By Veronica Rossini

According to The Economist, the National Confederation of Guinean Workers (CNTG) and the Guinean Workers Union (USTG) organised the strike when reports became known of President Lasana Conté’s involvement in the release of two prominent figures implicated in corruption scandals.

The Morning Star (UK) reported that the demonstrations took a violent turn when the authorities opened fire on civilians throwing stones at the presidential palace.

After 17 days of demonstrations the President and the unions reached an agreement on 28 January when President Lasana Conté, who took power in a coup in 1984, agreed to share power with a newly-appointed Prime Minister (International Herald Tribune).

By Nicholas Hirst

With such consensus in public opinion, it comes as no surprise that House legislators used their first 100 hours [in Congress] to bring "an end to flagrant abuses of power and put Congress back on the side of working families" write Rahm Emmanuel and Marty Meeham, both House representatives, for an opinion piece in the Chicago Sun Times.

Gone are the "gifts from lobbyists and lavish vacations ... the corporate jets and pay-to-play schemes like Tom DeLay's 'K-Street project.'" Even the earmark process, "[which] has become what infamous lobbyist Jack Abramoff called an 'ATM for lobbyists,'" is set to face greater scrutiny.

Reactions to the reforms are mixed. The San Antonio Express-News praises the reforms as serious, and the Palm Beach Post writes “The House ethics package was a good start”. Others are less optimistic. The Washington Post notes, "the new rules, the toughest changes since Watergate, still leave lots of room for special interests to curry favour", and the Buffalo News concurs that lobbyists "likely will find ways to circumvent the newly established rules".

By Nicholas Hirst

As the International Herald Tribune reports, the country’s “sleek and modern Suvarnabhumi Airport, which opened to great fanfare in September … has become a national embarrassment with widely publicized problems that include cracks on the taxiways, a shortage of toilets, dozens of design flaws and a long list of corruption allegations”

In The Straits Times, Tortrakul Yoma, Thailand’s new director of airports, “estimates that up to 30 per cent of the US $4 billion spent on the project may have been skimmed off by politicians”. The airport is “a monument to massive corruption unrivalled by any other local project”, agrees The Nation.

“The problems,” according to ABC, “have exposed not just cracks in the runways, but a corrupt corporate culture, where bribes and dodgy contracts and construction shortcuts are the norm.”