"How's your boy?" Bush asked, referring to Webb's son, a Marine serving in Iraq.

"I'd like to get them out of Iraq, Mr. President," Webb responded, echoing a campaign theme.

"That's not what I asked you," Bush said. "How's your boy?"

"That's between me and my boy, Mr. President," Webb said coldly, ending the conversation on the State Floor of the East Wing of the White House.

Apparently, this episode made him want to slug the commander-in-chief.

Before you break out the bubbly and start high-fiving, it's good to remember that this brand of maverick-dom goes both ways. Webb, first of all, is no liberal. Far from it.

While many were dissing his opponent George Allen's legislative swan song, legalizing the possession of concealed weapons in national parks, they'd have been smart to note that Webb supports the bill as well.

According to Bloomberg: "He's pro-gun ownership, and he takes a harder line on illegal immigration than many Senate Republicans."

But he is against the war, and having one senator with a son serving in the military can't be a bad thing...

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs.

In other parts of the world, legislative measures, financial harassment and security laws continue to be used as means to harass journalists and limit press freedom. Self-censorship, a natural response to repression and the threat of violence or death, is an endemic problem in Central Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

In Africa, the media continue a praiseworthy battle in a media environment that imposes substantial challenges both with regards to infrastructure, legal aspects and widespread illiteracy.

THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA

Journalists killed: Iran (1) Iraq (23), Lebanon (2), Yemen (1) (please note these are half-year totals. Click here for the list of journalists killed in the entire year).
Conflict and political instability throughout the Middle East and North Africa continues to undermine the ability of press freedom to make serious advances in region. Increasing violence and insecurity in Iraq has once again made the country the most dangerous environment in the world for media practitioners, and the war between Lebanon and Israeli cost the lives of two media employees in July of this year. In Algeria, Morocco and Egypt, arguably the most tolerant environments for journalists in the region, the governments rely on criminal defamation laws as a means to exert pressure and control on the media.

Suicide bombings and lawlessness have defined Iraq in the past six months as conflict within the country has raged unabated. Human rights organisations report that violence has claimed the lives of more than 100 journalists and media workers since the U.S. invasion of the country in 2003. In one of the worst recorded attacks so far, in October, masked gunmen executed eleven newspaper employees and critically wounded two others at the Al-Shaabiya satellite television station in Baghdad's Zayouna district.

Bloodshed in the country continued over the summer months. In November, unidentified gunmen shot Muhammad al-Ban, a reporter and cameraman for the privately owned Al-Sharqiya TV, as he was leaving his home in Mosul's Al-Nour neighbourhood. A few weeks earlier, Ahmad Al-Rashid, a correspondent for the privately owned Al-Sharqiya television station, was ambushed by gunmen in Baghdad's Al-Aathamiya neighbourhood. The 28 year-old journalist had been working with the network for only two months. In the beginning of August, Mohammad Abbas Mohammad, an editor for the Shiite-owned newspaper Al Bayinnah Al-Jadida, was shot in his house by gunmen in the capital city. That same day, the body of freelance journalist Ismail Amin Ali was discovered by police in the eastern section of Baghdad known as al-Sadr city. His body was riddled with bullets, and Iraqi police said they found signs of torture. In the end of July, unidentified gunmen shot and killed Adel Naji al-Mansouri in the Al-Amariyeh district of Baghdad. Al-Mansouri was a correspondent for the Iranian state-run Arabic language satellite channel Al-Alam. These cases represent a fraction of the total number of journalists killed in the past six months.

The November conviction to death by hanging of former leader Saddam Hussein prompted further agitation in the country, causing a media storm and an abrupt retaliation by authorities in pockets of the country. A reported 50 police officers raided the Baghdad studios of Al-Sharqiya TV and threatened to close it down if it broadcast programmes about the recent conviction of former Iraqi dictator. Two other news stations, Zawraa TV in Baghdad and Saleheddin TV in Tikrit, were raided by security forces and ordered shut by the interior ministry of the grounds of inciting violence.

