By Cory Doctorow at 9:02 am Friday, May 25 Robert sez, "Azerbaijan is hosting the final of this Saturday's Eurovision song contest. Amidst the absurdity and kitsch, human rights groups are worried that Azerbaijan's autocratic government will use the occasion to airbrush its appalling treatment of journalists and activists. Index on Censorship is asking Boing Boing readers to make the President of Azerbaijan face the music during #Eurovision, by signing a petition demanding he end the persecution of writers and artists who speak truth to power." My father was born in a refugee camp in Azerbaijan -- to Russian/Polish/Belarusian parents -- and I've always felt a distant kinship to the place, enough so that I take this sort of thing more personally than I would ... Continue reading →
PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (AP) -- A reporter who led crime coverage for a Trinidad & Tobago newspaper and a TV news cameraman are being accused of robbing a liquor store and getting in a shootout with police. Authorities say Trinidad Express reporter Akile Simon and TV6 cameraman Brendon Alexander teamed up with a security guard and a taxi driver to commit the robbery in a town outside Port-of-Spain. Police allege the four initially posed as police, showing the shop owner a phony warrant. The gang is accused of engaging officers in a shootout shortly after robbing the store of $28,000 and nine bottles of whiskey. The security guard was shot in the leg before they surrendered. The reporter and the cameraman pleaded not guilty to robbery ... Continue reading →
