Sri Lankan blogger Indi Samarajiva says that the Live 8 manifesto, if implemented, will simply turn the third world into a giant welfare state.

Vantage Point points out that the Delhi water board will start limited privatization of the water supply soon; he hails this as another crack in the wall of state monopolies.

Kiruba Shankar brings us news of Gizmo, a competitor to Skype in the internet telephony market. Two of the biggest distinguishing points is that Gizmo users can receive calls from the traditional phone network without paying a fee, and the Gizmo application has call-recording built-in to the application.

Chapati Mystery takes a crack at trying to figure out ex-cricket star Imram Khan, and also notes that the mainstream press is starting to pay more attention to him.

Photograph by Stephanie Booth