Iran continues to pursue those who seek to make their views known, and judicial harassment of journalists and bloggers has continued unabated over the past six months. The August killing of Ayfer Serçe, a Kurdish journalist with Turkish citizenship, remains unclear. The young reporter had travelled to Iran to report on suicides among Kurdish women, and was murdered under unclear circumstances once she had completed her reporting. Her family was not allowed to recover her body, which had been taken away by the Iranian authorities.

In August, a Tehran court sentenced Issa Sahakhiz, the editor of the newspapers Aftab and Akhbar Egtesadito to four years in prison and a five-year ban on working as a journalist. Saghi Baghernia, the editor of the business daily Asia, was sentenced to six months in prison by the Tehran Supreme Court in August for "propaganda against the regime". The charges stem from the newspaper's 5 July 2003 issue, which included a photo of Maryam Rajavi, leader of the People's Mujahideen opposition group. And in October, the pro-reform, Farsi-language weekly Safir Dashtestan was closed following the publishing of a satirical article about the Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in their most recent issue.

The dogged determination of journalists to seize upon new media to express their views has landed dozens of bloggers in prison over the past few years in Iran, however, the early release in September of blogger Mojtaba Saminejad, who was serving a combined sentence of two years and 10 months in prison, was a welcomed development. Arash Sigarchi, who was imprisoned for 'insulting the Supreme Guide,' remains in prison. The journalist was first arrested in November 2004 for criticising the arrest of three fellow bloggers online. Upon leaving prison in January 2005, Sigarchi resumed his blog using a new address, which led to his re-arrest a few days later.

11 July marked the third anniversary of the death of Canadian-Iranian photojournalist Zahra Kazemi who died from her injuries after being beaten while in custody in Tehran. Kazemi was arrested for photographing the relatives of detainees outside Evin prison in north Tehran. She was beaten to death while in custody.

Press freedom took a tentative step forward in Yemen with the country's September general elections. Although restrictions in reporting on the elections were recorded, according to regional press freedom groups the unprecedented coverage of rallies held by all presidential candidates was a notable first in the country. Despite this progress, local observers recorded various violations of media freedom, including heightened internet censorship, biased media coverage, and government interference with media in the lead up and during the elections. In July, journalist Abed Al-Usaili was killed, allegedly for an article he had written, criticising district officials for obstructing a local water project.

The government of Bahrain continues to take significant measures to restrict freedom of expression on the internet. Eight of the country's most active opposition websites and forums, including the popular political blog, www.bahrainonline.org, are currently blocked. The vague wording of an anti-terrorism law enacted in August has caused alarm by regional watchdogs that the law could give authorities more grounds to crack down on opposition critics and civil society groups with its vague language and definitions.

Israeli military strikes on Lebanon in reaction to offences made by the Hezbollah insurgent group in July, put media on both sides of the border under threat and led to the death of two media employees in Lebanon. On 23 July, Lebanese photographer Layal Nagib was killed when an Israeli missile exploded near her car between the villages of Sadiqueen and Qana. Nagib, 23, was covering the bombings of southern Lebanon for Agence France Presse and the Al Jarass magazine. Her driver was also killed. The previous day, Suleiman Chidiac, a technician working for the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation (LBC), was killed during Israeli air raids on television transmitters and telephone towers in northern Lebanon. Chidiac managed LBC's transmission facility at Fatqa, which was destroyed.

In the past three months, several journalists have been threatened, beaten and harassed by members of Hamas and the Palestine Liberation Organization's Fatah wing in Palestine. In the beginning of June, 50 armed militants stormed the studios of Palestine Television in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. The assailants ordered staff to leave and assaulted several cameramen and technicians. They also destroyed broadcasting equipment, archives, computers and furniture worth more than US$1 million making the studio unusable.

