Reporters Without Borders is dismayed to learn of radio journalist Guylain Chandjaro’s death in Bunia, a city in the eastern region of Ituri. He was a Swahili-language journalist with Radio Canal Révélation, a community radio station, and freelanced for the Bunia branch of the national broadcaster RTNC. His body was found in the bed of the River Ngezi – which crosses the city – on 17 May, 12 days after he went missing. He was buried later the same day. “Chandjaro’s body bore the marks of (…) … Read More
ABC to Live-Stream Its Shows via App
The live stream, which will be available only to cable and satellite subscribers, is the first time that any major broadcaster has turned on such a technology. … Read More
German TV pulls crime show after star revealed to be Nazi
German public broadcaster ZDF said Thursday it would stop showing reruns of the wildly popular television crime show “Derrick” after it emerged that its late star had belonged to Hitler’s notorious Waffen SS. Horst Tappert, who played the beloved baggy-eyed detective from 1974 to…
Tensions spill over into physical brawl at Venezuelan assembly
According to images released from the scene, several legislators were seen exiting the chamber bruised and bloodied, with at least 17 members of the opposition parties and five members of the majority incumbent party involved in the incident.Since Nicolas Maduro was declared president following a series of declarations by Venezuela’s electoral body, the largest opposition party, Justice First, under Henrique Capriles has refused to concede under accusations of voting irregularities. Members of the opposition reported being blocked from speaking at the 165-member national assembly due to their refusal to recognize Maduro’s government, blaming their “fascist” counterparts for the violence. One worker at the assembly told Reuters that the incident began when opposition members unfurled a protest banner reading “parliamentary coup.” Laptops and tables were hurled across the chamber during the chaos, with one legislator reportedly hit over the head with a chair. Diosdado Cabello, the head of Venezuela’s parliament and member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, decried the opposition’s refusal to accept Maduro’s presidency.“Until they recognize the authorities, the institutions of the republic, the sovereign will of our people, the opposition deputies will have to go and speak (to the private media) but not here in this National Assembly,” declared Cabello via state media. According to Reuters, workers at the national assembly were later asked to show their phones in case they had images or video of the melee. Opposition members appeared on private broadcasters such as Globovision to decry the violence, while only the state-controlled broadcaster was allowed coverage of the national assembly chambers itself. One member of the opposition, Ismael Garcia, claimed via an AP phone interview that the chamber had been closed, and the state broadcaster had halted transmissions to conceal the incident.”We knew the opposition came to provoke violence,” Maduro said following the assembly incident. “This must not be repeated.”Meanwhile, Capriles has vowed to present a petition to Venezuela’s highest court in early May to annul the election’s results. … Read More
Russia instructs ‘Foreign Agent’ NGOs to report spending quarterly
The ministry also instructs those groups with foreign agent status to prepare reports on their activities and management every six months and a full audit of their accounting books once a year.So far, no organization has registered as a foreign agent in Russia even though the corresponding law came into force in November last year. This year the authorities launched a major inspection throughout the country and the prosecutors and the Justice Ministry now claim that 18 groups must receive the status.The NGO audit is still underway.This decision only led to protests from the groups who said that the inspection was ill-founded and any foreign sponsorship had taken place before the law came into force.International organizations and rights groups, as well as foreign governments, have criticized the Russian Law on Foreign Agents as such, saying that it can be used as means of pressure and lead to underfunding of Russian rights organizations.Russian sponsors of the law, including senior officials, replied that the law simply required the activists to clearly indicate the sources of their funding in order to better inform the public. The Russian side several times emphasized that no organization can be closed under the existing law.President Vladimir Putin said in a recent interview with the German broadcaster ARD that the number of foreign-funded non-governmental organizations operating in Russia amounted to 654. He also said that these organizations received 28.3 billion rubles, or almost $1 billion, from their foreign sponsors in just four months that passed after the adoption of the Foreign Agents Law. … Read More
Venezuela threatens oil, trade in continuing election spat with US
Over the weekend Jacobson commented on CNN en Espanol, stating that the Venezuelan state moved too quickly in proclaiming Nicolás Maduro its new president in light of tight electoral results, and that half of the country’s public rejected the results. When Jacobson was asked whether the US would go so far as to impose sanctions if Venezuela refused to recount poll results, she could not confirm or deny the possibility. In response to Jacobson’s remarks, Foreign Minister Jaua said that his country held the US responsible for the violence that followed the election and has so far left eight people dead. He added that Venezuela would respond in kind to any US sanctions.”You can be certain that in the face of sanctions of any kind we will respond with economic, political, diplomatic actions to defend the sacred right of the will of the Venezuelan people,” Jaua noted in an interview with broadcaster Telesur.Maduro was sworn in as president last Friday at a ceremony widely attended by South American leaders, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and the presidents of Argentina and Cuba. No US diplomat attended the ceremony.Since the election results were tallied the US State Department has supported the idea of a recount, which has been a demand of opposition candidate Henrique Capriles and his Justice First party. The notion of a full or partial recount has been the subject of much back-and-forth debate, though last Thursday the country’s electoral board (Consejo Nacional Electoral) indicated that it would support an audit.Since then, however, the electoral body seems to have retracted its support for an audit. The board’s president, Tibisay Lucena, criticized as an ally of the incumbent party, told domestic media that no one should have“false expectations”regarding the results of a potential audit, and reiterated that as far as the board was concerned the vote’s results were final and irreversible.Officially, the US has yet to accept the results of Venezuela’s presidential election, where Maduro was reported to hold 51 per cent of the vote to Capriles’ 49 per cent. … Read More
Authorities foil ‘terrorist plot’ in Canada
Canadian and US authorities have thwarted a terrorist plot and arrested several suspects, Canadian media said Monday. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is scheduled to hold a press conference at 3:30 p.m. (1930 GMT) to provide details, while Canada’s public broadcaster said federal police and…
