· August, 2012

Stories about Law from August, 2012

Kyrgyzstan: Facebook Post Spurs Row with Belarus

A photo uploaded on Facebook suggests that Janysh Bakiyev, the brother of the former Kyrgyzstani president ousted by 2010 protests, lives in Minsk. This has sparked an extradition request, the withdrawal of an ambassador and the storming of an embassy.

30 August 2012

Tracking Counterfeit Medicines in the Developing World

Some 700,000 people die annually from fake malaria and tuberculosis drugs alone. The WHO reports that the annual earnings from substandard or counterfeit drugs stand at about USD 200 billion. More important than its economic impact, counterfeit medicines pose a significant global public health problem.

30 August 2012

Hungary: Shantytown Destroyed to Help Real Estate Investment

Some 45-50 people have been living in their makeshift shacks in the abandoned woods of District X in Budapest. Some of the residents have built up self-supporting farms, but in June 2012 the local municipality started to move them out, which is not a unique phenomenon in Hungary's capital.

29 August 2012

Jordan: A Black Day to Protest Internet Censorship

'Over 150 sites in Jordan are going black, including the country's top new sites, to protest laws that restrict internet freedom #blackoutjo.' - On August 29, websites went offline to draw attention to the dangers of the impending legislation.

29 August 2012

Russia: Foreign Ministry Looks to Germany to Justify Pussy Riot Verdict

RuNet Echo

Russia's Foreign Ministry has made a series of comments that further enraging Pussy Riot's supporters. Spokesperson Aleksandr Lukashevich defended the recent verdict and lashed out at the West for ignorance about the band members' pasts and highlighted perceived double standards regarding interferences into religious services and criminal penalties, citing laws in Germany and Austria.

28 August 2012

Lebanon: At Odds with the Smoking Ban

As of September 3rd, smoking will be prohibited in public transportation, work places and closed public places, including coffee shops and restaurants. Mohammad Hijazi explains that the law is unrealistic and that its enforcement will;

Generate a drop of roughly $282 million in revenues, representing 7.1% of GDP in the hospitality sector and lead to a loss of about 2600 full-time jobs.

28 August 2012

Taiwan: ‘National Health Insurance’ System in Crisis

The National Health Insurance system in Taiwan is quite often used as a model for reform in countries where health care depends on private insurance system. Yet, the inconvenient truth unknown to the outside world is that, the seemingly efficient health care system is built upon the exploitation of medical personnel.

28 August 2012

Philippines: Senator Accused of Plagiarism

A Philippine senator is accused of plagiarism when he delivered a speech without mentioning that he copied several parts of the speech from a blog. The senator, instead of apologizing, has denied that he committed plagiarism. He said his office doesn't quote from blogs. His chief of staff later added that 'copying' is normal in the Senate.

25 August 2012

Trinidad & Tobago: Political Euphemisms

If…you negotiating with crime lords…after your leader state categorically in a 2011 speech in Parliament that she would never negotiate with criminals, well… The Eternal Pantomime blogs about the government's...

24 August 2012

Chessmaster Gary Kasparov's Arrest During Pussy Riot Trial

Perhaps the most surprising thing to emerge out of the media saturated Pussy Riot trials other than the trial itself, was the attendance and subsequent arrest of the former Chessmaster of Caucasian descent, Gary Kasparov, at the reading of the verdict on August 17, which saw the three women accused of illegally performing a "punk prayer" in a church receive a two year prison term.

24 August 2012

Russia: Government Bans Serbian Film for Underage Sex and Drugs

RuNet Echo

On August 17, Sam Klebanov announced that Russia's Ministry of Culture has banned the release of a Serbian film called "Clip." Klebanov's company owns the Russian distribution rights to the movie, which was honored with a Hivos Tiger Award at the forty-first International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands earlier this year.

24 August 2012