TECHNOLOGY-VENEZUELA: Heading Towards Free Software

Venezuela, following in Brazil's footsteps, has joined the club of countries that are adopting and promoting free or open-source software, in a bid to save money, achieve technological independence, and strengthen alliances among countries of the developing South.

POLITICS: Activists Crawl Through Web to Untangle U.S. Secrecy

To combat the Bush administration's penchant for secrecy, U.S. citizens have been forced to unearth new sources for information they once read in their daily newspapers. But thanks to a few dedicated individuals and not-for-profit groups - and the Internet - such material is easier to come by than ever before.

COMMUNICATION: Price Tag Pushes Back Development

Information technology must be used to promote development, but experts are less clear just how.

MEDIA: Tunisian Journalist Fights for Openness

The Tunisian recipient of a Canadian award recognising her fight for media freedom in her homeland says she will organise a counter conference to a planned United Nations meeting on the "information society" in Tunis in 2005.

IRAQ: Media Repression in ‘Liberated’ Land

Journalists are increasingly being detained and threatened by the U.S.-installed interim government in Iraq. Media have been stopped particularly from covering recent horrific events in Fallujah.

ENVIRONMENT-ASIA: Activists Capitalise on Cracks in the Media

Environmental activists from countries that share the Mekong River are helping to shed light on the cracks emerging within some of the oppressive governments in the region. Permitting space for the right to free expression is one of them.

CULTURE: Anglicisms, ‘Neutral Spanish’, and Linguistic Diversity

How is the Spanish language affected by Anglicisms, the Internet and the use of a standard "neutral" dialect in movies and television? How can linguistic unity and distinctly regional nuances both be preserved? Can one country assume responsibility for preserving the integrity of a language spoken by 400 million people around the world?

MEDIA-VENEZUELA: Controversy Over New Broadcasting Regulations

A draft law on "social responsibility in broadcasting" is seen by the Venezuelan government and its supporters as a tool for protecting children from inappropriate programming and bolstering independent media.

MEDIA-MIDEAST: Reporting Arafat Becomes Another Crisis

Reporting the state of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, or worse, on developments looking at life after Arafat is emerging as another crisis.

AFGHANISTAN: The Adventure of Building an Independent Press/CORRECTION*/

In Afghanistan "there is intimidation, violence, and serious security problems," but "the most difficult thing is to ask the questions without which a reporter cannot exist. Asking why and what for," says Argentine journalist Ricardo Grassi, who has set out to help create an independent press in that war-torn south central Asian country.

RIGHTS: Asia Still Dangerous for Journalists

It may have one of the most vibrant media environments in Asia - with journalists having freedom to write just about anything - yet the Philippines ranks after Iraq as one of the deadliest places for reporters.

SPECIAL REPORT-MEDIA: Alternative and Influential?

When you hear "alternative media," it is often alongside such words as "collective," "citizen-oriented," and "public." But what does it have to do with journalism? And how influential are groups like Indymedia, which recently had some of its computers seized?

AFGHAN ELECTIONS: Women Get to Sing and Want a Place in Mosques

In a move to exercise their rights in a new government to be headed by incumbent President Hamid Karzai, Afghan women have asked for separate places to worship in Afghanistan's mosques venturing for the first time into a controversy that has divided religious authorities in the war-torn country for years.

ARGENTINA: Media Mogul’s Adopted Children – Were Their Parents Desaparecidos?

Ernestina Herrera de Noble, the owner of Grupo Clarín, Argentina's leading media group, adopted two infants in 1976 who are suspected of being the children of "desaparecidos" or victims of forced disappearance under the 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

MEXICO: Freedom of the Press Is Only Relative in Some States

While the Mexican government boasts that the country enjoys full freedom of the press, journalists in some states have to risk their lives to exercise this right.

TECHNOLOGY: Brazil Leads the Way in the Free Software Movement

Despite the challenges involved, Brazil is forging ahead with its decision to adopt free or open-source software throughout the country's massive public sector.

MEDIA: Kidnappers Showtime

Kidnappers' tape tactics in broadcasting footage of victims has won them international attention. But are the media right to broadcast the tapes? Or are they serving criminal propaganda?

FINANCE: Church to Cut Dollars to Firms Aiding Israeli Occupation

The U.S. branch of a global church that threatened to stop investing in companies whose actions support the Israeli military's occupation of Palestinian land says it will go ahead with the plan despite an outcry from Israel, some Jewish groups and members of the U.S. Congress.

U.S.: Muslim Support for ‘War on Terror’ Plummets

While the Bush administration expresses frustration that its motivations in the "war on terrorism" are questioned throughout the Islamic world, it has a similar problem with Muslims at home, according to a major survey of nearly 2,000 followers of Islam across the United States.

RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: Church Group that Documents Abuses Told ‘Watch What You Write’

The Intercongregational Justice and Peace Commission in Colombia was recently told "watch what you write," in a message threatening that "something terrible" could happen.

IRAN: Self-Proclaimed ‘Liberators’ Use Satellite TV to Woo Masses

A combination of light entertainment, talk shows and politics beamed into Iran by a dozen or so satellite stations set up by Iranian exiles in the United States is proving to be explosive in the Islamic country.