A South Korean activist faces up to seven years in prison after re-tweeting messages from North Korea's official Twitter account.
February 1, 2012
The South Korean authorities should immediately release a social media activist accused of helping"the enemy"for re-tweeting messages from North Korea’sofficial government Twitter account, Amnesty International said today.
Park Jeonggeun, a 24-year-old Socialist Party activist, was yesterday charged by South Korean law enforcement authorities with violating the country's national security law for re-tweeting the message “long live Kim Jong-il” from North Korea’s official Twitter account.
A South Korean activist faces up to seven years in prison after re-tweeting messages from North Korea's official Twitter account.
February 1, 2012
The South Korean authorities should immediately release a social media activist accused of helping"the enemy"for re-tweeting messages from North Korea’sofficial government Twitter account, Amnesty International said today.
Park Jeonggeun, a 24-year-old Socialist Party activist, was yesterday charged by South Korean law enforcement authorities with violating the country's national security law for re-tweeting the message “long live Kim Jong-il” from North Korea’s official Twitter account.
A South Korean activist faces up to seven years in prison after re-tweeting messages from North Korea's official Twitter account.
February 1, 2012
The South Korean authorities should immediately release a social media activist accused of helping"the enemy"for re-tweeting messages from North Korea’sofficial government Twitter account, Amnesty International said today.
Park Jeonggeun, a 24-year-old Socialist Party activist, was yesterday charged by South Korean law enforcement authorities with violating the country's national security law for re-tweeting the message “long live Kim Jong-il” from North Korea’s official Twitter account.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade must rein in security forces, Amnesty International urged today after a third person was killed and dozens injured by police during two days of demonstrations across the country.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade must rein in security forces, Amnesty International urged today after a third person was killed and dozens injured by police during two days of demonstrations across the country.
Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade must rein in security forces, Amnesty International urged today after a third person was killed and dozens injured by police during two days of demonstrations across the country.
Russia is urged not to block the UN Security Council's efforts to end human rights violations in Syria.
February 1, 2012
International
Russia must not block international efforts to tackle the ongoing violence and human rights violations in Syria, Amnesty International said today amid negotiations over a resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council.
Russian officials have threatened to veto the resolution if it comes to a vote.
Russia was one of several Security Council members to block a previous resolution on Syria on 4 October 2011. According to reports received by Amnesty International, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Syria since then.
Russia is urged not to block the UN Security Council's efforts to end human rights violations in Syria.
February 1, 2012
International
Russia must not block international efforts to tackle the ongoing violence and human rights violations in Syria, Amnesty International said today amid negotiations over a resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council.
Russian officials have threatened to veto the resolution if it comes to a vote.
Russia was one of several Security Council members to block a previous resolution on Syria on 4 October 2011. According to reports received by Amnesty International, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Syria since then.
Russia is urged not to block the UN Security Council's efforts to end human rights violations in Syria.
February 1, 2012
International
Russia must not block international efforts to tackle the ongoing violence and human rights violations in Syria, Amnesty International said today amid negotiations over a resolution on Syria at the UN Security Council.
Russian officials have threatened to veto the resolution if it comes to a vote.
Russia was one of several Security Council members to block a previous resolution on Syria on 4 October 2011. According to reports received by Amnesty International, more than 2,600 people have been killed in Syria since then.
Authorities urged stop the ill-treatment of about 60 Somalis and six Eritreans who had been on hunger strike in protest against their illegal detention.
January 31, 2012
International
Amnesty International has urged the Ukrainian authorities to stop the ill-treatment of a group of detained asylum-seekers and their supporters, who were yesterday attacked by security forces attempting to forcibly end a hunger strike.
Baton-wielding security officers in riot gear descended on the Migrant Accommodation Centre in Zhuravichi, Western Ukraine, where a group of about 60 Somalis and six Eritreans had been on hunger strike in protest against their illegal detention since 6 January.
Authorities urged stop the ill-treatment of about 60 Somalis and six Eritreans who had been on hunger strike in protest against their illegal detention.
January 31, 2012
International
Amnesty International has urged the Ukrainian authorities to stop the ill-treatment of a group of detained asylum-seekers and their supporters, who were yesterday attacked by security forces attempting to forcibly end a hunger strike.
