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Posts published in May 2009

Smokers are welcome to China

If you are worried about shrinking public space for smoking, move over to China. The Communist government in Gongan county in Central China has turned smoker friendly. Just to mop up more revenue. ‘Smoke or face fine’ is the decree to government employees. More than 350 million people smoke in Gongan. One million of them die of smoking-related diseases every year. The ‘puff more’ dictum has something to do with inter- county tax structures. Gongan…

US drops B’desh from religion watch list

Bangladesh is dropped from the US watch list on religious freedoms.  The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), government aided panel had placed Bangladesh on the list of countries deemed to violate minorities’ right to religious freedom for the past three years from 2005 to 2008. The Commission in its latest report released in Washington this past week noted that the election held last year end has brought about some qualitative difference. It…