogchina, it didn't mean that Blogchina own all its copyright and could use their post without users’ permission.”
Above are the major criticism over Blogchina or Bokee.com. It should be realized that Chinese blogosphere was very complicated because different people held different understanding of what a blog is. Also as a fast-growing tool for netizens to express their thoughts and feelings, blog would be of great cultural and commercial value in the near future. Bokee has been the key figure in promoting blog and blogosphere in China. However it caused some controversies in its development. So it is important to know them before fully investigating the Chinese blogosphere.
Again, the links I've given did not stand for anyone except the cited resources themselves. If you considered that there is any bias existed, please feel free to comment and suggest.

author: Frank Dai


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Colombia: 20 New Female Politicians · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jeanette Jalil, writing from Chile, has the story of 20 women elected to official posts in Bogota, Colombia after being interviewed by the mayor in what she says was a type of “reality show.”


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Cuba: Anti-Castro Bloggers Meme · Global Voices
David Sasaki

George Moneo on Babalu Blog is trying to spread a bloggers’ meme to start a “I've Had Enough” campaign throughout the Cuban-American blogosphere.


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Egypt: No to Mubarak, the Father and the Son · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Manal and Alaa's bit bucket rounds up the last five day activities of Kefaya in five posts under the title of “No to Mubarak, the Father and the Son”, with photos and stories from the protests. Day one, day two, day three, day four and day five!


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El Salvador: Recent Homicides · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim's El Salvador Blog has some disappointing statistics about recent homicides in El Salvador.


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Ghana: Sex in the City, or Lack Thereof · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Emmanuel.K.Bensah blogs from Ghana's capital city about an adults-only radio promo that accidentally ran all weekend, exposing it to families and children.


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Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Police Plan For The WTO Conference · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The WTO will be assembling in Hong Kong in December; EastSouthWestNorth has details of the Hong Kong Police's plan to contain the expected demonstrators.


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India: Politicians and Loos · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny has a tickling post on the connection between toilets and Indian Politics.


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India: Questioning Mother Teresa · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Atanu Dey agrees with Hitchens’ take on Mother Teresa, as he articulates his opinion on the Missionaries of Charity and their work.


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Iran: Imprisoned Journalist in Life-Threatening Condition · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Human Rights Watch is reporting that the Iranian government intensified its attacks on independent human rights defenders by arresting prominent lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani and threatening Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi.


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Iran: Who assassinated Judge Moghaddas? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Secular Canuck-Iranic is siding the rumors in Tehran that the assassination of Judge Moghaddas could be the work of an insider, or someone who worked for any of the Intelligence Organizations of the regime at some point.


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Iraq:  Steven Vincent, a real martyr · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Free Iraqi describe Steven Vincent as Real Martyr and is accusing what he calls the gangs of the radical she'at parties for his death. He also blames the Iraqi government and the American administration on the way they are dealing with the Sadirists when they started looting, torturing and killing people.


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Japan: Postal reform, part two · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Japundit follows up yesterday's post about postal reform in Japan with a look at some of the obstacles that stand in reform's way.


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Malaysia: Join the bloggers on IRC · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Brand New Malaysian is inviting Malaysian bloggers to join an IRC channel dedicated for Malaysian bloggers.


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Nepal: Release Krishna · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A link to Amnesty International's appeal to release Krishna KC, who was been held by the security forces for two years now on Samudaya.


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Pakistan, India: Confused Economics · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Varnam challenges the much quoted McDonalds theory, by pointing to the “Confused Economics” between Pakistan and India.


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Palestine: Rocket Attack Update · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Rafah Pundit is pointing to the latest press release from Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) which condemns all attacks that targeting all civilians not just Palestinian civilians.


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Paraguay: U.S. Soldiers In Paraguay · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boli-Nica adds to the speculation on what U.S. troops are doing in Paraguay.


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Peru: María Elena Moyano · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Don Ball Carbajal of South American Journal remembers María Elena Moyano, a Peruvian political activist who spoke out against the violent revolutionary group, Shining Path until she was murdered in 1992.


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Philippines: iBLOG DAY · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

By Jove! has a roundup of the events at the iBlog mini summit in the Philippines. The primary focus of the day was the “Gloriagate” election scandal, though many other topics were covered.


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Russia: Shamil Basayev ABC interview – video · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

SiberianLight points to video of the controversial Shamil Basayev interview. Basayev is a Chechen warlord who was interviewed by a freelancer for the American TV network ABC; in response to ABC's airing of the interview, Moscow revoked the journalist credentials of ABC's employees in Russia. In related news, SiberianLight also points to a history of foreign journalism in the Soviet Union.


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Singapore: One Singapore Minute · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Mr. Brown is trying to launch a new flickr meme to commemorate Singapore Nationa Day.


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South Asia: Lessons from the Honda Clash · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The lessons of the Honda Clash in India as seen on Corporate Social Responsibility Asia.


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Sudan: Tragically Funny · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Humanitarian Hijnks relates the tale of an NGO aid worker who was planning on starting a pilot chicken farm project… but the chickens involved met an unexpected and unfortuate fate.


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Syria: Alley of Waterwheels · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Damascene writes and show in photo, the oldest and only surviving waterwheel in Damascus .


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Africa: The AU’s priorities · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Black Star Journal applauds the fact that the African Union has condemned the coup in Mauritania,  but wonders where the rest of their priorities are.


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Australia: Soccer and the Australian psyche · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Australian blog Rank and Vile digs into the rivalry between world football (aka soccer) and Australian Rules Football.


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Bahrain: AIPAC Spies · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Desert Island Boy asks: Charges have been filed against lobbyists for Israel. Does that make them spies, and does it make their employer a foriegn agent?


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Bolivia: New Poll · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Blog from Bolivia links to a new poll which has Jorge Quiroga firmly in the lead for December's presidential election.


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China: Trusting the Media · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

EastSouthWestNorth reports on the story of an entrepreneur, involved in a dispute with the local government, who disappeared after leaving for a meeting with a “reporter”. As far as anyone can tell, he was arrested by public security officials who had been posing as CCTV producers.


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Colombia: Visiting Colombia · Global Voices
David Sasaki

At the five year anniversary of Plan Colombia, Boz has some excellent and optimistic observations about his latest trip to Colombia/a>.


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Cuba: 1,524 Cubans interdicted since Jan. 1 · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Matt Lawrence of Havana Journal has some statistics on detentions of Cuban illegal immigrants so far this year.


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Egypt: Zawahiri Hated · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Reacting to Al-Jazeera clips of Ayman al-Zawahiri yesterday, Abu Aardvark is asking: Why are so many conservative analysts so insistent on taking bin Laden's side in intra-Islamist debates?, and Sabbah is calling the ‘Prophet’ Al-Zawahri who Promises the Impossible, and asking him “go to hell.”


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El Salvador: Vacation Season · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tim says it's that time of year when most Salvadorans enjoy their vacation time including some 65,000 that will visit Guatemala.


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Flickr pick from Bhutan · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Photograph by Babasteve


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France: Bakon Halal · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Tunisian blog Subzero Blue is happy to introduce “BKM” or Burger King Muslim, which he hopes to rival “McDo” and “KFC” with a gut appeal to France large Muslim minority.