Algeria, a country still marked by the intense civil war of the 1990s that claimed the lives of dozens of journalists, has a chequered history when it comes to press freedom. Leading private dailies find themselves before the courts on a weekly basis on charges of defamation and libel, keeping the heads of the newspapers tied up in courts rather than in the daily operations of their news and boardrooms. In July, President Bouteflika pardoned all journalists convicted of defamation offences, releasing the well known editor Mohamed Ben Chicou of Le Matin, who was imprisoned in 2004 following the publication of a book that was highly critical of the president. Despite this welcomed development, currently anyone convicted of defaming the president or a public institution can be jailed for up to one year and fined up to 250,000 dinars (US$3,200). On 31 October, an Algerian court suspended the daily newspaper Ech-Chourouk for two months and ordered it to pay the Libyan president Moammar Gaddafi a large fine in damages. The Algerian newspaper was sued by the General through Libya's Algiers Embassy.

Following a September mission to Libya made by Reporters Without Borders, the media community was provided a rare glimpse to the press freedom situation in the country. According to the Paris-based press freedom group, the country's Revolutionary Committees Movement, the central pillar of the Muammar Gaddafi regime, continues to monopolise power, using the press as a propaganda tool. Libya has no privately owned press. Three of the four leading dailies (Al-Jamahiriya, Al-Shams, and Al-Fajr-al-Jadid) are financed by the General Press Office, an offshoot of the information ministry. The broadcast media, consisting of a national terrestrial TV station and six satellite stations, are entirely controlled by the government. And a media law dating from 1972 provides for prison sentences ranging from one month to two years for press offences. Despite this, thanks to the Al-Jazeera television channel and public internet access points, Libyans are no longer as isolated from the rest of the world as they were in the past and a number of journalists are very critical when they are assured of anonymity.

After years of licensing restrictions and official harassment, Egypt's burgeoning private newspaper industry continues to be plagued by the antiquated use of criminal defamation in the country. Despite President Mubarak's 2004 promise to abolish laws criminalising press offences, Egypt's newly amended press law still mandates prison sentences for insulting public officials in the media. Journalists convicted of publishing "false" information, defaming the president and foreign heads of state, and insulting state institutions such as parliament, the judiciary, and the armed forces, will be subject to prison terms up to five years. The law also doubles fines for defamation and other offences, raising fears that the government may attempt to financially cripple critical media outlets. The country's National Assembly approved the amendments in July. The amendments come just two weeks after a court sentenced two journalists, Ibrahim Issa and Sahar Zaki, to a year in prison for publishing a report about an Egyptian lawyer's efforts to take the president and his family to court on allegations of corruption and the misuse of foreign aid.

SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA

Journalists killed: Angola (2), Democratic Republic of Congo (1), Somalia (1), Sudan (1)
Africa's media and its journalists face manifold threats: war, lack of infrastructure and funding, censorship, harassment, criminalizing media laws, and violence. Additionally, attackers, harassers, and murderers of journalists have largely acted with impunity on the continent thus contributing to continuing the cycle of violence. Despite this gloomy picture, improvements have been noted; for example the abolition of censorship in Mauritania.

Despite a considerable improvement in press freedom in Angola since 2002, two of the total of five journalists murdered in Africa in 2006 were killed in Angola in the space of eight days this past July. Augusto Sebastiao Domingos Pedro, correspondent for state run paper Jornal de Angola was beaten to death, and Benicio Wedeinge, director of public television station TPA, was shot dead. These two murders are regarded to be part of a campaign of intimidation of the media initiated prior to Angola's first free elections in 15 years.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo journalists are faced with the threats of criminalized media laws as well as physical violence, and even death. Those who have murdered and attacked journalists in the Democratic Republic of Congo have largely acted with impunity. Freelance journalist Bapuwa Mwamba was shot dead in July 2006. Prior to his murder, Mwamba had been assaulted and received death threats that were not properly investigated by the police. Numerous attacks on journalists were recorded prior to general elections held in July, sparking fears that self-censorship will ensue as journalists act to protect themselves.

