COMMUNICATIONS/RIGHTS-COLOMBIA: The Law and the Risks of Reporting

Colombia's Constitutional Court ruled that parliament must modify a bill it passed on the exercise of journalism, in a ruling that revived the controversy over a profession in which censorship, intimidation and even death threats have become routine.

WSIS: Libraries Seek the Freedom to Inform

Libraries around the world could provide a relatively simple answer to bridging the 'digital divide', the world's leading association of libraries has proposed.

PAKISTAN: Students Get Real Lessons from Virtual University

Ali Haider is into the third semester of a bachelor of computer science degree course and is enthusiastic about his subject. The 22-year-old however wishes his teachers would answer the questions he has a little sooner - it is usually a day before he gets a reply.

TECHNOLOGY-JAPAN: Seniors Eager to Explore World of IT

At the rate its membership is growing, the Grannies Computer Association has had to restrict the entry of new applicants, all of whom are eager to enter the world of the Internet.

IRAQ: Massive Military Contractor Makes Media Mess

It is no secret that U.S. defence and construction companies - particularly those with close ties to the administration of President George W. Bush - are making a lot of money in the post-war rush for contracts in Iraq.

U.S.: Unhealthy Food, Figures Feature in TV for Blacks – Study

African American actress Whoopi Goldberg will kick off her new NBC sitcom with a scene in which her character lights up next to a no-smoking sign.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Andean Condor Who Deploys the Hawks

When historians look back on the U.S. war in Iraq, they will almost certainly be struck by how a small group of mainly neo-conservative analysts and activists outside the administration were able to shape the U.S. media debate in ways that made the drive to war so much easier than it might have been.

WSIS: Diverse Voices Prepare to Come Together

The first ever World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Geneva this December is attracting a wide cross-section of civil society. But do these organisations know what they want?

Special Series/ARGENTINA: Privatised Phone Services Better, but Pricey

The privatisation of Argentina's state-run telephone enterprise in 1990 - now under review by the Néstor Kirchner administration - has meant more and better services, but also a sharp increase in rates. And the phone companies are pushing for yet another hike.

CUBA: Exiled Opposition Activist Has Come Home to Stay

The announcement Thursday by moderate Cuban exile leader Eloy Gutiérrez Menoyo that he plans to stay in Cuba and fight for change from within apparently took both the government and dissident groups here by surprise.

DEVELOPMENT: Meet Will Show Landlocked Nations Way Forward – U.N.

Landlocked developing countries need an extra boost to overcome the challenge of doing business in an era of globalisation without sea access, a senior U.N. official told IPS ahead of a gathering of those nations.

RIGHTS-NEPAL: Peace Talks Offer Little Comfort to ‘Half Widows’

Seemingly, it was yet another tale of 'half widows' of two journalists, victims of the Maoist civil war in Nepal in which hundreds of media workers have been abducted, arrested and eight killed.

POLITICS-U.S.: War Critics Zero In on Pentagon Office

On most days, the Pentagon's 'Early Bird', a daily compilation of news articles on defence-related issues mostly from the U.S. and British press, does not shy from reprinting hard-hitting stories and columns critical of the Defence Department's top leadership.

RELIGION-MALAYSIA: Debate Rages on ‘E-divorce’

A strange mixture of 'shariah' laws and mobile phone technology, which recently ended an 18-month marriage, has sparked a fierce debate in Malaysia on how Islamic law should be enforced in marriage affairs.

MEDIA-MIDEAST: Voice of Peace to Rise Again

For 20 years, intrepid Israeli peace campaigner Abie Nathan broadcast his message of coexistence to Jewish and Arab listeners from his boat in the Mediterranean Sea, which housed his pirate Voice of Peace radio station.

ASIA: Globalisation Erodes Local Languages, Fuels ‘Glocal’ English

A continent that contains a third of the world's spoken codes - and yet one whose astonishing diversity of speech and written systems - is being eroded by relentless globalisation. That, in a nutshell, is the ethnolinguist's lament for Asia.

MEDIA: Govts Must Commit to Freedom of Internet News, says Group

The free flow of news on the Internet is at risk unless governments that attend December's global information summit commit to supporting free expression, and to not restricting information online, warns an umbrella group of journalists' organisations.

MEDIA-ISRAEL: Gov’t in Conflict with BBC

Israeli government circles are gloating rather openly over the trouble that the BBC is facing at home over its coverage of the Iraq war.

DEVELOPMENT: Biotech Revolution Bypasses Poorer Nations, Warns U.N.

The biotechnology revolution - which has been characterised by modern-day advances in agriculture, medicine, industry and the environment - is bypassing most of the world's poorer nations, according to a new U.N. study released here.

JOURNALISM-VENEZUELA: Court Upholds ‘Contempt Laws’

The Supreme Court of Venezuela has issued a ruling that those who offend public officials can be sent to prison, upholding the counry's so-called "contempt laws", and earning criticism from the inter-American system and the local media.

MEDIA-SLOVAKIA: Secret Service Caught Listening In

The functioning of the Slovak Secret Service has been called into question again after it emerged that the phones at a leading daily were illegally tapped.