PHOTOGRAPHY WEBLOG

Rineke Dijkstra noemde in een eerste reactie de Britse rel rond haar foto ,,vervelend'' en erkent dat haar foto voer voor pedofielen kan zijn ,,als je dat er zelf in wilt zien''. Ze ontkent echter dat de foto met een obsceen doel is gemaakt.

When Remigijus Audiejaitis shoots a picture there's no concern about lighting or whether the f-stop is correct. What's important to him is the sound his subjects make, whether it's the laugh of a shop girl or the backfiring of a muffler on the city streets or the clinking of coffee mugs. Audiejaitis, a photographer for four years, couldn't adjust for poor lighting. He's been blind since birth. "I take my automatic camera out when I hear something interesting happening around me," the 30-year-old photographer told The Associated Press this week.

Despite the obvious shortcoming, Audiejaitis's lack of sight has not dampened his desire to take photos. He uses a Kodak Advantix 2000 he purchased a while ago. It's fully automatic, so there's no concern about being out of focus. Instead of the viewfinder, he uses the mind's eye to gauge what he hears and then decides whether to shoot or not. "I picture rich sounds and my friends develop the film and sort the best images," he said. At the moment, he's intrigued by the idea of photographing street brawls. "That must be very noisy and vivid, changing every second. It would be easy to get a nice shot," he said, a grin curling his lips. "Dangerous, but extremely interesting."

The sound of a woman laughing brings him to a screeching stop. A white walking stick in his right hand, Audiejaitis takes out his Kodak with his left hand and points it in the direction of the girl's peals. He fires off four shots before putting the camera down. "I don't take too many pictures. The sixth sense tells me when to use the camera," he said.

Bron: Associated Press.

Hiroki Gomi, photographer at a leading Japanese newspaper, has been sacked after a cluster bomb he was carrying as a souvenir of the Iraq war exploded at Amman airport. The bomb killed a security guard and wounded three others.

Hiroki Gomi was dismissed because of the serious outcome of his negligence, the national Mainichi Shimbun newspaper said in a statement. Gomi "hurt the faith and reputation of the Mainichi," it said.

The photographer who has taken the official birthday pictures of Prince William says he oozes the same self confidence as his mother. Mario Testino gave his verdict after a photo-shoot with the prince, who is 21 today. It was partly because William liked the photographs Testino took of Princess Diana that he asked him to mark his birthday with a set of pictures. William went to Testino's London studio for the birthday photo session and posed in different settings, wearing a variety of outfits.



I have actually photographed the whole family, so it's like closing a circle. The thing they all had in common was humour - they all liked a laugh and managed to find the funny side. I thought he was so relaxed and open - so impressive for his age. He's very self-confident - that's the thing that comes across the most. He is very sure of what he likes and dislikes. William is a very photogenic person. I think it comes from a sense of security. The camera reveals how you feel. Taking pictures of William was easier than with a lot of people. These shots show a new elegance coming through, I think. With photography, you sometimes want a sharper image than real life. But I didn't want to change William and followed his own style. I'm recording a document of our times so I tried to keep him as he is. Sometimes it's necessary to do some hand re-touching of the photographs - when we get older we like to lose a few wrinkles - but that wasn't necessary with William because he has a very good complexion. The camera definitely likes William - incredibly so.

Mario Testino

Kodak & American PHOTO will give you $125.00 in New York City or Chicago!

For 2 hours of your time we want some of your thoughts on film (especially color reversal) and other relevant issues in the world of photography. Besides Cash there will be food, fun and you'll even make some new friends.

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The photographs show an attractive long-haired woman enjoying life. Based on the hairstyles and fashions, it is the 1970's and 80's. Friends, a dog and even a husband make appearances, but she is the one constant. Who is she?

In "Hello Natalie", a photo Web log, she takes on the identity you imagine for her. The photo blog is based on pictures, including a wedding album, that were found by a young Brooklyn couple at a thrift shop in Greenpoint. They began posting the pictures on the site in April, inviting visitors to create a life for Natalie by attaching comments. Since then, people in the photos have acquired names, relationships and imaginary lives.