Baton-wielding security officers in riot gear descended on the Migrant Accommodation Centre in Zhuravichi, Western Ukraine, where a group of about 60 Somalis and six Eritreans had been on hunger strike in protest against their illegal detention since 6 January.
Authorities urged stop the ill-treatment of about 60 Somalis and six Eritreans who had been on hunger strike in protest against their illegal detention.
January 31, 2012
International
Amnesty International has urged the Ukrainian authorities to stop the ill-treatment of a group of detained asylum-seekers and their supporters, who were yesterday attacked by security forces attempting to forcibly end a hunger strike.
Baton-wielding security officers in riot gear descended on the Migrant Accommodation Centre in Zhuravichi, Western Ukraine, where a group of about 60 Somalis and six Eritreans had been on hunger strike in protest against their illegal detention since 6 January.
Authorities urged to disclose details after US President Barack Obama confirms that the unmanned aircraft are used to target suspected militants.
January 31, 2012
International
The USA must disclose details of the legal and factual basis for the lethal use of drones in Pakistan, Amnesty International said today, after US President Barack Obama confirmed that the unmanned aircraft are used to target suspected militants in the country's tribal areas.
President Obama made the rare public acknowledgment on Monday during an hour-long online video chat with users of the social network Google+.
Amnesty International also called for the USA to monitor civilian casualties inflicted by drone attacks in Pakistan.
Authorities urged to disclose details after US President Barack Obama confirms that the unmanned aircraft are used to target suspected militants.
January 31, 2012
International
The USA must disclose details of the legal and factual basis for the lethal use of drones in Pakistan, Amnesty International said today, after US President Barack Obama confirmed that the unmanned aircraft are used to target suspected militants in the country's tribal areas.
President Obama made the rare public acknowledgment on Monday during an hour-long online video chat with users of the social network Google+.
Amnesty International also called for the USA to monitor civiliancasualties inflicted by drone attacks in Pakistan.
Authorities urged to disclose details after US President Barack Obama confirms that the unmanned aircraft are used to target suspected militants.
January 31, 2012
International
The USA must disclose details of the legal and factual basis for the lethal use of drones in Pakistan, Amnesty International said today, after US President Barack Obama confirmed that the unmanned aircraft are used to target suspected militants in the country's tribal areas.
President Obama made the rare public acknowledgment on Monday during an hour-long online video chat with users of the social network Google+.
Amnesty International also called for the USA to monitor civiliancasualties inflicted by drone attacks in Pakistan.
Haitian authorities have dropped the case against former leader Jean-Claude Duvalier, who is accused of crimes against humanity during his rule.
January 31, 2012
Haiti’s judicial authorities have dealt yet another blow to the victims of former leader Jean-Claude Duvalier, Amnesty International said today after the criminal case against the former “president-for-life” for grave human rights violations was dropped.
Haitian authorities have dropped the case against former leader Jean-Claude Duvalier, who is accused of crimes against humanity during his rule.
January 31, 2012
Haiti’s judicial authorities have dealt yet another blow to the victims of former leader Jean-Claude Duvalier, Amnesty International said today after the criminal case against the former “president-for-life” for grave human rights violations was dropped.
Haitian authorities have dropped the case against former leader Jean-Claude Duvalier, who is accused of crimes against humanity during his rule.
January 31, 2012
Haiti’s judicial authorities have dealt yet another blow to the victims of former leader Jean-Claude Duvalier, Amnesty International said today after the criminal case against the former “president-for-life” for grave human rights violations was dropped.
Fadhila Mubarak's 18-month sentence for taking part in 2011's pro-reform demonstrations and listening to'revolutionary'music has been upheld.
January 30, 2012
International
The Bahraini authorities must release the first woman activist to be convicted over her involvement in last year's pro-reform demonstrations, Amnesty International said today after a court rejected her appeal and upheld her prison sentence.
Fadhila Mubarak's 18-month prison sentence for protesting and listening to"revolutionary"music was today upheld by the Court of Cassation in the capital, Manama.
The international community must call on the Somali authorities to end impunity after the latest killing of a reporter in Mogadishu.
