2 Nov 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Grenadian high court Judge Claire Henry ordered the liquidation, on 22 October, of the “Grenada Today” newspaper after the owners failed to reach an agreement with former Prime Minister Keith Mitchell over the settlement of an EC$191,000 (US$71,135) libel award.
The paper’s editor, George Worme, a veteran journalist, and Mitchell have been at loggerheads for years as the newspaper sought to expose what it termed corrupt activities of the Mitchell administration during its 13 years in office.
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2 Nov 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
It was reported on 30 October that up to 50 people including 10 journalists, political activists and students have been arrested in Rangoon. Although no official reason behind the arrests has been given it is thought they were part of an attempt to tighten security across Rangoon by Burmese authorities.
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2 Nov 2009 | Index Index, minipost, News and features
Investigations conducted in Croatia and Serbia have led to the indictment on 26 October of eight individuals accused of murdering Ivo Pukanić, the owner of political weekly Nacional. Sreten Jocić, a wealthy Serbian businessman indicted for two other murders, is the most prominent individual to be named. Pukanić, along with colleague Niko Franić, was killed by a car bomb in Zagreb on 23 October 2008.
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1 Nov 2009 | Uncategorized
Bangladeshi authorities called in police over the weekend to prevent today’s opening of a photographic exhibition about Tibetans in exile that Chinese diplomats wanted banned.
The photojournalism event had been organised by Students for a Free Tibet with support from the Drik network. Dhaka Special Branch police officers moved in to bar visitors after the head of Drik, Shahidul Alam, refused to cancel the event.
Entitled “Tibet 1949 – 2009”, the photo exhibition intended, “to portray, in whatever small fraction, the journey of Tibetans from their homeland to exile.” The exhibition was expected to run from 1-7 November.
According to reports from www.mediahelpingmedia.org Alam had earlier been contacted by Qian Kaifu, Cultural Counsellor of the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Bangladesh, who asked him to cancel the exhibition, suggesting that the Bangladesh-China relationship would be affected if the show went ahead.
Alam says he was offered partner opportunities in China in return, but reminded Mr Kaifu that Drik was an independent gallery, unconnected with the government of Bangladesh. Alam says he was called the next day by the Bangladesh ministry of culture saying “China is a friend, you mustn’t show pictures of the Dalai Lama.”
When he declined again, the Special Branch were called in. Drik was founded 20 years ago to encourage local photographers and journalists to report on Asia in a way that transcends typical disaster and war reporting from Western media.
Drik network website (http://drik.net).
