Q&A: “Massive Transfer of Power to the Poor” Needed In Crisis

Innovative solutions at a time of crisis, extending services and technology to the poor and building democracy around the initiatives of ordinary citizens are the prescription to combat poverty that Roberto Haudry, head of IFAD for the Andean subregion, would suggest to Latin American governments.

TRADE-MAURITIUS: Paradise Island, Pirates’ Den

Pirated goods - from music and vehicle parts to clothes, perfumes and software - are sold at ridiculously low prices on the streets or in local shops. This is big business in the paradise-like island state of Mauritius.

INDIA: Computers Bring Jobs to Rural Women

What strikes a visitor entering the Source for Change business processing centre (BPO) in rural Rajasthan, a deeply conservative state where women are veiled and child marriage still rampant, is the near absence of men in the building.

TECHNOLOGY-BRAZIL: E-Waste Can Produce Marvels

Using pieces from all sorts of useless equipment, students at the Computer Recovery Centre in the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre have put 1,700 computers into operation in three years.

THAILAND: With Censorship, Thais Turn to Websites and Foreign Media

When the Thai government imposed an emergency law cracking down on rampaging red-shirted protesters on the streets of Bangkok, the military, in combat gear, was not its only weapon. The state’s censors were given liberty to silence critical media.

MEDIA-THAILAND: Blogger Gets 10 Years for Insulting Thai Monarchy

Suwicha Thakhor's nightmare in a Thai jail is set to continue after a court delivered a harsh verdict this week that contained a unequivocal message - the Internet in this country is being policed with the aim of limiting free expression.

INDIA: ‘Satyam Scam Tip of Corporate Fraud Iceberg’

Three weeks after the Satyam Computer Services promoter-chairman B. Ramalinga Raju confessed that he had cooked the information technology (IT) company's books, the scam continues to send shock-waves through Indian business and industry.

MEDIA-BRAZIL: Free Speech and an Open Mic

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva "betrayed" community radio stations, said Magno Cruz, the head of Radio Conquista, speaking at a round table discussion at the International Laboratory for Free Media, held in the capital of the northeastern state of Maranhao.

EL SALVADOR: Central America’s Leader in Cell Phone Use

By the end of 2008, El Salvador had the largest number of cell phones per person in Central America, with 6.6 million for a population of 5.8 million.

INDIA: Satyam Scam Questions Corporate Governance

India's government, its corporate sector and its people are stunned after the founder-chairman of one of the country's largest information technology (IT) services companies admitted to years of falsified profits and an audacious financial fraud worth 1.5 billion dollars.

LABOUR-INDIA: Getting 'Bangalored' Back

The term 'getting Bangalored' , or having jobs outsourced from the West to this international IT hub, looks set to acquire another connotation - this time of professionals being fired right here.

BRAZIL: War Against Child Pornography on the Internet

The Brazilian government has announced the creation of a web site to centralise the reception of complaints about child pornography on the Internet, as a further step towards fighting the phenomenon which is growing globally, alongside child trafficking and sex tourism.

Q&A: "Freedom of Expression Goes Hand in Hand with Justice"

Social inequality is "the main" problem for freedom of expression in Latin America, said Frank La Rue Lewy, who was named United Nations Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression on Aug. 1.

HEALTH-MEXICO: Internet Can Be a Dangerous Pharmacy

Mexico is drafting measures to regulate the sales of pharmaceuticals over the Internet: reforms have been announced for laws dating back to the 1980s, when the world wide web did not yet exist, and new monitoring systems are in the works to track the who, how and what of online sales.

BRAZIL: Delivery Boy Newshounds Show Life in Sao Paulo

Cleyton Perroni’s motorbike has been a part of his life since he was 12. But 19 years later, its role changed from recreation to an essential working tool as, equipped with a cell phone, he became a reporter of daily life in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo.

MEDIA-SINGAPORE: Restrictions Follow Critics to Cyberspace

When Lee Hsien Loong became Singapore’s prime minister after his father, Lee Kuan Yew, four years ago, he encouraged citizens to "feel free to express diverse views, pursue unconventional ideas, or simply be different". Today, these hopes for a city-state that can be more relaxed about criticism and more open to frank debate appear to have been too high.

MEDIA: Midwife for an Inclusive Society

Changing society to bring about greater respect for diversity requires the participation of the mainstream press, despite the combination of alternative media and the various forums, blogs and networks on the Internet that promote a more democratic flow of information.

ARGENTINA: Multimedia Youngsters not Isolated

Many parents in Argentina, like their counterparts in developed countries, worry that their teenage children spend too much time on their computers and cell-phones, with little real-life interaction with others, and devoting hardly any time to reading. But a new study shows that such beliefs are partly based on preconceived notions that do not stand up to scrutiny.

TECHNOLOGY-CUBA: University Opens Doors to Free Software

After years of deliberation, the University of Havana has finally decided to switch over to free software on its network of computers, virtually all of which are running the Windows operating system, produced by United States software giant Microsoft.

CUBA: Cultural Policy Debate Keeps Growing

More than a year after the outbreak of the so-called "e-mail war", the debate on cultural policy has not died down in Cuba. And although the issue is not addressed in the national media, the discussion continues, and is spreading to embrace other aspects of life in this socialist island nation.

ARGENTINA: Public Employees Go for IT

In keeping with its aim to shore up the strong role played by the state, which was badly weakened during the years when free-market economic policies were predominant, the Argentine government is implementing a successful programme of electronic learning for its employees that is already being requested by a dozen Latin American countries interested in replicating the experience.