The state of press freedom in Eritrea has remained critical over the past six months. Since 2001 no independent media has operated in the country. It is among the top ten most censored countries in the world; access to independent information is virtually unattainable, internet access is confined to a privileged few, and foreign journalists are strictly controlled by the government. Eritrea is also the African continent's biggest jailor of journalists. Thirteen journalists are still being held in secret prisons without access to their families or any legal counsel. Serious concerns have been voiced that these journalists may be subjected to physical and psychological torture.

Freedom of expression shows signs of improving in Mauritania, previously one of Africa's most censored countries, since former president Taya was ousted. The country's new president committed to abolishing censorship. Additionally, journalists are currently taking part in judicial and legal reform, which includes drawing up new press laws.

In Somalia, Martin Adler, a Swedish freelance journalist, was shot dead in the end of June while filming a demonstration in favor of a peace agreement between the transitional government and the Islamic court. Two journalists were murdered in Somalia in 2005 and their killers are still at large.

No improvements have been seen in freedom of expression in Equatorial Guinea in the past six months. The country remains one of the most censored in the world; all broadcast media is state-owned, except for one station owned by the president's son. A number of private newspapers operate, but publish sporadically as a result of the political pressure exerted upon them. No criticism of the current regime is accepted.

Although 2005 saw an improvement in press freedom in Sudan with the abolition of official censorship, 2006 was a violent year for journalists in this country, who were subjected to harassment and beatings. Also, two foreign journalists were charged with espionage and subsequently cleared. These clamp downs have largely been considered to be a result of local and foreign journalists' coverage of the Darfur crisis. Mohammed Taha Mohammed Ahmed, editor-in-chief of a private daily, was murdered in September 2006; his decapitated body was found in southern Khartoum the day after his abduction. It is believed he was killed by Islamic militants whom he had angered with an article he wrote questioning the parentage of the prophet Mohammed.

THE AMERICAS

Journalists killed: Brazil (1), Colombia (3), Dominican Republic (2), Guatemala (1), Guyana (5), Mexico (5), Venezuela (2)
In the Americas, 17 journalists have been killed in a series of ruthless murders over the past six months. Other press freedom concerns have been mainly of a legal character, prompting calls for greater freedom of expression in Brazil, Bolivia and Peru. More than 20 journalists continue to linger in prison in Cuba.

Although Fidel Castro has been largely absent from the Cuban political scene in recent months, the situation has not changed for the 24 journalists who continue to serve prison sentences they were handed during a clampdown on independent media in March 2003. The imprisoned journalists - some of who are serving sentences as long as 27 years - are plagued with deteriorating health, malnutrition and depression. They are prevented from seeing their families or lawyers on a regular basis. The Cuban government remains indifferent to repeated calls for their release by the international community.

In Peru, the government approved a controversial bill in the beginning of November, putting freedom of expression at risk in the country. The law gives the government the possibility to control financial contributions made for the promotion of press freedom, through allowing them to set a number of criteria with the aim to act in "the public interest". The Peruvian President, Alan Garcia, still needs to approve the bill.

In Bolivia, where press freedom does not enjoy full legal protection, a new constitution is currently being drafted. The lawmakers responsible for the new texts have been called by international press freedom organisations to include strong guarantees of protection for free expression and press freedom rights in the texts. Once a draft of the constitution is approved, it will be presented to voters in an August 2007 referendum.

Similar request were made in Mexico in connection the presidential election that took place in July. A number of civil society groups have urged the new government to publicly pledge its commitment to transparency, accountability and the right to access information. They have also called for a formal dialogue between the new government and civil society, academics and the general public to identify the political reforms they say are needed to ensure that the right to access information is fully guaranteed and respected.