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Ghana: Kente Weavers of Ashanti · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Last night, I put together a short video about traditional kente weaving in Ghana's Ashanti region. Kente, perhaps the most famous West African textile, is brightly colored, coming in a variety of patterns, some reserved for use by Ashanti royalty. The video was shot in the historic kente weaving village of Bonwire, about an hour south of Kumasi. Three weavers are featured, each using a traditional loom to make the cloth. The video also contains music performed by Ghanaian drummer Obo Addy, used with permission from Alula Records. There are two versions of the video: high resolution (13 megs) and low resolution (two megs).
Kente Weavers of Ashanti:
High res video
Low res video
Production notes:
The video was shot on July 23, 2005 in Bonwire village, Ashanti Region, Ghana, using a Konica-Minolta dImage A-200 digital camera. The Quicktime files shot on the camera were uploaded to a Macintosh G4 laptop and edited with Final Cut Pro HD 4.5. Both versions of the video were compressed using the 3ivx compression codec. Total editing time was about 90 minutes, including compression.
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author: Andy Carvin


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Guatemala: More Reflections · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Cyril Mychalejko has his third and final post on Upside Down Blog about his trip to Guatemala where he observed a miner's union.


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India: Faith-Walkers cause riots · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Synchroni-Cities has a post on faith-walkers called the Kanwarias, and comments on communal mobilization through mass media technology. More about the Kanwarias here.


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India, Pakistan, Bangladesh: Multiculturalism for Brit-Asians · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Amardeep provides perspective on Hanif Khureishi's idea of Multiculturalism, and Islamic Schools in Britain.


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Inside the Japanese Blogosphere · Global Voices
Nevin Thompson

Japanese bloggers were able to offer almost realtime accounts of the recent earthquake in northern Japan.
Says one Japanese blogger:
The fridge door swung upon, the goldfish bowl fell off the shelf, and it was just a terrible situation inside the house…There have been a lot of earthquakes here in recent years, which makes me a little worried. And it shook for such a long time…
Takafumi Horie, 32 year-old head of  Livedoor, which offers Japan's most popular blogging tool, may run for the governing Liberal Democratic Party as a star candidate in the upcoming Lower House elections, scheduled for September 11. A University of Tokyo graduate, Horie may run against the popular Shizuka Kamei, a former LDP heavyweight who was recently ousted from the party for opposing Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's postal reform bill.
Besides offering free portable DVD players to new bloggers (only until September 30, and some restrictions apply!), Ameba Blog  holds a contest each month for the twenty most popular Japanese blogs, and prizes range from 5000 yen (about US$45.00), to 100,000 yen ($900.00). Blog popularity appears to be determined according to page hits.
Japan's Outrageous Asian Neighbours, previously highlighted on Global Voices Online, won 5000 yen at 12th place. Blogs about shopping and celebrities are among those that received 10,000 yen, while a blog devoted to flash games and other neat stuff was awarded 30,000 yen.
The number one blog for July won 100,000 yen, and its title can be loosely translated as I have an ogre for a wife! The blog, which features cartoon artwork, documents the blogger's oppressive life with his wife. The tone is humorous, and has the blog has struck such a chord with its readers that it has been adapted into a manga series and a television show on Fuji Television, the network with close ties to Livedoor.
Livedoor and Cyberagent, Ameblog's parent company, often like to be seen to be working together.
There are also plans to turn I have an ogre for a wife! into a movie  in the near future as well.
Needless to say, Ameba Books, Ameblog's publishing unit, has wasted no time putting out two volumes of I have an ogre for a wife!, both of which can be bought on Amazon.

author: Nevin Thompson


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Iraq: The Iraqi government failure · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Hammorabi is talking about the failure of Talabani-Aljafari-Alhakem coalition and state that it is not only failure in the security issues and preventing the terrorist attacks but in producing successful regional and international healthy relationships.


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Jordan: Rum concert · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Roba is expressing her pleasure of attending Rum concert, which was held at Al-Hussein Park as a part of the Jerash Festival program.


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Kenya: KBW: 100 not out · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Mentalacrobatics celebrates the fact that the Kenyan Blogs Webring has grown to more than 100 members.


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Lebanon:  The Shia Dilemma is Lebanon’s Dilemma · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Lebanese Political Journal is giving an interesting overview of the relation between the Lebanese Shi'a and Syria and how they became such monoliths that only massive turmoil could topple them.


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Macam-Macam: An apology · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Macam-Macam reports that former deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has recieved an apology from the man who beat him while Ibrahim was in police custody in the late 1990s. Wikipedia has more information on the politically-motivated charges that originally landed Ibrahim in jail.


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Malaysia: The Valley of Bio-Ghosts · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Referencing a Nature article, Jeff Ooi wonders what ever happened to BioValley, Malaysia's purported biotechnology research center.


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Nepal: Political Crisis · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

BloggerCorps gives the background on the current political crisis in Nepal.


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Nepal: The Democracy Advantage · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A review of the book, The Democracy Advantage on Samudaya.


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Nicaragua: The price of Terror · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Some expats living in Nicaragua, joke about “the price of Terror.”


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Pakistan: Bolton to the UN · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The Olive Ream offers a perspective on John Robert Bolton's appointment as the Ambassador to the United Nations.


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Palestine: Victory Festival Pants · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

In humorous way, Laila (A Mother From Gaza) is observing the Palestinian life this week celebrating Israel withdrawal, wearing “Victory Pants.” The pants will actually be blue jeans, to be worn with white T-shirts.


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Palestine: Why he did what he did? · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

marsden wonders if the four “ISRAELIS” who happened to be non-Jewish, killed by Israeli solider will be listed on Israeli websites, or the Jerusalem Post on its tribute page for victims of terror!


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Philippines: Raul Roco, RIP · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Torn and frayed in Manila mourns the death of former presidential candidate Raul Roco: “Philippine politics has lost perhaps its only intellectual heavyweight of recent years.”


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Singapore: RadioSDP – A pleasant surprise · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Omeka Na Huria is pleasantly surprised that the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), one of Singapore's few opposition parties, has started podcasting. However, Mr. Brown is, in his own unique way, somewhat skeptical of the endevour. And Wannabe Lawyer actually reviews the content–well, kinda…


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South Asia: Asian Queer Conference · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Insights on the presence of South Asians at the 2005 Asian Queer Conference in Bangkok on DesiQ.org.


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Uzebekistan: A Free Clue for State · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Registan.net catches a US State Department official desperately trying to put the best possible spin on US relations with Tashkent.


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Venezuela: American Ambassador and Baseball · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tomas Sancio of Venezuelan Politics covers the reaction and controversy which followed after U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield distributed free baseball equipment to poor youth in the capitol city, Caracas.


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Venezuela: Municipal Election Predictions · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Daniel of Venezuela News and Views makes his predictions for this Sunday's municipal elections.


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Venezuela: Telesur · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The Devil's Excrement does not yet seem convinced of the quality of Telesur's programming.


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Zimbabwe: No Fourth Estate? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Zimbabwean Pundit points out an interview with “reviled media henchman Tafataona Mahoso”, where he explains why there's no such thing as journalism that has Zimbabwe's interests at heart.


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Armenia: The Garbage Dump has become a Way of Life :: August :: 2005 · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Oneworld Multimedia documents the life of families who scratch out a living by living at urban garbage dumps.


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Bahrain: Insomnia · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Silly Bahraini Girl maybe has insomnia, which reminds her of two English ladies who trashed her because she is an Arab, in her own country!


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Cambodia: Government should fight for change · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

A young Cambodian blogger calls on his government to fight for social change.


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CAMBODIA: Youth Vision Blogger in YCC Radio · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Cambodia  blogger Lux Mean has started podcasting in Khmer.


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East Asia: Nominations Open… · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The overseas Chinese blog Yellow Peril writes, in a sort of round-about fashion, about how female asian bloggers who write about sex are human rights pioneers.


