From the BBC:

Journalists and relatives have called for a probe into the murder of a prominent television reporter in the Mexican resort of Acapulco.

Amado Ramirez, a correspondent for TV news network Televisa, was shot dead on Friday as he left a radio station.

Security officials said two gunmen were waiting for him as he neared his car.

In recent months, Acapulco has been hit by a wave of violence believed linked to the drug trade and control of key coastal smuggling routes.

From the BBC:

A Sunni insurgent group in Iraq has called on Osama Bin Laden to exert more control over al-Qaeda members there.

Members of al-Qaeda in Iraq were killing insurgents from other groups which did not support their ideals, said the Islamic Army of Iraq.

In its statement, it called on al-Qaeda to review its behaviour in the country.

Imagine: Killing those who don't support your ideals. Bad al Qaeda in Iraq, bad!! :)

From the BBC:

Ajmal Naqshbandi worked as a guide for visiting reporters

The Taleban in Afghanistan say they have killed an Afghan reporter abducted last month with an Italian journalist.

The group said it had killed Ajmal Naqshbandi as the government had refused to meet their demands to release senior figures from prison.

The Italian reporter, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, was released after five Taleban members were freed in exchange.

The two reporters and their driver, who was earlier beheaded, were captured on 6 March in Helmand province.

Shohaabuddin Atal, a spokesman for Taleban commander Mullah Dadullah, said: "We killed Ajmal today because the government did not respond to our demands."

According to the article, Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai said Friday that his government would conduct no further hostage swaps. There was outrage at the time among Afghans that the government didn't obtain Naqshbandi's release at the same time it got Mastrogiacomo back.

The Taleban are still holding five government medics and two French aid workers along with three Afghan colleagues.

Their fate will be decided next, they say.

From the April 6 Washington Post story:

Captured Iraqi documents and intelligence interrogations of Saddam Hussein and two former aides "all confirmed" that Hussein's regime was not directly cooperating with al-Qaeda before the U.S. invasion of Iraq, according to a declassified Defense Department report released yesterday.

The declassified version of the report, by acting Inspector General Thomas F. Gimble, also contains new details about the intelligence community's prewar consensus that the Iraqi government and al-Qaeda figures had only limited contacts, and about its judgments that reports of deeper links were based on dubious or unconfirmed information. The report had been released in summary form in February. ...

The report's release came on the same day that Vice President Cheney, appearing on Rush Limbaugh's radio program, repeated his allegation that al-Qaeda was operating inside Iraq "before we ever launched" the war, under the direction of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the terrorist killed last June.

"This is al-Qaeda operating in Iraq," Cheney told Limbaugh's listeners about Zarqawi, who he said had "led the charge for Iraq." Cheney cited the alleged history to illustrate his argument that withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq would "play right into the hands of al-Qaeda."

Real estate magnate Samuel Zell, who acquired control of the massive Tribune Co. media empire, doesn't think newspapers should be giving their content away to Google and other Internet aggregators.

The fact that several U.S. presidential hopefuls have announced their intensions first on their Web sites (wave, Hillary!) showing the growing importance of the medium in U.S. politics, claims this BBC story.

The IPCC process got a bit rambunctious, with scientists and government officials duking out to the last moment in deciding how to word the 'impacts' summary for policy makers from the fourth assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

I would recommend taking the Spadina line streetcars and then waiting for the magic to happen. :)

I haven't been subjected to the process myself, but I have had occasion to listen in over the past few days, and they are absolutely fascinated by the lives of all those who don't recoil from them. :)

Lots o' "fantastics!" and "that's really interesting!"-type phrases being thrown around by the missionaries.

The Week has decided to celebrate Earth Day by publishing its environment issue only on its website. And the whole thing will be brought to people by Lexus. :)

Activist-journalist Josh Wolf was jailed on Aug. 1 after refusing to turn over video he shot of a G8 protest in San Francisco. He was released Tuesday, making him the longest-incarcerated journalist in U.S. history. He spoke to Democracy Now!

The legendary cult director's films El Topo and The Holy Mountain are about to be re-released after a 30-year feud with ex-Beatles manager Alan Klein, who held the films. Alejandro Jodorowsky spoke with the Guardian.

From the Beeb:

Ajmal Naqshbandi has been held for nearly one month

Journalists working in Kabul have appealed to the Taleban to release an Afghan reporter, Ajmal Naqshbandi, who was kidnapped almost a month ago.

A Taleban commander, Mullah Dadullah, said he would only be released if the government agreed to a prisoner swap.

Mr Naqshbandi's Italian colleague, Daniele Mastrogiacomo, was freed two weeks ago.

He was released in a deal that led to the release of five Taleban leaders from Afghan prisons.

From the Beeb:

At least 44 people have died in fierce fighting in Pakistan's tribal region of South Waziristan, officials say.

The fighting took place after heavily armed local tribesmen began to act on a tribal council edict to drive out foreign militants linked to al-Qaeda.

That's the ongoing news. This is the interesting part:

The government has signed peace deals in South and North Waziristan in which the tribal elders have agreed to disarm or evict their foreign guests and to stop militants crossing the border to fight foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Officials say the fighting shows this strategy is working but some observers believe the government has helped instigate the battles by, for instance, spreading negative propaganda about the Uzbeks.