In Mexico, five journalists have been killed in the past six months. In November alone, three media employees were murdered. Investigative reporter Marcos Garcia was brutally killed after having been toppled from his motorcycle by unidentified men, run over and shot four times. Garcia, who worked for the weekly Testimonio, covered topics such as drug trafficking and corruption among local officials. José Manuel Nava Sanchez, who had been a Washington correspondent for the Mexican daily Excelsior for 22 years, was found stabbed to death in his home. The body of Misael Tamayo Hernandez, editor of El Despertar de la Costa, was found stripped of his clothes and his hands tied behind his back in a hotel room in city of Zihuatanejo. The day before his killing, Hernandez had published articles about organized crime and corruption in the municipal government. In late October, U.S. journalist Bradley Will was killed, and a Mexican photographer was wounded, when they were fired upon by armed men in Oaxaca City while covering clashes between protesters and paramilitary groups linked to the ruling provincial PRI party. Four public officials, including two policemen, have been detained in connection with Will's killing. In August, editor and journalist Enrique Perea Quintanilla was killed in the city of Chihuahua. His body, which showed signs of torture, was found on the outskirts of the city with bullet wounds in the head and back. Perea regularly reported on local drug trafficking and unsolved murder cases. These latest killings bring the number of journalists killed in Mexico this year to six.

A wave of attacks against journalists shook Guatemala in early autumn. Within the space of three weeks, one journalist was killed, another shot and two more threatened. Eduardo Heriberto Maas Bol was shot dead in the city of Coban in September. His body was found in his car with five bullet wounds. Another journalist who works at the same paper as Bol has received death threats since the killing. The police are currently investigating possible motives for the murder.

In Brazil, some grave violations of press freedom were committed by federal police in connection to the presidential elections in October: three journalists from the weekly Veja newspaper were summoned by federal police in what was an apparent attempt to discredit them as well as get them to reveal their sources when they reported on a scandal linked to the elections, which involved the federal police. Another newspaper, the daily A Folha de São Paulo had its telephones tapped by federal police, also in connection to the same scandal. Among legal actions taken against journalists in Brazil was the sentencing to ten months in prison of Fausto Brites, the editor of the Correio do Estado newspaper, over a report on money laundering published by the paper in March 2005.

Also in Brazil, a journalist was beaten to death in the city of Guapirimim in July. Ajuricaba Monassa de Paula was attacked and beaten by a local councillor whom he had accused of questionable administrative practices in a series of articles. The journalist later died from his injuries.

In Colombia, journalists continue to exercise their profession under grievous threat. In the past six months, three reporters have been killed. Francisco Bonilla Romero, founder of the Colombian Association of Foreign Correspondents, was shot in the face by a masked gunman in October. In August, radio commentator Atilano Segunfo Pérez Barrios was killed at his home in the city of Cartagena by an unidentified man who shot the journalist twice in the stomach. Also in August, Milton Fabian Sanchez, a radio journalist, was shot to death by a masked assailant outside his home.

In Guyana, an attack on a printing plant of the Kaieteru News newspaper in August left five print technicians dead. Mark Maikoo, Chitram Persaud, Eon Wigman and Richard Stuart were killed after an armed gang entered the printing plant and forced the men to lie face down on the ground before shooting them. Shazim Mohamed was injured in the attack and died later in hospital. The attack is thought to have been in connection to reporting by the newspaper on a number of sexual assaults on women that had recently taken place in the capital city of Georgetown.

Two murders also occurred in the Dominican Republic in the past six months. Radio commentator Domingo Disla Florenito was shot dead when he was returning home in the evening a night in August. In September, Facundo Labata Ramirez was shot by unknown assailants as he was playing dominoes in front of a grocery store in his hometown.

In Venezuela, journalist Pedro Bastardowazs was shot to death in October. An eyewitness has reported that an argument took place between Bastardo and his assailant prior to the murder. Jésus Rafael Flores Rojas, a columnist with the daily La Región was murdered in August as he was parking his car together with his daughter. Rojas reportedly begged the assailant for mercy, offering him to take his money or his car, but the gunman refused, saying that he was not there for either, and shot him. The journalist had received death threats due to his critical comments about local government officials.

