大象传媒

Thank you to all the bloggers who've shared their insights, blogs and experiences with us at Blogworld and today on SuperPower Nation. We hope we've managed to give a taste of some of the wide range of unique and fascinating blogs in all corners of the world in all languages. As the 大象传媒 Superpower season looking at the extraordinary power of the internet draws to a close, we're giving the blog a rest...but all the posts and videos stay here for you to browse when you want. We hope to be back soon, so watch this space.

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13:26 GMT
SuperPower nation has now been live for 26 minutes. People have started coming in and others have joined in from their countries via webcam. Francisco Toro , a venezuelan blogger in Canada, is on his webacam at the moment chatting to people in the room. He blogged about taking part in SuperPower nation on his blog .

Freddy Macha is here. He'll be blogging in Swahili and English. is his English blog and is his Swahili one. Check them out. Alek Boyd is a Venezuelan blogger who's here at Shoreditch Town Hall, he'll be mainly tweeting the event. This is

14:01 GMT
Conversations are well underway. At table 8 here in Shoreditch Town Hall a group is talking about recession, economic migration and oil production in Portugeses and Hindi.

14:25 GMT
More conversations. This one at table 10 here at Shoretich Town Hall. Contributors from Indonesia and Afghanistan are talking about what level the Taliban would have in Indonesia. Our indonesian contributor thinks less than 10%.

14:36 GMT
Talk of the Middle East and the broader picture there as well as freedom in Iran were the starting point of the conversation at table 18. Contributors from Japan and Iran are also discussing the Iraq elections and whether Qom or Najaf will be biggest Shiite centre in Iraq.

15:06 GMT
Nigeria and Jamaica are represented in Table 23. As well as talking about the conflict in Jos in central Nigeria, they are also talking about children becoming addicted to the internet and discussing whether this reflects lack of parental control.

16:45 GMT
So sorry for the delay we've been battling technical difficulties and have finally found out a way to resolve them. SuperPower Nation is still happening and you can follow everything that's going on live here.

16:48 GMT
A look at your suggestions on the blogosphere today:WHo's blogging SuperPower Nation?

Thanks to Dunesh Wagle, Umesh , Kimberley Donoghue, sandeepa or BongMom, Fausta Wertz for getting in touch to suggest blogs. Most of these blogs have been discussing SuperPower Nation and this new global conversation experiment.

Today's round up takes to Puerto Rico, Nepal, Spain and India and the subjects vary from Nepali restaurants in Delhi to Puerto Rican governments budget and yes of course SuperPower Nation.

In , Dinesh Wagle discusses the lack of despite the fact that there are five hundred thousands Nepalis living and working there. Many of whom , ironically enough, work as chefs and cooks in hotels and restaurants.

Sloyka's blog, is in Nepali. He emailed to suggest the blog and say that he did write about SuperPower Nation. I did try Google translate to have an idea of what he's about the event but Google Translate doesn't translate for Nepali to English yet.

Kimberley Donoghue, is the editor of based in Barcelona. The blog is in Spanish but with the magic of Google Translate I'm able to tell you what they said about SuperPower Nation.

is run by Fausta Werts from Puerto Rico. Today he's discussing, Puerto Rico's budget, and the statehood proposal on SuperPower Nation.

Now, to India and food blog. Today's offering is eggplant coated in a batter of chickpea flour and deep fried, yum!

We're still on for the next hour and a half do send tell us what bloggers in your country are talking about today. E-mail us on super.power@bbc.co.uk

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Blogworld is at Shoreditch Town Hall getting ready to start live blogging SuperPower Nation very shortly. The atmosphere is fantastic , the pictures below speak for themselves really. This unique event involves so many parts of the 大象传媒: TV, Radio and Online and more than thirty language services, all to facilitate the live conversations that will take place today between 1300-1900 GMT.

I'll be blogging live all through SuperPower Nation and will be updating you about what the bloggers here at Shoreditch Town Hall and in different parts of the world are saying about the event.

If you want to take part in SuperPower Nation and tell us what you or bloggers in your country are talking about. Here's how you can get in touch; e-mail us on super.power@bbc.co.uk.

