Watching the World

Italy

In 2011 in Italy, the sale of bicycles exceeded the sale of cars. Among the possible reasons given are the economic crisis, the cost of fuel, and the maintenance costs for cars. Bicycles, on the other hand, are relatively inexpensive to maintain, easy to use, and convenient.

Armenia

The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the government of Armenia violated the rights of 17 young men, all Jehovah’s Witnesses, who were detained after refusing to perform civilian service under the supervision of military authorities. The government was required to pay damages and legal fees to the 17.

Japan

Of the children who fell victim to crimes in which social networking sites played a role, 63 percent had received no warning from their parents regarding the potential dangers. In the 599 cases examined, 74 percent of the alleged perpetrators admitted that their objective in using these sites was to have sex with minors.

China

In an effort to ease traffic congestion, major cities are limiting new vehicle registrations. For example, Beijing will issue no more than 240,000 registrations per year. In August 2012, some 1,050,000 people entered the lottery that assigned 19,926 registration certificates, meaning that only 1 out of 53 applicants was successful.