The Maguindanao Massacre: Still No Justice One Year Later

One year ago on Tuesday, at least 57 men and women, including 31 journalists, were slaughtered on a grassy clearing in the southern Philippines. They were on their way to a political event, driving caravan-style through Maguindanao province’s rugged, green hills when their convoy was stopped by armed men — allegedly members of a private army controlled by Andal Ampatuan Jr., the scion of the clan that rules the area

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Egypt: Activists, Generals Part Ways on Post-Mubarak Path

The Tahrir Square slogan proclaiming that “The army and the people are one hand” will seem like so much wishful thinking to many of Egypt’s youthful democracy activists now that they find themselves increasingly at odds with the transitional military government that replaced President Hosni Mubarak. This week’s crackdown on media criticism of the military as an institution is but the latest indication of a parting of ways on Egypt’s future: the military authorities called in a prominent blogger and two popular TV journalists for questioning after they criticized the military, which has continued to arrest and harass protesters amid a growing chorus of criticism over the generals’ actions.

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Taking Heat on bin Laden, Pakistan’s Military Seeks to Explain Itself

Stung by the embarrassment of the discovery and death of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad on Monday, Pakistan’s powerful military establishment is under pressure to make changes in its relationship with key allies, and in its fight against terrorism. After three days of sedulous silence on the matter, the military and intelligence leadership on Thursday shared its perspective on the Abbottabad debacle with a select group of senior Pakistani journalists — no foreign news media were invited.

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Argentine Senate passes controversial media bill

After 16 hours of debate, Argentina’s Senate passed a controversial reform law Saturday that critics say targets media outlets critical of the government. The 44-24 vote is a victory for Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who had pushed to change the way the media operates in the South American nation after her party suffered devastating political losses earlier this year.

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