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Women and men around the world today have been celebrating International Women's Day, which has been observed now for nearly 100 years.

And how things have changed in the past century. In 1907, New Zealand and Finland were the only countries where women had full voting rights. In the United States, women didn't get the vote until 1920. It took all the way until 1971 for Swiss women to gain suffrage. Most recently, in 2005, Kuwaiti women at last gained access to the ballot box. And now, for the first time, a woman is a credible candidate for U.S. president.

I often reflect on how life has so radically changed for women in my own family. Neither of my grandmothers, who lived in India, had a high school education. One got married at age 13 and had her first child at 16. My mother was able to attain a college degree in India, and by the time she was the age that I am now, she was a married stay-at-home mom in the United States with two kids. Today, I am a woman who has a graduate degree, works a full-time job, and is nowhere close to having kids.

How fast women's roles have been changing!

As we reflect on achievements, though, let's not forget that much work still needs to be done. Today, sixty million girls are not in school. Preferences for sons has led to gender imbalances in parts of India and China. And in sub-Saharan Africa, women's lower social status is causing them to get infected with HIV in higher numbers than men.

It all makes me wonder: In 2107, how will women be doing?

Wondering if your website is blocked in China? Plug your URL into www.greatfirewallofchina.org, and you'll know instantly if your page is reaching the Middle Kingdom's 125 million Internet users. The slick site is the work of a group of artists and journalists who want "to make the censorship system transparent and keep open the discussion on censorship." The site keeps a record of every URL tested and the result, revealing that the status of many blocked sites changes almost daily. If your site is available, you can even see a preview of how it appears to Chinese surfers. 

Here are some blocked and available sites, according to the Great Firewall:

FP is not blocked. For more on Chinese censorship, don't miss Mike Boyer's interview with Li Wufeng, China's top Internet censor.

UPDATE: Robert Mayer over at Publis Pundit points out that Chinese bannination doesn't just happen on a site-wide scale. While FP Passport's main page is available in China, some individual pages, such as our previously mentioned interview with China's top internet cop are blocked. Could China's filters be so sophisticated that they can whittle down websites to knock out individual, offending pages? Looks like it.

Nat. Geo.

The Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal have released their annual Index of Economic Freedom for 2007. The Index compares countries across a number of economic variables, including business freedom (how easy it is to start a business), trade freedom, freedom from government intervention, and freedom from corruption. China, wisely, has maintained its hands-off economic policy since the 1997 handover—Hong Kong again tops the list as the most economically "free" country*, followed by Singapore and Australia. The United States is fourth. Some other interesting (and possibly questionable) findings:

• Indonesia, China, Nigeria and Nepal are all significantly freer of government intervention than Australia or the United States
• El Salvador rates higher than Norway in terms of overall economic freedom
• Malta protects property rights better than Belgium or Japan
• It is easier to start a business in Lithuania than Spain
• Iceland is the least corrupt country, sitting ahead of New Zealand

* For the sake of the index, Heritage and the WSJ considered Hong Kong and Taiwan countries.

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For at least the third time, the Chinese government has blocked Gao Yaojie—a Chinese doctor who has played a critical role in drawing attention to China's HIV/AIDS crisis—from leaving the country to accept an award from Vital Voices, a U.S.-based advocacy group supported by Hillary Clinton. Gao was prevented by police from leaving her house, causing her to miss her flight to Beijing (where she was planning to apply for her visa).

Gao Yaojie was one of the first people to expose the "blood scandal" in Henan province, in which local authorities knowingly allowed blood contaminated with HIV to spread throughout Henan's blood supply, which has created around 100,000 orphans. In the 1990s, local officials set up clinics and began paying peasants $5 for blood donations to meet the massive shortage of blood in local hospitals. But because donors were suffering from anemia from giving away too much blood, the collectors switched to taking only plasma, then pooling the blood of different types together, and re-injecting the remaining blood into the donors—a sure-fire way to spread diseases quickly.

