MEDIA: A New Glasnost for Linking Citizens and Power in Globalised Era

Glasnost - meaning "openness", from the Russian words for "public" and "voice" - may be a throwback to the 1980s, but it fits the challenge of communication the today's globalised world.

MEDIA-IRAQ: Still Seeking Answers in U.S. Checkpoint Shooting

If one were to ask Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena why she chose to report from Afghanistan, Algeria, Somalia and Iraq prior to February 2005, despite the many perils that face reporters in war zones and areas of conflict, her response would probably be similar to the one she gave to journalist Amy Goodman of the radio news show Democracy Now!.

POLITICS-TAIWAN: Corruption Scandals Betray Democracy at Work

Ever since strongly pro-independence Taiwan President Chen Shui-bian took office in 2000, Beijing's leaders have hoped he would be miraculously unseated by an angry public at home -a public they believe to be dissatisfied with his domestic policies and worried about his provocative attitude towards Beijing.

MEDIA-INDONESIA: Reporters Get the Bird Flu Jitters

''I really feel strongly that the issue of health and safety of reporters covering avian flu must be addressed by the management of news organizations,'' said Daenk Haryono of the North Sumatra-based ‘Harian Global' daily.

ECONOMY: In Singapore, World Bank Seeks Street Protests

Activists familiar with street protests outside the venues of annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) are in for a different treat at this year's gathering.

MEDIA: How Nice, But How Boring

It's a problem just about everyone who has anything to do with civil society faces every day. How very nice this work is, people will say. And how very boring.

RIGHTS-BALKANS: Justice for War Victims Achievable, but Effort Required

Justice for the dozens of thousands of victims of the Balkans wars is achievable, but the truth about war crimes has to be established at all levels and among all the former warring nations in order to start the reconciliation process, agreed experts at a conference here.

MEDIA-LATIN AMERICA: Poverty – Not a Pressing Issue for the Press

The fight against poverty, which calls for a multipronged effort against hunger, inequality, and social marginalisation, is a pressing issue in Latin America. But it is apparently not for the press. In Colombia, where roughly half of the population lives in poverty, the only nationwide newspaper, El Tiempo, dedicates just 0.8 percent of its coverage to the issue.

CHILE: Media Pluralism Loses Another Voice

The loss of the 18-month-old Diario Siete, considered a progressive alternative within the increasingly homogenous Chilean print media, was less than a surprise, becoming one more entry on a long list of publications that have stopped circulating since democracy was restored to Chile 16 years ago.

DEVELOPMENT: Scientific Diaspora Could Ease Brain Drain

Many expatriate scientists and medical professionals who work in Canada want to contribute their skills to their native developing countries - all that is lacking are mechanisms to help them do so without permanently returning to their country of origin, reports a study to appear Friday in Science magazine.

PAKISTAN: TV Debates Take on Anti-Women Islamic Laws

Filmmaker Hasan Zaidi is an optimist. He is sure that debates currently being conducted over a private TV channel could help see the repeal of Pakistan's Hudood Ordinances - a set of laws based on Islamic decrees, criticised as being anti-women.

UAE: Cashing In on Football Frenzy

A record-breaking sponsorship deal, corporate ‘season tickets' at hotels with purpose-built arenas equipped with plasma screens and projectors and smart cards that give access to matches are just a few of the businesses that are riding the craze in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to watch world cup football, without going to Germany.

POLITICS: U.S. Image Abroad Takes a New Turn South

Three years after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the image of the United States in Europe and the Islamic world has resumed its post-war slide, according to the latest in a series of surveys of public opinion in 14 countries released here Tuesday by the Pew Global Attitudes Project (PGAP).

BRAZIL: Controversy Over Digital TV

The current global battle in the field of communications is about taking a decision now for one of the three digital TV standards, or postponing it till later. But in Brazil the debate involves several dilemmas and disputes that are set to run on for years.

MALAYSIA: Courts on Trial – Again

The spotlight is once again on the Malaysian judiciary, which was previously accused of pandering to political masters.

DEVELOPMENT: Giving Takes Smart New Ways

Michael Karlin, co-founder of Security First, the first Internet bank, retired in 1999. He was 31.

MEXICO: It’s Raining Political Ads

In what analysts are criticising as the commercialisation of the electoral process, Mexico's politicians have all but taken over the country's airwaves. Since Jan. 1, they have bombarded three cities with more than 90,000 campaign spots.

TECHNOLOGY: Podcasting Politics

After Apple Computer announced its new video-capable iPod, the San Francisco Chronicle's Mark Morford, a controversial and ever-iconoclastic columnist, enthused that the new "sexy" and "delicious" device would usher in a future where pornography would be available at the flick of a finger.

MEDIA: Virtue May Be Its Own Reward, But a Hot Stock Never Hurts

A new project to support press freedom using the stock market could be a model for other social causes seeking access to new sources of capital.

MEDIA-THAILAND: A Critic May Now Look at a King

Age has not softened the rebellious streak in Sulak Sivaraksa, a unique voice in Thailand's intellectual landscape. He risks landing in jail by airing his views on the country's deified royal family, protected by strict lese majesty laws.

CUBA: Soap Opera Spotlights Sexual Diversity

"La cara oculta de la luna" (The Dark Side of the Moon) - the latest soap opera to be beamed into thousands of Cuban homes - will forever be remembered as triggering unprecedented social debate on sexual diversity and homophobia in the country.