January 30, 2012
International
Amnesty International has urged the international community to call on the Somali authorities to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on journalists after the latest killing of a Mogadishu reporter.
Hassan Osman Abdi, director of the Shabelle Media Network, was shot by unidentified men outside his home in the city's Wadajir district on Saturday evening. He reportedly died on his way to hospital.
Fadhila Mubarak's 18-month sentence for taking part in 2011's pro-reform demonstrations and listening to'revolutionary'music has been upheld.
January 30, 2012
International
The Bahraini authorities must release the first woman activist to be convicted over her involvement in last year's pro-reform demonstrations, Amnesty International said today after a court rejected her appeal and upheld her prison sentence.
Fadhila Mubarak's 18-month prison sentence for protesting and listening to"revolutionary"music was today upheld by the Court of Cassation in the capital, Manama.
The international community must call on the Somali authorities to end impunity after the latest killing of a reporter in Mogadishu.
January 30, 2012
International
Amnesty International has urged the international community to call on the Somali authorities to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on journalists after the latest killing of a Mogadishu reporter.
Hassan Osman Abdi, director of the Shabelle Media Network, was shot by unidentified men outside his home in the city's Wadajir district on Saturday evening. He reportedly died on his way to hospital.
The international community must call on the Somali authorities to end impunity after the latest killing of a reporter in Mogadishu.
January 30, 2012
International
Amnesty International has urged the international community to call on the Somali authorities to bring to justice those responsible for attacks on journalists after the latest killing of a Mogadishu reporter.
Hassan Osman Abdi, director of the Shabelle Media Network, was shot by unidentified men outside his home in the city's Wadajir district on Saturday evening. He reportedly died on his way to hospital.
Fadhila Mubarak's 18-month sentence for taking part in 2011's pro-reform demonstrations and listening to'revolutionary'music has been upheld.
January 30, 2012
International
The Bahraini authorities must release the first woman activist to be convicted over her involvement in last year's pro-reform demonstrations, Amnesty International said today after a court rejected her appeal and upheld her prison sentence.
Fadhila Mubarak's 18-month prison sentence for protesting and listening to"revolutionary"music was today upheld by the Court of Cassation in the capital, Manama.
One young male protester and an elderly female bystander were shot dead when the gendarmerie opened fire on a crowd.
January 30, 2012
International
Senegal's security forces must stop their violent clampdown on dissent, Amnesty International said today after two people were killed during protests in the city of Podor.
One young male protester and an elderly female bystander were shot dead by the gendarmerie, who opened fire on a crowd demonstrating against the Constitutional Council decision to uphold President Abdoulaye Wade's right to stand for a third term in next month's election.
One young male protester and an elderly female bystander were shot dead when the gendarmerie opened fire on a crowd.
January 30, 2012
International
Senegal's security forces must stop their violent clampdown on dissent, Amnesty International said today after two people were killed during protests in the city of Podor.
One young male protester and an elderly female bystander were shot dead by the gendarmerie, who opened fire on a crowd demonstrating against the Constitutional Council decision to uphold President Abdoulaye Wade's right to stand for a third term in next month's election.
One young male protester and an elderly female bystander were shot dead when the gendarmerie opened fire on a crowd.
January 30, 2012
International
Senegal's security forces must stop their violent clampdown on dissent, Amnesty International said today after two people were killed during protests in the city of Podor.
One young male protester and an elderly female bystander were shot dead by the gendarmerie, who opened fire on a crowd demonstrating against the Constitutional Council decision to uphold President Abdoulaye Wade's right to stand for a third term in next month's election.
Protesters in India have clashed with police during a protest over land earmarked for a Vedanta toxic waste dump.
January 30, 2012
International
Protesters in the state of Orissa, India have clashed with police during a demonstration against forced evictions from land earmarked for a Vedanta Aluminium toxic waste dump.
Protesters in India have clashed with police during a protest over land earmarked for a Vedanta toxic waste dump.
January 30, 2012
International
Protesters in the state of Orissa, India have clashed with police during a demonstration against forced evictions from land earmarked for a Vedanta Aluminium toxic waste dump.
Protesters in India have clashed with police during a protest over land earmarked for a Vedanta toxic waste dump.
