Stories about Law from October, 2006
India: Capital Punishment, Afzal and Santosh
National Highway reflects on capital punishment. “For the simple reason that the desire to see his life extinct reflects society’s desire to disown his act of crime as being ‘inhuman’. But what Santosh did was very human, born out of human impulses, and has to be resolved within the parameters...
Belarus: News Roundup
TOL's Belarus Blog writes about yet another arrest; prize for Milinkevich, and the Belarusian language museum.
Serbia: The Referendum
Blog coverage of the referendum on the new Serbian constitution: at East Ethnia, here and here; at South East Europe Online, here; at Belgrade 2.0, here, here and here; at Dictionary of the Serbian Mess, here; and at Estavisti, here.
Ethiopia: clash over trademark
Ethan discusses the clash between the Ethiopian government and Starbucks over trademark, “Last year, the Ethiopian government filed trademark applications to protect the names “Sidaro”, “Harar” and “Yirgacheffe” – the hope was to prevent unscrupulous coffee dealers from buying inexpensive beans from other countries and selling them as “Sidaro”, whether...
Kenya: recognize gay and lesbian citizens
A statement in support of gay and lesbian citizens of Kenya, “It is time to scrap the laws that the British imposed upon us and left us with, laws that the colonizers themselves scrapped long ago. Let Kenya move out from the shadows of her colonial past and recognise the...
Bulgaria: The Tripoli Six Update
Declan Butler posts an update on “the buildup of international pressure” in the Tripoli Six case.
Bangladesh in Turmoil
Bangladesh is going through turbulent times as the row over an interim caretaker government chief persists who will lead the country towards the upcoming parliament election in January 2007. This unique caretaker government (CTG) system adopted in Bangladesh constitution worked in past three elections. However this time the opposition parties...
Kenya: blogger's work used by Kenyan paper without his knowledge
This is what Kikuyumoja's Realm had to say to the Kenyan newspaper, Kenya Times, for using his work without notifying him, “Next time you are re-publishing my words, pls let me know. I know I can’t be mad with you kwani no one I know actually reads the Kenya Times….ama?”...
Jamaica: When Prime Ministers doodle. . . .
Ria Bacon offers an update to an earlier post in which she discussed the matter of a close-up photograph of the Prime Minister's notepad taken during a debate on a no-confidence motion, and run on the front page of one of Jamaica's news dailies: “The upshot is that journalists will...
Guyane: Anti-Violence Demonstration
Blada.com posts (Fr) a reminder of a day of protest taking place in Kourou tomorrow October 27th to force the town's authorities to address crime.
India: Domestice Violence Act
To Each Its Own on the Domestic Violence Act in India. “The highlighting point of this Act is that it not only provides protection to women who are legally married but also those who are in live-in relationship, women who are sisters, widows or mother. The new law also addresses...
Trinidad & Tobago: Crime comes home
Trinidadian blogger Jonathan Ali receives a stark reminder that the country's deep-seated crime problem affects everybody.
Ethiopia: human rights lawyer arrested
“Yalemzewd Bekele, a prominent human rights activist and a lawyer working for the European Commission in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, was arrested on the morning of 19 October by the Ethiopian authorities, while trying to cross the border to Kenya with another Ethiopian,” reports Ethiopian Life, Politics, Culture and...
Bahamas: Violence in cabinet
Sir Arthur Foulkes is highly critical of the handling by the Bahamian Prime Minister of a fight between two members of parliament in the Cabinet room.
Barbados: “Abortions provider” candidate
Barbados Free Press wonders whether a political candidate's affiliations with a clinic that provides abortions — which are legal in Barbados — will affect his candidacy.
Costa Rica Bloggers on CAFTA and other issues
The Tico Bloggers are posting on two main subjects this past week: the two day long CAFTA protests and the bill the government is writing which would ban weapon production in Costa Rican territory. Other topics are political corruption up high and the power of a musical request.
China: Good cop/bad cop
A story shared by A-list blogger-journalist Huang Tingzi (黄亭子) about an engineering student recruited by Chinese cops on his campus who—along with four colleagues—one day finds himself quite a bit in over his head: 读大学时,庄警官念的是无线电专业,毕业前,本打算去IT界发展。结果,正好遇上公安局招干,陪同学一块去顺利也报了个名,没想到很快就被录取了。 In university, officer Zhuang majored in wireless communications. Before graduation, he was planning to go...
Belarus: Persecution Continues
Former presidential candidate is in jail and on hunger strike; 60-year-old woman is sentenced to two years for requesting a psychiatric exam for the country's president – and this isn't all of it, writes TOL's Belarus Blog.
Serbia, Montenegro: Flag and Constitution
Florian Bieber of East Ethnia has an idea about national flags. Also, he knows the word count of Serbia's new constitution.
Ukraine: News Digest
Orange Ukraine and Foreign Notes both discuss president Yushchenko's relationship with his own party. Foreign Notes also re-posts two newspaper stories from eastern Ukraine: on the ongoing rallies against high utility tariffs and the position on joining NATO.
India, Pakistan: Kashmir and the Indian Army
~Kashmir~ on the Indian Army. “Does a 19 year old boy deserve to be tortured with hot iron rods? Does the brother of a 10 year sister old deserve to be burned? Does the only bread winner of a family deserve death at the hands of an occupational army for...