Global Report May 28, 2010
King Abdullah of Jordan issues a decree on holding parliamentary elections
Around 7 months after dissolving the Lower House of Parliament, King Abdullah of Jordan has issued a decree on Tuesday to hold parliamentary elections according to the provisions of law. The earlier decision of dissolving the parliament has caused lots of controversy, and resulted in downgrading Jordan in the Freedom House's global report from being a partly free country, to a not free one. The Freedom House's report was issued regardless of the statistics which showed that a percentage of 85% of Jordanians were in favor of the decision, which was mainly due to the incompetency of the former parliament. Hopes now are that Jordanians who agreed with the decision of dissolving the parliament earlier on, will make a better choice this time voting for those who will make the aspired positive changes in the country once in position of power.
Paksitan removes ban and restores access to youtube
Restoring access to Youtube has sent waves of relief and joy among hundreds of thousands of internet users as well as internet service providers. Watching Youtube is one of the most inexpensive forms of entertainment for a large number of Pakistani citizens, particularly youth living in big and congested cities where other means of inexpensive recreation are not available. In summers, Youtube is one of the most favorite sources of entertainment available to these young people. That is why blocking Youtube had created a platitude throughout the country. While the protests continue in a few parts of the country, many people have cheered up at the reopening of Youtube. And of course, most of them want Facebook back though they would certainly not want to watch any blasphemous content.
Child birth becomes an expensive affair for many Kenyan women
The number of women suffering from fistula, an ailment related to birth complications, is on the rise in the country, the reason why women planning to give birth have been left with no option other than seeking expensive avenues. It is estimated that 300, 000 women suffer from the condition. Fistula afflicts women due to tears during childbirth. The complications are as a result of early pregnancies, low use of family planning services and giving birth under the care of unskilled midwives. Although 92 per cent of our women attend ante-natal clinic at least once during pregnancy, only 44 per cent deliver under a skilled healthcare worker...The Kenya Demographic Health Survey shows that the maternal mortality rate is 410 per 100,000 live births. What has worned the situation is that most women are not aware of the problem and the fact that treating the condition is neither cheap. The average cost of fistula treatment and post-operative care costs about Shs 150,000.