The file-sharing website The Pirate Bay is now offline following a ruling by a Swedish court that ordered its largest internet service provider, Black Internet, to cut their service to the filesharing site. The court threatened Black Internet with...
Maqbool Fida Husain, hailed by many as India's Picasso, has been told his paintings will not be displayed at the India Art Summit, the countries biggest art extravaganza for the second year in a row. The 94-year-olds paintings have drawn criticism,...
Rosemary Port, the women behind the blog “Skanks in NYC,” has said she will sue Google for $15 million for breaching its “duty to protect her expectation of anonymity.” Port was named as a result of a court case brought by the Canadian-born model...
The reignition of the burka controversy in France reflects the political class’s fears for the state’s treasured “laïcité”, writes Agnès Poirier
Following user protests, Facebook has decided to shut down gaming application "Bounce The Illegal Immigrant Back". The game was posted by Renzo Bossi, the son of Umberto Bossi, party leader of the Northern League and part of Berlusconi's fourth...
Two cases of voters having fingers amputated have been reported in Afghanistan following last weeks elections. Prior to voting, Taliban forces in the region had threatened to remove any fingers stained with the ink used to provide proof of having...
Chinese authorities have released legal activist Xu Zhiyong and two other activists. Xu Zhiyong, founder of the Beijing-based Open Constitution Initiative, was unexpectedly freed on bail, along with co-worker Zhuang Lu, after more than three weeks...
Unidentified gunmen have shot dead an Afghan journalist in north-west Pakistan. Janullah Hashimzada was bureau chief in Peshawar for Afghanistan's Shamshad television channel. The attackers in a Toyota Corolla car intercepted the bus, then they...
Leading Chinese human rights lawyer Xu Zhiyong has been released from his three-week detainment on charges of "tax evasion". Zhiyong’s arrest was viewed as part of a wider crackdown on Chinese activists in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of...
Zuhra Bahman assesses media coverage of the election in Afghanistan and reports on how many dared defy government censorship
Hanevey Ould Dehah, editor of the website Taqadoumy has been convicted on a charge of “offending public decency” and given a six month prison sentence after he questioned politician, Ibrahima Moctar Sarr’s financial dealings. Dehah was also fined...
The Iraqi draft media law sparks fears of return to dark days of censorship and repression, say David Dadge and Anthony Mills from the International Press Institute