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Eugene Volokh and a number of other law professors blog on . The blog covers everything from politics and law to arts and culture. Here Eugene tells us more about how it all started and what he does on a daily basis with the blog.

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Adrian is an Australian cabbie who drives around the streets of Sydney every night taking his passengers from one place to another and listening to their stories. At the end of his shift he gives a brief of the best stories of the night on .

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SuperPower season ends with a major event on Thursday the 18th of March. Our colleagues at SuperPower Nation have been working very hard to bring this truly unique and global event together. The simple idea behind SuperPower Nation is to bring people form different backgrounds who don't necessarily speak the same language under one roof and let them engage in whatever conversations they want to have.

It's an attempt to find out what the world is really talking about with the help of the internet and without language being a barrier. There will be no specific debates, issues or questions. The idea is to let the conversation flow naturally with the audience taking full control.

Blogworld will be there and we'll be doing a live blog on the day and monitoring what the blogosphere is saying about the event that day but also what subjects are proving popular on different blogs around the world.

So watch this space and tell us if you're taking part in SuperPower Nation on the 18th and blogging about it. Also let us know if you're blogging on something else that day. What subjects are catching people's attention where you live?

This is a picture of the SuperPower Nation venue at Shoreditch, East London.

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Thanks to Drid Williams, David Jackmanson and John Clarke for suggesting blogs and blog subjects both via e-mail and on .

Drid Williams is a fan of . It's a sled dog race that happens once a year in Alaska; a uniquely American event as Drid describes it. Drid hasn't recommended any particular blogs but said there are many out there. is one of them. Justin and Rebecca Savidis moved from Utah to Alaska in 2004 hoping to start a sled dog Kennel, train as mushers and to both qualify for and race in the 2010 Iditarod.

David Jackmanson got in touch through Twitter to suggest ; a blog that provides an insight into Australian politics. In , The Piping Striker blogs about what he/she describes as the lack of substance in political media coverage in Australia.

John Clarke suggested his own blog. chronicles his trip across the Atlantic in 1969 when he was working on a cargo ship. John kept a journal at the time and has gone back to it remembering how things felt like back then but also comparing events to his life now as a man in his forties with a job and family. In John describes his first day on the ship before they even set sail.

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Sokari Ekine's pan African blog focuses on social justice, human rights and activism in Africa and the Diaspora. It also discusses LGBT rights,sexual orientation and gender based violence.

Listen to the audio clip Sokari has sent us. She speaks more about her blog and the community it has created. She also tells us about the difficulties she's faced through years of discussing some of the most controversial issues in Africa.

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Here's the fifth and final Blogworld in its Arabic, English and Persian versions.

Blogworld #5 in English

Blogworld #5 in Arabic

Blogworld #5 in Persian

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Thank you, Chris Richardson, Anastasia Fitzgerald-Beaumont, Asiya Noor and Bankelele for your blog suggestions. Today's roundup includes everything from the Kenyan economy, history, politics and religion to living a 100% green life.

The blog is run by a Kenyan banker who provides an insight into the country's economy. In Bankelele gives all you business enthusiasts an update on Kenyan companies' share portfolio for 2010. In pictured below Bankelele discussed bad driving in Kenya.

In her blog , Anastasia Fitzgerald-Beaumont blogs about history, politics and Art check out about Sculptor Henry Moore. lives in Mozambique. She's converted to Islam and has started blogging about her experiences with the faith. she discusses the problem of Masjids or Mosque owners who use them as a platform to preach their personal version of Islam.

Chris Richardson (whose blog we featured yesterday) suggested Lars Bevanger's blog . Lars explores what it means practically and financially to be 100 % environmentally friendly. In , Lars is very proud of switching to 100% green electricity.

We're still on next week and are talking about how we can keep Blogworld going for longer. So still need all the blog suggestions you can get through to us.

This is what you can do :
Leave a comment on this blog post
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We've had milblogs, political blogs and travel blogs on Blogworld so it seems only natural to feature a dog blog. Max lives in South Africa and describes his daily dog's life and frustrations with his human owners. As I write Max is very ill and has posted his life's lessons . Here's one no dog can ignore . . .

鈥� DROOL A LOT!...
...So that they will give you more treats than they bargained for.

