Thursday, December 31, 2009

Wars and disputed elections: The most dangerous stories for journalists - RSF



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Two appalling events marked 2009: one was the largest ever massacre of journalists in a single day – a total of 30 killed – by the private militia of a governor in the southern Philippines and the other was an unprecedented wave of arrests and convictions of journalists and bloggers in Iran following President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s disputed reelection.

A total of around 160 journalists in all continents were forced to go into exile to escape prison or death, often in very dangerous circumstances. The Iranian press photographers crossing the Turkish border to escape arrest or the Somali radio journalists fleeing to neighbouring countries to avoid certain death had all reported essential news and information that some people would go to any lengths to suppress.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Violence against media increased in 2009 : South Asia Media Commission



According to a report released on Tuesday, Pakistan topped the list of on-duty media persons’ deaths in South Asia, losing seven of 12 journalists in the conflict zones of eight South Asian states in 2009.

The figures were issued in a report prepared by the South Asia Media Commission (SAMC), indicating a worsened situation for the fourth pillar of the state.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

Former Thai PM Thaksin to advise Sri Lanka



Sri Lanka, an island country in South Asia, is in preparing to appoint former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra its economic adviser, former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat revealed on Wednesday.

Mr Somchai, Thaksin's brother-in-law, said the government should not worry because Thaksin's role as adviser to Sri Lanka, as well as to Cambodia, would do no harm to Thailand.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

India-Sri Lanka power link by 2013



Sudheer Pal Singh - The government's initiative to set up a high-capacity power transmission link between India and Sri Lanka is likely to be completed by 2013.

The 285-kilometre power link, including submarine cables over a stretch of 50 km, will enable the two countries to trade their surplus power, thereby offering a cheaper option to bridge their power generation deficit and also manage their peak demand.

The transmission link will pave the way for future trading of electricity between the two countries.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

The vested interests behind the Sri Lankan regime



Manny Thain - The reality is that Sri Lanka is in demand. One of the reasons that quiet, diplomatic appeals to establishment governments and political parties have practically no impact is that all of these governments have their fingers in the Sri Lankan pie. They want a piece of the action.

So, they cannot be too critical for fear of being frozen out of lucrative economic and strategic deals. The only time governments act in the interests of workers and poor people is when they are put under massive pressure.

The major regional powers, China and India, are jostling for position in the Indian Ocean, where the US administration also has strategic economic and military interests. There can be no doubt that the provision of weapons by the Chinese regime, streaming into Sri Lanka from 2007, played a big part in the defeat of the LTTE. China increased its bilateral aid fivefold in a year to $1bn in 2008 to become Sri Lanka’s biggest donor. In return, it has been awarded the project to develop the important deep-sea port of Hambantota. This fits with China’s ‘string of pearls’ policy, whereby it seeks to control the Indian Ocean seaway, which carries nearly half of all global seaborne trade.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

'Sri Lanka cannot escape war crime charges'



PK Balachandran - Although Sri Lanka is not a signatory to the Rome Convention which set up the International Criminal Court (ICC), the island nation can still be dragged before the ICC without its consent, senior cabinet minister and a former Professor of Law, G.L.Peiris, has said.

He told The Sunday Island on December 20, that the UN Security Council had the right to request the Chief Prosecuting Officer (CPO) of the ICC to embark on an investigation of the complaints it had received with a view to prosecution. The CPO could, on his own, seek the approval of the Pre-Trial chamber of the ICC to conduct investigations.

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Thursday, December 31, 2009

War crimes probe request 'referred'



The Sri Lankan government says it is seeking advice on a request by the United Nations for a war crimes probe.

Sri Lanka's defence ministry said on Tuesday that a letter by UN Special Rapporteur on Extra- judicial, Summary and Arbitrary Executions Philip Alston has been referred "for advice on the cause of action to be taken on the issues".

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