News
Jesus as a migrant in pro-immigration street theater
Traffic on Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma was blocked briefly last Friday afternoon by an actor in the role of Jesus. Wearing a long white robe over jeans and sneakers and carrying a cross fashioned roughly out of wood, ”Jesus” took a tumble on a pedestrian crossing on the traffic artery in front of the U.S. […]
¡Bienvenido, Barack!
Latin America is on tenterhooks. Obama is visiting the USA’s backyard. Well, Trinidad and Tobago at least. Date for the diary: 17-19 April. Every year, the 34 presidents of the America’s get together for a high level chinwag. Speeches are made. Dinners scoffed. And, back in good old GW’s day, protests would be held. But […]
Obama talks Turkey (Updated)
History has the unfortunate habit of repeating itself as Armenians know only too well. This is especially true when it comes to U.S. presidential elections. Without fail, candidates running for the White House promise to recognize the WWI massacre and deportation of as many as 1.5 million Armenians living in the then Ottoman Empire as […]
Help Save Bonobos
THERE is something distinctly human about Masisi, a baby bonobo. She could almost be a wide-eyed toddler as she reaches thirstily for a cuppa. But this is no cute advertisement for a brand of tea. Conservationists in the Democratic Republic of Congo have turned to the fortifying brew, laced with honey and lemon, to […]
Testing my kit for mobile reporting in Africa
So, you’ve brought your smart phone with you to a country like Nigeria, brimming with all your favourite apps for social media and live video streaming. Will everything work? Well sort of, inshallah. Recently while training radio journalists in Kano in Nigeria’s north, I used a variety of applications to get an indication of how […]
Nagorno Karabakh: Blogs, social networking sites cross ethnic fault lines
In May, Armenia and Azerbaijan will mark the 15th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement which put the conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian-populated autonomous oblast situated within Azerbaijan, on hold. Since then, international mediators continue to talk of a lasting peace agreement being in reach, but few following the […]
Eufrosina Cruz: Indigenous women’s rights vs. culture in Mexico
Cruz is a 28-year-old indigenous woman from the state of Oaxaca who is an activist for the rights of indigenous women. Cruz rebelled against the restrictions of her own community, where Zapotec is the native language, to become a college-educated accountant.
Testing my kit for mobile reporting in Africa
So, you’ve brought your smart phone with you to a country like Nigeria, brimming with all your favourite apps for social media and live video streaming. Will everything work? Well sort of, inshallah. Recently while training radio journalists in Kano in Nigeria’s north, I used a variety of applications to get an indication of how […]
Nagorno Karabakh: Blogs, social networking sites cross ethnic fault lines
In May, Armenia and Azerbaijan will mark the 15th anniversary of the 1994 ceasefire agreement which put the conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh, a mainly ethnic Armenian-populated autonomous oblast situated within Azerbaijan, on hold. Since then, international mediators continue to talk of a lasting peace agreement being in reach, but few following the […]
Talking violence in Texas
Last week, I was invited to speak at the University of Texas Pan America about this website, MexicoReporter.com, violence against journalists in Mexico, the drug war coverage and how new technologies are contributing to the journalism beast. So I went.
Sri Lanka government to investigate journalists
The Sri Lankan government has appointed a Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the work of journalists "who have been contributing articles detrimental to the interests of Sri Lanka to foreign Non Governmental Organizations", according to Sri Lanka Defence Spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. Government will reveal names of those Sri Lankan journalists in about a fortnight, […]
Freelance journalist missing in Zimbabwe
Kudzai Musengi, a freelance journalist based in Gweru, is missing according to an alert issued by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA-Zimbabwe) today. Musengi failed to return home after normal working hours on 31 March and family and colleagues have not been able to contact him. MISA-Zimbabwe strongly appeals to the authorities and law […]
Upstarts and Question Marks
Thousands of slickly-designed opposition posters and stickers have been appearing on the streets of the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, over the past couple of weeks, in the run-up to anti-government protests on April 9. Some of them blame President Mikheil Saakashvili for the disastrous war here last August; others (like this one, allegedly showing the Georgian […]
#G20 – Twitter dominates mainstream media coverage
I’m feeling rather overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information on the G20 protests and I’m just sitting and watching. But maybe that’s my problem – there is so much to watch. I’m currently waiting for 2,383 queued tweets on a #G20 search of Twitterfall (and later I realised that I need to keep it […]
Indian sculptors bring life to Kashmir stone
It was after two decades that sculptors from India landed in Indian held Kashmir to take part in a camp organized by the government run Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art Culture and Languages (JKAACL) which looks after Cultural and Art related activities in the troubled region. Even though Kashmir has produced some sculptors of […]
Account of shootout in Police Training School, Lahore.