Authorities have tried to cover up the scandal by arresting AIDS activists, closing down orphanages, and trying desperately to prevent the media from getting wind of it. Thanks to people like Gao, though, they haven't succeeded entirely.

(Hat tip: China Shakes the World by James Kynge)

A 2-meter-high baby diaper made out of police uniforms has been banned by communist authorities in Vietnam. The artwork is the same light brown color as the uniforms of Vietnam's traffic police, and the inside of the giant diaper is lined with pockets—each fastened by a police button.

The artist, Truong Tan, was merely trying to make a coy statement on official corruption by comparing the absorbent capacities of diapers with the pockets of police officers. But he wasn't coy enough. All cultural events in Vietnam need to be approved in advance, and organizers must submit photos of artwork along with descriptions. In this case, the photo was submitted sans description, so authorities were a bit slow in picking up on the sculpture's hidden meaning. But after one member of the police department saw it up close, he got the joke—and the giant diaper was duly banned from the exhibition.

With the caveat that FP can't verify the authenticity of this list, below are the highlights of a translation of what purports to be Xinhua's banned terms (Xinhua is China's national news agency).

As popular China blogger Jeremy Goldkorn observes, "Aside from the rather predictable rules about Taiwan... most of the list resembles a guide to Western style political correctness rather than the usual Communist Party list of taboo words and subject matter."

• Physically handicapped persons should not be described by denigrating terms such as "cripple 残废人", "one-eyed dragon 独眼龙", "blindie 瞎子", "deafie 聋子", "fool 傻子", "idiot 呆子". Instead, the appropriate terms are "handicapped person 残疾人", "blind person 盲人", "deaf person 聋人", "mentally impaired person 智力障碍者".
• In reporting about medicine, do not use terms such as "best curative effect 疗效最佳", "cure once and for all 根治", "safe prevention  安全预防", "safe without side effect 安全无副作用." In reporting about medical drugs, do not use terms such as "cure immediately after taking 药到病除", "refund if ineffective 无效退款", "insured by insurance company 保险公司保险", "latest technology 最新技术", "highest technology 最高技术", "most advanced production method 最先进制法", "king of medicines 药之王", "national-class new medicine 国家级新药," etc.
• For persons in the art and literature field, do no use terms such as "movie king 影帝", "movie queen 影后", "superstar 巨星", "celestial king 天王". Normally, use instead "art and literature field person 文艺界人士" or "famous actor/actress 著名演员", "famous artist 著名艺术家," etc.
• As a national news agency, Xinhua should not be using slang, obscenities and gangster talk such as "Wa-sigh (So grateful!) 哇噻", "Mother's 妈的", etc.
• When reports on criminal cases refer to "thieves" and "rapists", the social position of the individual should not appear as a prefix.  For example, a worker who stole should not be described as "worker thief"; a professor who committed a crime should not be written as "professor criminal."
• It is forbidden to use slang or professional terminology that may insult various ethnic groups.  For example, it is prohibited to use "Mongolian doctor 蒙古大夫" for a charlatan doctor, or to use "Mongolian" to refer to the condition of Down syndrome.
• In all reports concerning persons of Islamic faith, "pork" must not be mentioned.
• Hong Kong and Macau are special administrative regions of China.  Taiwan is a province of China.  In any text, map and map annotations, do not describe them as "nations."  When a nation and its regions are cited simultaneously, pay extra attention to remember to write as "the nation and its regions."
• In the public reports, do not use "Islamic fundamentalism 伊斯兰原教旨主义", "Islamic fundamentalists 伊斯兰原教旨主义者", etc. Use instead "religious extremism 宗教激进主义 (religious extremists 宗教激进派)" as substitute. If the reference cannot be avoided, then use "Islamic extremist organization 伊斯兰激进组织" but not "extremist Islamic organization 激进伊斯兰组织".
• Do not mention the "crusaders", etc.
• In hostage reports, do not use "decapitation 斩首". Use neutral language such as "the hostage was killed by having the head cut off 人质被砍头杀害."

