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Even Less Foreign News
15 May 2008 16:25:00 GMT
Author: Andrew Stroehlein

Last week's announcement that Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty was ending its Newsline service is yet another damaging blow to the diversity of foreign news sources in Western Anglophone media. One more informative voice has been silenced.

Somehow the idea still persists that with the internet, everyone can get as much news as they want from any part of the world. In reality, as soon as you try to test this optimistic notion on anything other than the one or two big stories of the day, it falls apart. You quickly realise you're looking at the same news agency copy repackaged in outlet after outlet.

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Impartial agencies should be allowed to distribute aid
10 May 2008 11:30:00 GMT
Author: Tim Costello

Imagine this: a massive cyclone sweeps up and over low-lying coastal areas, swamping homes and utterly transforming the landscape. Flooding wreaks havoc and days later whole regions remain inaccessible. The number of dead and missing rises dramatically every hour. The sheer volume of debris and destruction triggers feelings of hopelessness and despair � how to know where to start?

Then in the country's hour of need, the government reaches out for help, and the world responds. More than 60 countries offer money, goods, and expertise to help the victims of the cyclone.

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HAVE YOUR SAY: Should the world help even if Myanmar doesn't want it?
08 May 2008 13:57:00 GMT
Author: AlertNet

France's foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, says the United Nations should deliver aid to cyclone-devastated Myanmar even if the military junta doesn't approve it. He argues the United Nations has a responsibility to protect people and it should be able to intervene even if that means violating national sovereignty.

But John Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, says confrontation would undermine discussions with Myanmar's government, and the European Commission has dismissed the idea.

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