On the 9th of March 2013, news agencies reported that students and teachers at the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy (ASOA) have been banned from entering the campus for wearing hijab. This policy represents an extension of the current hijab ban enforced in schools across the country. The official banning of the hijab was first issued on December 10, 2010 when Misir Mardanov, from Azerbaijan's Education Ministry announced that students would…

On Wednesday February 27 2013, The Standard newspaper reported that Jubilee presidential candidate Uhuru Kenyatta and his CORD counterpart Raila Odinga faced an acid test as they confronted land issues that have dogged their presidential bids. During the presidential debate on Monday night, the two candidates were hard pressed to defend themselves against accusations over alleged land impropriety. Narc Kenya leader Martha Karua kicked off the storm when she stood…

The Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday 18th January that Ma Jiantang, director of China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), called for the country's one-child policy to be changed because of the nation's shrinking pool of workers. According to the NBS, the working-age population in China decreased by 3.45 million between 2011 and 2012. In October 2011, the China Development Research Foundation, a think-tank affiliated with the Chinese government, also…

As 2013 comes to a close, many are warning about the effect of a range of UK government cuts to the funding of public services and how that will affect some of the elderly, services delivered by local councils and may even lead to the closure of hospital wards. Why? Because money is scarce and the government has to reduce the budget deficit so "everyone has to tighten their belt"…