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Egypt: Get In · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Karim Elsahy is giving some ideas for those who would like to participate in fundraising for SharmRelief.com which support the victims and families of Sharm el-Shiekh bomb-hit.


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Egypt: Sharm Bomb Experience · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Daoud Kuttab (a Palestinian Journalist) and his family, were spending their annual vacation at Sharm el-Sheikh the time it was bomb-hit last month (Sharm blast in pictures – BBC). Read the story as he lived it. The good news is that he enjoyed the trip. Good spirit!


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Flickr Pick From Japan · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

“Nishiki Ichiba(Kyoto) #3″ by osanpo


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Iran: Rosewater Threats · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Another Irani Online describes the new NYPD measures to prevent any London-style attacks in the NY City subways as misguided and silly, and suggests that the Department of Homeland Security should hire some decent consultants.


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Iraq: Iraq moderates · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Iraqi Thoughts wonder, where are the Iraq Arab liberal moderates? He is afraid that Iraq will become another Iran, where alcohol is banned, women are oppressed and the money is going to the mullahs and their agents.


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Iraq: Suspected bag · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Guess the daily hassle of an Iraqi university girls has to go through in her way to class? Aunt Najma is describing it with a sense of humor, even when the masked Iraqi national guards suspect her bag.


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Jordan: Jordanian Bloggers and Summer Activities · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Ahmad Humeid is very excited to introduce to you the First Flea Market in Amman. While Isam is enjoying his time at Wikimania and Roba finally made it to the Dead Sea.


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News from Chinese Blogosphere · Global Voices
Frank Dai

1 The case of luXuesong: LuXuesong, a teacher in Jilin College of the Arts, was suspended from her teaching post with political reason in May. She played a movie that was censored by government in her class. After this incident, she posted what she has been treated with on a BBS. It immediately became the hottest topic in Chinese Internet. Not only netizens but also some key figures in academics gave support to her. A blogger told that soon after he wrote about the Lu's case, a man commented on his blog on behalf of the school. The blogger was very puzzled with how the school authorities found his blog and commented.
2 Baidu IPO: Baidu Inc.,the “China Google”, was on IPO in Nasdaq yesterday. It amazingly jumped 354% in its first day. However just few days before its debut on stock market, it is being sued by two local companies over copyright infringement, as The Horse Mouth reports. Baidu's mp3 download program has been very controversial for allegation that it provided its user with millions of copyrighted files for free. Baidu defended itself that it was just responsible for searching the file while Baidu did not upload any of the files.
3 Alleged spying: Ching Cheong,a Singaporean journalist was charged with espionage activities in China. He was detained when he was trying to get insight into the Tiananmen massacre in 1989. However Simon World thought that the trial on him would be insignificant and soon after conviction he would be released by government.
4 New online game regulation: China's Ministry of Culture issued a new regulation to puts restriction on online multi-players game. Children under the age of 18 would no longer be allowed to play game which include Player Killing(PK). It also offered a list of suggested games, most of which are light and easy to play. Online game has grown into a social problem in China. Many teenagers, especially students gave up their school or job and even committed crime like robbery and stealing because of gaming.
5 Ban on foreign satellite broadcaster: China proposed new regulations restricting foreign capital to invest Chinese market, in an effort to tighten control over the country's cultural heritage. However Somebloggers pointed out that recently FTChina, subsidiary of Financial Times in China, managed to avoid the restriction and officially announced its Chinese website in the name of HongKong investors, HongKong Financial Times Ltd.
6 More bad words found: China Digital Times found another list of banned words in QQ, a popular instant messenger. They also gave a full translation of the 1041 filtered words. Some of the words are very obscure like name of a folk singer. It was very ironical that although the government claimed that its firewall system was mainly to block pornographical information but only 15% of the banned words are sex-related.
7 Chinese Blogger Conference: A detailed time table has been published by the organizing committee on the official website. Also the the themes and persons engaged in discussions and speeches have been determined.


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The human cost of one penny less · Global Voices
Rezwan

‘Dateline NBC’ investigates the human costs in the developing world behind the bargain shopping trend of the Americans and the competitive deals of the big discount stores.
The investigation goes to the source of the goods these store offers. In Bangladesh, a female worker, Masuma gets more like 17 cents for sewing as much as 80 stripes on pants in an hour, a perfectly legal wage, and more than many Bangladeshis like her earn. But she can barely live with that wages.
MSNBC arranged to bring her to the US, to a store where these pants are sold. She was shocked to find the selling price ($12.84) of one striped pant, more than she could imagine. She said the price of the pants left her feeling taken advantage of. If she was paid 25 cents an hour instead of 17, a 50 percent raise, she could lead what she considers a decent life.
When a US customer on that store was asked in front of Masuma, whether she would by the pant if it was 25 cents more, she declined. She said that she feels for Masuma, but she is counting her pennies as well. It’s the debate over globalization in its simplest form.
One Bangladeshi garments executive claims:
A few years back, I told Wal-Mart, “Give me one cents more a piece, one cent. I will use that money for these poor people.’ Wal-Mart's reply was, ‘No, give us two cents less.’
So the industry gives in to the competition, shattering millions of workers’ (like Masuma) dreams:
“They make us work so hard, and they cheat us so much and we're human beings. I'm not an animal. I'm a human being. Of course I'm angry. This is really shocking.”
Will they ever be heard? Will we still be counting our pennies?

author: Rezwan


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USA: Money Talks · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Desert Island Boy says that Caterpillar was the poster child for an American corporation that made money on the occupation of Palestinian territories. A number of American Christian congregations are saying they won't stand for it, nor will they stand to benefit from it!


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Bahrain: Bloggers are Not Opposition · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Silly Bahraini Girl is making a very interesting statement about Bahraini Bloggers and denying the claims that they are opposition to their country. She sees that these bloggers are blogging for a noble reason in a country with no free press.


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Egypt: Blair is Right · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Egyptian Person is happy about Tony Blair's recent actions against immigrant extremists living in UK and hopes the rest of Europe to make similar actions.


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Iran: Kurdistan Solidarity · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Iran News Blog is reporting that Ahwaz Arabs have backed Kurdish protests against the Iranian regime after dozens of Kurds were killed in uprisings in some Iranian cities like Mahabad. With same reference, Brooding Persian decided to be among the Iranian bloggers campaigning in solidarity with the Kurdish citizens and he posts some references to the Kurdistan case.


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Iraq: Women’s Rights · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Dictatorial regimes are not the only reason to draw Muslim world backward, but also the dictator of the mind. The Egyptian blogger, Big Pharaoh is referring to the news about Iraqi Shia't parties who are trying to use the new constitution to undermine women’s rights.


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Saudi: Women Can Vote! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Some good news from saudi. Sabbah says that 600 Saudi women are expected to participate in the elections of the chamber of trade and industry.


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Argentina: FUERZABRUTA · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Buenos Aires, City of Faded Elegance recommends checking out FUERZABRUTA if you're in the Buenos Aires area.


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Bangladesh: Demographics of the Muslim World · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A random comment on his blog provokes Rezwan to write a post examining the demographics of of the Muslim World.


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Bolivia: Bolivian Independence Day · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Both MABB and Barrio Flores wish Bolivia, which turned 180 on Saturday, a very happy birthday.


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Bolivia: Santa Cruz Impressions · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Miriam offers her impressions of the Santa Cruz region of Bolivia
where she was forced to travel by bus because of labor strikes by train workers.


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Bolivia: The Left Begins to Unite · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jim Schultz writes on Blog from Bolivia that the political left is beginning to unite after an unorganized start to this year's election. Dan Moriarty, meanwhile, offers his take on some of Blog from Bolivia's usual commenters.