Stuck with no ideas for those hard-to-buy-for people on your holiday list? Look no further than the War on Terror Board Game.

It's got suicide bombers, political kidnaps and intercontinental war. It's got filthy propaganda, rampant paranoia and secret treaties...

Here's some rapid play for you, in case you need some convincing:

The goal of War on Terror, the boardgame is to liberate the world, ridding it of fear and terrorism forever...

Everyone starts the game as an Empire, with a couple of free villages and they can settle anywhere in the world...

Empires then spread over the planet grabbing all available land, searching for the best oil and the most strategic borders. Some go for towns and cities, other spend their cash on extra empire cards, building up their political options. Maybe, if they're lucky, they'll get an early nuke...

Sooner or later someone takes a pop...

Empires soon strike up alliances and the propaganda war is in full flow...

Nice touch award: the Axis of Evil spinner in the middle of the board. 

The Brits behind the game got some flack from 7/7 survivors for including 'suicide bomber' cards when the game launched in September. The designers had this to say:

We accept that some people think this is in poor taste and may see it as puerile. But we would say that launching an illegal war on Iraq is in poor taste."

Hat tip: Boing Boing 

Old Communist habits die hard. Just ask Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya and ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko. That's why, when the Chinese government announced last week that it had revised the country's media regulations in the run up to the 2008 Olympic games in Beijing, one had to chuckle. Under the new rules, foreign reporters will apparently be allowed to travel freely in the country, including to sensitive provinces such as Tibet and Xinjiang, interviewing anyone they wish and using Chinese nationals as researchers and translators.

We'll see. The new rules sounded good in a press conference in Beijing, but the actual enforcement of them will fall to local cops, many of whom have been studying a training manual entitled "Olympic Security English." Peter Ford, over at the Christian Science Monitor, got his hands on a copy of the manual, and notes that it teaches local patrolman phrases such as, "You're a sports reporter. You should only cover the Games." It also teaches cops to tell reporters that talking about the Falun Gong is "beyond the permit" and "beyond the limit of your coverage and illegal." The AP also saw a copy of the 252-page manual and detailed the following training scenario from the book's first chapter entitled "How to Stop Illegal News Coverage":

The journalist says he is gathering information about Falun Gong and is detained.... The policeman says Falun Gong "is beyond your coverage and illegal. As a foreign reporter in China, you should obey China law and do nothing against your status." The reporter is taken away to "clear up this matter."

In the run-up to the country's parliamentary elections this Saturday, cyber-activists in Bahrain are using Google Earth to highlight the excesses of the ruling al-Khalifa family. It's always surprised me that more authoritarian regimes do not block access to Google Earth. Bahrain has tried in the past, but its efforts to do so proved mostly futile. And since Google ratcheted up the resolution of its images of Bahrain, Google Earthing the royal family's private golf courses, estates, islands, yachts, and other luxuries has become a national pastime. Most Bahrainis have long known that these things existed, but they've been hidden behind walls and fences. Below are few representative examples of what many are seeing up close for the first time. Egyptian blogger Elijah Zarwan has also put together a nice compilation.

In Moscow, the blue light special sells for about $20,000 on the black market. What is it? A traffic kit including a flashing blue police light, a siren, a special license plate that exempts the driver from traffic violations, and supporting documents. Its purpose is to help you fight traffic. Why would anyone pay such a high price just to avoid traffic? Well, Moscow streets are a nightmarish clog of some 3 million cars, a 12-fold increase since the end of Communism. Here's a look:

Hat tip: English Russia (Photos by Anton Nossik)

Britain and the United States are the bottom two western democracies when it comes to respecting the privacy rights of their citizens, according to a new report by Privacy International and the Electronic Privacy Information Center. On a five-point scale, with one being the lowest, the UK scored just 1.5, only slightly better  than Russia and Singapore. In fact, the Brits are so heavily monitored that a separate 102-page report calls their country a "surveillance society." Things are only a little better in America, which scored 2.0. The scores are the average of 13 indicators, ranging from "constitutional protection" to "work place monitoring."

