POLITICS-SOUTHERN AFRICA: Putting the Region Into Clearer Perspective

When compared with other parts of the continent, Southern Africa can seem relatively wealthy and peaceful - the political and economic crisis in Zimbabwe, and ongoing conflict in certain areas of the Democratic Republic of Congo notwithstanding.

/PRESS FREEDOM/SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Media Face Growing List of Enemies

The media in South-east Asia are coming to grips with a growing list of adversaries that range from the usual suspects - oppressive regimes - to mobs, local kingpins and the captains of capitalism.

PRESS FREEDOM: Record Number of Deaths for Expressing Ideas

Last year, merely for doing their job, 42 journalists were killed and 766 were detained, the highest annual figures in the past decade, according to Reporters Without Borders (RSF, Reporters Sans Frontieres).

PRESS FREEDOM-ZIMBABWE: “No Oomph and Guts” in the Media?

Even within its own ranks, Zimbabwe's ruling party has shown it is intolerant of ambitions hinting at expansion of the tiny independent press.

PRESS FREEDOM-COLOMBIA: Bad Place for ‘Best Profession’

How many Colombian journalists live in exile? How many have been forced to leave their hometowns but continue to live in the country, though in far-flung regions? How many of those who fled were able to continue working at what Colombian Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez says is "the best profession in the world"?

PRESS FREEDOM: World’s Media Bypassing Critical Stories, Says U.N.

On the eve of World Press Freedom Day, a top U.N. official took a pot-shot at the mainstream media for being so obsessed with Iraq that it has woefully neglected some of the world's other serious political, social and economic crises.

LATIN AMERICA: Ad Agencies Slowly Turning Away from Sexist Commercials

Ordinary women and men who do not fit the stereotype of the beautiful thin, young, blond model are slowly making it into ads in Latin America.

COMMUNICATION-BRAZIL: Info Technologies for Social Change

Businessman Rodrigo Baggio, 32, decided 11 years ago to do what he could to "put an end to the digital apartheid" that prevails in Brazil.

IRAQ: Latest Killings of Media Workers Fit Pattern, Says Watchdog

U.S. soldiers' negligence appears to be the cause of Monday's killings of two Iraqi media workers in the city of Samara north of Baghdad, said an official from the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) on Tuesday.

COMMUNICATIONS: Improving Media Content for Children

Brazilian children between the ages of two and six ''spend more time in front of the TV set than with their mothers,'' one of the 2,000 researchers, educators, media representatives and producers taking part in a week-long global summit on children and the media in Rio de Janeiro told IPS.

POLITICS: Activists Crusade Against E-Jihad

For millions of Muslims, invitation to martyrdom is just a mouse click away. So-called "jihad sites" are springing up all over the Internet to offer the latest news, images and slogans of Islamic holy war.

/CORRECTED REPEAT/INDIA: Amid Mudslinging, Calls Rise for Decency in Poll

The campaign for India's general elections, set to begin later this month, has turned steamy enough for the Supreme Court to warn contesting parties to stay within the limits of decency or risk disqualification.

MEDIA-INDONESIA: Television’s Mettle Tested in Apr. 5 Poll

Karni Ilyas finds himself in a tricky situation at the height of the election season, just days before Indonesia's Apr. 5 vote.

POLITICS-MIDEAST: Summit Fiasco Exposes Divisions

Tunisia's decision to cancel the Arab summit has widely been seen as exposing rifts within the 22-member Arab League.

COMMUNICATIONS: Good Internet Governance Key for Development – Annan

A story making the rounds at the United Nations forum on Internet governance is about a young U.S. student of philosophy who decides to seek spiritual guidance from an ascetic monk living in the foothills of the Himalayas.

MEDIA: Fewer Players, Less Freedom

Comcast's 66-billion-dollar unsuccessful bid for Disney in February brought the issue of Big Media to the fore.

MEDIA-SPAIN: Silencing the Truth About the Attacks

A group representing reporters and editors at Spain's state-run news agency, EFE, says the agency knew about evidence pointing to involvement by Islamic terrorists in the Mar. 11 train bombings in Madrid that very morning, but kept it under wraps due to pressure from the government of Prime Minister José María Aznar.

MEDIA-NEPAL: Space for Free Press Shrinks in War

The casualties from among soldiers, civilians and rebels in the Nepal's Maoist rebellion have drawn a lot of attention, but just as serious is the toll that the conflict is taking on the space available for free media, say journalists and rights campaigners here.

SOUTH PACIFIC: Media Faces Threats amid New Regulation

Politicians across the small island nations of the Pacific have begun to target local media organisations for criticism and new regulation, signs that press freedom gained in recent years could be curtailed.

/UPDATE*/MEDIA-VENEZUELA: Covering a Protest? Don’t Forget Your Flak Jacket

''I prayed to God that the wound was not a mortal one, so I could see my children grow up,'' said Carlos Montenegro, a photojournalist who was shot in the leg by a political police agent he was filming during the recent disturbances in Venezuela.

MEDIA-VENEZUELA: Covering a Protest? Don’t Forget Your Flak Jacket

''I prayed to God that the wound was not a mortal one, so I could see my children grow up,'' said Carlos Montenegro, a photojournalist who was shot in the leg by a political police agent he was filming during the recent disturbances in Venezuela.