2008 Woodie Awards
International News
Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: News
Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina
A peaceful rally against Kosovo's declaration of independence in Bosnia's second largest city, Banja Luka, turned violent last Tuesday. Over 100,000 Bosnian-Serbs were protesting, when 600-700 people became roudy, throwing rocks at police officers, when they tried to stop them from reaching the closed U.S Embassy office. Officers quickly responded with tear gas. U.S. support for Kosovo's independence has upset many Serbs and the embassies in the region have been attacked multiple times since Kosovo's declaration. Demonstrators at the rally were arrested but remains unclear how many.
Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan has lifted restrictions on accessing You Tube. The Pakistani Telecommunication Authority blocked the site last friday after a video clip was called "totally anti-Quranic ... very blasphemous," by spokeswoman Nabiha Mahmood. The clip, a segment out of a longer movie by filmmaker Geert Wilders features a Dutch lawmaker, and portrays Islam as a fascist and violent religion. The blocking affected several countries outside of Pakistan, where due to a glitch, people could not access You Tube for hours on Saturday.
Khartoum, Sudan
The state-run Sudanese news agency reported that the country has banned all Danish products as a result of the re-publishing of the drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. "The customs and duty authorities have promptly executed the ban on the import of Danish commodities," a police customs chief, Gen. Salah Ahmed al-Sheikh, said to an official SUNA news agency. Denmark's charge d'affaires in Khartoum, Karin Soerensen said, "I don't have any formal confirmation of this." The cartoons of Prophet Muhammad were re-printed by seventeen Danish newspapers as an act of free speech on February 13, after three men were arrested for planning on killing the artist.
A peaceful rally against Kosovo's declaration of independence in Bosnia's second largest city, Banja Luka, turned violent last Tuesday. Over 100,000 Bosnian-Serbs were protesting, when 600-700 people became roudy, throwing rocks at police officers, when they tried to stop them from reaching the closed U.S Embassy office. Officers quickly responded with tear gas. U.S. support for Kosovo's independence has upset many Serbs and the embassies in the region have been attacked multiple times since Kosovo's declaration. Demonstrators at the rally were arrested but remains unclear how many.
Islamabad, Pakistan
Pakistan has lifted restrictions on accessing You Tube. The Pakistani Telecommunication Authority blocked the site last friday after a video clip was called "totally anti-Quranic ... very blasphemous," by spokeswoman Nabiha Mahmood. The clip, a segment out of a longer movie by filmmaker Geert Wilders features a Dutch lawmaker, and portrays Islam as a fascist and violent religion. The blocking affected several countries outside of Pakistan, where due to a glitch, people could not access You Tube for hours on Saturday.
Khartoum, Sudan
The state-run Sudanese news agency reported that the country has banned all Danish products as a result of the re-publishing of the drawings of the Prophet Muhammad. "The customs and duty authorities have promptly executed the ban on the import of Danish commodities," a police customs chief, Gen. Salah Ahmed al-Sheikh, said to an official SUNA news agency. Denmark's charge d'affaires in Khartoum, Karin Soerensen said, "I don't have any formal confirmation of this." The cartoons of Prophet Muhammad were re-printed by seventeen Danish newspapers as an act of free speech on February 13, after three men were arrested for planning on killing the artist.
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