Nepal was in a state of mourning yesterday over the shocking Sunday slaying of journalist Uma Singh. A gang of about 15 men broke into her home and attacked her, with one reportedly saying, according to neighbors, "This is for writing so much." The BBC reports that shops, schools and transportation shut down in Janakpur on Tuesday, in honor of Singh. More:

"This is not the family's first tragedy. Three years ago Uma Singh's father and brother disappeared and have never been found.

Friends say her mother and relatives blame the Maoist party for the disappearances - but it denies involvement.

In an interview last year, Ms Singh spoke of the difficulties of working as a journalist in the region.

She said reporters were always expected to "dance to the tune" of the mushrooming collection of armed groups and parties there - and that armed factions would issue death threats if news relating to them was not given priority.

She also broadcast and wrote against gender and caste discrimination."

Reporters Without Borders states that four people have now been arrested in Singh's slaying:

"At the same time, local news website Republica quoted state-owned Nepal TV on 12 January as reporting that an underground group had claimed responsibility for Singh’s murder but said it was done 'by mistake.'

It has meanwhile emerged that death threats were made against another woman journalist in the southern Terai lowlands on the same day that Singh was killed.

The Kantipur news groups said its correspondent in the Terai district of Dhanusa, Manika Jha, was threatened on 11 January by a group of three or four people who broke the windows of her home and said she would be the next to be attacked. The eKantipur website reported that she has been assigned police protection."

RWB has more on the recent wave of attacks against the media by Maoist militant groups.

If the Ibero-American summit was anything like Tuesday's annual address before the national assembly, no wonder King Juan Carlos told Hugo Chavez to shut up: Not only did Chavez waltz in three hours late, but he droned on for more than eight hours. Unfortunately, the speech was carried in a mandatory TV and radio broadcast, so few Venezuelans were spared from the ordeal. In addition to claiming that he's totally solved the problem of the country's homeless street children, Chavez expressed hope that the Barack Obama administration would leave him alone.

More from El Universal:

"'There are some oppositionists (...) who are still saying that Chávez wants to smuggle socialism into the country. They claim that socialism was rejected in 2007 together with the (constitutional) reform,' Chavez said. The Venezuelan ruler later said that his project is based on the 'Simón Bolívar Socialist Plan 2007-2013' and that 60 percent of the Venezuelan people approved such plan when they reelected him in 2006. 'We are implementing the first national socialist plan 2007-2013. This plan is a law passed by the National Assembly. We must remember that. This is a law.'

'The fact that some Venezuelans reject and question the project is valid, (...) but arguing that the president wants to smuggle in socialism is wrong. That amounts to political manipulation,' he stressed.

Chávez accused the groups that criticize socialism of trying to restore the Puntofijo Pact (a formal pact signed by Venezuela's main political parties in 1958). 'It seems that the same sectors that promoted in 1958 the Puntofijo Pact want to bring it back to life with the Pact of Puerto Rico,' said Chávez. Reference was made to a meeting that, according to Chávez, was held by Alberto Federico Ravell, director of private news TV channel Globovisión, some leaders of opposition parties AD, Copei, Un Nuevo Tiempo and Primero Justicia, and 'Yankee advisors.' Chávez, who described these opposition leaders repeatedly as 'the Fantastic Four,' seized the opportunity to congratulate reporter Pedro Carvajalino, the state-run television station Ávila TV, who was engaged in a verbal clash with the director of Globovisión."

Chavez also claimed Venezuela won't be hit by the global economic crisis: "The opposition are determined to suggest there is an economic crisis here in Venezuela. But we'll have to ask them 'where is it? Show it to me then! Where is the crisis here?'" But according to Dow Jones:

"Venezuela faces a dismal economic picture in 2009 if oil prices continue at their current level. The government prepared its $78 billion budget for the year with a forecast of $60 per barrel, while the current price of Venezuela's basket of crude products stands at $37.62 per barrel.

Oil accounts for more than 50% of the government's revenue and more than 90% of the country's exports.

Additionally, Venezuela's oil-fed economic boom is starting to wane even as oil prices averaged record levels in 2008, when the economy expanded 4.9%, the slowest pace in five years. The government is also facing high levels of inflation, which last year reached 32%. Most analysts predict similar levels of price increases this year."

Perhaps there wasn't time for Chavez to go into a ninth hour and address these stats.

(Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

It's the too-good-to-be-true, especially-in-a-global-recession job you've been waiting for: Get a six-month salary of $150,000, live rent-free in a multimillion-dollar beach house, snorkel and hike all day on a beautiful island, and just blog about it.

Tourism Queensland figures this blogger -- and the high-publicity recruitment process that will lead to his or her selection -- is the best way to pitch the perks of the Great Barrier Reef. More:

"Australians and overseas applicants must be willing to 'swim, snorkel, make friends with locals and generally enjoy the tropical Queensland climate and lifestyle'.

The `island caretaker' position was created as part of a three-year $1.7 million marketing strategy by Tourism Queensland.

But Tourism Queensland chief Anthony Hayes said the job was not just a publicity stunt.

'Yes this is part of a unique Tourism Queensland strategy to promote the islands of the Great Barrier Reef internationally, but candidates will have to go through a genuine recruitment process,' he said.

Australian Marketing Institute president Roger James said the campaign was an interesting idea but would need innovative marketing to make sure the winning candidate's blog was as effective as traditional advertising.

'I've got to decide to log on to the blog ... and to make that work you have to have a communication that is arresting and interesting,' he said."

Applicants must submit a 60-second video application to have a crack at being one of the 11 finalists to be flown to Hamilton Island in May. There's no reality show involved, really. Apply here. (Note: The application site is really busy. Why wouldn't it be?)

(Photo by prpix.com.au via Getty Images)

The lone gunman to survive the bloody November rampage on Mumbai is reportedly of Pakistani origin, but the national security adviser who leaked the information has been fired and Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani says no Pakistanis would be extradited in connection with the investigation. “We will not be intimidated by any foreign pressure since our hands are clean. We have our own laws and we will not allow our land to be used for terrorist activities,” Gilani said.

Never mind, of course, the dad in the village Faridkot in the Punjab who claims that the gunman, Ajmal Kasab, is his son, as revealed by Dawn:

"...The man who said he was Amir Kasab confirmed to Dawn that the young man whose face had been beamed over the media was his son.

For the next few minutes, the fifty-something man of medium build agonized over the reality that took time sinking in, amid sobs complaining about the raw deal the fate had given him and his family.

'I was in denial for the first couple of days, saying to myself it could not have been my son,' he told Dawn in the courtyard of his house in Faridkot, a village of about 2,500 people just a few kilometres from Deepalpur on the way to Kasur. 'Now I have accepted it.

'This is the truth. I have seen the picture in the newspaper. This is my son Ajmal.'"

Also from Al-Jazeera:

"On Wednesday Indian media reports carried details of a transcript of phone calls Indian authorities say they intercepted during the siege, with men said to be Pakistan-based fighters issuing orders, reprimands and encouragement to the gunmen.

'Keep your phone switched on,' the transcript quotes one handler instructing a gunman, 'so that we can hear the gunfire.'

'We have three foreigners, including women,' a gunman responded from Mumbai's Oberoi Hotel where hostages had been captured.

'Kill them,' replied the alleged handler.

The transcript then says that gunshots are heard, followed by cheering."