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Australian networks Seven and Ten have been reprimanded by broadcast regulators the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) for inaccurate and unfair reporting. The networks were found to have breached the Australian Commercial Television Code of Practice on two counts, following a scuffle outside a court in Melbourne in April 2010, when a cameraman for Channel Nine, Simon Fuller, called Gad Amr, the father of an accused rioter, a terrorist. The Australian Human Rights Commission claimed the networks gave the impression Mr Amr s

The Zimbabwe Minister of Media, Information and Publicity, Webster Shamu, warned media organisations may have their licences revoked for misusing their licenses to 'vilify' Zimbabwe and its leadership. The warning follows reports in the media alleged to attack the former President of Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe. Shamu claimed that some non-government media organisations were misusing their licenses to denounce Mugabe, and that this misuse increased to affect approaching elections. Shamu drew parallels with British and US media policy, saying Brit

The leader of Denmark's Social Democrats Helle Thorning-Schmidt is positioned to become the country's first female prime minister following the election of the "red bloc", a centre-left coalition, on Thursday. The coalition would include members of the Social Democrats, the Socialist People's Party and potentially Social Liberal Party and members of the Red-Green Alliance, and replaces the centre-right coalition government that has been in power for the last ten years. Incumbent prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that he "will hand in th

Plans to add fluoride to drinking water in Southampton, Hampshire, England, have been voted against by the city council, but may go ahead anyway. The council's vote follows heavy lobbying by 'Hampshire Against Fluoridation' including a petition signed by 6,000 people. The decision as to whether to fluoridate water in Southampton is up to the South Central Strategic Health Authority who decided in a unanimous vote that "the health benefits outweigh all of the arguments against water fluoridation". A Southampton resident, Geraldine Milner, had

The Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) ruled that Australia's Channel Seven has broken television regulations by showing a 15-second McDonald's advertisement during a children's program. The advertisement, a playground campaign, was shown 72 times in October and November 2010 during television broadcasts in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane, and Perth. The DDB ad agency and OMD media agency were involved in the campaign's development. The advertisement was marketed as a network promotion but did not feature Channel Seve

The Council of the European Union voted yesterday to extend the term of copyright on sound recordings by twenty years, from 50 years to 70, preventing a number of early recordings of 1960s rock musicians including The Beatles from entering the public domain. The 1962 hit "Love Me Do" would have entered the public domain in 2012 if this legislation had not been introduced. EU member states have to enact the copyright extension within two years. The news was welcomed by representatives of the recording industry and by some recording artists. Cli

__NOTOC__ A 182-page report issued September 1 by the United States National Research Council warns that the amount of debris in space is reaching "a tipping point", and could cause damage to satellites or spacecraft. The report calls for regulations to reduce the amount of debris, and suggests that scientists increase research into methods to remove some of the debris from orbit, though it makes no recommendations about how to do so. NASA sponsored the study. A statement released along with the report warns that, according to some computer

Seven people have been shot and five killed in an International House of Pancakes diner in Carson City, Nevada. Three members of the National Guard are dead as well as a woman in the restaurant and a motorcyclist who was shot outside the restaurant. The gunman also shot himself and then died in a hospital in Reno. Three people died at the scene and six were transported to hospital after the shooting. The gunman opened fire around 09:00 Pacific time (16:00 GMT) in the strip mall restaurant in South Carson Street. He is reported to have arrived

According to United States diplomatic cables passed to WikiLeaks, Mayawati, Chief Minister of the Indian northern state Uttar Pradesh, made use of her private jet to have sandals collected from Mumbai. Mayawati, a member of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) – which claims to follow a Dalit Socialism ideology – self-identifies as a Dalit. The Dalits are largely those traditionally regarded as Untouchables within Indian society. One cable, named "Portrait of a Lady", recently published by WikiLeaks describes the 55-year-old Mayawati as, "a first-ra

Dmitry Pavlyuchenkov, a retired Russian Police officer, has been charged for organising the 2006 murder of journalist Anna Politkovskaya by the Investigative Committee of Russia. Pavlyuchenkov is accused of ordering the surveillance of Politkovskaya, supplying the murder weapon and passing on information about her daily routine. Investigators said Pavlyuchenkov was paid to plan Politkovskaya's death in July 2006. The Other Russia reports Pavlyuchenkov has admitted to helping organise Politkovskaya’s murder but not as the main organiser. Thi

Four people, including Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN) journalist Roberto Bruce Pruzzo, are confirmed dead after a Chilean military plane crashed near the Robinson Crusoe Island of the Juan Fernández Archipelago on Friday. Twenty-one people were aboard, with such figures as prominent Chilean television presenter and co-host of breakfast programme Buenos Días a Todos (Good Morning Everyone) Felipe Camiroaga Fernández, and businessman and founder of the Desafío: Levantemos Chile (Challenge: Let's Bring Chile Up) project Felipe Cubillos. The a

Research led by the head doctor of the New York Fire Department, Dr David Prezant, has concluded that firefighters who attended Ground Zero, the site of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, are 19% more likely to have cancer than similar firefighters who did not. The study was published in the September 3 issue of The Lancet. The research compared 8927 firefighters who attended the World Trade Center to 926 of their colleagues who did not, over seven years. Dr James Melius from the New York State Laborer's Health Fund said the ne