Göran Lindberg and Sweden's dark side, by The Observer

A friend of mine living in UK told me about this article on Sweden by The Observer, a Sunday newspaper. It's a long article, but worth reading if you wonder what Sweden is like.

America, meet Yoshiki (LA Times, July 25, 2010)

LA Times features X Japan.

Freakonomics Blog on May 18, 2010 ...

is quite well written.

And a follow-up post is thought-provoking.

A Nigerian newspaper

Monocle magazine is a good source of information on the reality faced by journalists in developing countries. In its inaugural issue back in 2007, they reported the most popular radio DJ in Afghanistan (the video version of the article is here).

The latest issue (Issue 34, page 61) features Next, a Nigerian daily newspaper, launched by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Dele Olojede, who "claims rivals have tried to sabotage his distribution network, forcing him to organise direct sales and subscriptions." That's Nigeria...

According to Monocle, Mr Olojede plans to turn Next into a pan-African international newspaper by 2011, targeting metropolitan middle class people on the continent.

2012

According to Asahi.com (a Japanese newspaper's website), you'll be arrested if you watch the film 2012 on DVD in North Korea.

Year 2012 is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-Song, the former president and founder of the People's Democratic Republic of Korea (the official name of North Korea). The Republic is "thus" officially supposed to become a superpower in 2012. Since the film depicts 2012 as the year of a series of natural disasters leading to the verge of human extinction, it's unacceptable for Kim Jong-Il, the current president and son of Kim Il-Song.

This is a county where the minister in charge of currency denomination was recently executed for his policy failure.

Mrs Monneypenny

Mrs Monneypenny's column in FT today is beautifully written. A favorite columnist of mine, Mrs Monneypenny's got the knack of writing in a rather short column about several seemingly-different things together in a coherent (and funny) way. This week's one is a good example of this.

Let the Big Three rust

By Tyler Brule at FT Weekend.

From The Economist this week

"A biased market" - Media bias results not from its owner's political slant but from the demand of news consumers, according to studies by economists.

"Another country" - A dictator stepped down after his electoral defeat in the Maldives.

"Keep'em guessing" - Prime minister of Japan won't call a snap election because he might barely win it.

"Cross straits" - Taiwanese hate mainland China.

FT on rating agencies

A very good article from FT magazine on one of the causes of the current world financial crisis.

Private property rights enforcement

A great example of private property rights enforcement when the state is weak. HT: Dani Rodrik.

The 10 most livable cities in CHINA

Monocle and many others have published the list of the world's most livable cities. Usually, no Chinese city appears in the list. What if you have to live in China but you can choose which city to live? Here's the list of the 10 most livable cities in China, based on opinion polls by Chinese.

Robert Mugabe

The Economist article on the Zimbabwean President this week gives you a slightly different view on Mugabe: giving lessons to staff in the government, working punishing hours, frugal, teetotal, faithful to his wife...

Takacs Quartet

This is a very hilarious article written by the first violinist of the Takacs Quartet on how the Quartet copes with a member change, does rehearsing, travels by air, and prepares for a concert.