January 30, 2012
International
Protesters in the state of Orissa, India have clashed with police during a demonstration against forced evictions from land earmarked for a Vedanta Aluminium toxic waste dump.
China must avoid using excessive force in response to protests and allow independent monitors into areas of protest, Amnesty International said today after Chinese security forces in Sichuan Province reportedly fired on Tibetan protestors for a second successive day.
(Washington, D.C.) -- China must avoid using excessive force in response to protests and allow independent monitors into areas of protest, Amnesty International said today after Chinese security forces in Sichuan Province reportedly fired on Tibetan protestors for a second successive day.
Chinese authorities have dismissed reports based on eyewitness accounts of deadly clashes between police and Tibetan protesters as"hype."
By incorporating satellite images, data from other remote sensing technologies, eyewitness testimonies, photos and videos, Amnesty’s interactive Eyes on Nigeria website vividly conveys the threats Nigerians face in their daily lives.
June 1, 2011
Satellite image of gas flaring in Nigeria, courtesy of The American Association for the Advancement of Science
AIUSA
Check if content is Magazine
*CORRECTION: The Spring/Summer 2011 print edition of Amnesty International magazine omitted the credit for the satellite image shown on page 19: the American Association for the Advancement of Science. We apologize for the error.
Amnesty International focuses on a number of urgent human rights concerns in Nigeria, including extractive industry waste in the Niger Delta, forced evictions in Port Harcourt and Lagos, and communal violence and armed conflict across the country.
Amnesty fears that the UK government has set the stage for an inquiry that will be shrouded in secrecy and, as a consequence, cannot possibly promise true accountability.
Authorities in Azerbaijan must immediately release a member of an opposition youth organization sentenced to two and a half years in prison on fabricated drug charges, Amnesty International said today.
July 21, 2011
AIUSA
Authorities in Azerbaijan must immediately release a member of an opposition youth organization sentenced to two and a half years in prison on fabricated drug charges, Amnesty International said today.
Jabbar Savalan, a member of the Azerbaijan Popular Front Party's (APFP) youth group, was apparently targeted for using Facebook to call for a“Day of Rage” inspired by protests in the Middle East and North Africa.
Goran Hadzic, the only remaining suspect wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, was arrested today in Serbia on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in eastern Slavonia, Croatia.
July 20, 2011
AIUSA
Contact: AIUSA media relations office, 202-509-8194
(Washington, D.C.) -- As Goran Hadzic, the only remaining suspect wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, was arrested today in Serbia on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes in eastern Slavonia, Croatia, Sian Jones, Amnesty International's Serbia researcher, said:
"This long overdue arrest will bring justice at last to the victims of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Croatia.
(New York) -- Amnesty International today repeated its call to the Ugandan Parliament to reject a draconian anti-homosexuality bill, which would violate international law and threaten the lives of gays and lesbians.
May 12, 2011
AIUSA
Vote in Parliament Set for Friday
(New York) -- Amnesty International today repeated its call to the Ugandan Parliament to reject a draconian anti-homosexuality bill, which would violate international law and threaten the lives of gays and lesbians.
The bill would introduce the death penalty for some homosexual acts; it is set to be debated and voted on in the Ugandan parliament on Friday. Amnesty International this week mobilized its supporters worldwide to urge members of the Ugandan Parliament to reject the law.
WACC has produced a new flyer which gives an introduction to WACC, its programme areas and publications. Please download the pdf file below, or contactKristine Greenawayif you need printed versions. Language versions in Spanish, French and German will soon be available.
The first batch of computers built for the One Laptop Per Child project could reach users by July this year.
The scheme is hoping to put low-cost computers into the hands of people in developing countries.
Ultimately the project's backers hope the machines could sell for as little as $100 (ÂŁ55).
The first countries to sign up to buying the machine include Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Nigeria, Libya, Pakistan and Thailand.
The so-called XO machine is being pioneered by Nicholas Negroponte, who launched the project at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Media Lab in 2004.
Test machines are expected to reach children in February as the project builds towards a more formal launch.
Wireless networking
Mr Negroponte told the Associated Press news agency that three more African countries might sign on in the next two weeks.
