Two Strikes

Freedom of the press

"Reporters Without Borders" is a Paris-based international non-governmental organization that advocates freedom of the press. Recently a new list of the countries where the freedom of the press is respected came out. Portugal fell 14 positions to the 30th place being now at the same level as Mali and Costa Rica! Last year Portugal occupied the 16th place together with Holland, Lithuania and Czech Republic. European countries are falling on the list as the governments are controlling more and more the Media. Other more dramatic examples are Italy and Spain, which occupy the 44th position together. This ranking is made every year. In the first position, with the biggest freedom of the press we have Denmark and as the last ones we have Cuba, Iran and Eritrea.

Countries with the biggest gaps between rich and poor

It is well known that developed countries have an increased tendency to have bigger gaps between richer and poorer people. The UN Development Program came out with a world list of the countries in which this difference is noted the most. In the first place we have Hong Kong, the most vertical city in the world! While rich people show themselves through the streets on big expensive Ferraris, about half the population lives in government-supported or -subsidized housing estates. Singapore, another fast-growing city occupies the 2nd position. Already in the 3rd, surprise or not, we have USA. Then we have Israel and, in the 5th position we have Portugal! A tiny country, considered stable, not involved in wars, member of the EU, country of the sun and the beach! Basically a country that could be on the last places of this list but, by unexplained reasons appears already in the 5th position worldwide! "While Portugal emerged from recession in the second quarter, the unemployment rate tops 9%. The ruling Socialists retained power in elections last month but lost seats to parties on the far left". The next countries appearing on the list are New Zealand, Italy and Britain (together in the 7th position), Australia, Ireland and Greece. On the other side of this ranking, we have more surprises! The countries where the rich-poor gap is less noted are Scandinavian countries, Japan and Czech Republic!

The twists this world gives, are sometimes not understandable...