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Funmi Feyide, aka Solomon Sydelle, blogs about all things Nigerian. It's a country that this week has been in the news for all the wrong and as Funmi says, "there's a lot on the plate of acting President Goodluck Jonathan. There would be a lot on the plate of whoever was in charge of dealing with these issues".

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Marck Ronald Rimorin runs the in Manila. Here he talks about why he blogs and proudly describes how one particular caused a bit of a stir in the Philippines:

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Blogworld #4 aired today in Persian, English and Arabic. Today we featured Francisco Toro and Koichi Croes. Below you'll find the Persian edition watched in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Pooneh Ghoddoosi presenting:

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Thanks to Marilyn Gosz, Robert Battison, Lars Bevanger, Carina Rodriguez Sciutto and Alec Yeh for getting in touch with their suggested blogs. It's really encouraging to see that Blogworld is catching on. Whether you've heard it on the radio, seen on TV or saw the blog, please do tell us where you've heard about Blogworld and see the end of this post to know how you can get in touch.

According to Carina Rodriguez Sciutto, she started her blog to share her city with the world. she features photos of a tram journey in Santa Teresa.

Lars Bevanger says Chris Richardson's blog, , is his favourite at the moment. Chris Richardson is Christian but not religious. He's decided to live 2010 according to Islamic teachings. In Chris blogs about his first ever Friday Prayers experience.

Alec Yeh is an American gap-year student currently in Senegal. He started to chronicle his experience there. , he marvels at the Senegalese TV culture. (I've emailed Alec to find out the translation to the title of his blog when he gets back to me I'll update you)

Robert Battison's blog, reminds me a bit of the 大象传媒 World Service's World Have Your Say. In this very short , Robert poses a questions to all the law abiding citizens of the world.

And finally, Marilyn's blog is exactly that;California in French. Marylin is a Californian who decided to write about the sunny state in French. Why? Well this is what she told us in her email suggesting the blog.

"Californie en francais" features blog posts about California, written in French by a Francophile (me) who wants to practice her French language skills and bridge some borders at the same time. I was shocked, several years ago, to discover that the U.S. had pulled funding for its cultural center in Paris. So, in 2006, I jumped in and decided to take an individual approach to cultural sharing and collaboration.

You can get in touch too and suggest your favorite blogs :
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Here are two very different takes on travel blogs.

Anil Purohit's travel blog is one of the most eloquent guides to India in the blogosphere.

Here Anil talks about his site's origins and some of the memorable images he's caught on his travels around some of India's lesser-known spots:

While Anil is an insider giving us the lowdown on his country, Gareth Leonard is a self-confessed outsider living in Argentina. He's on a mission to change that and to get "his own seat at the bar". In short, to go from .

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Blogworld #3 aired today in Persian, English and Arabic. It featured Charles Johnson and Sunayana Roy. Below you'll find the Persian edition and if that's your language then contact us with your blog to reach one of the most active online audiences throughout the world. In the immediate aftermath of the 2009 Iranian election dispute 大象传媒 Persian received UGC at a rate of 6 to 8 per minute and the TV channel is watched in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan.

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Charles Johnson runs . Back in 2004 his site became one of the conduits for people to voice opinion on the infamous aired by broadcaster CBS. Here he talks about the origins of his blogging, the 'Rathergate' affair and the current state of the US blogosphere:

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Meet the Aussie Golfer. Michael Green writes on the blog and he's in love with golf, and if you lived with Sydney's glorious climate you might be too . . . just watch out for the bird life:

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Guest post from Hafsa Nizar.

Some blogs are about pure politics, poetry or even funny aspects of life. I literally write about anything and everything. Hence the name of my blog :

The video features a glimpse of Cairo.

I think blogging will remain vital and important even with the presence of Facebook and Twitter. Facebook remains very limited. Yes, it is faster interaction, but still limited compared to blogging , and tweetting is too brief. I only follow Facebook and Twiter closely if a fellow blogger hes been arrested or if a blogger is somewhere and updating us about a real live scene, but I don't think it can replace blogging at all.