The laptop is powered by a 366-megahertz processor from Advanced Micro Devices and has built-in wireless networking.
It has no hard disk drive and instead uses 512 MB of flash memory, and has two USB ports to which more storage could be attached. "I have to laugh when people refer to XO as a weak or crippled machine and how kids should get a"real'one"," Mr Negroponte told AP.
"Trust me, I will give up my real one very soon and use only XO. It will be far better, in many new and important ways."
The computer runs on a cut-down version of the open source Linux operating system and has been designed to work differently to a Microsoft Windows or Apple machine from a usability perspective.
Instead of information being stored along the organising principle of folders and a desktop, users of the XO machine are encouraged to work on an electronic journal, a log of everything the user has done on the laptop.
The machine comes with a web browser, word processor and RSS reader, for accessing the web feeds that so many sites now offer.
"In fact, one of the saddest but most common conditions in elementary school computer labs (when they exist in the developing world), is the children are being trained to use Word, Excel and PowerPoint," Mr Negroponte said.
"I consider that criminal, because children should be making things, communicating, exploring, sharing, not running office automation tools." The new user interface, known as Sugar, has been praised by some of the observers of the One Laptop Per Child project.
It doesn't feel like Linux. It doesn't feel like Windows. It doesn't feel like Apple," said Wayan Vota, who launched theOLPCNews.com blogand is also director of Geekcorps, an organisation that facilitates technology volunteers in developing countries.
"I'm just impressed they built a new (user interface) that is different and hopefully better than anything we have today," he said.
But he added:"Granted, I'm not a child. I don't know if it's going to be intuitive to children."
Trial versions of the operating system in development can be downloaded to be tested out by technically-minded computer users around the world.
The Rev Nelson Agyemang, National Apostle of the Fountain of Leadership Church and Apostolic Network, from Ghana visited the WACC Secretariat on Friday 17 November during a short stopover in Toronto. During a meeting with programme staff he outlined his work and the activities of his Church and had the opportunity to learn more of WACC's programmes. Before leaving he submitted an application, on behalf of his organisation, for corporate membership in the Association. Rev Agyemang is pictured here with the General Secretary, Randy Naylor.
We, the participants of the Amarc9 conference held in the Jordanian capital Amman on Saturday November 11, 2006, request the following:
1. Lifting all restriction on the work of media institutions, journalist organizations and journalists whether they be in the form of detention or arrest, arbitrary and closing or restricting the work of media organizations.
2. Requesting government to respect international laws and treaties that focus on the issue of the freedom of expression.
3. Governments should separate themselves from the involvement in media. An independent media body can be established that can experience legal immunity. Ministries of Information, where they exist, must be banned.
4. Access to information and citizen's rights in media must be guaranteed through clear constitutional amendments.
5. Legal and administrative structures must be created that guarantees the establishment and development of community media and community radio without administrative or financial restrictions.
6. Developing a package of media lws that guarantee press freedom and the freedom of expression and the exercise of media work without restrictions.
7. Activating citizen's role in the work of media institute by creating a mechanism that allows for the free expression of journalists.
8. Work must commence towards the establishment of a training institute that is professionally equipped. A professional journalistic ethos should be established with the aim of sponsoring the honour and ethics of this profession.
9. New and independent funding sources or public funding must be found in order to empower media organisations with equipment and trained personnel.
10. Effort must be exerted to empower the courts to be independent so that they can be the only party enstrusted to look into media cases and to address them based on principles of democracy and freedom.
Peace is the greatest challenge facing the world, the way to survival or extinction, according to the General Secretary of the International Peace Research Association.
Speaking at the organization's biennial conference in Calgary, Canada, Luc Reychler stressed the importance of peace research which he says “implies leadership by people young and old who respond with intellectual and moral energy to crises or challenges in meaningful ways.”
The conference, held 29 June to 3 July under the theme Patterns of conflict, paths to peace, attracted 400 researchers, teachers and activists.
Majid Tehranian, director of the Tokyo-based Toda Institute for Global Peace and Policy Research, told conference participants that the opposite of peace journalism is not, paradoxically, war journalism. The opposite, is what he calls “muddled journalism” where information is presented with so little context it is practically useless. Tehranian decried the notion of objectivity saying, “We are all biased and some of us are prejudiced as well.”