A positive development in the region was the October recognition by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights of access to government-held information as a basic human right in Chile. In the case, three environmental activists sought information on a controversial logging project from the government, which they were denied. The court found that the Chilean government had violated the right to information. The ruling established a precedent that could be applied to other Latin American countries, as well as several countries in Europe, which may now have to consider reforms to respect international standards.

EUROPE AND CENTRAL ASIA

Journalists killed: Russia (3), Turkmenistan (1)
The region covering the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe is one of stark contrasts when it comes to the state of press freedom. Countries such as Ukraine and those in Eastern Europe have shown steady progress in the fifteen years since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Press freedom in Belarus and the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan has declined considerably in recent years, and the past few months have proved no different. Russia is characterized by a complex and often contradictory media environment.

The case of Ogulsapar Muradova is a tragic illustration of the still appalling state of press freedom in Turkmenistan. Muradova, a reporter for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, was detained by police in June. Charged with possessing illegal weapons, the journalist was sentenced to six years in prison on 26 August. She was denied all rights to a legal defence, and held incommunicado. In September, news broke that Muradova had died while in custody. Requests for an autopsy by the journalist's family were denied, and all information on the cause and date of her death were withheld.

In Uzbekistan, six journalists from state-owned news media were dismissed in August for freelancing for independent or foreign media. The journalists were reportedly fired after Pravda Vostoka editor Alisher Usmanov was summoned by a presidential aide during the first half of July and was told he had to "get rid of" some of his journalists. In September, freelance reporter Dzhamshid Karimov went missing following a visit to his mother. It was later discovered the journalist had been forcibly detained in a psychiatric institution. He is not the first of his colleagues to meet such a fate. Just over a year ago, human rights defender Elena Urlaeva was forcibly hospitalised and administered anti-psychotic drugs after being arrested during a protest.

Media freedoms are again under threat in Kazakhstan as further amendments to existing media laws were approved by President Nazarbayev in July. Among other provisions, the amendment bans any editor whose media outlet had been closed in the past from opening a new one, prohibits the re-use of the name of any banned media outlet, introduces a tax for any media outlet wanting to register, introduces compulsory re-registration to replace an editor-in-chief or to move to another location, as well as the cancellation of the license or suspension of a media outlet in the event of administrative violations.

Press freedom in Russia remains illusive, despite assurances by President Putin to the international community of the contrary. The approval in July by Russia's Upper House of a bill to broaden the definition of "extremism" to include media criticism of state officials, including a provision to imprison journalists for up to three years and the closure of their publications is of significant concern, and the arrests of journalists and harassment of civil society activists during the G8 summit in St. Petersburg in July are another blemish on the government's track record when it comes to dissenting voices. Journalists continued to be prosecuted for criticisms against the president. In October, Vladimir Rakhmankov, editor-in-chief of the Internet publication Kursiv, was sentenced to pay a fine of 20,000 roubles (US$745) for publishing an article entitled "Putin as a Phallic Symbol of Russia" on his news website.

Most alarming, however, has been the murder of journalists over the past six months, including the 7 October murder of renowned Russian journalist and author, Anna Politkovskaya, who was found shot dead in her apartment building in Moscow. Politkovskaya covered the conflict in Chechnya extensively throughout her career. In 2002, she was one of few people allowed into a Moscow theatre in an attempt to negotiate the release of hundreds of hostages with Chechen rebels. In 2004, the journalist was allegedly poisoned as she was on her way to Beslan to cover the hostage crisis there. In 2003, Politkovskaya published "A Dirty War: A Russian Reporter in Chechnya". Her most recent book, "Putin's War: Life in A Failing Democracy" has been translated into a number of languages. Two other journalists have been murdered in the past six months in Russia; Anatoly Voronin, the chief of the property management department of Russian news agency Itar-Tass, who was found stabbed to death in his apartment in Moscow in October, and Yevgeny Gerasimenko, a correspondent for the independent weekly Saratovsky Rasklad in the southern city of Sarato, who was reportedly tortured to death in July.