In general, blogging has created a wave of openness between people living in the same country, also towards different cultures and countries. I am quite confident that blogging is a strong pillar of non official media . I think it's even more effective than conventional journalism sometimes.

Listen to Hafsa's audio below. She tells us who inspired her to blog, what she wants to see happen with Arab blogs in the future and why she doesn't think about the readers when she writes.

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The second Blogworld aired yesterday. It featured Mao Xi and Yvan Rodic. Below you'll find the edition that aired on 大象传媒 Arabic, a channel which attracts 1 in 4 Arabic speakers from throughout the world . . . get in touch with us if you want to share your blog, details on the right hand side >>>

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We featured Sunayana's blog a couple of weeks ago. Since then we got in contact with her to write a guest post for us and do a webcam video. Stay tuned for her video tomorrow.

I wandered into blogging in 2003 - simply signed up because it was free. As I started reading other blogs, suddenly my world expanded with a bang. The journey has been that unplanned ever since. Along the way I finished my formal education, acquired a husband and child and in-laws and lost my best friends to foreign lands.

As I tried to make sense of my increasingly bewildering life, blogging helped. The mommy bloggers came out in full force when I needed help figuring out this mothering business - the village that's raising my kid? Half of them do it online - and I got unexpected empathy and kindly advice from blogging friends when my husband and I went through rough times. I think my support group really fell into place during our big . 70 odd bloggers from across the globe bonded hugely while organising an online surprise party (complete with a treasure hunt) for some expectant friends.

I don't know why I blog. I shifted seamlessly from my leather-bound journal to my online blog and I've tried to maintain the honesty that I gave my diary. It's not easy, especially when large sections of my family and almost all my friends began reading Sunny Days. Suddenly I was no longer writing to a void. Suddenly I was writing for people I knew and people who I knew I was to know soon, given Facebook and the small circles bloggers move in. I promptly dealt with this by imposing a ban on blog-related conversation offline.

Mostly, I write because I enjoy the interaction. But I also write posts that are only for me and get no comments. Mostly, I write because I want to record these years of my life. Yet I jot down bare outlines rather than full details. Mostly, I write about my husband and son. Yet I'm not a mommy blogger or indeed any other kind of specialist. If anything I'm the simplest kind of blogger there is, posting about what interests me, interspersed with accounts of my life, just like the diarists/scrapbook keepers of yore.

What I love about blogging is its ability to multi-task - I'm simultaneously reaching out to my family and friends scattered across the globe, striking up conversations with interesting strangers and also recording memorable moments. As far as I'm concerned Twitter doesn't begin to scratch the surface of all that blogging can do.

I don't know whether blogging has been good for my society in general but it has certainly been good for me. I'm what would be classified as your average Indian middle class urban working mother and I like showing how fragile these stereotypes are, through my blog. Now, like six years ago, I'm still figuring the rules as I go, but the journey's never bored me yet.

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Yvan Rodic started in 2006. Here he is explaining how fashion and the blogosphere have started to mesh and become a 2-way street and, to quote Yvan quoting , how "fashion is not a monologue, now it's a conversation":

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Thanks to Ingrid Zimmermann, Jeff Morey, Wael Al Mahdi and Dori Sig for getting in touch with their blog suggestions. Our roundup today covers Alexandria-Egypt, Reykjavik, Manama and Amsterdam and is on everything from sports, life and style, travel, politics and economy.

Ingrid Zimmermann suggested a blog run by Jens Anders Wejsmark Sorensen... a Danish journalist living in Amsterdam; is about his experiences during his first year of living in Amsterdam.

Jeff Morey has been following the travels of Umberto D on . Take a look at some great pictures of Umberto's trip to Alexandria- Egypt .

Wael Al Mahdi and Dori Sig suggested their own blogs. Wael is a blogger from Bahrain, his blog is called . is about a roadtrip from Bahrain to Dubai passing through Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

Dori Sig's blog title says it all. and many others chronicle the reaction of Iceland's public to the Icesave agreement.

One last thought
Mujtaba Qaumi is a journalist and producer working with SalamWatandar Radio Station in Kabul Afghanistan. He produces a program called Weblogistan ( Land of weblogs ) once a week which featires different bklogs in Afganistan and wanted to get involved in Blogwrold. Thanks for getting in touch Mujtaba. We have yet to sit down and find a way to get you involved and I'm sure we will.