This much is real: Natalie is her name. It is written on the cover of the wedding album, along with that of her husband, Marcelo. The couple who bought the photos would not reveal Natalie's surname, which also appears on the album. They said they could not find her by using the Google search engine and did not want to bring her unwanted attention. Hundreds more photos remain to be posted, so Natalie's online life will continue to unfold even as the person the site calls Real Natalie remains a mystery.

What if she turns up? "Our primary concern would be not to offend her," the couple wrote. "But we're less interested in what Natalie would think of this Web site than we are wondering what happened to her. Why were her photo albums in this junk shop in Brooklyn?"
They conceded that the appearance of Real Natalie might ruin the site: "The fantasy somewhat thrives on reality never coming to call."

Bron: The New York Times.

foto Harry Cock

Jean Paul Franssens 1938-2003

Net uit:



This issue of Paris Photo Magazine is dedicated to 99 personalities in the world of photography. 99 Actors who move the world of art and ideas...photographers, collectors, publishers, dealers, curators, museum directors, experts, critics, artistic directors, agencies, patrons...

Photography, I contend, is to art what golf is to sport. This statement is bound to raise hackles among those people who have spent thousands of dollars on cameras, lenses, classes and darkrooms, under the delusion that they are turning themselves into creative artists. In the end, they have merely squandered a great deal of time and money on a very expensive hobby. There is nothing wrong with hobbies, mind you, but they should not be confused with something entirely different.

In spite of the fact that photographers will be only too happy to talk you to death about shadows, balance and perspective, essentially what they do is take dozens and dozens of snapshots, and then pick out the ones that come out best and show them to you. The camera, a mere piece of equipment, does all the hard work. The photographer simply aims and fires. You might as well suggest that skeet shooting is an art form.

Recently, a great deal of attention has been paid to famous war photographer Robert Capa. Now, really! I wouldn't for a second deny that anybody who goes into battle armed with nothing but a Leica is courageous, even foolhardy. But I've seen Capa's pictures. They're gray and gritty. I've also seen other people's pictures taken in combat zones. And the one thing they have in common is that they all look alike. They're filled with dead or wounded soldiers, blood and mud. Everything is uniform except the uniforms. In short, they look an awful lot like Matthew Brady's pictures of the Civil War.

The accomplishment in these cases isn't one of creativity in which the artist disappears into the work itself. Instead, it is the photographer announcing to the world how brave he was to be right there in the middle of all the action. It's far less an art form than a great way to impress girls.

His fans will insist that Ansel Adams, famous for his shots of Yosemite scenery, is truly an artist. But, a friend of mine, the late Leigh Wiener, who was himself a Life photographer, told me that Adams was a manufactured product. A very savvy married couple persuaded Adams to grow his famous bushy beard and to present himself as photography's larger- than-life answer to Pablo Picasso and Papa Hemingway. They told him to concentrate strictly on big pictures of rocks, sky and waterfalls, relying on Mother Nature to supply the subjects and the two of them to supply the marketing know-how. It worked like a charm. They sold his stuff faster than he could shoot it. As a supplier of kitsch, he soon rivaled Keane and his infamous paintings of waifs with enormous eyes.

Back in the 80s, a photographer named Robert Mapplethorpe was given a grant by the NEA. It became a controversial matter when various communities in which his work was displayed decided he was less a photographer than a pornographer. In this case, it wasn't the emperor who was naked, it was his subjects. All of them children, all of them naked as jaybirds. Overnight, he became a sensation. He no longer needed government grants, he only needed a tax consultant.

At the time, it occurred to me that in many instances the real difference between art and pornography had nothing to do with content, everything to do with venue. Put pictures of naked children on postcards and peddle them in alleys, you go to the clink; hang the same pictures in an art gallery, and the critics will proclaim you a genius, the collectors will throw money at you, and you'll sleep on silk sheets.

Thus I have concluded that, for most people, a photograph becomes a work of art not when the shot is taken or even when it's developed, but only when it's framed, hung on a wall and has a big fat price tag attached to it.