Germany tops the list at 3.9. But buried in the report, it says that warrantless monitoring of telephone conversations increased 500 percent in Germany from 1995-2004. (Check out Niels Sorrells's "German Tap Lessons" on ForeignPolicy.com for more about the issue.) Nonetheless, Germany gets a "communications interception" score of 4. Which suggests that either the report is flawed or that telephone monitoring in other countries is just that much more prevalent. Not good news either way.

STR/AFP/Getty Images

Turkmenistan's autocratic President Saparmurat Niyazov can't be beat for topping his own sense of ironic insanity. If you thought he was done when he built an ice palace and ski resort in his largely desert country, think again. Niyazov last week inaugurated a large, book-shaped building called the "House of Free Creativity" and dedicated it to free media. This in a country where all forms of media are controlled by the government, unapproved contacts with foreigners are forbidden, less than 1 percent of the country has access to the Internet (which is censored by the government anyway), and libraries were ordered closed last year and foreign publications outlawed. The only books freely disseminated in the country are those written by Niyazov himself. His 2001 book of moral guidelines and "history" is virtually the only textbook used in schools, and he recently published a book of poetry and a tome on his family tree extolling the virtues of his forefathers. (Niyazov renamed a month of the year after his mother a few years ago.) What's next - batty plans to artificially alter the country's climate? Oh, wait. Too late. 

Hat tip: Boing Boing

The Swedish Academy announced today that Edmund S. Phelps will receive the Nobel Prize for Economics. Phelps, a professor at Columbia University, is being lauded for his work on inflation and its effects on unemployment. Phelps becomes the sixth American this year to win a Nobel.  Only two more Nobels for 2006 are left: literature and peace.

It almost certainly won't be an American sweep this year. We have no idea who will win for literature (one thing's for sure: it won't be Harold Pinter), but we do have some odds on who might get the big kahuna for peace.  In this week's list, FP takes a look at some of the leading candidates, which include former Finnish president and current UN peace negotiator Martti Ahtisaari and Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, for their work on the Aceh peace accords.  

We'll also admit that our top picks may be totally wrong. After all, the Nobel Committee has a history of picking surpise recipients.  Remember when Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines won in 1997?  No one saw that coming.  The IHT has a good primer on how the prizewinners are chosen. In short, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize is selected by a group of five Norwegian committee members, who are selected by Norway's parliament. They choose from a list of nominees (this year, there are 191, including 23 organizations), whose names are put forward by previous laureates, academics, and parliamentarians around the world.  It's like Fight Club: what happens in the committee, stays in the committee (although nominators are free to talk to the press individually about who they recommended, which is why we know that people like Ahtisaari and Bono have been nominated in the past). Still, if we were betting folks, we'd put our money on the Finn.

Literature is under attack in Turkey. Tomorrow, prize-winning novelist Elif Shafak will go on trial in Istanbul over comments about the Armenian genocide that a character makes in her best-selling novel, The Bastard of Istanbul. The offensive comment: "I am the grandchild of genocide survivors who lost all their relatives at the hands of Turkish butchers in 1915," says Dikran Stamboulian, a minor Armenian character in the book. And for that reference to a genocide, Ms. Shafak is being charged with insulting "Turkishness." The case against her is being led by ultranationalists, one of whom recently linked the possibility of Turkey's accession to the EU and Ms. Shafak's novel as stripping away Muslim identity in Turkey, mostly by those who, like Ms. Shafak, "support a more open Turkey,...world citizens, half-Turks." 

Unfortunately, Shafak is hardly the first to be charged with this broad and ridiculous offense. More than 60 writers and publishers have been prosecuted under new laws introduced 18 months ago. And though Turkey has long had restrictions on its writers, it seems that, with Turkey undergoing a real identity crisis over whether to seek EU membership, there's never been more at stake. We'll be sure to watch the case.