Russian journalist's body found

Yet another sad day for freedom of speech in Russia. Go here for the BBC story about the discovery of the body of Russian journalist Natalia Estemirova, who had been covering human rights abuses in Chechnya.

UN Cartographic Service

Excellent cartographic site, a nice complement to WorldMapper and the University of Texas map library.  

Journalism student sentenced to 20 years in Afghanistan

The student had allegedly written about the role of women in Islam and was sentenced to death, but the court has now decided on a 20-year sentence. The story is here.

Russian lawyer and journalist assassinated in Moscow

Russian attorney Stanislav Markelov was shot dead today in Moscow.  He had represented the family of an 18-year old Chechen girl who was strangled to death by a Russian army officer in 2000.  The BBC reports that "a newspaper journalist who was with him, Anastasia Baburova from the Novaya Gazeta, was badly wounded in the attack and died a few hours later in hospital."  

Anastasia was 25 years old.  

Chechen exile gunned down in Vienna

Chechen human rights activist Umar Israilov was murdered on Tuesday while leaving a grocery store in Vienna, where he had settled after fleeing Chechnya.  The International Herald Tribune story by Chris Chivers is here.