Munawan, Lahore: After 3/3, 30/3 was another event, filled with tragedy infused with confusion and terror. Lahore isn’t too used to taking all this. 7:30AM – 30/3: Another Terrorist attack—After Sri Lankan team, this time on Police Training school in Munawa, some 14 KM from Lahore, more towards Wagha Border between India and Pakistan. Flew […]
Rio moves to wall off its slums
Several new walls are being built around the slums in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro. Eleven kilometres of Concrete walls 3.5 metres high are being built in about 40 slums to protect native forests. Authorities say they want to stop “favelas” from expanding into preserved areas in order to protect wildlife. But human […]
Dan McDougall foreign reporter of the year
Dan McDougall, a freelance foreign correspondent with The Observer newspaper among others, has been named as foreign reporter of the year at the British Press Awards 2009 being held tonight in London. Dan was shortlisted for the award in 2008, but has triumphed tonight. The Guardian’s Oliver Luft is at the event, 10.25pm: They’re all […]
Immigrants: They are coming back
The Independent on Sunday recently published a vox pop with people from all over the world who have been affected by the world crisis. They were asked to say what they expect from G20 leaders gathered in London this week. I collaborated from Brazil – and ended up learning about a silent drama that is […]
All Eyes on Africa
The Foreign Correspondents Association of East Africa is holding a photo exhibition of the best snaps from the past year. My pic from Kibera, during last year’s election violence, has made it in. Kids there invented a new game after watching Nairobi’s press corps descend on their small patch of mud every morning in […]
Account of shootout in Police Training School, Lahore.
Munawan, Lahore: After 3/3, 30/3 was another event, filled with tragedy infused with confusion and terror. Lahore isn’t too used to taking all this. 7:30AM – 30/3: Another Terrorist attack—After Sri Lankan team, this time on Police Training school in Munawa, some 14 KM from Lahore, more towards Wagha Border between India and Pakistan. Flew […]
Chávez’s cheque book diplomacy
Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president and media phenomenon, is well known for his antics at home. For those out of touch with his singular leadership style, check out YouTube for his Sunday show Aló Presidente. Now attention is being drawn to his activities outside Venezuela’s borders. Chávez likes to cast himself as the modern day Simón […]
The Khmer Rouge trial gets substantial
I witnessed today the first day of substantive hearing of Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the former chairman of the famed Phnom Penh detention center S-21 who was charged (among other things) with crimes against humanity. (From 1975 to 1979, under the Khmer Rouge, at least 12,380 men, women and children died at […]
77 names added to wall of fallen journalists
The names of 62 journalists killed in 2008 and 15 killed in previous years have been added to a memorial wall at the Newseum in Washington D.C. that honours journalists killed doing the job of journalism. Iraq and Mexico were the deadliest places for journalists last year. 13 names from Iraq were added to the […]
Beverly Giesbrecht ransom offer rejected
A ransom offered to the Taliban kidnappers of Beverly Giesbrecht has reportedly been rejected according to a report on the Globe & Mail newspaper. Giesbrecht, a Canadian freelance journalist who also goes by the name of Khadija Abdul Qahaar, was kidnapped four months ago in the border area between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The kidnappers […]
U.S. General: Darfur No-Fly Zone Not “Developed”
Let’s be perfectly clear about this: deploying Western forces to establish a no-fly zone over Darfur is a bad idea, and would only further entangle foreign powers in a war in which they have no clear interest. Not to mention, the logistics and rules-of-engagement would be nightmares. Fortunately, the U.S. Air Force doesn’t seem terribly […]
Frontline Club Quiz – Members and guests only
with Quiz Master Marcus Berkmann. Enter as a team (up to 6 people) or as an individual. The quiz will last two hours and includes a break. Free drinks and books for the winners. £5 entry per person donated to the Fixers’ Fund.
Peter Gabriel asks for political will and muscle to end impunity over Ciudad Juarez’s dead women
Peter Gabriel, the musician and activist, implored Mexico President Felipe Calderon to show "real political will, muscle and budget" in investigating the hundreds of unsolved murders of young women in the border town of Ciudad Juarez in the state of Chihuahua Friday. Speaking to a packed press conference through a translator, and flanked by Mexican […]
John D. McHugh’s latest from Afghanistan
John D. McHugh, club regular and Frontline Club award for journalism winner, sees his latest multimedia production from Afghanistan about the U.S. soldiers view of their Afghan counterparts, on the Guardian website. You can feel the frustration dripping from the U.S. soldiers as they find Afghan colleagues without helmets on, smoking dope and otherwise […]
Somali journalist jailed for two years
Ayanle Jama Feyte, an online journalist working for the Lassqorey website who was arrested on March 26, has reportedly been jailed for two years by a court in Bossaso in the Puntland region of Somalia. He is charged with defamation under the “criminal code defamation to state administrative bodies” after he allegedly published a series […]
