· May, 2007

Stories about Governance from May, 2007

China: Infected Pig Statistics

Chris O'Brien blogs about the confusing statistics about Pig disease in China: Xinhua: 300, Hong Kong media report: 1,300, Reuters: a million.

25 May 2007

China: Land Requisition in Hubei

Xueyong posts a protest letter against a forced land requisition in Hubei. The requisited area is 616.42 hectares, affecting 3,032 people. However, the compensation is just one eighth of the...

25 May 2007

Belarus: More on Student Rallies

More on the recent student protest and the “official” opposition at TOL's Belarus: “Student protests have not been that successful – and official opposition media have mostly failed to deliver...

24 May 2007

Join the Debate on Darfur 10am (EST) TODAY!

Further to our earlier post, here's a quick update on the Reuters Newsmaker event on Darfur, which takes place in New York starting at 10am EST today. Our Sub-Saharan Africa editor Ndesanjo Macha will be live-blogging the event at his blog, Jikomboe, so you'll be able to follow the proceedings there. Reuters will be tossing to the GV team from time to time for questions and feedback, so please leave any comments you may have either on this post or on Ndesanjo's blog. In related news, Reuters Alertnet this morning released the results of its poll on the situation of Aid workers in Darfur (full coverage here).

24 May 2007

Iran: Iran-USA Negotiations, the Chinese Model and Expulsion of Afghans

Iran accepted a U.S. offer last Thursday for direct negotiations about conditions in Iraq. It can be viewed as a historic moment as it is the first time that Iran has agreed to bilateral talks since the United States broke diplomatic relations in 1980 after American diplomats were taken hostage in Tehran. Negotiation between these two countries becomes even more interested when we take into consideration that Iranian officials have called the USA "the Great Satan" while Washington still considers Iran to be a member of the so-called axis of evil.

23 May 2007

Belarus: Students’ Rally

TOL's Belarus translates two posts – here and here – by Belarusian bloggers on a student rally against cancellation of discounts for students and war veterans.

23 May 2007

Bulgaria: Rainy Days

“Dusty Sofia becomes muddy Sofia,” writes Sofia's Hidden Beauty. But – “While nature is ravaging the capital and the region, politicians are suffering overheating after the end of the elections...

23 May 2007

Estonia: Demography and Ethnicity

Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's demography and interethnic relationships: “Still, the reality for Estonia is, no matter what historical spin you put on it, there will be a large...

23 May 2007

Latvia: Karlis Ulmanis

Peteris Cedrins of Marginalia writes about Karlis Ulmanis and his legacy: the man who, “seventy-three years ago, slightly over six years before Stalin destroyed [Latvian] Republic, […] destroyed [Latvian] democracy.”

23 May 2007

Iran:Islamic Bicycle

Iran is to start manufacturing “Islamic bicycles” for women that conceal their figure.Balouch writes[Fa] with irony that it took 30 years for regime to be able to go to war...

23 May 2007

Iran:Islamic Bicycle

Iran is to start manufacturing “Islamic bicycles” for women that conceal their figure.Balouch writes[Fa] with irony that it took 30 years for regime to go to war against “international economy”.

23 May 2007

Serbia: Homophobia

Belgrade 2.0 writes about Serbian homophobia: “[…] Some Serbs consider being gay completely ok and there’s nothing wrong with it, but are absolutely against gays adopting kids, because kids can...

23 May 2007

Romania: Referendum's Low Turnout

Csikszereda Musings writes on the results of the impeachment referendum and offers a few reasons for a low turnout: “This huge defeat to the sponsors of the referendum was, however,...

23 May 2007

China: Internet Police Recruitment

Tufeiwan blogs a recruitment ads of 96 internet police in a county level town in Sichuan at a monthly payment of 1,300 yuan per month. Annual expense for internet police...

23 May 2007