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Cambodia: Blogging in Khmer Language · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Given the rapid progress made in developing Khmer software packages, ThaRum's Web believes that it won't be long before we start seeing blogs written in Khmer.


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China: Baidu Fudging their  · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

China Herald points to speculation that Chinese internet search engine Baidu has been inflating its marketshare numbers.


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China: Shanghai Typhoon · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Marc van der Chijs reports from Shanghai that Typhoon Matsa flooded the subways.


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Colombia: Profile of Cali · Global Voices
David Sasaki

John Guzman of Logtar's Blog writes about his hometown of Cali, Colombia.


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Ethiopia: In the back of a ‘blue donkey’ line-cab – My favourite place in Ethiopia #3 · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Andrew Heavens writes about the bustling public transportation system in Addis Ababa.


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India: Educating (Sic) Women · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Uma brings to light the school for to-be-brides in Bhopal, and Charukesi picks the thread up on the obsession of categorizing women as good and bad.


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India: Melancholy tunes · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Synchroni-Cities traces the story of a flute-player from Delhi's crowded Connaught Place.


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Korea: Can Korean Food Take-off Among Non-Korean Diners? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Asia Pages wonders if Korean food can find a non-Korean audience?


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Malaysia: Let’s say… we take China out of Chindia? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Jeff Ooi wonders what Malaysia can do to stay competitive with the emergence and growth of China.


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Malaysia: Rafidah in Hong Kong? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Brand New Malaysian passed on a rumor that Malaysian Minister for International Trade Dato’ Seri Rafidah Aziz was secretly in Hong Kong, rather than in Perth, as had been reported.


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Pakistan: Education or Propaganda · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Ahmed Bilal questions the intention of education as we know it. Is it just another propaganda machine?


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Philippines: The Philippines According to Blogs turns 1. · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Ambot ah! celebrates the fact that PinoyBlogs.com turns one today.


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Russia: Moscow, where the sacred is profaned · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Scraps of Moscow is shocked and amused to see the symbols of Victory Day used to beautify a row of portajohns.


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Singapore: Singlish! · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

From a Singapore Anglehas some thoughts on Singlish, Singapore's homegrown patois.


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Sri Lanka: Universities in SL · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A post on the state of Sri Lankan universities on Education Forum, and reflections on the new University for Uva Wellassa.


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Sudan: Attack of the mutating acronyms · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Humanitarian hijinks on the ever-evolving, acronym-laden patois of the refugee camps in Darfur.


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The BBC sponsors African blogs · Global Voices
Ethan Zuckerman

The BBC has a long tradition of encouraging readers and listeners of their Africa service to talk about their views of the continent, running features like “Why I Love Africa”, where Africans and afrophiles are invited to share their positive visions of the continent. They've recently gone a step farther and are now featuring a rich new section, “African Lives”, which lists all their Africa focused content, as well as pointing to a wide variety of online content, including briefings on each country on the continent, an excellent map to teach kids about Africa, a directory of African restaurants in the UK and of Africa-focused radio stations, record stores, etc.
(I couldn't get the BBC's Africa Quiz to work – it crashed after the third question – but if you feel compelled to test your Africa knowledge, allow me to recommend Schoolnet Namibia's Africa Map game, especially on the hardest level…)
But for fans of bridgeblogs, the most interesting section is “My Africa”, a collection of “diaries” by BBC correspondents and some of the people they meet along the way. Most have only one or two posts, but end up being rich portraits of individual lives on the continent. Franck Otete's view of medical school in the Democratic Republic of Congo reminds us how important the Internet is becoming to education on the continent, as most of Franck's lessons are delivered via distance learning from France. Ekow Eshun returns to Ghana, the land of his parents, though he's grown up in London and become a succesful art critic – his trip back “home” becomes a complicated set of questions about where he's really from.
But the truth of blogs is that they get better when you have more time – and more posts – to learn about the author. I've recently become a fan of Eseme Udoekong's blog – he's a math teacher and small-scale farmer in Ikpe Udok, Nigeria, who seems to have a gift for teaching and a taste for village politics. I'm also reading Lilian Indombera, a teacher and performer who's been splitting her time between her native Nairobi and Burundian refugee camps in Tanzania. She's got a great eye for some of the more colorful details of Kenya, including the astoundingly decorated matatus (minivans) that serve as public transport for most Kenyans.
And Edward Chiwale gives a perspective I'd never thought much about – the view of life as a beat cop in Mufulira, Zambia on a blog titled “Police Business”. His first post is rather memorable – a lesson in how one gets a patient to the hospital when there's no ambulance service:
At about 10 pm, I saw one of the bar men, a stout bulky man, coming towards our office whilst lifting up another man who was injured. He reported on behalf of the injured man. I moved forward towards the front of the front desk, I looked at the injured man, oh! I was shocked when I saw his intestines coming out from his stomach.
I started to issue a medical report; but the man was just at the point of death. There was no vehicle at the office at that time, so I was left with no option but to pick my up AK47 Riffle and stand in the road.
Soon a car came, but, because the night was becoming heavy, the driver refused to stop. I fired into the sky so as to scare him and he stopped. The patient was taken to the hospital where he was attended to and survived.
My friends at AllAfrica and I have been tracking dozens of African blogs on BlogAfrica for the past year… but as an aggregator, we're limited to covering blogs that people are organically creating and registering. BBC is going a step further, looking for people with interesting stories to tell, arming them with digital cameras and encouraging them to get posting. It appears to be a hugely successful experiment so far, one that I hope expands so that Global Voices can feature more of these excellent new African blogs.


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Uganda: Victor Julie Mukassa Update · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Black Looks has an update on lesbian activist Victor Julie Mukassa, who has been in hiding for the past several weeks.


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Ukraine: Teachers’ Salaries · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Neeka's Backlog looks at the wages paid to college professors and school teachers. The headline on the news article she links to? “Professors are to be given a salary that would allow them to buy a cell phone with a camera.”


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Venezuela: Political Apathy · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Bloggings by Boz has a brief roundup on politics in Venezuela.


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Zimbabwe: Life on Harare’s streets · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Zimbabwean Pundit looks at the inflation that's hit the streets of Harare.


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Bangladesh: Folk Theatre · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rezwan has a fascinating post on Jatra, or folk theatre in Bangladesh and its role in creating opinions.


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Bangladesh: Pi and Sufi · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sadiq Alam links to a post that explores the link between the Life of Pi and Sufism.


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Cambodia: How to use CSS to blog in Khmer · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

On the heels of the latest Phnom Penh blogger meetup, Webbed feet, Web log passes on a quick little CSS hack to blog in Khmer.


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China: Local Companies Ready for the outside world? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

China Herald is skeptical of the ability of Chinese companies like Huawei, CNOOC, and Baidu to compete globally.


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China & Taiwan: lee teng-hui sounds off · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Former Taiwanese President Lee Tung-Hui has injected himself into the China/Taiwan debate by arguing that any invasion of Taiwan by China would be impossible due to the US nuclear submarine presence in the western Pacific.


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Estonia: Noncitizens to disappear by 2010 · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Bonjour L'Estonie reports that Prime Minister Andrus Ansip announced that Estonia's stateless population will have all become Estonian citizens within 10 years. Interestingly enough, Estonia's apparently liberal naturalization process contrasts sharply with the process in some western countries.


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Guatemala: New Media University Program · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Eloquence and Subalternity is a big fan of the online digital collection of the New Media program at Guatemala's Francisco Marroquin University. There are also several worthwhile publications in English on their site.


