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The communications minister of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has resigned, accusing senior officials of clamping down on critics and stifling freedom of expression.

Abu Daqa announced he was stepping down late Thursday, and revealed that the PAs attorney general had ordered Palestinian Internet service providers to block access to at least eight websites critical of PA President Mahmoud Abbas over the past six months, the BBC reports.

The websites were reportedly loyal to one of Abbas most strident opponents, Mohammed Dahlan, a former Gaza Strip security chief who was kicked out of the Fatah movement which dominates the PA in June after accusing the president of weakness and corruption.

More from GlobalPost:Palestinian leader Abbas sends Israeli PM Netanyahu letter outlining demands for peace talks

Daqa said the Internet crackdown was bad for the image of the Palestinian Authority in the world, and pointed out that the websites could continue to reach users by switching to other domains, according to the Associated Press.

The PAs crackdown was also criticized in Washington. US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said Thursday: We are concerned about any uses of technology that would restrict access to information.

Weve had these concerns in other parts of the world, and we wouldnt want to see the PA going in the direction that some of those regime have gone in, she added.

More from GlobalPost: Has Israel's regional isolation helped protect its economy?

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/middle-east/israel-and-palestine/120427/palestinian-communications-minister-qu

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Palestinian communications minister quits over Internet censorship

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev denied the existence of censorship in the Russian media in his last interview as president on Thursday, saying any signs of censorship must be scrutinized by government.

I will repeat that censorship is prohibited by the Constitution and if it appears somewhere it should be the subject of state investigation, Medvedev said in an interview with Russian TV journalists.

Medvedev made the comments after state TV channel journalists told Medvedev their management restricted the list of politicians that could be invited for interview under the pretext of political rationale.

Medvedev said however it was down to the heads of media outlets to ensure topical news made the mainstream.

The president, who proposed establishing a public TV channel independent of political influence in December last year, also expressed hope that the new channel, which is due to be set up in January 2013, would have no political position and be free from bias.

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Medvedev Denies Media Censorship in Russia

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 4/27/2012 12:08:47 PM RELATED: FCC Votes to Post TV Station Political Files Online

Sounding every bit the Harvard lawyer, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski Friday attempted to pick apart broadcaster arguments against posting online public file reporting requirements the FCC voted to adopt at its public meeting, saying their desire to exclude spot pricing from political files would have been censorship and fly in the face of plain congressional language to the contrary.

The chairman said that opposition to the proposal had morphed over time. One argument, he said, was that there was not need to post public files online because they were readily available at stations. He countered that FCC staffers had been dispatched to Baltimore to test that theory. The result, he said, was that it took 61 hours to collect from eight stations at a copying cost of about $1,700.

Next, he said, the argument was that it was technically infeasible. That was a hard argument to sustain, he said, particularly given that businesses everywhere, including broadcasters, were routinely moving info online.

Then came "burden and cost," he said. The burdens were dramatically overstated he said, and the costs likely were from about $80 to $400.

Then, he said, the arguments moved to political files. He said broadcaster compromise proposals to only include aggregate totals online and keep the spot prices in files at stations would be censoring information the Congress explicitly required in campaign reform law that stations publicize. The question, he said, was whether making those public mean locked away in filing cabinets or readily available online. He suggested the answer was simply common sense.

As to arguments that the information was already available through the FEC, he repeated that the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law required broadcasters to make the information public.

He said he was not surprised that broadcasters had opposed the requirement. He pointed out they had fought the political file reporting requirement all the way to the Supreme Court back in 2002 before losing.

He did say he appreciated the "small group" of broadcasters who recognized the value of online public file postings and had worked "valiantly" on a workable proposal.

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Genachowski: Broadcaster Political File Compromise Would Have Been Censorship

26-04-2012 02:19 Learn Android 1.40- MediaControllers controls MediaPlayers Video, Video, and more Videos is what this tutorial is all about. Well in this tutorial we will add a mediacontroller to our video, so we will be able to have some control on that crazy beast of a video. MediaController can also control MediaPlayer objects as well as VideoView (as such in this tutorial) Also here is the link to the android dev page: If you are stuck or have any questions, please check out the forum at Also follow us on twitter, and like us on facebook.

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Learn Android 1.40- MediaControllers controls MediaPlayers - Video

NASHUA,N.H.and WASHINGTON, April 26, 2012 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- VGo Communications, the leader in robotic telepresence, and United Cerebral Palsy (UCP)an international advocate, educating and providing support services for children and adults with a spectrum of disabilitiestoday announced a partnership to collaborate and work together to define and deliver accessibility enhancements to VGo's robotic telepresence solution. A demonstration of prototype voice activated remote robotic telepresence driving controls will be seen by attendees of the 2012 UCP Annual Conference, Transitioning to Tomorrow, in Washington, DC.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120426/CG96128)

"We saw what VGo was doing for homebound students and realized that with some usability enhancements, VGo could be a dramatic life altering tool for many people with disabilities," said Stephen Bennett, UCP President and CEO. "Imagine the opportunities and quality of life improvements for people who currently cannot go places because their disability prevents access or makes it too expensive. UCP is excited to be working with VGo to make this technology available to people with disabilities so they can live life without limits."

"We're very excited about jointly developing specific usability enhancements for people served by United Cerebral Palsy," said Peter N. Vicars, CEO of VGo. "Our users today find controlling a VGo with their computer mouse or keyboard keys very easy, but indeed not everyone can use a computer in a traditional way. We know how impactful VGo has been for students that are homebound and can't go to school. Soon VGo can be available to other disabled people so they can move around in a distant place without first having to get themselves there."

For more information about UCP, visit http://www.ucp.org.

For more information about VGo, visit http://www.vgocom.com.

About United Cerebral Palsy

United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) educates, advocates and provides support services to ensure a life without limits for people with a spectrum of disabilities. Together with nearly 100 affiliates, UCP has a mission to advance the independence, productivity and full citizenship of people with a spectrum of disabilities by providing services and support to more than 176,000 children and adults every dayone person at a time, one family at a time. UCP works to enact real changeto revolutionize care, raise standards of living and create opportunitiesimpacting the lives of millions living with disabilities. For more than 60 years, UCP has worked to ensure the inclusion of individuals with disabilities in every facet of society. Together, with parents and caregivers, UCP will continue to push for the social, legal and technological changes that increase accessibility and independence, allowing people with disabilities to dream their own dreams, for the next 60 years, and beyond. For more information, visit http://www.ucp.org.

About VGo

VGo Communications, Inc. develops and markets visual communications solutions for the workplace. The company was founded in 2007 by experienced successful veterans of the visual communications and robotics industries. VGo has leveraged the recent trends of widespread wireless high speed networks, lower specialized component costs and the universal acceptance of video as a communications medium to become the Robotic Telepresence market leader.

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VGo and United Cerebral Palsy Demo Advanced Assistive Control Solutions for Robotic Telepresence