Burt Prelutsky

An AP photographer was roughed up in a scuffle between unarmed Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers at the Mitzpe Yitzhar outpost.

Bron: Toronto Star.

Er is geen fotograaf die door vrouwen zo verfoeid wordt als Helmut Newton. Maar er is ook geen fotograaf die vrouwen zo tot in hun fijnste haartjes aanvoelt als Newton. In Düsseldorf hangt een ode aan de grote meester. 'Mode', zo zei hij, 'mode is dat wat vrouwen uittrekken om naakt te zijn.' Helmut Newton, misschien wel de grootste modefotograaf van de vorige eeuw. Maar mode interesseert hem niet.

Vrouwen wel. Dus bond hij ze vast met kettingen en touwen, liet hij ze lachend handgranaten gooien. Hij liet ze op bed knielen met op hun rug een paardenzadel, hij bond ze vast onder een helikopter of liet ze opdraven in compromitterende maar uiterst spannende situaties, hij liet ze in mannenkleding een vrouw verleiden, hij liet ze de liefde bedrijven met paspoppen, hij liet grote prachtige Amerikaanse vrouwen het spel spelen met kleine Amerikaanse mannekes. Hij zette ze naast elkaar: op de ene foto gekleed, op de andere foto naakt. Nooit was de studio de achtergrond, maar gewoon de straat, de hoerenbuurt van Rue St. Denis in Parijs of gewoon voor de deur van het theater, in geheimzinnige kamers in grote kastelen of op het strand als enige geklede vrouw tussen tientallen bijna naakte mannen. Als het jaarlijkse dieetnummer een foto nodig had, liet hij haar naakt op de tafel staan, omzwermd door kleermakers en schoenmakers die overal haar maten namen.

De mooiste tweehonderd foto's uit vier periodes van Newton hangen nog tot en met 17 augustus in het NRW-Forum in Düsseldorf. Een ode aan de liefde voor vrouwen in zwart wit. Een ode aan de beroemdste modefotograaf van de vorige eeuw. Na Anton Corbijn, Herb Ritts en Peter Lindbergh dus Helmut Newton. Hij heeft gelukkig al veel titels binnengehaald met als mooiste het cadeau van de Duitse uitgever Benedikt Taschen. Die liet op de valreep van de vorige eeuw het grootste, het zwaarste, duurste en dikste boek ter wereld maken. Sumo: 50 bij 70 centimeter, een prijs van 3000 euro, een oplage van 10.000 en dat alles voor 483 foto's van de mooiste en spannendste vrouwen die Hemut Newton voor zijn camera kreeg.

Lees verder in De Gelderlander over Newton en zijn tentoonstelling in Düsseldorf.

Vanavond is fotograaf Hans Aarsman te gast in het NPS Radio 1 programma Kunststof, om 19.00.

Vanavond op Ned.3.:Tonino 23:00-23:18 NPS



Tonino, een onhandige ober in een Italiaans restaurant, is een getalenteerd fotograaf. Hij krijgt van zijn baas de opdracht om diens vrouw te betrappen op overspel met de fotocamera. Tonino raakt in de ban van de mooie vrouw en lijkt de opdracht volledig uit het oog te verliezen - of misschien juist niet. Want het bedrieglijke van de waarneming staat centraal in deze film. Tonino is een komische korte film die vooral door het gebruik van visuele middelen de kijker verrast en steeds weer op het verkeerde been zet. Deze film is tevens een ode aan de fotografie.

De film is ook online te bekijken in WindowsMedia.

foto Nicolas Marques

An Iranian runs on the road after setting himself on fire during a protest near the headquarters of the French counter intelligence agency, Wednesday, June 18, 2003 in Paris.

In de Volkskrant-Kunstbijlage vandaag een aardig artikel van Gijsbert Kramer met als motto: Popfotograaf, dat was een fijn beroep.

