News

The big story in Europe before Christmas was that the CIA operated clandestine prisons in eight European countries where it was questioning Al-Qaeda suspects and secretly flew the prisoners through European air space. Condoleezza Rice basically confirmed to European governments there had been clandestine flights, but "What prisons?" and the host governments named said, "No way." So it comes as a...

The United Nations will launch the first round of consultations next month on creating a new internet governance body, as agreed by delegates attending the global net summit in Tunis last year. The UN, which hosted the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in November, is welcoming all stakeholders to attend the consultations, which will take place in Geneva on 16-17 February, according...

BATON ROUGE (AP) – One recent balmy morning, Wilbert Rideau wandered around his backyard, dressed in shorts and sandals. He acknowledged the joy he felt was greater than others might experience, but for him it was one more milestone on a very long road. "It doesn't sound like a big thing to you," Rideau said. "But I spent 44 years in a place where they don't allow you to walk around in sandals and...

NEW YORK - Online news video is plentiful: NBC, ABC and CBS all have Web editions of their evening news, and CNN recently launched a four-channel broadband network carrying feeds not available on its U.S. cable channels. Best of all, most of it is free. ABC and CNN offer more through subscription packages, but unless you're a news junkie you'll do fine with the free offerings from both networks...

LONDON: Faced with slowing sales and dipping profits, foreign media houses are increasingly eyeing India, one of the most attractive markets globally, thanks to a robust economy and easing of stiff investment rules. India's thriving media industry, which was shut for foreign firms until not long ago, today counts Britain's Pearson, publisher of the Financial Times, Independent News and Media...

Jan. 23, 2006 issue - Recently the consumer Electronics Show filled up Las Vegas with more than 130,000 people and countless cell phones, camcorders, flash drives, car stereos, MP3 players and porn stars. In a State of the Industry speech, Gary Shapiro, head of the trade group behind the extravaganza, instructed us to view the "hallowed event": as "a Mecca... a Holy Grail." I have come back to...

IT wasn't so long ago that the Internet was seen as a trap for China. The country desperately needed to foster economic growth, and in the early 1990's much of the globe was plugging itself in. Sooner or later, the thinking went, China would have to plug into the Web, too, and however efficiently its leaders might have controlled information in the old days, they would be no match for this new...

PARIS Adapting to competition from the Internet in a downward advertising cycle, the largest U.S.-based newsweeklies have adopted sharply different tactics for the future of their international editions - and none of them involves expansion. Editors at Newsweek, Time and BusinessWeek emphasize their commitment to international coverage. Yet within the last month, staff reductions at Time and...

SOON AFTER man figured out that he could communicate to others through markings on the walls, duplication and distribution became a primary concern for the creator. As the means of communicating through drawing and words evolved from cave walls to scrolls and, later, books, writers realized that with the help of others, their stories could reach more people – and publishing was born. Then and now...

The News of the World's Mazher Mahmood is an undercover reporter who specialises in exposing the behind-the-scenes activities of high-profile celebrities. Mahmood's latest sting was to trick England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson into making several embarrassing revelations about his plans for the future. The reporter is known as "the fake Sheik" because many of his stings involve posing as an Arab...