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On the cold, grey afternoon of Oct. 7, a modest Lada car loaded with groceries pulled up outside a central Moscow apartment building. An elegant figure with steel-grey hair and large glasses emerged, shopping bags in hand. Anna Politkovskaya, Russia's most dogged investigative journalist, was facing a deadline and planning to finish her latest story by the next day. On her desk were photographs...

OXFORD, England, Oct 13 (Reuters) - One of Britain's most experienced journalists was unlawfully killed by U.S. soldiers in Iraq, a British inquest into his death ruled on Friday, prompting calls for the perpetrators to be tried for war crimes. Veteran war correspondent Terry Lloyd, 50, who worked for British television company ITN, was killed in March 2003 in southern Iraq as he reported from the...

The widow of the ITN reporter Terry Lloyd has called for a murder trial after a coroner ruled that he was unlawfully killed by US troops. Andrew Walker, Oxfordshire's assistant deputy coroner, said he would write to the Attorney General and Director of Public Prosecutions "to see whether any steps can be taken to bring the perpetrators responsible for this to justice". Mr Lloyd, 50, was killed...

A new study has generated heavy news coverage with its finding that over 650,000 Iraqis have died as a direct or indirect result of the March 2003 US-led invasion. It has also created widespread controversy, largely because this total is far higher than any previous estimate, which creates political problems for President Bush and other supporters of the war. The study, which appeared in the...

Prominent Indian journalist and academic Sarmila Bose has taken over as director of the newly opened Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism in the University of Oxford. The institute, based in the university's Department of Politics and International Relations, will be officially launched on Nov 20. The Reuters Foundation has extended funding of 1.75 million pounds over five years to the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Western journalists covering the war in Iraq face sniper fire, roadside bombs, kidnappers and a host of other dangers. Their Iraqi colleagues must cope with even greater risks, including families attacked in retribution for sensitive reporting, and arrest on suspicion of links to the violence journalists cover. At least 85 journalists - mostly Iraqis - have been killed since the U...

A thousand mourners placed flowers around the casket of Anna Politkovskaya in Moscow on Tuesday, weeping for one of Russia's most famous journalists, who was assassinated last week. This is a huge story -- eclipsed by the North Korean nuclear test -- that says much about the Russia of today and the future. Politkovskaya was the Bob Woodward and the Seymour Hersh of Russian journalism rolled into...

ZAGREB, Croatia: The prime minister on Friday requested that the managing board of Croatia’s state-run news agency be dissolved — just months after it was appointed by his government — saying it had failed to consult employees when choosing a new director-general. Prime Minister Ivo Sanader said the four-member board of the HINA agency demonstrated a “great democratic deficit” because they made a...

The opposition in Kyrgyzstan is pressing the government to investigate a recent arson attack which put the country’s only independent nationwide television broadcaster out of action. The incident highlights continuing concerns about how committed the administration of President Kurmanbek Bakiev is to freedom of speech The attack on Piramida TV took place overnight on September 27 to 28, when...

Newspapers are all looking for ways to gain readers, and many have hired consultants to help them. In an unusual twist, The Los Angeles Times is looking to chart its future by using its own reporters and editors, who rank among the best investigators in the business. The Times is dedicating three investigative reporters and half a dozen editors to find ideas, at home and abroad, for re-engaging...