De Volkskrant meldt dat fotografe Rineke Dijkstra helemaal overstuur is ondergedoken nadat de pers haar huis in Londen belaagde. Aldus medegedeeld door Willem van Zoetendaal, galeriehouder en opperhoofd van de Dijkstra-clan (die zijn hele handel in Dijkstra-klonen wel kan opheffen als het rumoer niet verstomt.)

Aan de andere kant: elke publiciteit is goede publiciteit, zolang de Amerikaanse justitie je niet vastzet op beschuldiging van pornografie (zoals al een aantal Amerikaanse pendanten van Dijkstra overkwam) en de duurbetaalde afdrukken in beslag neemt.

Benetton has a new general director. But don't expect to see a return to those shock ads. A 1999 campaign that featured death-row inmates staring out from their prison cells sparked a public outcry in the U.S. and prompted retailer Sears, Roebuck & Co. to cancel a multimillion-dollar contract to sell Benetton's clothes in 800 of its department stores. The controversy led Luciano Benetton to fire his longtime friend, photographer Oliviero Toscani. The company's current campaign, promoting racial harmony, isn't working either. Globalization has made the message almost trite. Maybe the next ads will actually show Benetton clothes. Now that would be a shock.

Bron: BusinessWeek.

Een waargebeurde variant op de tekst If you see a man drowning, what kind of film do you use?

While a woman was being fatally hit in an amateur boxing competition, the doctor monitoring the bout was also busy taking pictures as the event's official photographer, her family's attorney said Wednesday. Stacy Young, a 30-year-old mother of two, collapsed in the ring at the Sarasota County fairgrounds shortly before the end of the third and final round Saturday. She took severe blows to the head and suffered a seizure. She died Tuesday.

Paramedics were on hand to treat her, but lawyer Greg Kehoe said the fight doctor, whose name was not released Wednesday, never tried to stop the match even though it was clear Young was being overwhelmed and couldn't defend herself.

Bron: Associated Press.

Homeless people and hard-up farmers in Wales will benefit from 21st birthday pictures of Prince William. He is donating proceeds from the sale of his official birthday pictures by internationally renowned photographer Mario Testino. Money from William's birthday photographs will help homeless people to find accommodation and employment. The pictures were taken by Testino at his London studio earlier this month.

Bron: Ananova.

Getty Images heeft weer twee foto-agentschappen opgeslokt: het Britse Mission Studios en het Amerikaanse Image Direct. Beide zijn gespecialiseerd in celebrity-fotografie.

Though tribal fighting has raged in the Congo for the past five years, killing as many as 4.7 million people, the Western media is only now awakening to the humanitarian crisis going on in the troubled African nation. The reason for the interest, photographers say, is the UN mandate authorizing a multinational peacekeeping force.

In the past few weeks, Getty Images staff photographer Spencer Platt and Evelyn Hockstein, a freelancer represented by Polaris, descended on Bunia to cover the peacekeeping mission. Both say the situation warrants attention no matter who intervenes. "There’s a lot happening here and sometimes the western market doesn’t cover Africa as much as they should," says Hockstein.

Platt says in many ways the conflict in the Congo is more dangerous for journalists. Children and teenagers have been pulled from their homes, given guns and are being forced to fight. Many of the soldiers are either drunk or high on drugs. Both photographers say they can never feel completely safe around them.

Platt urges photographers planning to cover the conflict to come well-prepared. Photographers can buy food, beer and whisky easily enough, but bottled water is nowhere to be found. Towards the end of his stay Platt had to ration his water supply to a liter a day.

The situation is so dangerous, photographers haven’t been able to investigate rumors of genocide in cities outside the capital. Despite the hardships inflicted on the people of Congo, Platt and Hockstein both say the locals were open and friendly and generally welcoming of their presence. "In Africa there are so many horror stories, but the people are so friendly and open," Hockstein says.

Bron: PDN.

