COMMUNICATIONS: Science Has the Word in WSIS Run-Up

Representatives from the international scientific community finally were able to convince the United Nations to take their contributions into account in the preparatory process for the World Summit on the Information Society, to be held here in December.

COMMUNICATIONS: Technologies for Expression – and for Censorship

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) pose opportunities but also threats for human rights like freedom of expression and protection of privacy, warn organisations specialised in the issue.

COMMUNICATION: NGOs Warn of Crisis on Way to WSIS

-The delicate balance between governments, the private sector and civil society, achieved for the purpose of organising an international conference on information and communication technologies, appears to be teetering as a result of irreconcilable differences.

TECHNOLOGY-AFRICA: Women Find Reason for Optimism in Internet Usage

Slowly, but effectively, the Internet is empowering women in Africa to follow events as they have never witnessed before. The latest case in point is the women in Somalia who have been following their country's peace talks in neighbouring Kenya via Internet usage.

MEDIA: Foreign Correspondents Face Special Challenges in Cuba

Breaking the wall of silence that surrounds certain issues and events and finding a source who is willing to confirm news that everyone already knows about through the grapevine may be the biggest challenges facing foreign correspondents in Cuba.

COMMUNICATIONS-LATAM: Telecentres to Narrow Digital Divide

Several Latin American governments are setting up telecentres where people can surf the Internet, often free of charge, in an attempt to narrow the digital divide within their societies, which is perhaps larger than the gap that separates them from the industrialised world.

U.S.: Senate Vote Slows Media Giants

In a move hailed by activists and civil-rights groups, the U.S. Senate voted 55-40 Tuesday to rescind new rules backed by the administration of President George W. Bush that would have enabled giant U.S. companies to increase their domination of the media market.

MEDIA-ZIMBABWE: Police Raid Newspaper Office

Press freedom has been dealt a mortal blow in Zimbabwe with the forced closure and confiscation of equipment of the country's only independent daily newspaper.

COMMUNICATIONS: Half the World on the Outside Looking In

Preparations for the U.N.-sponsored World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) - with its ambitious objective of providing all peoples of the world with access to communication technologies - will enter their final phase Monday overshadowed by difficulties, admit the officials involved.

TECHNOLOGY-AFRICA: Internet Creates a New Class of Users

Even critics of massive spending on computer and Internet technology in Africa, at what they fear is at the expense of poverty alleviation efforts, are conceding that so-called "New Media" are helping Africans economically.

SOCIETY-JAPAN: Internet Becomes a Deadly Link to Suicide

The Japanese suicide website looks eerily calm, what with the little shooting stars criss-crossing on a ink-black screen and falling on pink cherry blossoms. Classical music plays in the background.

RIGHTS: As ‘Big Brother’ Grows, So Does Public Opposition – Report

Global opposition to governments' growing infringement on individuals' privacy has risen sharply in the past year, says a report released Friday by a major U.S.-based civil liberties group.

RIGHTS-CHILE: Heavy TV Coverage Surrounds 30th Anniversary of Coup

As the 30th anniversary of the Sep. 11, 1973 coup d'etat in Chile approaches, TV coverage of the crimes against humanity committed by the 1973-1990 dictatorship is so heavy that some analysts warn against overload.

INDIA: Citizens Find New Power in Law on Right to Information

Queues, whether orderly or unruly, are a part of life in the Indian capital, a city of nearly 14 million people where rights to basic amenities as clean drinking water, sanitation and steady electricity supply often cannot be guaranteed except for those who can afford to keep government officials 'greased'.

COMMUNICATION-PORTUGAL: Politicians Take Over the Journalist Seat

Journalists in Portugal are being displaced from news analysis and commentary by politicians, who media executives have taken by the hand in a bid to boost ratings. But media critics complain of sensationalism and conflict of interests.

TECHNOLOGY: Internet Heats Up Debate on Arctic Traditions

As Internet use takes hold in the Canadian Arctic, the new media is being seen both as a saviour and a threat.

MEDIA-PAKISTAN: Viewers Rue Continued Ban on Indian Channels

''I'm really missing these plays,'' homemaker Afsan says of the Indian soaps that used to be daily evening fare for many Pakistanis here, glued to the television.

TECHNOLOGY-INDIA: Internet Links Rural Communities to Markets

Farmers in the Dindigul area of India's southern Tamil Nadu state need no convincing when it comes to the value of maintaining a website to get the best possible prices for the their produce.

WSIS: Information Can Bridge the ‘Ethical Divide’

Organisers of the World Summit on the Information Society are being asked to do more than bridge the digital divide; they face demands to look at information flow as a means of fighting corruption.

WSIS: Spotlight on the Media

The international media community would be right to feel somewhat confused over the role it should play at the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society. Should journalists be there as reporters, or are they ready to take a seat at the conference table?

MEDIA-IRAN: Reformist Press Regroups amidst Crackdown

Dissident bookseller Ardeshir Masali explained his point of view with candour. ''The Iranian Islamic system is run by a regime suffering from a deep-rooted paranoia, one which loses its temper easily.''