Stories about Governance from November, 2009
Pakistan: Reduce The Size Of The Cabinet
Pakistani blog My Distinguished Sense supports the recent proposal of reducing the bulky cabinet of Pakistan explaining the reasons.
Sri Lanka: Future Of Freedom And Democracy
Surendra Ajit Rupasinghe at Groundviews discusses the fate of the internally detained persons and the future of freedom and democracy in Sri Lanka.
India: Corruption Is The Hindrance
“India needs to be made free of corruption before it can become developed. But the entire existing Indian governance ecosystem will prevent this from happening,” opines Rajesh Jain at Emergic.
Trinidad & Tobago: Numb from CHOGM
This Beach Called Life features a press ad that was taken out by “a group who knows Trinidad and Tobago better than any foreign or local politician”, adding in a...
Barbados: 43rd Anniversary of Independence
Today, the 43rd anniversary of Barbados’ independence, has bloggers talking about what the occasion means.
Saudi Arabia: Citizens’ Fury At Flood Deaths
Saudi Arabia's second largest city, Jeddah, was struck by heavy floods last week, and the death toll has risen to more than 100 people. Poor infrastructure and mismanagement of city works construction have been blamed, and thousands have joined a Facebook group criticising the authorities.
Singapore: Is It a City or Country?
Is Singapore a city or a country? This question seems silly since Singapore is globally recognized as an independent state. But for Singapore Law Minister K. Shanmugam, Singapore should be treated as a city. This remark triggered a debate in the blogosphere.
Russian authorities stop application process for domains in new .РФ zone zone
The Russian Coordination Center for the new national Cyrillic domain .RF stopped the application process for new domains. Anti-cybersquatting measures turned out to be infective and the center plans to...
Hungary: Violence “Behind Doors”
This month, Hungarian NGOs joined the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence Campaign. Marietta Le describes the situation with domestic violence in Hungary and translates one blogger's post on the subject.
Egypt: A fine line between patriotism and chauvinism
The November 14 football match between Egypt and Algeria has turned into an ugly war and it got worse after Egypt's defeat on November 18 in Sudan. From the fury of Egyptian President's son to that of renowned actors and actresses, media figures, writers, and Facebook users, anger has blinded common sense. Marwa Rakha looks at a new initiative to put out the fire.
China: Law or Justice?
According to Chongqing Evening News, by November 15th 2905 suspects had been arrested during a massive crackdown on gangs in the municipality of Chongqing, a major city with 30 million population and provincial status. The campaign...
Russia: At Least 25 People Killed in the ‘Neva Express’ Train Crash
An express train traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg derailed at 9:34 PM on Friday, Nov. 27, near the town of Bologoye, killing at least 25 people. Below are some of the initial reactions from the Russian blogosphere.
Russia: Official Government Web sites Will Be Regulated By Law
A new law “On Ensuring Access to Information about Activities of Government Bodies and Municipal Authorities” [RUS] will require, among other things, creating public Internet terminals all around Russia. But...
Nepal: Machine Readable Passport
“I wouldn’t want to cancel my trips due to the the failure of the government to issue passport,” says Xnepali while discussing whether the Nepali government will be able to...
India Should Wake Up On Climate Issues
Supriyo Chaudhuri at Sunday Posts discusses why India must wake up on climate change issues.
Russia: Social Networks Help Find Debtors
Court enforcement officers in Russia actively use social networks to gather information on debtors and their properties, Russian news agency Prime-TASS reports [RUS].
China: Prisons more modern & luxurious than schools
Tingting from ChinaSMACK translated a local forum post that shows modern and luxurious design prison in China.
Russia: Website Administrator Faces Trial on Libelling
Alexander Batalov, a former administrator of the official Web site for the town of Irbit, faces libel charges for anonymous comments left by someone else on the site. Batalov is...
Russia: Defense Ministry Reports “Non-Combat Losses” Online
Russia's Defense Ministry reports on its website that suicides, accidents, murders, and, possibly, manslaughter claimed 297 lives in the country's armed forces from Jan. to Oct. 2009, and that 149 of these deaths were suicides. Andrei Skvarsky reports on some of the Russian netizens' reactions to these figures.
Singapore: Bilingual policy on education
Singapore is reviewing the bilingual policy on education following the admission of a former Prime Minister about the flaws of that policy
Singapore: Illegal employment termination
Illegally terminated pregnant workers in Singapore can lodge complaints. Barnyard Chorus identifies the process on how to file a complaint with the Ministry of Manpower
