Word: reforms
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...appears to be a rare clean politician in a country where politics and corruption seem as closely linked as mango and sticky rice. Nor is it significant to them that during his 15 months in power the Prime Minister has unveiled a raft of poor-friendly policies, from land reform to 15 years' free education to a pension scheme for lower-income families. "When there are divisions, people can become quite emotional," laments Panitan Wattanayagorn, Abhisit's spokesman. "Their liking or not liking you doesn't seem to depend on how good your programs are." (Read "Parsing the Color Codes...
...serenity, though, is illusory. The home's inhabitant is Saif al-Islam Gaddafi, the son of Libya's four-decade-long leader Muammar Gaddafi. At 37, Saif finds himself at the heart of a political battle for his country's future. To hear Saif tell it, the need for reform is urgent. "The whole world is going through more freedom, more democracy," he says, pumping the air in impatience. "We want to see those changes now, instead of 10 years' time, or 15 years." (See pictures of the rise of Muammar Gaddafi...
...Noman Benotman, a former leader in the militant Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, or LIFG, who fought alongside al-Qaeda in Afghanistan until 2000. Benotman is a lot less famous than al-Megrahi, but his collaboration with Saif may actually be the clearest sign that Gaddafi Junior is serious about reform. Saif brought Benotman to Libya in 2007 and then helped him negotiate a truce with hundreds of jailed LIFG militants, effectively severing their links with al-Qaeda. On March 23, Saif secured the release of 214 LIFG members from jail, including its three top leaders. (See pictures: "Lockerbie 20 Years...
...area around the town of Redencao is a particularly bloody battlefield. It is the home to powerful cattle barons who are in constant conflict with reform activists. In 2005, an American nun, Dorothy Stang, who supported land reform, was murdered. Last Thursday, as a local court postponed the third trial of a man accused of killing her, unknown gunmen shot dead Pedro Alcantara de Souza, another activist for land reform in Redencao. Police believe Souza was targeted because he works for the Federation of Family Farmers, a group that defends the rights of small producers and landowners in southern Para...
Souza, who sought the agrarian reform that would give small plots to the area's poor, was shot three or four times as he bicycled with his wife and her friend on Tuesday evening, said Loyana Nogueira da Silva, the police officer who was on duty when the case was called in. The three were on the edge of a temporary settlement of poor farmers, when an unidentified assailant or assailants approached him on a motorcycle and opened fire. Souza's wife and her friend had biked ahead and turned when they heard the shots. Although they have no firm...