MEDIA: Quite the Biggest Look at Democracy

It is dubbed the "the world's largest ever factual multi-media event" by its producers, and it will be watched by a potential of 300 million viewers around the world.

MEDIA-PAKISTAN: New Musharraf Term Less Liberal?

Journalists are divided on whether attacks on the media will cease, against the backdrop of what looks like another five-year presidential term for Gen Pervez Musharraf.

Q&A: “The Government Is Not Our Enemy”

As relations between Bolivia’s leftist President Evo Morales and the local media are becoming increasingly tense, the National Press Association (ANP) adopted a code of ethics which, for the first time, urges the media to stick to principles aimed at guaranteeing responsible, unbiased coverage.

MEDIA: Indigenous Journalists Seek Identity

Just weeks after giving up her post, the former president of the parliament of Norway's indigenous Sami people has lambasted Sami journalists for shoving aside their culture in the rush to get a 'scoop'.

FINLAND: Consumers Demand Responsible Corporate Behaviour

Corporate social responsibility is beginning to influence consumption behaviour in Finland, according to a survey published here this week.

Q&A: ‘I Hate Politics and Intellectuals’

Croatian writer and journalist Slavenka Drakulic is preparing to launch the German edition of her latest novel, Frida, in November, in Berlin. In the meantime, she attended last week the 20th meeting of Eurozine (European Meeting of Cultural Journals) in Sibiu, Romania, the European city of culture for 2007.

MEDIA-LATIN AMERICA: Bringing Millennium Goals to Life

"Daniel San Juan Tolentino dug his own grave. A pile of earth fell on him and buried him." So begins the article on child labourers in Mexico that won first prize in the "Latin America and the Millennium Development Goals" Journalism Awards, organised by IPS and UNDP.

EGYPT: Regime Cracks Down on Independent Press

Several prominent independent and opposition journalists received prison sentences this month for libelling senior figures of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), including President Hosni Mubarak and his influential son, Gamal. Some critics say that the move represents an attempt to quash discussion about the so-called "inheritance" of the presidency, which many close observers believe is imminent.

GREECE: Nigerian Women Make a Living on the Street

Every night besides the town hall of Athens, next to Omonia square, where the narrow streets of the popular entertainment hub district Psirris begin, black girls from Nigeria gather to work.

CORRUPTION-MALAYSIA: Video Clip Lands Top Judiciary in the Dock

An explosive, eight-minute video clip, that opposition lawmakers allege implicates a controversial lawyer and a top judge by showing them conspiring to 'fix' high profile cases and the promotion of judges, has shaken the country and sparked widespread demands for an investigation and overhaul of the judiciary.

TECHNOLOGY-CUBA: Widespread Resistance to Free Software

Although Cuba proclaimed its intention to change its computer operating systems for free software in 2005, the shift seems to depend more on the efforts of a small community of enthusiasts than on the state agencies that are officially in charge.

EUROPE: Microsoft Loses Case, Not Business

Microsoft will still wield enormous power in the global computer industry despite this week's ruling by a European court that the Seattle-based corporation has abused its monopoly.

MIDEAST-US: The Long Propaganda War

The George W. Bush administration is badly losing the so-called "war of ideas" in the Middle East, a group of foreign policy experts suggested here Wednesday, by failing to grasp that persuasion is just as important as the more heavy-handed tactics of its "war on terror".

MEDIA-US: Cockroach Cartoon Crossed the Line, Iranians Say

As the war of words between Western nations led by United States and Iran's hardliner government over its nuclear programme has escalated in the last few weeks, a cartoon published on the editorial page of the Columbus Dispatch on Sep. 4 has created a furor amongst Iranians worldwide.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Snow Leopards Earn Their Keep in Tourist Dollars

Tsring Angmo a student from Rumbak village in Ladakh attended a workshop conducted by the Snow Leopard Conservancy (SLC) in India out of sheer curiosity. "I came away feeling responsible for the safety of the endangered animal,’’ she said.

SCIENCE: Geneticists Crack the Species Code

Scientists are enthusiastic about a new DNA barcoding technology that will help keep illegal fish and timber out of global markets, slow the spread of invasive pests, and improve food safety and disease prevention and offer better environmental monitoring.

ARGENTINA: Hope for Unbiased Placement of Official Advertising

Civil society organisations in Argentina are urging Congress to establish clear guidelines for the transparent allocation and oversight of public advertising, in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling against the arbitrary placement of ads by a provincial government.

TRADE: It’s Not Just About Tyres

Old tyres might sound like the unlikely cause of a diplomatic row over potential implications for the level of protection poor countries can offer to the environment or public health.

GREECE: Mobile Operators Break the Law

The small black device that Panagiotis Vovos holds in his hands can measure the voltage produced by mobile phone network transmission antennas. It can detect voltages up to 7(Volt/metre).

MEXICO: Key Video Evidence Blocked in Child Sex Ring Trial

Prosecutors in a case involving the sexual abuse of children in Mexico have failed to hand over to the courts 10 video recordings and 70 photos that show the accused, who claims to have friends in high places, in compromising circumstances with minors.

RIGHTS-ASIA: MTV Turns Spotlight on Human Trafficking

MTV, the most popular music channel in the Asia-Pacific region, will soon be playing a different tune. Half-hour shows, beginning Sep.18 for MTV Thailand, will have live and hip music giving way to the harrowing accounts of human trafficking victims.