In Poland, the decision by the constitutional court to uphold Article 212 of the Criminal Code, under which defaming or publicly humiliating someone is punishable by up to a year in prison, or two years if done in the media, represents a significant setback to press freedom in the country. The decision is in violation of article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Continuing investigations into the year 2000 murder of journalist Georgiy Gongadze has become a symbolic for press freedom in Ukraine. As of July 2006, the trial of three policemen implicated in the journalist's disappearance continued. Former president Leonid Kuchma remains implicated in the case.

Those countries which recently gained entry to the European Union have all demonstrated impressive press freedom records; the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovakia and Slovenia, with Poland being the one exception to this rule. The May 2006 abolishment of prison sentences for journalists in Macedonia, a candidate for membership to the EU, set an example for all EU members, many of who have not eradicated criminal defamation from their legal frameworks.

ASIA

Journalists killed: Afghanistan (3), Bangladesh (1), China (1), India (2), Pakistan (3), Philippines (4), Sri Lanka (2)
Asia's press freedom record continues to be largely influenced by the repressive governments of Burma, China and North Korea. As the political situation in Afghanistan deteriorates, journalists are among the latest victims. A number of killings have occurred across the region, contributing to the overall high number of journalists killed this year in the world.

In October, two German freelance journalists on assignment in Afghanistan were shot dead while they were visiting the country to do research for a documentary they were working on. Karen Fisher and Christian Struwe were murdered while they were sleeping in their tent. Local cameraman Abdul Qodus was killed in July while covering a suicide bombing: as he was filming the scene a second bomber blew himself up, killing the journalist. An Italian photographer was kidnapped in October, but released three weeks later. The escalating violence in Afghanistan is likely to deter foreign correspondents from travelling to the country, which in the prolongation can have very negative effects for the Afghan people.

Pakistan has seen a dramatic increase in journalist killings over recent months. In November, Mohammad Ismail, the Islamabad bureau chief of Pakistan Press International was found murdered near his home. In September, journalist and district correspondent Maqbool Hussian Siyal was shot dead while on his way to a meeting with a local politician. In June, the body of Hayatullah Khan, a reporter and journalist who had gone missing in December 2005, was found with multiple gun wounds to his head.

Brutal cases of murder have occurred in India and Bangladesh in the past six months. In India, newspaper reporter Arun Narayan Dekate died following the injuries sustained in an attack two days earlier when he was stoned by four people while riding a motorcycle. September saw the murder of photographer Shabir Ahmad Dar, whose decapitated body was found in a field close to his home village he had been abducted from the previous night. The same month, Bengali journalist Bellal Hossain Dafadar was attacked and stabbed to death by five assailants.

The Chinese government continues to keep the media under an iron grip. In the past six months, one journalist was killed by a government official, three internet writers received prison sentences, the editor-in-chief of a newspaper was removed, blogs were closed down and websites closed. In October, the authorities rejected the appeal hearing requested by two jailed journalists: New York Times researcher Zhao Yan and the Singapore-based The Straits Times correspondent Ching Cheong. Also in October, the Internet Society of China recommended that Chinese bloggers should in the future be required to register under their real names, which would endanger the whole existence of blogs in the country. Finally, in September the Chinese authorities imposed new regulations that increase state control of foreign media, arguing that they wanted to protect the intellectual property rights of these. In reality, the regulations are likely to increase censorship of foreign media. The killed journalist, Xiao Guopeng, was the victim of the rage of a policeman who beat him to death in the street. Authorities are investigating the motives for the murder.