You can get in touch too and suggest your favorite blogs :
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Mao Xi is a Chinese university lecturer and freelance radio presenter/producer. She lives in Chengdu, Szechuan, China, with her French husband and is a very active blogger. Like most bloggers she's particularly fond of taking photographs, here's one she took of a girl in Saigon eating noodles, every photographer who's tried to snap a subject without them noticing only to have them glance up at the last minute will recognise the expression:

We got in touch with her a few weeks back mainly to ask her to tell us what her blog is about.

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Former dentist Omar Nadawi runs the popular blog. Omar is currently studying in the US where he still managed to cast a vote. From there he recorded his take on his blog's origins and what he hopes for this latest round of democracy in Iraq:

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The first of our short spots on 大象传媒 World TV aired today. Two bloggers we've featured on Blogworld's site (Jamshid Sultanzada and Julia Smillie) are also featured in the programme. World TV has a global audience in excess of 75m. Here's what it looked like.

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Cuban blogger Yoani S谩nchez aims to bring you snapshots of real life inside Cuba. On February 23rd she spoke to Reina Luisa Tamayo Rangel the , a Cuban dissident who died the same day in a Cuban prison following a hunger strike:

My son has been tortured throughout the days he has been in prison. They had him 18 days in Camag眉ey with no drinking water. My son died after 86 days of hunger strike. I, with deep pain, ask the world to demand the freedom of the other prisoners, brothers jailed with no justice, so that what happened to my son doesn't happen again. Mi hijo ha sido torturado en todo el tiempo que ha estado por las prisiones. Ha sido objeto de sufrimiento para m铆, objeto de tortura para su familia. Lo tuvieron 18 d铆as en Camaguey sin tomar agua. Mi hijo muere con 86 d铆as de huelga de hambre. Yo con mi dolor profundo le pido al mundo que exijan la libertad de los dem谩s presos, hermanos encarcelados injustamente, para que no vuelva a suceder lo que ha sucedido con mi hijo.

Blogworld managed to get hold of her on the line to Cuba. We asked her why she blogs?

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The media is over exaggerating the blasts in Ur and generally have an air of pessimism towards the Iraqi elections. This is according to Iraq Pundit's post .

Iraq Pundit is a blogger in Baghdad who wishes to remain anonymous. We contacted him/her a week or so ago and asked for a guest post on Blogworld about the Iraqi elections so here it is:

Everyone has had something to say about these Iraqi elections. Indeed, they've been referred to as a key test of Iraq 's nascent democracy - another in an ongoing series of such tests, it seems. There are those who see the process as good, such as in the Wall Street Journal " Iraq 's newborn democracy is a juggernaut that will not be stopped."

Some see it as bad, such as NBC's Tamer El Ghobashy who says a truly inclusive democratic process has yet to emerge. And there are those who see the process as ugly, such as of the Phil Inquirer, who says that Iraq is just not a democracy.

Now at last the Iraqi people have had a chance to have their say, too. At least, Iraqis have their say where it most matters, at the country's ballot boxes. It's easy enough for media visitors to Iraq , like the New York Times' , to pass judgment. He writes, "To call Iraq a failed state is an exaggeration, though not unthinkable."

Such so-called experts exasperate many Iraqis because they pronounce as if they know the future of this land. Yet they have no idea what will happen here, as so many of them have demonstrated in recent years. Many observers have based their vehement arguments on an assumption that Iraqis are an exceptionally violent people determined to kill each other over sect and ethnicity as well as politics.

You'd think that by now these pessimists would have learned a lesson about caution. Those who had argued so vociferously that Iraq was doomed all along have had to hedge their darker prophecies.Those who said Iraq was no good are now saying that, well, it's not altogether horrible, or even that it's a little bit good. Even those who insisted that the surge would fail now admit that it worked.

Had the experts not looked down upon the Iraqi people, they might even agree with who wrote in the WSJ that Yes, Iraq is a democracy. To Iraq 's critics he says "Leave it to the Egyptians and the Arabs of the Peninsula and the Persian Gulf to belittle the new order in Iraq .

