Archive for May, 2011
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
According to Pakistani news sources, the body of the Pakistan bureau chief for Asia Times Online, has been
found. He had been
missing since Sunday. Previous reports said that he was under the custody of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence. Human rights groups
claim that the agency has abused and tortured journalists in the past. Saleem Shahzad’s disappearence followed after warnings from Pakistani security agencies over articles that seemed damaging to Pakistan’s national interest and image. Shahza recently covered the Pakistan Taliban’s
attack of a naval air force base in Karachi on May 23.
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Richard Wilson asks: Why would a London primary school employ the services of a political lobbying firm — and libel lawyers Carter Ruck?
(more…)
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Protesters took to the streets on Monday (30 May) in Inner Mongolia after Han Chinese coal truck drivers killed a Mongolian herder who attempted to stop them from trespassing on grasslands. Chinese officials have sought to stifle the protests in the region by tightening security, censoring coverage of the event, and promising to punish the perpetrators. There has been
growing tensions between herders and coal miners over the use of the grasslands, which cover reserves of coal, natural gas, and rare minerals. Local sources link the protests to a
deeper resentment among Mongolians over their marginalisation by the Chinese.
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Hunan Broadcasting System, one of China’s largest television networks, has told the Financial Times it will reduce entertainment content and
revamp its programming to comply with new government broadcasting standards. The network has outposts in Hong Kong and North America and is known for airing Super Girl, a version of UK’s Pop Idol.
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Just hours after the PROTECT IP Act passed unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday, Democratic Senator Ron Wyden from Oregon placed a
hold to prevent it from reaching the Senate. Wyden argued the legislation was an “overreaching approach to policing the internet.”
The act was introduced two weeks ago and authorises the government to use court orders to prohibit internet search engines from displaying sites that violate intellectual property laws. It would also force internet providers to block “rogue” sites offering pirated goods.
Media groups fighting for anti-piracy protection have largely praised the legislation.
Friday, May 27th, 2011
The European Commission’s plan to tackle
internet copyright infringements, such as illegal media downloads, would require internet service providers to work with the entertainment industry to
monitor content.
Critics fear this could lead to censorship and over-monitoring. BEUC, the European Consumers’ Organisation said, “Such practices would turn ISPs into some sort of Internet police that monitors the online behaviour of users and enforces copyright legislation. Fundamental rights of users will be jeopardized, namely the right to privacy and the right to due process.” Just last year, a judge
ruled in Australia that an ISP company was not responsible for illegal downloading, stating that “If the ISPs become responsible for the acts of their customers, essentially they become this giant and very cheap mechanism for anyone with any sort of legal claim.”
Friday, May 27th, 2011
Three gunmen
killed Channel 24 television owner Luis Ernesto Mendoza Cerrato last week. Gunmen also
wounded newspaper manager Manuel Acosta Medina two days as he drove home. According to the
Committee to Protect Journalists, 11 journalists have been killed in Honduras since March 2010, at least three weer murdered in retaliation for their work. Although police are investigating whether the two crimes were assassinations, a CPJ report in 2010 found consistently poor and negligent investigative work into the killings.
Friday, May 27th, 2011
The Singapore High Court has denied writer Alan Shadrake’s appeal against his six-week jail sentence.
Shadrake was
convicted of “scandalising the judiciary” in November after he published “Once A Jolly Hangman” a book criticising the use of the death sentence in the city-state. The author was first
arrested in July 2010 while on a book tour and subsequently released on bail.
Singapore law considers statements that “interfere with the administration of justice” a criminal offense. The British writer, 76, still faces a separate charge of defamation.