Het is niet de eerste keer dat een Nederlandse fotografe in de Engelse pers van pornografie wordt beschuldigd. Eerder viel Hellen van Meene deze "eer" te beurt toen zij een expositie van haar foto's van adolescenten in Groot-Brittannië voorbereidde. Hoe zij daarop reageerde was te zien in de AVRO-serie Hollands Zicht.


foto Hellen van Meene

foto Philippe Wojazer

A woman sets herself on fire outside an office of the French Interior Ministry during a protest in Paris on June 18, 2003 against a mass round-up of left-wing Iranian exiles the previous day. Marzieh Babakhani was badly burned and rushed to a hospital after dashing out from a crowd of over 100 protesters and setting light to herself.

Update: Marzieh Babakhani has died of her injuries at the hospital.


foto Jean Ayissi

Sedighieh Mohageri (boven) liep slechts lichte brandwonden op.

Het veilinghuis Sotheby's in Londen heeft woensdag besloten een foto van de beroemde Nederlandse fotografe Rineke Dijkstra terug te trekken van een veiling. Het gaat om een afbeelding van een jong naakt meisje met gespreide beentjes op het strand van Castricum aan Zee. Volgens een woordvoerster van Sotheby's ontving het bedrijf veel klachten via e-mail en telefoon, nadat de Britse tabloid The Sun diverse keren over de zaak had bericht.

Lezers noemden de foto kinderpornografie en raakten volgens de krant woedend toen justitie in Engeland besloot dat de plaat niet onfatsoenlijk was. Ongeveer 6000 mensen belden de krant, van wie 96 procent de afbeelding aanstootgevend vond, beweert de boulevardkrant. De foto zou dinsdag op de veiling worden aangeboden. De richtprijs was 3000-4000 pond, omgerekend 4260 tot 5680 euro. Sotheby's benadrukt niet te twijfelen aan de artistieke waarde van de plaat. "Maar helaas zijn er mensen die de foto verkeerd kunnen interpreteren en er misbruik van kunnen maken."

Dijkstra brak in de jaren negentig door met een serie portretten van jongens en meisjes op het strand. Inmiddels hangt werk van haar in musea over de hele wereld. Ze was woensdag niet voor een reactie bereikbaar.

Een selectie uit de reacties in The Sun:

The only people who would consider such an offensive image to be “art” are those whose warped minds derive pleasure from something that disgusts most decent citizens. Many of them are likely to be paedophiles.

This photo is ideal for perverts. It is offensive as it will give paedophiles sordid pleasure.

The photographer should be prosecuted along with the child’s mother. Sotheby’s have turned it into pornography and themselves into pornographers.

Bronnen: Sotheby's, The Sun, ANP.


foto Rineke Dijkstra

Wat is straatfotografie toch populair:


foto Arko Datta

An Afghan policeman has his portrait taken by a photographer using a vintage camera in Kabul, June 18, 2003. With little or almost no new job opportunities in Afghanistan, people try to make ends meet by selling goods and services in the streets.

Op de website Eye of the Low Countries een reportage van Rop Zoutberg over de verkiezingen in Argentinië. Naast zijn werk als fotograaf schrijft de in Madrid woonachtige Zoutberg ook artikelen voor De Morgen en Het Parool, zoals vanmiddag een verslag over de transferperikelen in het Spaanse voetbal.


foto Rop Zoutberg

Vanmiddag in Het Parool een interview met fotograaf Hans Aarsman.

foto Robi Kastro

An Israeli girl and her mother are rushed into Beilinson Hospital in central Israel, late June 17, 2003 after a shooting attack on their car, near Kibbutz Eyal at the West Bank frontier. A seven-year-old girl, the daughter and sister of those pictured, was killed in the attack. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the shooting.

foto Mikhail Metzel

A sidewalk photographer takes a pictures of a customer on the street in Balad, 35 miles northwest of Baghdad.

A set of photos shot by an official photographer for the regime of Saddam Hussein and obtained by Reuters gives an unprecedented look at the family life of Saddam.

