Stories about Governance from July, 2007
China: Fake baozi news turned into media control
Yang Hang-jun from Horizon 360 comments on the reaction of the party and government officials on the fake baozi news: the propaganda about the news had affected beijing and party image, etc. The writer felt that the issue would turn into an excuse for stricter media control (zh).
Iran:Religious students and clerics got everything
Ghonabit who lives in Qom,a very important religious city in Iran, says[Fa] there is a real discrimination between ordinary citizens and religious students and clerics. The blogger adds these religious people have their own private buses and some places such as Television Faculty just accept them as students.
Iran:Death Penalty Petition
Iranian Truth writes about a petition calling for abolishment of the death penalty in Iran.
Kyrgyzstan: Moving the capital?
Daniel Kohler, on Registan.net, discusses whether the recent suggestion of a Kyrgyzstani governor to move the capital closer to his southern constituency is politically motivated.
Palestine: Condolences to Dr. Mona El Farra and Many Others
The best blog posts from the Palestinian blogosphere are not always the happiest. While many around the world are celebrating the victory of the AKP in Turkey and the release of the final Harry Potter book, others are suffering, writes Jillian York.
Trinidad & Tobago: Medical Board Regulation
“The back of the medical boys’ club must be broken as part of a wider programme of health sector reform,” writes Keith in Trinidad, as he weighs in on the proposed amendment to the Medical Board Act.
Latvia: Real Estate and Economy
Latvian Abroad writes about Latvian real estate and economy – here and here.
Bahrain: Homeless Woman
Bahraini emoodz is enraged at the plight of a homeless woman.
Philippines: State of the Nation Address
Inside PCIJ blogs about the reactions to Philippines president President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s state of the nation address.
Armenia: Managed democracy
Onnik Krikorian ponders the pros and cons of managed transition to democratic rule in Armenia.
Jamaica: Corruption
A poem by Ricardo Paulwell at The Inmate Diaries compares corruption to “an open grave”.
Jamaica: Election Non-Issues
Jamaica and the World identifies what she thinks are “4 biggest non-debates in the lead-up to the election in Jamaica”.
Japan: Face recognition system
Edo from Pink tentacle reports: on July 19, electronics giant NEC announced it has developed the world’s first automated border control system that uses facial recognition technology capable of identifying people inside their automobiles. The system is already in operation at checkpoints on the Hong Kong – Shenzhen border.
Brazilian blogs on another airplane crash
While still facing a highly blogged crisis in its air traffic management, and not yet recovered from the crash of a Boeing-737 over the Amazon ten months ago, Brazil was shaken last week by yet another airplane disaster. On Tuesday, an Airbus-320 with 186 aboard slid off the runway at Congonhas city-airport in São Paulo, and ran across a busy highway during the evening rush hour to crash into a building and a gas station.
Arabeyes: Online Democracy, Water Conservation and Crackdown on Muslim Brotherhood Activists
This week's Arabic translation has good and bad news. On the good side is a pioneering scheme by Jordan to publish draft laws online and give people the chance to comment on them before being passed as legislation while on the bad are stories about more censorship and arrests of student activists in Egypt.
Hungary: Museums, Toilets, and Domestic Products
Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes about free toilets and museum admission fees, and about the Hungarian domestic products market.
Former Soviet Union: “Escape from Moscow”
Mart Laar, Estonia's former prime minister, writes about certain countries’ successes and failures in parting with the Communist past.
Congo-Brazzaville: Pygmies housed in Brazzaville zoo
Vous reprendrez un peu d'humanisme? continues to question France's commitment to human rights, given its warm relations with Denis Sassou-Nguesso, and cites the shocking revelation that pygmy musicians were being housed in the Brazzaville zoo (Fr).
France: Protest against BNP & Denis Sassou-Nguesso
Congopage announces a demonstration (Fr) set to take place Saturday, July 28 in front of the offices of BNP-PARIBAS, Paris to protest the French oil giant's alleged involvement in Congo-Brazzaville's President, Denis Sassou-Nguesso's theft of millions of dollars of public funds. Sarkozy and Sassou-Nguesso are quite cozy.
Cameroon: Yes your majesty
Parler Camerounais compares (Fr) the leaders of Cameroon, and their “bulimia” of meaningless titles and honors, to the royal family in Eddie Murphy's 1998 hit, Coming to America.
Estonia: Smaller Minorities
Itching for Eestimaa writes about Estonia's “smaller, less vocal minorities [that] usually get lost in the shuffle.”