Local tribesmen have also accused the Uzbeks of not respecting their culture.

Locals report that soldiers have been helping the tribesmen, although the army denies this.

There are also some tribesmen fighting alongside the Uzbeks.

The question left unanswered to me is whether the clashes with the Uzbeks has any impact on the Waziristan Pashtun tribesmen's relationships with their Taliban brethern on the other side of the Durrand Line.

From the BBC:

Communications Minister Sitthichai Pookaiyaudom said the site was banned after a 44-second film showing graffiti over the king's face was aired.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 79, is revered and it is forbidden to insult him.

The minister said a ban came after the Thai government asked YouTube's owner Google to remove it and they declined.

The contentious film also shows feet being placed over the king's face - an offensive act to Thais, who consider feet dirty.

"It's a serious case of lese majeste," said Mr Sitthichai, referring to crimes of offending the country's monarchy. "We asked Google to remove it some days ago, but they refused to."

A week ago, I posted about a Swiss guy getting 10 years for drunkenly defacing portraits of the venerated monach.

Tony Burman, CBC News' editor-in-chief, plucks out seven major trends identified in the State of the (U.S.) News Media report issued last month.

Keith Richards, who claimed to have taken some of the cremated remains of his dear departed father, mixed them with some cocaine, and then snorted the whole sentimental mix.

His manager insists the claim was made in jest.

And we should believe her because ...?

True or not, it doesn't matter. The thing with Richards is that it's not outside the realm of probability.

I've always had a sneaking admiration for him because despite everything -- the heroin, the blood transfusions to kick heroin -- he's still alive. :)

Marianne Faithfull once said the following about Richards, or at least words to the following effect: "A bottle in his left hand, a joint in his right; guitar over his shoulder, police at his back -- Keith Richards is rock and roll!"

And now that I've written it down, that quote strikes me as quaint, dated and faintly anachronistic.

Topix is looking for volunteer human editors to help its news-aggregation site.

From the BBC:

There are around 4.2million CCTV cameras in Britain

"Talking" CCTV cameras that tell off people dropping litter or committing anti-social behaviour are to be installed in 20 areas across England.

They are already used in Middlesbrough where anyone seen misbehaving can be told via a loudspeaker, controlled by control centre staff, to stop.

Home Secretary John Reid has earmarked nearly £500,000 to fund the expansion.

Critics say the cameras are absurd and another example of excessive government intrusion into everyday life.

I stand with the critics on this one. :)

Jonathan Chait, writing in the Los Angeles Times, has found some interesting numbers to illustrate a column about the dogmatism of the U.S. right on global warming.

The Toronto Star's Antonia Zerbisias took a look at the decline and fall of the Sun newspapers in this March 30 column.

From the BBC:

Like them or loathe them reality TV shows are big business. For the television companies they are a sure-fire way to boost the ratings and pull in the advertisers.

Reality TV series The Apprentice continues to be a big hit on BBC

But in Italy, the state broadcaster Rai has taken an unprecedented decision to scrap them from next year. It's a decision winning popular support.

"Reality television is a dinosaur," said Italy's daily newspaper La Repubblica.

"After all the vulgarity, all the swearing, and the smut, its time is finally coming to an end."

From now on the reality shows in Italy will only be found on the private Mediaset network of the former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.

But is this a moral crusade - or is it an astute decision based on viewing figures?

CJR Daily on a new study, "Depression, Drink and Dissipation", looking at 187 famous journalist-literary figures from history and their carousing self-destructive ways. Question: Did the booze and emotional problems make them good writers/journalists, or were they good writer/journalists in spite of them? (thanks, Kevin!)

After more than five years of trying to hunt down and eliminate al Qaeda's leaders, U.S. intelligence officials are dismayed that new ones are emerging. The article makes the point that Iraq will provide the next generation after that -- and they'll be darned good terrorists.

The NYT's Richard Siklos analyzes what the online video wars are all about. In a few words, control and proximity.

A Wired magazine writer working on a story about a Microsoft project mistakenly received a 5,500-word memo about him from a PR firm doing work for Microsoft. In the words of Run-DMC, he's "Tricky. Tricky. Tricky, tricky, tricky, tricky!"

The BBC is taking a long, hard look at itself, one that starts with the premise that much of its programming is elitist. The outcome may mean a reallocation of resources within the Beebhemoth.

God, does it suck to be poor and living in the southern hemisphere. Not only will you bear the brunt of global warming, a problem largely caused by industrialized economies in the developed world, but you will receive a pittance in aid compared to what those countries are spending on themselves.

The big question on the ultimate impact of global warming: How stupid are we as a species? Because the stupider we are, the worse it will be.

Roger Bannister did something that the experts considered impossible -- he ran a mile in under four minutes in 1954. Notice how no one is talking about a three-minute mile more than 50 years later? The same analogy helps explain why there may not be a second Green Revolution when the global population is expected to keep rising.

Palestinian journalists are being asked to boycott coverage of the Palestinian Authority government for three days to protest what they say is inaction in the case of BBC reporter Alan Johnston, who was kidnapped on March 12.