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ARTICLE 19 has issued a public statement in the wake of the London bombings. The free expression organization has voiced concerns about how proposed security measures will affect fundamental freedoms. (30-AUG-05)

A Scots local newspaper editor is facing charges of incitement to racial hatred after he published an editorial opposing a proposed refugee centre in the north-east of Scotland. Index on Censorship reports (22-AUG-05).
 

The British government is proposing powerful new controls on freedom of expression as part of its current strategy to ward off fresh terror attacks on the country — including charging the worst offenders with treason and rewriting British human rights laws to make it all possible. Index on Censorship’s Rohan Jayasekera reports. (09-AUG-05)
 

By passing an act to outlaw incitement to religious hatred, the British government will create a quasi-legal forum for extremists ready to use one law while breaking others – to silence critics of their faith and punish apostates. Index on Censorship’s Rohan Jayasekera comments (22-JULY-05).

When one of China’s Internet users logs on to Google, everything appears normal. But websites without the government’s blessing – including the BBC, the Philadelphia Inquirer and Amnesty International – will not be found. And Chinese citizens won’t know the difference. While other states that censor the Internet do so blatantly, the Chinese operate in a more clandestine manner. Wendy Ginsberg reports for Index on Censorship (08-JULY-05)
 

A gathering of experts and international NGOs in Amsterdam has concluded with a joint  declaration on the main issues facing countries seeking to regulate online activity– including enforced regulation and filtering. Index on Censorship reports. (28-JUN-05)

The Comic Book Legal Defense Fund is backing a legal challenge to charges brought against a US shopkeeper who accidently allowed a child to be given a copy of a comic book featuring images of artist Pablo Picasso in the nude. (13-JUN-05)

The earthquake and tsunamis that hit South and Southeast Asia on 26
December 2004 resulted in a tragedy of enormous proportions. Access to information takes on new meaning in the context of a natural disaster. ARTICLE 19’s recent report highlights the importance of fulfilling the rights to expression and information. (06-JUN-05)

In August 2003, Craig Murray, Britain’s former ambassador to Republic of Uzbekistan, was confronted with a series of disciplinary charges by the Foreign Office, which he was not permitted to discuss with anyone, and instructed to resign. He refused. The allegations were dropped within a few weeks but not before Murray had had a breakdown and a pulmonary embolism that nearly killed him. He was finally removed from his post in October 2004. (24-MAY-05)