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Guatemala: New Student Blogs · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Carlos Roberto Cabrera of Regilete has an updated list of blogs from the EnRed project which encourages students from around Guatemala to start their own blogs about topics that interest them.


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Images from Indonesia: Flag Seller · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

“Seller in a Market That Should Be a Lot Smaller by Now” by Shreyans
A street vendor sells Indonesian flags for in Jakarta in preparation for the upcoming Indonesian National Day on August 17th.


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India: Against street harassment · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

An incredible effort against street harassment, Blank Noise Project  has the details on buiding testimonies through public efforts.


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India: Influencing the Media Giant · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Reuben posts on how a community blog could perhaps help generate feedback and influence the  content of India's leading daily, the Times of India.


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Kenya: Chocolate Teapots · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Thinker's Room wonders why weren't Kenya's politicians at a ceremony observing the August 7, 1998 bombing of the American Embassy in Nairobi.


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Kenya: Trees: a great investment · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Bankelele writes about tree farming in Kenya.


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Meet Da: Cambodian Software Engineer · Global Voices
Beth Kanter

Hok KaKada, age 21, is one of six software engineers working on the Khmer OpenSource Software Project and the only woman. “Da” was born in Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia.  She has worked on the project since August, 2004.
The Khmer OS Project is customizing OpenSource software programs so they run in Khmer language, including soon to be released blogging software.  That means learning English is no longer a barrier to learning how to use a computer in Cambodia.  The project involves not only a huge amount of coding work, but translation too, over 30,000 strings.   Not just the English to Khmer words, but also developing culturally appropriate images and computer terms.  Take for example renaming FireFox as Mekhala,  replacing the Firefox logo with a culturally appropriate image of the Khmer goddess bringing light to the world.
1.  How did you get interested in technology?
I started to fall in love with IT when I was in grade 9 when I first saw a computer.  I knew nothing about computers, but I found them amazing and magical.  I decided to pursue Computer Science and Engineering degree at University.
Cambodia is one the poorest countries in the world.  So, the use of computer is not common and IT training at University level is fairly new.  Today, Internet access costs about US $1 per hour in places like Phnom Penh or Siem Reap and while it is much less expensive compared to a few years ago (US$5 per hour), that’s still a lot of money for Cambodians.
2.  What is your job on the Khmer OS team?
I have been working with a team of OS Engineers translating, tracking, and updating the software.  It is now running on OpenOffice.org 1.9.121.  We are now also preparing Training for student and for trainer.
3.  Are there many female software engineers in Cambodia?
There are 6 OS Engineers, and I am the only woman.  There are 4 Master Teacher Trainers, but only one woman too.  There are more man than woman working in the IT field in Cambodia.  My first year at school, there were only two woman in my class among 45-50 students.
4. What are your hopes for the Khmer OS Software project?
KhmerOS is working smoothly and gaining interest from Cambodian users.  With the help of NiDA, we hope to spread Khmer Software throughout Cambodia.
KhmerOS team will do their best to help Cambodian people spend less time (and money) on sitting in front to Computer, because interface will be in Khmer Language, not a foreign language.
6.  Can you tell more about the Khmer language software for blogs being  developed?
We are localizing the Drupal FOSS contents management system, which includes a blogging system. We will probably have it available on the second week of September.  (Note: Tharum writes about the potential impact)
7.  Do think it is important for Cambodian people to blog?
Because Cambodia is a county in which communication does not exist. 30 years of war have a left a country without trust. Identity, ethics and morals are not part of everyday life, and the only method that might bring these values back create is communication among the youth: learning how to be informed, how to debate, how to create their own values. In this context, a well guided blogging project can be a bridge between many organizations working for similar goals, as well as for publishing and understanding different points of view, and therefore advancing towards democracy.
For a good summary of the project with links, see Jinja's post.
Cross posted on Beth's Blog

author: Beth Kanter


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Nepal: Violence in the Valley · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

United We Blog! on government created vigilante groups and the violence in the Daman Valley.


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Nicaragua: Linux Internet Cafes · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Kevin Brandes writes a post on Linux Journal about his summer trip to Estelí, Nicaragua where he is helping spread the word about free and open source Linux, which he calls the only realistic legal choice for someone wanting to start an Internet cafe there. Linux Gazette, meanwhile, explains how he got there. There is also a Linux users group in Estelí.


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Nicaragua: Pre-Hispanic Capitol · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Picasso Dreams went to a presentation by an archeologist in Nicaragua about what he believes to be the region's original capitol city before the Spanish conquest.


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Philippines: Kill the pork barrels · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Sassy Lawyer writes about the Priority Development Assistance Fund, more commonly known as the pork barrel fund. The PDAF automatically allocates funds to legislators to spend as they wish.


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Russia & Ukraine: A novel scam… · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

SiberianLight notes a novel scam: the Ukrainian mafia have started counterfeit mystery book, using the name of a best-selling Russian writer…


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Singapore & Malaysia: Singapore’s National Day · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Malaysian blogger Rajan Rishyakaran reflects on Singapore's National Day and how it reflects on Malaysia, its northern neighbor.


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Singapore: National Day · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Today is Singapore's National Day, and it's also the 40th anniversary of Singapore's independence. Daryl Sng muses that it feels odd to have a country younger than his parents, while Mr.Brown's family provided color commentary on the National Day Parade. Tomorrow.sg also has a roundup of Singapore blogs celebrating their country's birthday.


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Sri Lanka: Mitigating Disasters · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A concept paper titled ‘Early Warning System for Dam Related Hazards‘ has been developed with inputs from communities and experts, and is being shared in a Press Conference organised by LirneAsia.


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Venezuela: Municipal Election Results and Analysis · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Venezuela News and Views, Venezuelan Politics, The Devil's Excrement, and Publius Pundit all offer analysis of this past weekend's municipal elections, which yielded extremely low turnouts throughout the country.


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Argentina: Debt-for-Education Swaps · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Diego, writing from Buenos Aires, Argentina, continues with his third post on debt-for-education swaps in Latin America.


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Argentina: Recoleta Cemetery · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Just a week after Marisa posted photos from her visit to Recoleta Cemetery in Buenos Aires, Line of Sight announces that he has finished a painstakingly detailed map of the cemetary which he is thinking about selling and giving a percentage to the cash-strapped cemetery.


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Argentina: Second Serbian War Criminal Caught · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Expat Argentina comments on yesterday's apprehension of Serbian war criminal, Milan Lukic in Buenos Aires. She believes Argentina is still struggling to shed its image as a haven for war criminals ever since Peron invited German Nazis after World War II.


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Azerbaijan: AZ Youth Opposition Leader Arrest Aftermath · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Blogrel has a great roundup of the fallout from the arrest of a popular opposition politican in the run-up to parliamentary elections in the fall.


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Bahrain: The Homeless World Cup · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Mahmood is coordinating efforts to make it possible to send a Bahraini Team to play next year at Cape Town-South Africa. The Homeless World Cup is an international event that uses the positive power of football to raise the issue of homelessness and poverty worldwide.


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Bangladesh: Suicide Bombers · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

DeshCalling has a post on “Inside the Mind of a ‘Suicide’ Bomber”.


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Bolivia: Is Chavez Funding Evo Morales? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jim Shultz of Blog from Bolivia looks into the claim that Hugo Chavez is secretly funding Bolivian leftist presidential candidate, Evo Morales.


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Blogging Survey · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Maha is doing research for her Masters about blogging in Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon . If you are living in any of these countries, go ahead and share your experience by taking this survey.


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Bolivia: Evo Morales and Alvaro Garcia Linera? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

MABB says populist leader Evo Morales might try unifying the left by asking leftist intellectual, Garcia Linera to run on the same ticket as vice-president.


