[Proctor]

Tongan newspaper still banned
The publisher of the Taimi O Tonga newspaper, Kalafi Moala, says they will seek legal action on Tuesday as the Tongan Government continues to stop the sale of the paper.
Customs has refused to release the paper until the Privy Council has reversed the bans.
One such ban was lifted on Friday but the publisher, Kalafi Moala, says they have been told they have to wait for the Privy Council to again meet before the other bans are formally lifted.

This has been going on for a while now. The King of Tonga, famous for being a bastard, and the only monarch in the South Pacific, banned the Auckland based newspaper after it allegedly published anti royal family comments. I don't know if it did or not, but I know it did controversially publish the names of people who owed money to a certain debt collection company, and royal family members were on that list.

Anyway, seeing as it is the only national newspaper, the Supreme Court ordered the ban unconstitutional. The next day, the ban was reversed by the Privy Council, whose members are conveniently chosen by the King himself. The Privy Council again threw out the ban, and it was again reimposed.

Dictatorship has a certain flavour to it doesn't it? I don't know. Maybe it's an acquired taste.

[Putinist]

I can go one better...

Swazi king blames trousers for world's ills:
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/030530/80/e17da.html

MBABANE (Reuters) - Swaziland's absolute monarch has singled out women wearing trousers as the cause of the world's ills in a state radio sermon that also condemned human rights as an "abomination before God".

"The Bible says curse be unto a woman who wears pants, and those who wear their husband's clothes. That is why the world is in such a state today," Mswati, ruler of the impoverished feudal nation of about one million, said late on Thursday.

The Times of Swaziland reported that the monarch, who reigns supreme in the landlocked country run by palace appointees and where opposition parties are banned, went on to criticise the human rights movement.

"What rights? God created people, and He gave them their roles in society. You cannot change what God has created. This is an abomination before God," the king told an audience of conservative church leaders.

Women on the streets of capital Mbabane were not impressed.

"The king says I am the cause of the world's problems because of my outfit. Never mind terrorism, government corruption, poverty and disease, it's me and my pants. I reject that," said Thob'sile Dlamini.

Mswati is Africa's last absolute monarch. He is currently married to nine wives, with a wedding pending for wife number 10, and has chosen an additional fiancee after reviewing videos of topless maidens performing a traditional Reed Dance ceremony.

Another reason why the world would be better off without religion.

[Proctor]

Ah, the good old 'chosen by God' defense of the Monarchy... I can't believe people still buy that.

Here's an update on Tonga:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2524658a1861,00.html
Unfortunately, this is only an appended version of the one I read in the newspaper today. But it gets the message across.