· April, 2011

Stories about Governance from April, 2011

India: Who Is Going To Be The Chief Minister Of West Bengal?

  24 April 2011

The elections in the West Bengal state of India are going on and Mamata Banerjee, leader of Trinamool Congress, is a favorite to become the Chief Minister of West Bengal in a few weeks. Monobina Gupta at Kafila describes in details about the the rise of Mamata Banerjee.

Dominican Republic: Advice for the President

  24 April 2011

Journalist and blogger María Isabel Soldevila advises [es] President Leonel Fernández to focus on three issues during his last year as head of state:  violence and arms; the right to life; and road fatalities.

Belarus, Ukraine: “Chernobyl: The First Month”

  23 April 2011

At OpenDemocracy.net, Barys Piatrovich, a Belarusian writer and journalist, recalls the first month after the Chernobyl catastrophe of April 26, 1986: “It was difficult for me to write this text. I've been working up to it for over twenty years. More than once I have started to write but given...

Uganda: On African Presidents

  23 April 2011

Ken Opalo writes his first installment on African presidents and the elites around them: “First on the list is Yoweri Museveni of Uganda. Mr. Museveni has been in power since 1986 and is pretty much convinced that he is God’s gift to Uganda has just won another 5-year term in...

Bermuda: MPs’ Salaries

  22 April 2011

Bloggers are unimpressed by “the continuing refusal of MPs [Ministers of Parliament] to take a pay cut, even a symbolic one.”

Bangladesh: Netizens Protest Human Rights Abuse in the Hills

  21 April 2011

Ethnic violence has sparked again in the Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh between Bengali settlers and indigenous people due to land disputes. The mainstream media have been accused of highlighting the Bengali casualties only and are ignoring the plights of the local aboriginal people. But this time around these minorities have found a voice via blogs and Facebook.

Sri Lanka: Much Ado About The UN Advisory Panel Report

  21 April 2011

Indrajit Samarajiva at Indi.ca provides a voice of reason regarding the much hyped and loathed UN Advisory panel report on human rights abuse during the fag end of Sri Lanka's war against the LTTE. The blogger comments that the debate is not exactly helping towards reconciliation.

China: The Murder Case of Yao Jiaxin

  21 April 2011

Over the past few months, the cold-blooded murder of a young woman, Zhang Miao, by affluent music student Yao Jiaxin, has been the most heated topic on the Chinese Internet. On the eve of the verdict in the murder trial, propaganda authorities have demanded that all media outlets use the Xinhua report as their only news source, as well as to monitor all related online discussions.

Caribbean: The Cricket Captaincy

  20 April 2011

“It’s very interesting to read old minutes from WICB meetings and seeing how directors scheme and hatch their plans”: WICB Expose suggests that plans for the Darren Sammy captaincy may have been “hatched since 2009″.

Singapore: Bloggers Criticize PAP Manifesto

  20 April 2011

Singapore’s ruling coalition, People’s Action Party, released its election manifesto on April 17, 2011, which was immediately criticized by many bloggers for being “too vague.” PAP has been in power for five decades already. The General Elections will take place on May 7.

Ukraine: “Crumbs From the Table”

  20 April 2011

Foreign Notes reports that a Ukrainian MP Rinat Akhmetov has bought a penthouse in London for £136 million ($222 million), and intends to donate $1 million for the construction of the new containment structure at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant; Akhmetov's fellow Party of Regions MP Mykola Lisin died in...

Sri Lanka: UN Panel Report Causes An Uproar

  19 April 2011

An United Nations (UN) advisory panel, led by former Indonesian Atty. Gen. Marzuki Darusman, has submitted a report to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which they find credible evidence that the Sri Lankan military shelled civilians in no-fire zones and sought to silence critics in a brutal fashion, during the war against guerilla group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2009.