They threw everything at it but it managed to survive. Peace has not settled upon Baghdad , but this Iraq , even in its current condition, is a rebuke to the dynasties and the dictatorships of the Arab world." And I would add, to the cynical pessimists of the Western press.Iraq has some tough days ahead. Nobody is saying its ideal here. But give the Iraqi people a chance. Get over it, guys. Iraq 's a democracy.

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Julia Smillie is going to change her life one fortune cookie at a time. Taking her cue from the bland bits of advice you get inside those little Chinese biscuits (which always seem a little tasteless to me -- maybe you aren't meant to eat them?) she's trying everything from praying to bed-making:

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Ever wondered what it's like to be a shepherd? If you think tending a flock these days is all about wandering with a crook through the hills contemplating life, the universe and everything then think again. The Tarset Shepherd is a female shepherd in the North East of England and at this time of year she's busy scanning pregnant ewes. Disease prevention is important too and for some sheep that means some uncomfortable medecine:

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The Qatari blogosphere is healthy and budding. In my last trip to Doha I had a chance to visit Education City and meet many young Qatari men and women all with a very strong notion in common they are all logged on and blogging. This is a small sample.
is a fairly young blog of a young Qatari woman who wants to maintain anonymity all the while commenting on everyday social issues in Doha. No...For No Reason is a blog post that discusses the different hurdles or layers of approval, as she calls it, a woman has to go through to do something she wants.

In, Ahmad, a Mechanical Engineering student blogs in English and Arabic. In the post below he blogs about common courtesies in Doha.

In , Maryam blogs about the inevitable cultural gap between local Qataris and the expat communities in Doha.

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Do you like design? Tina Roth Eisenberg runs the Swiss Miss blog and has a sharp Teutonic eye for "clean, elegant design". Here she is on the iconic Swiss Railway Clock (now immortalised in an iPhone App) which anyone who has visited that beautiful country will instantly recognise:

Mumbai-based Kiran Manral fears that as she approaches middle age she might be turning into a behenji . . . do you recognise the symptoms?

Here at Blogworld we like to think we're shining a light on some of more off-the-beaten track corners of the globe, but how about an insight into the sights and sounds of the online virtual reality game Second Life? Ken Lim in Singapore is your guide:

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Koichi is on a mission to explain Japanese culture to the world. Why would you want to put on a DVD in your living room showing women staring silently at you from the screen? As Koichi , it's a fight-back against the phenomenon of hikikomori (寮曘亶绫犮倐銈�) or "pulling away" which afflicts some reclusive Japanese. Here's Koichi talking about tofugu.com's readership for Blogworld:

Remember, from March 8th we will be airing -- in 3 different languages -- short TV and radio slots featuring some of the bloggers who appear on this site. Do get in touch if you want to participate and record a webcam piece for us like Koichi.

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UK-based Nigerian blogger Sokari Ekine on blacklooks.org talks about Uganda's homosexuality bill. Her post links to a piece in the Uganda Observer by Ugandan MP and supporter of the bill Odonga Otto:

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Aussiegolfer Michael Green has a few things to say about the timing of Tiger Woods' apology last month. You may recall the World Matchplay Championship (won by Ian Poulter) was being held at exactly the same time Tiger issued his (semi) public statement and apology:

Meanwhile in California . . .

. . . Trailrunner Scott Dunlap talks about the serene highs that running can bring:

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Here are three business blogs from the USA. I'm currently looking for CEOs (Chief Executive Officers) with web sites in other parts of the world so if you know a blogging boss get in touch with us here.

Mark Cuban is an American entrepreneur and boss of the basketball team the Dallas Mavericks. He's probably asked more than most what the secret to being rich is? Would-be millionaires listen up:

Paul Levy is CEO of a hospital in Boston. He's got some frank views on which way he wants healthcare reform in the USA to go:

Brad Feld is a Venture Capitalist -- he provides money to people with business ideas in return for a part of the business. If you've got a great idea and you're looking for funding then listen up, he has some sound advice for how he wants to receive your pitch:

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Sunayana Roy is a very busy women. She's a working mother with a very hectic schedule. But she finds the time of day to blog about everyday life and gives an interesting insight into what it's like being a working mother in Calcutta today and it's not always great.

