By Antoaneta Bezlova

BEIJING, Jul 2 (IPS) - Beijing’s last minute climb-down on its latest Internet-censorship effort this week highlights the possibility that Chinese communist mandarins’ main challenge in the future lies not in quelling political dissent, but reigning in its tech-savvy educated elite.

By Milind Kokje*

Non-implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is akin to 100 jumbo jets crashing every day and a tsunami hitting a country each week. Every year, 10 million children die before they reach the age of five, as 800 million people suffer from hunger. Poverty claims more victims than war does.

BANGKOK, July 2 — For the first time in its five-decade history, the whole board of the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) has been accused of committing lese majeste, a crime with a maximum jail sentence of 15 years, Pravit Rojanaphruk of the English-language daily 'The Nation' reported today.

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO, Jun 30 (IPS) - Sri Lankan journalists are laying aside their pens once again and bracing for renewed confrontation with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government after the revival of the repressive Press Council and fresh attacks on the media.

By Indrani Bagchi 

NEW DELHI — China's official media are on an India-bashing spree. A spate of recent editorials have blamed India for ratcheting up tensions on the border issue by threatening to move troops to the country's easternmost state of Arunachal Pradesh. In the latest offering in 'People's Daily', writer Li Hongmei said Indians harboured a mix of "awe, vexation, envy and jealousy — in the face of its giant neighbour."

Delhi-based media news site 'The Hoot' investigates what could be an orchestrated effort to  "destabilise Iran" as the country is beset by mass protests following its June 12 presidential elections.

The city of Beijing  is planning to hire thousands on Internet censors in a fresh sign of the authorities' attempts to tighten their grip on cyberspace, reports 'Financial Times' in a June 18 article.

It's free, highly mobile, very personal and very quick — just the perfect ingredients to "protect the interests of Iranians using the service to protest the presidential election that took place on June 12", says journalist Lev Grossman of 'Time' in an article June 17.

By Lynette Lee Corporal

BANGKOK, Jun 17 (AMF) - For the past several years, extremist groups such as the Taliban, have been arming themselves with a different kind of weapon — new media. The news is they are getting highly creative at it.

   "For some odd reason, I'm becoming famous," quipped the animated character Dickie in a robotic voice tinged with a slight American accent.

   Dickie is the fictional news anchor of YouTube channel 'Resistance Media' who presents news alerts about clashes in Afghanistan that "Nato and coalition forces so desperately (want to) hide from the corporate media”.