Johan Galtung, whose theories of direct violence and structural violence, and of negative and positive peace, are the foundation of peace studies today, presented real-life examples of peace mediation undertaken during the past year. Galtung dismissed moralizing as a dead end. What you need, he said, is a proposal, a good idea. In order to have a chance of success, a mediator needs empathy for all sides and an ability to respond instantly and creatively to sudden developments.
A First Nations (aboriginal Canadian) woman recalled the story of her grandmother telling her to throw a rock into a river. As Doreen Spence watched the ripples it created move downstream with the flow of the water, her grandmother pointed to the ripples and asked, “What imprint will you leave on the planet for seven generations to come?” Her question hung on the minds of many at the conclusion of the conference.
(The full version of this article appears in the current issue of Media Development 4/2006.)
George Clooney, the famous son of journalist Nick Clooney, featured a video on MySpace,"Footage From Sudan and Chad," providing images and substance for what many believe to be a story marginalized by major media. Adding George Clooney's celebrity attraction to a captive audience on MySpace ensured that the message, the reality of suffering and death in Darfur, reached many, many people. Conversely, had even the story been carried on the evening news more regularly, I believe there are people who watch television news and there are those who do not. MySpace was a mechanism to reach those who may not watch otherwise.
National Public Radio's Morning Edition carried a story about Darfur on November third. Citing part of the frustration by the United States and the United Nations as the refusal of the Sudanese government to cooperate and allow diplomatic intervention, the use of a blog and a podcast figured prominantly in international discourse.
Disney says it's concerned about kids'eating habits. But the company can't turn down the huge profits associated with helping junk-food companies market to children.
The announcement this week by Disney that the company is placing nutrition guidelines on licensed food products aimed at children (along with kid-friendly meals at theme parks) is just the latest effort by Corporate America to save its tarnished image.
New countries have moved ahead of some Western democracies in the fifth annual Reporters Without Borders Worldwide Press Freedom Index, issued today, while the most repressive countries are still the same ones.
“Unfortunately nothing has changed in the countries that are the worst predators of press freedom,” the organisation said, “and journalists in North Korea, Eritrea, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Burma and China are still risking their life or imprisonment for trying to keep us informed. These situations are extremely serious and it is urgent that leaders of these countries accept criticism and stop routinely cracking down on the media so harshly.
When a study in the British Medical journal the Lancet found that hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died as a consequence of the war, the Lancet was dismissed by George W. Bush, who called its methodology flawed. American media outlets also cast doubt, calling the peer-reviewed findings"disputed" and pointing to lower, less scientific numbers as more reliable. Daniel Davies, a writer for the Comment is Free blog on the website of London's Guardian, will join us to explain why the critics are wrong.
The FCC has increased the number of closed-captioning waivers it gives to TV broadcasters. Religious broadcasters have received a disproportionate number of the waivers.
You cannot see much out of an armored Humvee, and even if you could, you have no chance to identify the enemy until first you come under attack. You’ve got all these weapons, and you’ve been told that you’re a mighty warrior, a Spartan, but what are you going to shoot—the dogs? You’re a Marine without a beach…Reduced to giving candy to children, and cut off by language and ignorance from the culture around them, they work in such isolation that the potentially positive effects of their presence usually amount to nil…Many had joined the Corps in response to the September 11 attacks, now four years past, but the emotions that once had motivated them had been reduced by their participation in an enormously bureaucratic enterprise, and by the tedium of war. Fine—they were probably better soldiers for it. These were not the taut warriors portrayed in action movies. As they shed their helmets and body armor, they emerged as ordinary five-foot-nine-inch, 150-pound middle-class Americans, sometimes pimple-faced, and often sort of scrawny. Some of them were mentally agile, and some quite obviously were not.
It includes footage of the Zimbabwean police and security intelligence services breaking up a peaceful demonstration by members of the Zimbabwe Congress of Trades Unions (ZCTU) on September 13th.The police repeatedly beat the demonstrators, who are calling for the provision of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for the treatment of HIV, a minimum wage, and stabilisation in the prices of certain basic commodities. The bulk of the video involves interviews with the ZCTU members describing the events of the day, and the actions of the police. Ethan and Rachel Rawlins have kindly provided a transcript.
