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NEW DELHI: India on Thursday expressed the hope that the new anti-press ordinance promulgated by King Gyanendra in Nepal would not be used to curb media freedom. "We have always believed that a free and independent press is necessary for the people to enjoy their fundamental rights and democratic freedoms,'' the External Affairs Ministry said here. "Curbs on the freedom of expression and the media...

KATHMANDU, Oct 14 - Media rights groups and India have strongly criticized the government for introducing the Press Ordinance to curb the rights of the free press and impose restrictions on it. The spokesperson of the Indian Ministry of External Affairs said on Thursday that it believed that a free and independent press is necessary for the people to enjoy their fundamental rights and democratic...

KATHMANDU, Oct 14 - Senior journalists and former presidents of the Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) on Friday suggested the FNJ to launch a three-tier protest program simultaneously, against the new media ordinance. Speaking at an interaction organized by the FNJ to discuss future strategy against the ordinance promulgated on Sunday to clamp down on independent media, the senior...

Google Inc. and Comcast Corp. are talking about investing in Time Warner Inc.'s America Online division, a move that could shift the geopolitics in the Internet world by creating new alliances between online search and entertainment giants. Google, which already powers the Dulles-based AOL's Internet search tool in the United States and Europe, wants to strengthen and expand that relationship --...

The wooing of America Online has begun. Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable operator, and online search leader Google are in talks to acquire a stake in AOL's recently launched free Internet portal, AOL.com, according to people familiar with the talks. A stake in AOL, whose collection of web sites including Moviefone and Mapquest draws an audience second only to Yahoo's, would help Google...

NEW YORK: In a remarkable report published widely Thursday, Tom Lasseter, longtime Knight Ridder correspondent in its Baghdad bureau, reveals what he learned as possibly the first American journalist to embed with an all-Iraqi military operation in the war -- and it isn't pretty. Lasseter writes that "a week spent eating, sleeping and going on patrol with a crack unit of the Iraqi army" (the 4,500...

The Right to Information Act (RTI), that gives legal rights to citizens to seek information from the government came into force on Wednesday. India is now among 55 countries which have such a legislation. The Act is aimed at bringing about transparency and accountability in the functioning of public authorities, but is not be applicable in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The Ghotala Rath Yatra in...

HURRICANE KATRINA SPURRED A SURGE in online ads by charities last month, according to new data from Nielsen//NetRatings AdRelevance. Impressions by public service organizations such as The Red Cross accounted for 14 percent of all ads, up from 6 percent in September of 2004. Within that category, International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies accounted for 10 percent of all impressions--up...

Market compulsions make strange bedfellows. So it has, of Microsoft and Yahoo who have decided to marry their instant messaging (IM) services in a bid to take on market leader America Online (AOL). The move comes just as the popular communications tool is beginning to expand into video chatting and Internet telephone functions. Microsoft's Steve Ballmer: IM interoperability is the right thing for...

Yahoo's chairman and chief executive officer Terry Semel strongly defended the company's decision to turn over evidence to Chinese authorities that helped the government convict a local journalist and send him to jail for 10 years. Companies that do business internationally have to respect and abide by the laws of the countries in which they operate, whether that be China or any other country, he...