By: Financial Times, November 17, 2005
Asked why Beijing had halted plans to let foreign newspapers print in China, Shi Zongyuan, the country's top press regulator, did not mince his words. "When I think of the 'color revolutions', I feel afraid," he said.
By: The Washington Post, November 17, 2005
BEIJING -- A California businessman jailed on tax charges. A U.S.-based dissident arrested while meeting Chinese activists. A man imprisoned after accusing local officials of selling donated medicine. All are targets of lobbying by activists and relatives who want President Bush to use his visit to Beijing to press for the release of dissidents, friends or loved ones.
By: Guardian Unlimited, November 18, 2005
Protesters blocked main roads around the Bolivian capital, La Paz, yesterday, while demonstrations in three southern cities kept roads closed for a fifth day. Bolivia's political climate is heating up in advance of next month's general elections.
Tensions Boil Over in East as Trust in Elected Leaders and Democracy Fades
By: Washington Post, November 18, 2005
In Ethiopia, 46 demonstrators protesting reports of election rigging died in a series of clashes with security forces. In Uganda, a senior opposition leader was arrested, touching off riots in one of the continent's most tranquil capitals. In Tanzania, nine people died when security forces fired into protesting crowds during elections on the island of Zanzibar.
By: BBC News, November 18, 2005
What were once humble pieces of fruit have now assumed unprecedented political significance - badges of allegiance in a heated constitutional campaign. They were innocently picked by election officials, to assist the process of voting, in a country where illiteracy levels are high.
By: CS Monitor, November 17, 2005
Soon after he stepped off the airplane here on his return trip from Washington, Syrian opposition activist Kamal Labwani was promptly arrested. The outspoken critic of Bashar al-Assad's regime who met with American officials during his trip to the US last month now faces charges of trying to weaken national sentiment, provoking sectarianism, and belonging to a secret association. He faces a maximum of three years in prison.
By: Washington Post, November 18, 2005
Thousands of Muslims from a small ethnic group known as the Meskhetian Turks are fleeing this Black Sea region for the United States. The exodus is caused by what human rights groups call a campaign of persecution sanctioned by local authorities and spearheaded by the Cossacks, a Russian militia that fought for the czars and is being revived.
By: Forum 18, November 17, 2005
One of the first converts to the Hare Krishna faith in Turkmenistan, Cheper Annaniyazova, was sentenced today (17 November) in the capital Ashgabad [Ashgabat] to seven years' imprisonment for illegally crossing the border three years ago.