De twee Europese journalisten, onder wie een Belg, die sinds 4 juni op Laos worden vastgehouden, verkeren in goede gezondheid en worden goed behandeld. Dat heeft een diplomaat van de Franse ambassade maandag verklaard. De diplomaat had de journalisten even voordien kort ontmoet in Vientiane, de hoofdstad van Laos. "Beiden verkeren in goede gezondheid. Ze worden goed behandeld en krijgen medische verzorging. Ze krijgen ook regelmatig voedsel", vertelde de diplomaat. "Hun moreel is goed, ook al hebben ze geen informatie over wat er in de buitenwereld gebeurt".

Thierry Falise, een onafhankelijk Belgisch journalist/fotograaf die werkt voor het Franse weekblad L'Express, en Vincent Reynaud, een Franse cameraman en fotograaf, werden samen met vier andere Laotianen opgepakt op 4 juni. Het Laotiaanse ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken had eerder verklaard dat de journalisten waren opgepakt omdat ze hadden samengewerkt met bandieten die een bewaker hadden gedood in het dorp Khai, in het district Phoukout, een deel van de provincie Xien Khouang.

Bron:Gazet van Antwerpen.

Violence in the West Bank continued Tuesday as clashes erupted between Israeli soldiers and Palestinians in the Balata and Askar refugee camps. A 14-year-old Palestinian was shot in the leg with live bullets in Balata and an Associated Press photographer was lightly injured and one of his cameras was destroyed when he was shot with rubber bullets.

An army spokesman said shots were fired at its troops in Balata and it responded with warning shots.

Bron: Associated Press.

Woensdag 25 juni op Net 5: de documentaire Naked States over fotograaf Spencer Tunick, de laatste tijd vooral bekend van zijn massale blootfoto's in wereldsteden.

25 juni, Net 5, 23.00.

Maandag 23 juni is het NPS-programma Het Klokhuis gewijd aan lifestyle-fotograaf Ari Versluis, bekend van Exactitudes en van Pim.

23 juni 18.30 Ned.3.

Zelfs na zijn dood cirkelen de paparazzi nog rond Gregory Peck.

In India zorgt een natuurramp voor honderdduizenden daklozen en in Afrika woeden bloedige conflicten en hongersnood.

In Nederland opent het NOS-journaal met de diefstal van een blikje bier en een non die een kip verborgen houdt, en de hoofdredacteur van NOVA deelt mee: Afrika is uit, daar maken we geen reportages over.

foto Antony Njuguna

A malnourished child lies in a bed at the Yiriba feeding center in Awasa, 180 miles south of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Meer dan twaalf miljoen Ethiopiërs riskeren de hongerdood als er niet onmiddelijk massale humanitaire hulp op gang komt.

foto Luc Gnago

Government fighters pass near the body of a dead rebel along the way to Po River in Liberia, one of West Africa's bloodiest battlefields.

De Iraanse fotograaf Abbas poseerde vandaag op Mallorca bij de opening van zijn expositie 'Visions of the Islam'. Abbas reisde 7 jaar lang door de Islamitische world om de foto's te maken voor deze tentoonstelling en het boek Allah o Akhbar, dat al eerder verscheen.

Jordan's King Abdullah II on Monday issued a decree pardoning a Japanese photographer who was sentenced to 18 months in jail for the explosion of an Iraqi war memento that killed an airport security guard. A spokesman for Gomi's employer, Mainichi Shimbun, said the newspaper was now hoping for Hiroki's quick release and return to Tokyo. "The king signed a document pardoning Hiroki Gomi and we are now waiting for a formal notification from the royal court and word on his release," Takuya Kishimoto, the Mainichi London bureau chief currently in Amman, said.

Jordan's state security court sentenced Gomi to 18 months in jail on June 1 after the May 1 explosion killed an airport security guard as the photographer was returning from covering the war in Iraq. Security guard Ali Sarhan was killed while he examined a cluster bomblet that was found in Gomi's luggage through a metal detector, as the photographer prepared to board a flight to Cairo on his way to Tokyo. Five other people were injured in the explosion.

Bron: Middle East Online.

Het FotoFestival Naarden biedt komende donderdag en vrijdag een extra openstelling tot in de avond. Bezoekers kunnen dan tot 20 uur in de Grote Kerk en andere ruimten met exposities terecht. Het festival komt hiermee tegemoet aan de wens van bezoekers om ook na een doordeweekse werkdag te komen genieten van het grote aanbod van fotografie dat in de vestingstad is tentoongesteld.

