EDUCATION-LATAM: The Internet, Friend or Foe of Learning?

A school in the Chilean capital has decided to prohibit students from writing their assignments on computers. "The kids just download material from the Internet and hand it in without making any changes. They don't even read it. Now they will have to write out their assignments by hand, which means they will have to take the time to read them," teacher Josefina Arriagada told IPS.

WSIS: Civil Society Stuck With a Consolation Prize

It was not what they had set out to accomplish, but civil society groups gathered here to discuss Internet governance and development are vowing to make the best of the compromise deal that was struck.

WSIS: An Indigenous Web Builds Up

The indigenous Navajo people of the southwestern United States are now using the Internet to reconnect to their traditional culture, and rebuild confidence.

BRAZIL: Changing a City Name to Facilitate Web Searches

"It's like advertising one product and selling another," Brazilian city councillor Djalma Pastorello summed up in favour of his proposal to change the name of his city, Foz do Iguaçu, so as not to confuse people searching for it on the Internet.

WSIS: A Little Could Go a Long Way

Two African leaders launched a public appeal Wednesday for support to a global fund for community-based communication projects.

BOLIVIA: Information Highway Blocked by Rural Poverty, Underdevelopment

The proliferation of cybercafés in Bolivia's largest cities, offering Internet access at relatively modest rates, contrasts sharply with the slow advance of this technology in rural areas, which depends on sporadic initiatives headed up by the private sector or civil society.

WSIS: UN Summit to Serve the People?

Now that the world's powers have agreed to stop squabbling over control of the Internet (for now), will the more than 10,000 people here for this week's United Nations forum focus on creating an information society for all people?

WSIS: No Room for Civil Society

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) began here Wednesday with little room for civil society groups to express themselves.

WSIS: U.S. to Stay in Charge of Internet

The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) kicks off Wednesday with a compromise document approved unanimously after several months of fruitless negotiations.

CUBA: Yes to Computers and Internet – But Not at Home, Thanks

Cuba's computer technology policy gives priority to the social uses of information technology and telecommunications, while excluding private access to tools like the internet.

WSIS: Divisions Open Up Ahead of Summit

Last-minute negotiations are seeking to narrow the wide divisions that have emerged on governance of the Internet and the 'digital divide' between nations.

RIGHTS: Media Enemies to Share UN Spotlight

At least two enemies of media freedom will share the spotlight at this week's United Nations meeting dedicated to making the information age accessible to all the world's people.

COMMUNICATION: U.S. Fights to Remain the Ultimate Webmaster

International efforts to break down the digital barriers facing the world's poor will backfire if governments fail to work out their differences on the issue of internet governance, diplomatic observers here say.

RIGHTS: ‘Information Society Must Block Paedophiles’

A major U.N. conference that aims to bridge the gap in information technology between the world's affluent and poorest societies is in danger of inadvertently catering to the needs and fantasies of the world's paedophiles.

MEDIA-NEPAL: Court Refuses to Restrain King’s Gov’t

The future of one of Nepal's best known radio stations, and the country's entire media, was hazy Friday after the Supreme Court refused to issue an order preventing the government from acting against Kantipur FM.

MEDIA-AFGHANISTAN: More Than Bombs and Burkhas

The world will soon hear more about Afghanistan. An alliance of four Afghan media organisations and the international news agency IPS has launched a project to improve coverage of key development issues in Afghanistan, and distribute that news worldwide.

MEDIA-US: Controversial WMD Reporter and NY Times Divorce

Was she an innocent dupe who was played mercilessly by exile chieftain Ahmed Chalabi and his neo-conservative and Pentagon backers who led the march to war with Iraq in March 2003?

/ARTS WEEKLY/BOOKS-ARGENTINA: Biographer Bows to ‘Queen Cristina’

The books written by Argentine journalist Olga Wornat on the private lives of leading Latin American politicians have tended to be highly controversial. Her biography of Senator Cristina Fernández, the wife of Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, is no exception, albeit for different reasons.

MEDIA: Telling the Burma Story, in Exile

Few journalists are better equipped to reveal the inside story of the narcotics trade in Burma than Khuensai Jaiyen, a 57-year-old editor who wears thick glasses and has an impish sense of humour.

CARIBBEAN: Journalists Fear a “Looming Storm”

Caribbean journalists say they will closely monitor the position of the region's governments at the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), scheduled to begin in Tunisia on Nov. 16.

MEDIA-SLOVAKIA: Ownership Raises Freedom Issues

The new owners of Slovakia's most popular television station have pledged more objective news after years of complaints that its founder and former minister Pavol Rusko used it as a vehicle for himself and his political party.