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Cambodia: How can we remove barriers to podcasting from Cambodia? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Beth Kanter wonders how to remove the barriers that face podcasters from Cambodia.


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Chile: Chilean at Wikimania · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Quemar las Naves sends greetings to his fellow countryman, Juan David who just finished attending Wikimania in Frankfurt, Germany, the first international Wikimedia conference.


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China: A Chinese Chatroom Adventure · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

An unfortunate chat room user found that her picture was hijacked by an unknown party who used it as their avatar in an “adults-only” chat room, reports EastSouthWestNorth.


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China: Bill Clinton keynote speaker at China Internet Summit · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

China Digital Times reports that former US President Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker at the China Internet Summit this fall in Hangzhou.


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China: great wall party – the secret route to lobby the chinese congress · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Bingfeng Teahouse traces the route that a story about an annual rave at the Great Wall took to get to the front page of China Daily. Unsurprisingly, it's a complicated one.


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China & Hong Kong: Report on Blogging Seminar · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

T-Salon points to coverage of CCTV producer and blog portal director Hu Yong's Hong Kong seminar on blogging.


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Egypt: Homosexuality! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

From Cairo, with Love is comparing the treatment of homosexuality in the west and the Islamic countries.


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France: Drink Local, Drink Montmartre! (WBW12) · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Popular food blogger Clotilde Dusoulier writes about the vinyards of Montmartre, in Paris. While one does not normally associate Paris with the creation of wine, apparently a large part of what is now urban Paris had been planted with vines for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.


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Georgia & Ukraine: Georgian President and Ukrainian PM get it on. In a helicopter. · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Siberian Light points out that Russian filmmakers are trying to cash in on the relationship between two former Soviet republics by making a blue movie that features the doppelgangers of Georgian President Mikail Saakashvili and Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.


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Ghana: Why do we blog? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Ghanian blogger David Mends–who just started blogging yesterday–asks why do we blog?


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India: Healthcare for the masses? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny on the varying levels of healthcare provided by doctors in the Public Health system and private practitioners. Despite the reputation India has built as a Health Destination, there is still a long way to go.


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India: No justice in sight · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A long-in-the-making report was tabled in the Indian Parliament, but even after two decades, no justice seems to be in the making for those who suffered in the 1984 riots.


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Indonesia: Troops withdrawing from Aceh, but going where? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Jakartass is worried that the troops that are being withdrawn from Aceh will be redeployed to West Papua.


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Iran: Nuks · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Mr.Behi is saying that EU/US and Iran are acting so irrational on the enrichment of Uranium and that he do not want a nuclear electricity.


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Iraq: The New Constitution · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Iraq the Model provides us with a photographic documented example of the controversy regarding the New ‘Iraq Constitution’  between supporters of Islamic Iraqi State and Moderate woman’s who asks for their rights in this constitution. On the other had, The Big Pharaoh asks, By God, which group of women look more forward looking, civilized, and hopeful?


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Jordan: Funk On-Tour Festival · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Attending the first annual Funk On-Tour Festival taking place in Amman – Jordan, Roba describes her experience with this Heavy-Metal competition as a complete shock at the local goth/heavy metal scene that she was completely unaware of.


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Kenya: Blogging, Kenyan Women & Opening of Democratic Spaces… · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Kenya Democracy Project puts up a long post about Kenyan women who blog.


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little fish: Singapore’s 40th Birthday · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Singaporean blog Little fish chronicles the top ten most popular pieces of Singaporean slang.


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Mexico: Zapatistas and Penguins · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Boli-Nica has the entire story of the Zapatistas’ recent adoption of a penguin as a symbol of their decade long struggle for indigenous rights in Mexico. The official Zapatista website, adorned with a small penguin, has been updated and now offers an rss feed and a more blog-like format, including comments on posts.


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Nigeria: Sino-Nigerian relationship: True partnership? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Chippla's Weblog takes another look at the relationship between China and Nigeria.


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Pakistan: Altaf Hussain · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

KO has a post on Altaf Hussain, a man wanted in Pakistan, but sitting safe in the UK.


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Paraguay: US Military Base? · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Benjamin Dangl, who can usually be found on Upside Down Blog, this week does a roundup on Toward Freedom of local media attention in South America about a supposed U.S. military base in Paraguay which the U.S. embassy has denied. Dangl questions if the U.S. military isn't planning an intervention in Bolivia where the left is making big gains as the December presidential elections near.


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Philippines: A Raul Roco Story · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Tales from Disiniland relays a tale about the beloved late politician Raul Roco.


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Puerto Rico: Taíno Indians Still Awaiting Arrest · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Roberto Borrero of The Voice of the Taino People has the latest on two indigenous Taino protesters in Puerto Rico occupaying the Caguana Indigenous Ceremonial Center in Utuado, Puerto Rico.


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Somaliland: Somaliland editors adopt new code of conduct for elections · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Journalists inside Somaliland have developed a code of conduct for covering the upcoming Somaliland elections.


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Sri Lanka: Animal Welfare · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Notes on animal welfare and loopholes in Sri Lanka on LankaBuzz.


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Sudan: Hard Work and Bad Connections in Darfur · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Humanitarian Hijinks reports that tensions are running high in the refugee camps and that it's taking its toll on both aid workers and camp residents: “Truth in Darfur is becoming harder to find every day. The only thing most of us can agree on is that Darfur is still a mess – it just happens to be one that boils along quietly while the world is turning its back.”


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Thailand: Bangkok Post Story Has Holes · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Sarasonteh looks at a Bangkok Post story about problems with the runways at the Bangkok airport and discovers that the real problems were with the story, not the runways.


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Thailand: Dad’s Thailand, my Thailand · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

A guest blogger on Thai-Blogs.com reflects on the differences between her Thailand and her father's Thailand.


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China: Can Chinese fans translate Harry Potter? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Danwei passes on the news that a fan-translated version of the very latest Harry Potter novel has been completed on-line, a month before the officially sanctioned translation is released.


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China: One-Sided Asymmetrical Information Warfare · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

EastSouthWestNorth looks at the crafty strategy that the PRC is using in releasinginformation about imprisioned journalist Ching Cheong.


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Ethiopia: Addis Stories · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Ethiopundit posts a history of master plans for Addis Ababa; in a way, it's also a history of the city itself.


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Finland: Ride a Segway, go to jail · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Finland for Thought passes on the news that it's illegal to ride a Segway on a public road in Finland.


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Images from Brazil: Guiding Hand · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Gregory Smith, founder of the Children at Risk Foundation, has recently posted this photo, “Fly, Hummingbird Fly” to help document the latest outreach project of the organization. You can learn more about the program by reading the Children At Risk weblog, checking out Gregory's Flickr profile, and reading his profile on Ashoka.