When news of the beatings originally leaked out, trades unions in other countries strongly condemned Robert MugabeÂ’s hardline approach with legitimate and peaceful demonstrations. Last week a court dismissed the police report on the incident, and postponed the trial of the ZCTU protestors until October 17th, to give the Criminal Investigation Department time to conduct a thorough investigation of the allegations of police torture. When footage of the protests was smuggled out of Zimbabwe on DVD to South Africa this week, it prompted the head of one of South AfricaÂ’s labour unions to say that she would give President Thabo Mbeki a copy of the DVD of the beatings in a meeting with him on Friday.
After the formal greetings and a string of political and international organisation figures lining up to express their good intentions towards communication for development, the World Congress on the Communication for Development (WCCD) really got started with an introductory plenary session explaining what the goals of the congress were.
The WCCD drafting team is composed of the ‘usual suspects’ from the World Bank, the FAO, as well as The Communication Initiative – an organisation based in Canada. It has already released a draft document containing a number of recommendations for rejuvenating and giving the field of ‘communication for development’ some impulse.
When the main subject of today's story,"Africa After War: Paths to Forgiveness," introduced herself to staff writer Abraham McLaughlin she said her name was Atto Betty.
The order of names she used was typical among folks in this part of Uganda and in other rural parts of Africa - her clan name first, and her individual name second. In the West, of course, we'd know her as Betty Atto.
"It's a small thing but also hugely symbolic of what I see as the basic difference between Western and African culture - Western individualism and African communalism," says Abe.
"Western culture essentially revolves around individuals - celebrities, biographies, individual and human rights, etc. But in many places in Africa," he says,"it matters much more where you come from and which family or clan or ethnic group you belong to. Group identifiers, in fact, are arguably far more important than each individual's identity."
Despite many efforts to move away from those most traditional interfaces - the ubiquitous computer keyboard and mouse - they remain the bedrock on which nearly all computer interfaces rest.
But for those who find it difficult to use a standard computer there is a raft of user-friendly add-ons and upgrades to help things go more smoothly.
We live in a world that demands us to communicate in many different ways, usually with the computer at the very heart of it.
The Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) released today a full rebuttal of claims made against its April 2006 report,"Fake TV News: Widespread and Undisclosed." The report tracked television stations'use of video news releases (VNRs), narrated pre-packaged segments produced by public relations firms for their clients. The report documented 77 television stations airing VNRs or related materials; not once did stations disclose the client behind the segment. The report led the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to launch an investigation of the 77 stations named, in August 2006.
A Save the Children Fund marketing campaign has been banned by the advertising watchdog after complaints that it distressed children by implying that those with brown eyes might die young.
The mailshot ad used a leaflet and an envelope that showed a close-up of a child of African origin and text stating:"If you have brown eyes, you're more likely to die young."
The reverse of the envelope showed a close-up of the eyes of a child of Asian origin with the same text.
ITN reporter Terry Lloyd was shot in the head by American troops as he was being driven to hospital, the inquest into his death was told today.
An account by an Iraqi witness that was read out at the inquest in Oxford claimed Lloyd was still alive after the original attack on his car but was killed by US troops as he was driven from the scene.
The unnamed driver's account, which was read out by the deputy assistant coroner for Oxfordshire, Andrew Walker, gave new details of the last moments of Lloyd's life.
John Harris of the Washington Post has noticed that the three largest recent political controversies have stemmed from work done by digital inhabitants. In the article, New Media a Weapon in the New World of Politics, he notes the connections between the recent scandals involving Mark Foley, George Allen, and Bill Clinton were representative of the new, web-driven age of American politics."
(August 9, 2006) The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has just become informed that the execution date has been set for three Christians involved in the Poso conflict. The men are to be executed on Saturday, August 12, at 12:15am. While these men have admitted their involvement in the conflict, they were the only ones charged in a conflict in which massive numbers of Muslims participated.
Amnesty International today called on the DRC government to take concrete steps to identify and bring to justice individuals, including state officials, responsible for threatening Congolese human rights activists.
