The Overview: 16.01.08

Africa: Kenya's opposing sides face off in parliament, with the opposition winning an early point when one of its members was named speaker. Mass protests are planned over the next three days. More great stuff on Kenyan Pundit, who also points to Mars Group Kenya, a group using video and other media to target corruption -- they've been showing live clips from parliament, which can only be a good thing.

Asia: The Taiwanese Kuomintang (or Nationalist) Party swept parliamentary elections last weekend. The Kuomintang years ago fought the Chinese communists on the mainland, but now advocate a less confrontational approach and are not absolutely opposed to reunification. Michael Turton offers an interesting analysis of the DPP's loss in his View From Taiwan blog.

North America: Democratic leadership candidate Dennis Kucinich lost a battle with TV network NBC to be included in their televised debate on Tuesday night, which had gone to the Nevada Supreme Court. Nobody in the US thinks Kucinich has even a vague chance -- he's most useful as fodder for late-night TV (because he's short and has pointy ears) -- but what are the implications of a TV network making the rules that determine which candidates are seen and which ones aren't?