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Korea offers USD 350,000 to WTO training for developing countries
Korea has donated USD 350,000 (about CHF 321,000) to the Doha Development Agenda Global Trust Fund (DDAGTF). This last donation brings Korea’s total contribution to WTO trust funds to CHF 3.3 million.
Tailandia, Droga: Nove soldati arrestati, accusati omicidio marinai cinesi
Nove soldati thailandesi sono stati arrestati ieri con l’accusa di essere i responsabili dell’omicidio di 13 marinai cinesi, uccisi a inizio ottobre lungo il fiume Mekong, nella zona al confine tra Birmania e Thailandia, conosciuta come “Triangolo d’oro” e famosa per il narcotraffico. Lo ha riferito la polizia di Bangkok, aggiungendo che i militari arrestati [...]
Ban urges universal accession to pact prohibiting use of indiscriminate weapons
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called for universal accession to the United Nations convention that prohibits the use of certain indiscriminate weapons that cause unnecessary suffering to combatants or civilians, including landmines, booby-traps a…
Trade Policy Review: Cambodia
The first review of the trade policies and practices of Cambodia takes place on 1 and 3 November 2011. The basis for the review is a report by the WTO Secretariat and a report by the Government of Cambodia.
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China – Respect for free speech continues to deteriorate in China
China’s restrictions on Internet use, which affect bloggers, journalists, activists and many others, have led the US ambassador to the World Trade Organization to complain about China’s “national firewall” and website blocking on the grounds that they violate WTO rules by making it harder for companies outside China to offer “services to Chinese customers.” The complaint, the text of which was released on 19 October, was rejected the next day by foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu. “We do not (…)
Philippines – Local broadcaster’s premises set on fire, attacks on media remain unpunished
Reporters Without Borders condemns the arson attack yesterday on the Catholic Church-owned radio station dzVT in San Jose, in Oriental Mindoro province on the Island of Luzon. Unidentified men set fire to the premises, destroying transmission equipment and causing damage estimated at 10 million pesos (230,000 dollars). “We are outraged by the violence directed against a growing number of media organizations in retaliation just for broadcasting or publishing commentaries locally,” the press (…)
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Sri Lanka – Censored website’s editor talks about media control
Reporters Without Borders deplores the action of two Sri Lankan Internet Service Providers in blocking access to the independent news website Lanka-e-News and calls on them to explain themselves. If they are doing it at the government’s behest, they have become accomplices to state censorship. The site has been inaccessible since 18 October. “This decision by Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) and Dialog Axiata PLC to block the Lanka-e-News site reflects the increase in censorship in Sri Lanka,” (…)
Kazakhstan – Journalists beaten with baseball bats while trying to cover oil workers’ strike
Reporters Without Borders is appalled to learn that two journalists with Stan TV, an Almaty-based independent news website and online TV station, were attacked and beaten with baseball bats today while on their way to film a strike by oil workers in the western province of Mangystau. “This gratuitous violence is shocking,” Reporters Without Borders said. “There were many witnesses and the car used by the attackers has been identified. We demand a swift and impartial investigation. The (…)
Tajikistan – Two journalists convicted but free men after trials
Two journalists were free men today at the end of separate trials in the northwestern city of Khujand which Reporters Without Borders had been following closely, but both were convicted on charges directly related to their work. “We are relieved that the authorities have finally released Makhmadyusuf Ismoilov, who had been held in solitary confinement for nearly a year without a thought for his state of health,” Reporters Without Borders said. “But his sentence, like Urinboy Usmonov’s, is (…)
Pakistan – Journalist freed after two months in captivity in Tribal Areas
Reporters Without Borders hails journalist Rehmatullah Darpakhel’s release after two months as a hostage in North Waziristan, one of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas. Darpakhel, who works for the Urdu-language daily Ausaf and Aaj TV in the North Waziristan capital of Miranshah, was released safe and sound by his captors on 12 October. “We salute the courage shown by Darpakhel, who has survived a traumatic ordeal, and we are relieved by the outcome,” Reporters Without Borders said. “We (…)
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Argentina – Salta broadcaster repeatedly sabotaged, other attacks on radio stations
The broadcasts of TV and radio stations owned by Norte Visión Satelital, a media company based in the northern city of Salta, have been seriously disrupted by the deliberate destruction of an antenna by persons unknown on 3 October. Other regional broadcast media have been affected by this act of sabotage, the fourth against the company since the start of the year. In an interview for Reporters Without Borders, Norte Visión owner Daniel Longarela expressed his concern about the apparent (…)
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Burma – Zarganar freed, but DVB video journalists still held
Reporters Without Borders hails today’s release of the blogger and comedian Zarganar from Myitkyina prison, in the northern state of Kachin, under a “general amnesty” affecting dozens of political prisoners, but urges the government to pursue this conciliatory policy by freeing all detained bloggers and journalists including 17 Democratic Voice of Burma video journalists. “We are happy that Zarganar will finally be reunited with his family,” Reporters Without Borders said. “This wave of (…)
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BlackBerry gives way to pressure from governments
Reporters Without Borders is worried about the concessions that Research in Motion (RIM), the Canadian company that manufactures the BlackBerry smartphone, is making to governments that want access to the encrypted data transmitted over its networks. RIM recently reached secret agreements with several countries, including the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, after they threatened to suspend its mobile phone services. Pressure on RIM has been growing since it providing information to (…)
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China – Liu Xiaobo, last year’s Nobel peace laureate, still in prison
In the wake of today’s announcement that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded jointly to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni rights activist Tawakkul Karman, Reporters Without Borders urges the laureates to press the Chinese government to free last year’s winner of the award, Liu Xiaobo. A dissident writer and intellectual who is serving an 11-year jail sentence, Liu is the only Nobel peace laureate currently in prison. “We (…)