In the post below, Sunayana blogs about going home from work and having to brave a very crowded and nosiy train station only to find she has another fight to start!

Her blog is refreshingly honest about family life. She blogs about fights at home , of getting what they want and what she got on

I spoke to Sunayana today and asked her to record a webcam video for us , so hopefully we'll have it on the blog soon.

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Running a blog in Burma is difficult. Soe Moe Naing is a Burmese citizen who now lives in Japan where he runs a site for the National League for Democracy, the main opposition group in Burma. The site is called NLD (Liberated Area) Japan Branch and post from March 1st is a photo slideshow from inside Rangoon of NLD members paying their respects to former political prisoner U Win Tin and Nan Nyunt Swe the father of the jailed comedian Zargana. Here Soe explains why he maintains the site and who it is for:

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Francisco Toro runs and likes to blog about what he calls the "Ch谩vez experiment".

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Bloggers are influential opinion-makers in the fashion industry. We mentioned 13-years-old Tavi Gevinson earlier. Katie Wright blogs at and during London Fashion Week she told us about the power of the online fashionistas:

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Joy takes readers on a trip. Not only to amazing smells and tastes but also to her life in and out of the kitchen. You'll find interesting recipes: , and

You'll also find the experience of the person behind those recipes. In this post Joy describes how exciting and equally tiring starting up a catering business with her friends is. It's a catering company with a twist.

Joy also speaks about , going on a road trip with her sister and teaching . Hopefully we'll get her to do a webcam film for Blogworld from her kitchen.

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Anyone with more than a passing interest in Irish history might want to check out Berkshire-based Pete Connolly's blog. Pete's grandfather, Jim Harpur, was a member of the fledgling IRA early in the 20th century and Pete has transcribed his memoirs and posted them online:

Conservative blogger Donal Blaney asks if Tea Party activism could really work in the UK? The movement was launched at the weekend in .

Meanwhile the looming general election is pushing speculation on several blogs into the red zone. Stilettoed Socialist takes heart from a recent poll showing the gap between the two front runners at just 2 points:

We can only expect to see this sort of blogging reach fever pitch as May approaches . . . or will it be ?

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An Emirati's Thoughts is simply just that. It's a blog about what a local Emirati thinks of happenings in his country. They vary from one of Abu Dhabi's best hidden gems ,that is a back street Cafe where local , to other more topical issues like the Iranian government insisting that the gulf between Iran and its Arab neighbours be called .

An Emirati's thoughts also ponders on pressing issues like the health of the economy in the UAE. He asks for more transparency and accountability.

I've just emailed the blogger behind An Emirati's Thoughts. Hopefully he'll be able to send us a video link soon. Watch this space.

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Bad Hebrew Tattoos casts a beady eye over the current vogue for Israeli inkings. It's a trend started by but which you can increasingly see in everyday life. If you're thinking of getting one though be sure you and, more importantly, your tattoo artist, know what a Het and a Tav are . . . it could mean the difference between

Meanwhile CK over at Jewlicious celebrates the return of the Jewfro:

Jameel writing on the Muqata blog comments on this week's fascinating story of the son of one of Hamas' founders. Known as "The Green Prince," Mosab Yousef has worked for some time as an informer for the Israeli authorities. The author suggests Yousef's allegiances should be an example to some prominent Israelis.

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Iraqi Mojo is an Iraqi-American reflecting on the state of things in his home country. The pressing issue now of course is the parliamentary elections and whether they'll be a source of unity or further division.

, Iraqi Mojo speaks about the different cultures living in Iraq and the importance of finding a way to live together.

Yesterday he about Al Qaeda's vows to disrupt balloting for the elections by targeting .

is about Iraqi Mojo's views about art and Islam; he quotes an artist friend saying,

Allah gave me my mind, my hands my eyes, my patience, my selfhood. I use all these gifts and show people the wonders of the world. How can that be wrong? Does God want us to be deaf, stupid and blind?

Look out for more on Iraqi Mojo and other Iraqi bloggers, we're getting more views from the Iraqi blogosphere on this weeks parliamentary elections.

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