Update

Please excuse the upcoming lack of new entries -- we will be traveling a lot this summer. Check back later.

May 07, 2010

Yesterday Britain held elections and no party won an outright majority, resulting in a hung Parliament (I need to make t-shirts that say "Britain: The only thing hung in this country is Parliament." Oh snap!). The Conservatives gained a lot of seats (about 94), while the incumbent Labour Party (led by current-Prime Minister Gordon Brown) lost seats (at least 88). The third place Liberal Democrats didn't gain as many seats as was forecasted, and they were down by five seats compared to the 2005 vote. With nearly all the votes counted, the Conservative Party (led by David Cameron) is set to win the largest number of seats. This will end the 13 year reign of the Labour Party holding the majority.The Conservatives won an estimated 36.2% of the votes, while the Labour won 29.1% and the Liberal Democrats won 22.9%. A BBC projection forecasts that the Conservatives will get 306 seats, Labour 261, and the Liberal Democrats 54 (the Liberal Democrats are a much smaller party compared to the Conservatives and Labour).

Over the next several days, the Conservative Party and the Labour Party (the two biggest parties) will try to woo other parties to join them in order to form a governing alliance (in order to get a majority). Both parties are trying to strike a deal with the Liberal Democrats (headed by Nick Clegg), who hold the third highest number of seats. Gordon Brown said that although his party is currently behind, they are not giving up. He offered an alliance with Clegg based on their parties' shared approach to the country's economic crisis and to reforms in the voting system (a central tenet of the Liberal Democrat Party). David Cameron offered the Liberal Democrats some concessions, but not guarantees, on economic measures and electoral reform. Cameron also said that while the two parties disagreed on immigration, the relationship with Europe, and defense, he hoped they could come to an agreement (well, when you put it like that...). Clegg has not made a decision yet.

Under British parliamentary procedures, the party with a plurality of the votes (in this case, the Conservative Party), may form a minority government. This would not require them to form an alliance (but then it's more difficult to get things passed in Parliament because you don't have a majority voting bloc). But the rules also permit the incumbent prime minister (in this case, Gordon Brown) to remain in office and try to negotiate an alliance. Any new government has to be able to withstand an early confidence vote in Parliament (a vote that signifies enough people in Parliament accept or "have confidence" in your government). (Full Story)

May 05, 2010

Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based media watchdog group, released a report that lists the 40 worst offenders against freedom of the press. They released the report for World Press Freedom Day. The list includes the leaders of China, Russia, Rwanda, North Korea, and Myanmar as some of the world's worst "predators of freedom". The report said that Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has "promoted a climate of pumped-up national pride that encourages the persecution of dissidents and free thinkers." In Rwanda, elections are due to be held in August and there's growing political tension in the country. An investigative journalists in Rwanda was thrown out of the country for criticizing President Paul Kagame. Robert Mukomboz, the journalist that was thrown out, told the BBC in an interview, "The president's office would try to dictate what I'm supposed to write, would even want to dictate the headlines, and would go to the extent of trying to draft the story for me and include my by-line."

Mexico is listed as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists -- 62 journalists have been killed in Mexico over the last decade. The report also listed Eta, the Basque separatist group in Spain, and criminal gangs in Italy as groups that have threatened journalists. Israeli Defense Forces were criticized for physically injuring 33 Palestinian journalists. The Palestinian militant group Hamas was also criticized. The Defense Secretary of Sri Lanka, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa -- who also happens to be the President's brother -- was accused in the report of condoning attacks against journalists. However, some progress has been made in Sri Lanka. President Rajapaksa ordered the release of a journalist that was sentenced to 20 years in prison on terrorism charges. The journalist was a Tamil and he was convicted because the government said that articles he had written incited racial hatred. His released was ordered by the President on World Press Freedom Day. Other countries on the list include Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Libya, and Iran. For this year's list, Reporters Without Borders has removed several Iraqi Islamist groups from the list. The reason for this is that, while violence remains high in the area, journalists are no longer being singled out as targets. (Full Story) (Full Story)

May 04, 2010

An Oklahoma state judge temporarily blocked the enforcement of a new abortion law for 45 days. The controversial state law requires pregnant women to get an ultrasound and to hear a detailed description of the fetus before they can get an abortion. The law requires doctors to use a vaginal probe, which provides a clearer picture of the fetus than a regular ultrasound (because the fetus is so small at this point). Then the doctor has to describe the fetus in detail, including its dimensions; whether arms, legs, and internal organs are visible; and whether there is cardiac activity. Doctors are also required to turn the screen with the ultrasound images toward the woman so that she can see them.

Lawmakers in Oklahoma overrode Governor Brad Henry's (D) veto, and the law went into effect last week. The law is being challenged by The Center for Reproductive Rights. The Center, a New York-based abortion rights group, challenged the law on behalf of Nova Health Systems (the operator of Reproductive Services of Tulsa). Officials at Reproductive Services said the law has drawn emotional responses from patients, with some leaving in tears after the ultrasound is performed because of what they had to hear and see. The lawyers for CRR were planning on arguing for a temporary block of the law, but the attorney general agreed to accept the order before the court hearing. The attorney general agreed to the order to give his office more time to prepare a defense of the law and to have more time to retain a law professor, Teresa Collett, who represented the state when a similar law passed in 2008 was challenged by the Center for Reproductive Rights (the law was ruled unconstitutional because it violated requirements that legislative measures deal with only one subject).

The Center for Reproductive Rights sees the law as one of the strictest abortion laws in the nation. They say the law forces women to hear information that may not be relevant to her medical care and could interfere with the doctor-patient relationship by forcing doctors to deliver unwanted speech. Teresa Collett said the new law is consistent with standard medical practice. She said, "It would be remarkable if a woman would undergo a medical procedure and a doctor would not have an obligation to describe the procedure and the results of that procedure to the patient." But that's assuming the patients wants to hear this information. These women against the law do not want to hear this information. They do not want to see an ultrasound image. They do not want to be forced to have a vaginal ultrasound. They simply want to have an abortion performed (which is within their legal rights). They shouldn't have to jump through hoops and be subjected to this. Choosing to get an abortion can be a very difficult and emotional decision, but it's that individual's decision to make. There shouldn't be a law in place to try to emotionally traumatize them or make them feel guilty about getting an abortion in order to scare them out of it. It's not the state's role to scare people out of getting an abortion. I find it terrible all these roadblocks that states set up to hinder a woman's right to receive an abortion (as they cannot outright ban abortions). (Full Story)