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India: Blogging the Deluge · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Rezwan had posted about the Mumbai Floods a while back. This is in continuation…
A free and democratic Press doesn't necessarily ensure events are covered as readers want them to be covered. The tragedy is glossed over, and real stories are hid beneath tales of celebrities surviving or theorizing. The Indian Blogosphere has responded to inadequate coverage of the Mumbai Floods with tales of courage from the street and daggers for the Main Stream Media and an unresponsive Government.
The unprecedented rains prompted Amit to write on the day when streets became rivers in the city. Kiruba links to a stark visual and csf vlog has a garage video . Animesh's blog has a detailed timeline of the events of the near shutdown of the city.
Ravikiran Rao provides a telling personal account of being stuck in the rains. Atheistbishop gives a piece of his mind to the government. A personal account by Sonia. Reflections on Mumbai as a political entity and its infrastructure at times like these. Thought and emotion provoking articles on Dilip's blog, ranging from personal accounts, issues of governance and notes on the spirit (or the lack of it sometimes) of the city. Links to photographs on Uma's blog and a post on the callous attitude of a leading Indian daily. More observations with celebrity-obsessed media here. There are photographs of Mumbai living and surving the deluge online on Flickr.
But the most incredible aspect has been the formation of two collaborative blogs. Collablogs such as these focus on sharing experiences, and drawing attention to specific issues, and getting heard over the din of Main Stream Media. Mumbai Help has been started with the aim of providing rescue, relief and safety information. Cloudburst Mumbai has personal accounts, and stories that are not being given attention by the Main Stream Media.


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India: Don’ t blame the poor · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Dilip busts the myth of migration and urban poor contributing to choked cities.


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India: Watching ideas grow · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A small idea for a library for street children sparks a lively discussion on Uma's blog, indianwriting.


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Indonesia: Background on West Papua · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Jakartass lays out the background and context for current events in the Indonesian province of West Papua.


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Iran: Security Forces Kill Kurdish Protestors · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Human Rights Watch says that the Iranian government must investigate the deaths of at least 17 people at the hands of security forces in the western province of Kurdistan over the past two weeks.


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Israel: A week before the withdrawal · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

A week before the withdrawal from Gaza is to begin, Robert Rosenberg summaries the political, military and economical steps taking place from both side (Israeli and Palestinians).


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Israel: Letter to NY Times · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Shiloh Musings writes a letter to NY Times expressing her disappointment because they omitted mentioning of last night massive prayer rally at the Western Wall, Old City of Jerusalem against Sharon‘s Disengagement Plan.


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Israeli blogosphere · Global Voices
Rachel Barenblat

In the English-language Israeli blogosphere these days, most bloggers are talking about the disengagement. Sarah (of Chayyei Sarah) clarifies her position: “I have a large, messy jumble of thoughts and feelings about the disengagement….If you are looking for black-and-white thinking, I suggest you go elsewhere. If you are open to nuance, stick around.”
Harry (of The View from Here) is sick of the sophomoric color wars and longs for the days when the choice of orange shirt or blue shirt was a fashion statement, not a political one. And the photo-essay Postcards from Gaza combines Gaza photographs by Kitra Cahana with text by Jay (of Metatronics), who writes, “No one really wins in the disengagement, though everyone gets something…”
Sara (one of the bloggers at Yesha Speaks Out) chronicles the process of  preparing to leave her Neve Dekalim home next week. Meanwhile, Beth (of House of Joy) reports on the recent anti-disengagement vigil held at the Western Wall, expressing admiration for the religious leaders who channeled the high emotions into prayer, not politics.
Others are posting about non-political issues. Brian (of This Normal Life) recounts a mini-vacation gone wrong when a mouse intrudes on a long-awaited spa trip. In contrast, Rahel (of Elms in the Yard) is enjoying her encounters with small animals: parakeets and Palestine sunbirds [photo post]. And continuing the wildlife theme, Renatinha (of Balagan) talks about camping in Israel, and how the communal love of camping makes Israel different from her former home of Brazil.
And some posts aren't overtly political, but hold messages which could easily apply to the current political situation. Like Lisa (of On the Face), who notes that the Arabic version of “I Will Survive” is a big hit at gay dance clubs in Tel Aviv, which helps her keep smiling. And Seven (of Idiot the Wise) spins words and images about  the need to forgive one another and move on: “i aspire to  inspire 'cause there's only One designer and I'm not talkin jean suppliers…”

author: Rachel Barenblat


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Italy: Independent Press in Peril? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Italian blogger Luca De Biase looks at the takeover battle over Corriere della Sera, Italy's largest daily newspaper, and wonders if Prime Minister and media mogul Silvio Berlusconi is pulling the strings from behind the scenes.


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Jordan: Bloggers on Radio · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

If you happen to be at Amman – Jordan, don't miss to listen to Ammar's interview on Ammannet today at 1400 GMT. The interview is about Bloggers and Blogging in Jordan.


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Jordan: Your window into Jordan · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Lina and Roba got together today to make some sort of publicity cards for Jordan Planet to pass out during Lina's trip to Ireland this week. The result was “Jordan Planet – Your window into Jordan.”


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Kuwait: Kuwait Blogs Birthday · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Kuwait Blogs celebrates their 1st Birthday with more than 300 Kuwaiti blogs in their blogroll and over 255 aggregated at Safat. Congratulations!


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Lebanon:   Ending Jihad · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Lebanese Political Journal says that the scariest part about Islamic jihadists is that they are uncontrollable. But where do you go if you are Syrian and want to blow stuff up and ride in planes?


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Malaysia: The haze · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

One of the biggest immediate problems facing Malaysia right now is a thick layer of haze over peninsular Malaysia, leading the government to declare a air pollution emergency. Malaysian bloggers are, of course weighing in: Volume of Interactions lays the blame on ASEAN inaction; Jeff Ooi  notes that the government is being surprising transparent during the crisis; and Mack Zulkifi  digs up some satellite photographs of the pollution.


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Nepal: Communication breakdown? · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Samudaya has a translated article on communication and monarchy in Nepal.


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Nepal: Miss Nepal and other stories · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

A post with photographs on the Miss Nepal contest. Don't miss the comments!


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Palestine: An Apology From a US Christian to Palestinians · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

umkahlil says: This is my apology for Christians in the US to Muslims, the Arab World, and particularly Palestinians. Too many of my co-religionists have made a travesty of the Golden Rule which unequivocally compels us, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”


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Philippines: Impeachment Rules · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The Sassy Lawyer's Journal wonders what's going on in the impeachment hearings in the Philippine House of Representatives.


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Puerto Rico: “Three Strikes from Economic Collapse” · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Kevin Shockey isn't optimistic about the economic future of Puerto Rico.


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Saudi Arabia: Asharq Al-awsat interview with Frank Gardner · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Crossroads Arabia believes that Asharq Al-awsat interview with Frank Gardner, the BBC correspondent who was shot and permanently crippled in an attack against him and his cameraman in Riyadh in 2003 is worth your attention.


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Somaliland: Parliamentary Elections Postponed · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Inside Somaliland passes on the news that Somaliland's  Parliamentary Elections have been pushed back two weeks to the end of September.


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Sri Lanka: Police tantrums · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

LankaBuzz has a post on the police throwing tantrums of their own in Sri Lanka.


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Suriname: Art and Design Trip · Global Voices
David Sasaki

A little late on this one, but the University of Michigan School of Art and Design has a wonderful collection of 11 posts documenting the month-long stay by faculty and grad students in Suriname.


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Syria: Iran takes the heat · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

The Syrian News Wire belives that Iran's new president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the best thing to happen to Syria in the last two years. But the worst thing Syria could do is associate itself with Iran.


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Syria: Syrian Local Committee for the Missing · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Rime Allaf says that if this committee's chairman is true to his word, the whole world will soon be talking about the issue and forcing relevant governments to find missing Syrians in Lebanon, missing Palestinians in Lebanon, missing Lebanese in Lebanon, missing Syrians in Syria, missing Palestinians in Syria, and missing Lebanese in Syria.


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Trinidad & Tobago: Another Bombing, Evidence All Washed Up · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Taran Rampersad reports on the second bombing this summer in Trinidad & Tobago, neither of which has generally received much attention in the international press.
Speculation so far has been that nobody was injured because of the amount of rain, and the fact that it's basically an area that vagrants are supposedly found in…. Evidence is expected to be washed away with the rain (that area frequently floods), and nobody was injured.
Yet, at the end of the day – who would do such a thing? And while some idiots who will try to twist the news to support their purposes (saying that it's Al Qaeda), nobody seems to have claimed responsibility again.