As the tropical island of Sri Lanka has once again become the scene of clashes between the government and Tamil rebels, press freedom has suffered, and the upsurge in violence has resulted in the murder of two journalists over the past six months. Sinnathamby Sivamaharajah, the managing director of a Tamil newspaper, was killed in his home in August. In July, freelance journalist Sampath Lakmal de Silva was abducted from his home and shot dead by unknown assailants. In recent months foreign media have also been the target of attacks: in November, George Davis of the Reuters news agency was threatened by government soldiers and the BBC has been accused by the Sri Lankan government of supporting the Tamil rebels.

The Philippines continues to be an inhospitable environment for journalists. Although the county enjoys a significant degree of press freedom, media employees continue to be the victims of gang-style murders. In July, photojournalist Prudencio Melendres was shot dead in front of his house by three gunmen and radio broadcaster Armando Pace was killed by two unidentified men while riding home on his motorcycle. George Vivo and his wife Maricel Alave-Vigo, both radio hosts in the city of Kidapawan, were gunned down by two unidentified men in June when they were on their way home.

That number stands in contrast to national polls showing Jewish support for Democrats up around 90% in the midterms.

So what accounts for the significant difference? Jennifer Siegel writes: "[The poll] bypassed Jews who never attend synagogue or do not associate with a major movement." Or: half of America's Jewish population.

The RJC like Joe Lieberman and a host of other right wing Jews, it should be noted, doesn't have problems breaking bread with anti-semites, so long as they support the most paranoid and militaristic elements in Israel.

Evan Derkacz is an AlterNet editor. He writes and edits PEEK, the blog of blogs

The former rebel Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) and the Islamist Khartoum-based government signed a peace deal in January 2005 ending Africa's longest civil which killed 2 million people and drove 4 million from their homes.

"These hostilities constitute a serious violation of the security arrangements of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement," Annan said in a statement on Wednesday.

The United Nations has temporarily evacuated around 240 civilian staff from Malakal town close to the north-south border, U.N. officials in New York said.

The evacuation was dangerous because many of the clashes centered on the Sudan army barracks next to the airport.

Annan said U.N. commanders along with a delegation of SPLA and Sudanese army officers were now in Malakal to calm the dispute.

Terrified residents called relatives in Khartoum to tell them SPLA forces had withdrawn from Malakal town, leaving a security vacuum, and looting and random gunfire were rife.

"I have lost two relatives and my neighbor lost her son," one resident told Reuters, declining to be named. He said dead bodies could be seen in the streets.

"People are desperate as the water was cut off and despite the gunfire they are still trying to go to the river to get water," he added.

AT LEAST A DOZEN DEAD

Sudan's southern press reported on Thursday that at least a dozen people had been killed in the clashes which began three days ago. Another source in Malakal said the town was under curfew from 10 p.m. until dawn.

The South African Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that Salva Kiir, president of the southern Sudan government, had cut short a visit to return to Sudan. Kiir had been on an official visit to South Africa since Tuesday.

There have been small clashes between militia allies of both armies before now, but this was the first sustained heavy fighting between the two sides since the 2005 peace deal was signed.

According to U.N. reports from New York, Maj. Gen. Gabriel Tang of the northern Sudanese Armed Forces attacked two SPLA soldiers, killing one and wounding one. SPLA troops then attacked and seized Tang's house.

"At some points there was heavy exchange of fire," U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri said in Khartoum. She said it was not yet clear who was to blame for the ceasefire violation.

The peace deal formed separate north and south armies with joint armed units in main towns including Malakal. It also shared power and wealth between the north and south, but implementation has been slow on key issues such as the demarcation of borders and ownership of the oil fields.

The Upper Nile region of Malakal is potentially one of the most oil-rich regions in Sudan, which produces at least 330,000 barrels per day of crude.

The United Nations has some 10,000 peacekeepers in the south to monitor the agreement, help train police and human rights workers and provide other services.

The southern conflict is separate from violence in the western region of Darfur, where U.N. peacekeepers are not permitted, and where an estimated 200,000 people have been killed and 2.5 million forced to flee their homes since 2003.