FotoFestival Naarden is een tweejaarlijkse verzameling van tentoonstellingen en andere activiteiten. Met een brede programmering (kunst, commercie, reportage, amateurwerk) en verrassende kwaliteit speelt het festival al veertien jaar een centrale rol in de Nederlandse fotografie. Het thema van de achtste editie is het overschrijden van grenzen, zowel in werkelijke als in overdrachtelijke zin.

Het FotoFestival is nog te bezoeken tot en met 22 juni. Op werkdagen zijn de exposities te zien van 11 tot 17 uur, waarbij dus nu op 19 en 20 juni een verlenging tot 20 uur geldt. Op zaterdag is het festival te bezoeken van 11 tot 18 uur, en op zondag van 12 tot 18 uur. Komende zondag is er om 16 uur een veiling van een enkele tientallen geëxposeerde foto’s.

foto Shrabani Deb

At least 400,000 people have been left homeless in India's northeastern state of Assam by flash floods triggered by the heavy monsoon rains. Monsoon showers broke a scorching heat wave across India which claimed more than 1,500 lives over the past four weeks.


foto AFP

AP Photo

While covering their faces, Iranian youth who had been arrested in recent student protests, sit in a hallway of the Evin prison, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 15, 2003. The anti-government protests, which began on Tuesday, were the largest in months and included unprecedented chants calling for the death of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

King Abdullah of Jordan is likely to grant a special amnesty as early as today to a Japanese photographer imprisoned for manslaughter, NHK television reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

Hiroki Gomi, a 36-year old employee of the Mainichi newspaper, was arrested last month after a cluster bomb he brought from Iraq killed a security guard and injured three others at the Queen Alia International Airport. Gomi, who had covered the war in Iraq, said he picked up the bomb as a souvenir to take home and that the explosion was an accident. The Mainichi asked the Jordanian government to grant an amnesty, which would nullify the court ruling, media reports said.

A glamour photographer accused of sexually assaulting his young model clients has been convicted of one rape and cleared of a second rape charge. The jury at Bristol Crown Court has yet to decide on six other charges faced by Dean Coles and has been sent home for the weekend. He has been found guilty of one count of rape of a woman who was aged 18 at the time. She was raped on his matrimonial bed after she refused to have sex with him.

Coles, 40, who ran the Cotswold Model Agency from his home in Rodborough, Gloucestershire, was alleged to have preyed on his victims during photo sessions. The court was told Coles bullied the women, requested sexual favours and touched them inappropriately.

Coles denied both counts of rape and also denies one of attempted rape and five of indecent assault against eight women over a five-year period. In the witness box, the former builder claimed some of the incidents did not happen, and others involved consensual sex. He told the court he had simply flirted with his clients in order to get better photographs of them.

Bron: BBC News.

The U.S. Embassy is asking Indonesia for help in getting an American journalist safely out of the country. William Nessen is believed to be hiding in a rebel stronghold in the war-torn province of Atjeh. He was supposed to have reported to a military post in Atjeh by yesterday. But Nessen told The Jakarta Post by telephone yesterday that he won't leave the hideout until he's sure the Indonesian government will guarantee he can get out of the country without being "arrested, interrogated or stopped."

An Embassy spokesman says U.S. officials have asked the Indonesian government to do all it can to ensure Nessen's safety and that government has agreed. But a spokesman for the Indonesian military says authorities still want to question Nessen about his relationship with rebel leaders and the location of rebel camps. Nessen is a freelance writer and photographer who has reported on the insurgency in Atjeh for years.

Bron: Associated Press.

foto ILNA.

An injured student from the Hemmat dormitory of Allameh Tabatabai University in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, June 14, 2003 shows a knife wound in the back. Dozens of militants stormed at least two university dormitories, beating up students in their beds and detaining several of them as violence aimed at silencing government critics raged through Iran's capital.