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Tunisia: Fashion Week 2005 · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Subzeroblue talks about the first edition of “Tunisian Fashion Week”, which will be held in the Tunisian coastal city of Hammamet from August 15 to August 17. This will provide young creators with the opportunity to present their collections to the public in the company of more experienced designers.


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UK: Being British · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

The UK blog Talk Politics has a long, thoughtful post about what it really means to be British.


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Ukraine: Too Much Time Watching the Soaps · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Orange Ukraine debunks a number of myths about the state of government in Ukraine today.


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Ukraine: Translator May Lose Job? · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Neeka's Backlog brings us a report from a Russian newspaper that Natalya Dmytruk, the sign language interpreter for the state TV channel, may soon lose her job. Dmytruk played a key role in Ukraine's Orange Revolution when she silently informed her viewers that initial election results were fraudulent while her speaking colleagues were toeing the party line.


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Uruguay: According to Hollywood · Global Voices
David Sasaki

¡Weblog de Internet! find the portrayal of Uruguay [es] in Steven Seagal's new film, “Submerged” completely over the top. “A real deception in my opinion towards a country as lovely as Uruguay.”


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Uruguay: Pirate Radio · Global Voices
David Sasaki

In a long, thoughtful post by Anarchogeek on the future of radio, he links to a pirate radio station which is broadcasted from a poor neighborhood in Montevideo, Urugay. “The station has music, radio theater, locally produced programs, international politics, and covers local events for the community and is a major force for bottom up social organization and community events in a poor and violence plagued neighborhood. The station streams over the net, some of the time, so that former residents of the bario can listen and keep in touch with home even though they were forced to become economic migrants in Brazil, the US, and Europe.”


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Venezuela: Express Kidnapping · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tomas Sancio of Venezuelan Politics writes a refreshingly apolitical post about the Venezuelan film, “Secuestro Express” (Express Kidnapping), which has been getting its fair share of Hollywood's attention.


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Venezuela: More Thoughts on Last Weekend’s Election · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Both Venezuela News and Views and The Devil's Excrement continue their analysis of last weekend's municipal elections and the role of the National Electoral Council (CNE).


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Venezuela: Open Letter to Military Officers · Global Voices
David Sasaki

VCRISIS has translated an open letter by Gustavo Coronel to officers of the Venezuelan army who recently graduated from a course on leadership sponsored by Cuban president, Fidel Castro.


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Armenia: Parties Dissolved · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Blogrel notes that six political parties in Armenia will be dissolved shortly, and wonders if it's legit.


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Asia: Daily linklets 12th August · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Simon World, back from vacation, has resumed his valuable roundups of East Asian blogs and stories.


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Bahrain: Imam on Strike! · Global Voices
Haitham Sabbah

Mohammed Elzubeir from UAE, points to the war of words between Sunni and Shiite religious scholars at Bahrain, over the right to suspend the Friday prayers where it looks like some Imam (the person who leads a prayer in a mosque) decided to suspend a Friday's prayer in protest for some new civil law.


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Bangladesh: Getting the visa · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

The 3rd World View on what it takes to get a US Visa for those in Bangladesh.


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Bhutan: Blaming the Telly · Global Voices
Neha Viswanathan

Sepia Mutiny  on if it makes sense for Bhutan to not broadcast Indian Television programmes.


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Bolivia: Carded for Buying Bleach · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Jim Shultz on Blog from Bolivia lets us in on the little know fact that “in Bolivia, under the US financed and supervised War on Drugs, if you want to buy bleach you have to present a state identification card and sign a special register which is kept by the store’s manager.”


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Cambodia: Genocide Tourism · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Webbed Feet, Web Log is frustated by the West's conflation of everything Cambodian and the Khmer Rouge and the subsequent creation of the genocide tourism industry.


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Cambodia: Meetup Roundup · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Jinja of the Cambodian blog Webbed feet, Web Log has great minutes of the last Phnom Penh blogger meetup.


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Cambodia: The Living Blogs of Cambodia · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

ThaRum's web has a great overview of the exploding Cambodian blog scene.


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Canada: CBC Labour Dispute · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Tod Maffin's I Love Radio.org has outstounding coverage of what looks to be a massive labor strike at the Canadian Broadcast Corporation.


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Canada: First Hybrid Taxi · Global Voices
David Sasaki

Treehugger says Canadian cab driver, Andrew Grant, is the first to drive a hybrid taxi.


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Caribbean: Cooking Caribbean Style · Global Voices
David Sasaki

The Daily Bite offers some mouth-watering tips on cooking Caribbean style.


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Chad: Habré Henchmen Ousted · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Human Rights Watch's news blog is reporting that six henchman of Chad's former dictator Hissène Habré have been ousted from positions in government.
“The Chadian government’s move follows a report last month by Human Rights Watch naming these six and 35 other leading Habré-era figures, many accused of torture and killings, who still hold key posts in Chad. Those dismissed include the powerful director of the Judicial Police who was deputy director of national security under Habré; a surveillance chief who was the director of Habré’s dreaded political police, the Documentation and Security Directorate (DDS); and a man described by a Chadian truth commission as one of Chad’s ‘most feared torturers.’ It is believed that more sackings may be forthcoming.”


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Ethiopia: Opposition Presser · Global Voices
Paul Frankenstein

Amber Henshaw, blogging from Ethiopia, reports that the country's two main opposition parties held a news conference rejecting yesterday's election results and calling on the government to form a government of national unity.


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Image from Thailand · Global Voices
Andy Carvin

Two hilltribe girls in Mae Sai, Thailand, standing along the Thai-Myanmar border, by Andy Carvin.


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Iranian Bloggers speaking out on jailed journalist and Kurdistan · Global Voices
Fred Petrossian

1- Hundreds support Akbar Ganji, the jailed Iranian journalist now on 62nd day of hunger strike: A couple of days ago more than 150 people including former Parliament’s deputies, writers, student movement leaders wrote a letter and announced on Thursday at 14h they will go to hospital to meet Ganji who continues his hunger strike. Webnameh reported until 15h30 there were hundreds of students and young people but the number of personalities who signed the letter was less than ten!According to RadioFarda a delegation of protesters wanted to meet Ganji but they were prevented by security forces. Protesters read their requests: They urged that Ganji must have right to meet with his family, friends and lawyers. Now about 10 days that nobody has any news of this jailed journalist. They also asked that he be treated well in hospital without any pressure from Prosecutor’s agents. Protesters wanted also Ganji’s release from jail and asked him to break his hunger strike. They added people in power apparently enjoy creating crisis.
2-Iranian Bloggers speaking out on political prisoners and Kurdistan: several bloggers based in different countries such as Billy & me from Denmark, writer Abas Marofi from Germany, journalist FMSokhan from Iran signed a letter concerning Iran’s present situation. In two words it is a call that Iranian intellectuals including bloggers, journalists, writers, and political groups take responsibility to save country from current situation, political repression at home and nuclear crisis abroad. Writers consider that defensive actions such as writing petitions…lead us no where and we must find new ways. After criticizing Iranian regime including President and Leader they suggest hope must be created for Iranians. For writers cultural activity reporting news can bring light to the life. They concluded Iran needs to be saved and for that reason unity and new thoughts are needed. According to them supporting Kurdistan's people and politcial prisoners are priorities now.Read More Billy & Me

author: Fred Petrossian