The Canadian government is introducing what it calls some of the world's toughest legislation to combat child pornography on the internet.

A new bill will make it a crime not only to produce or transmit indecent images of children, but even to access them.

It will also allow prosecutions in Canada for offences committed abroad.

The Canadian justice minister, Anne McLellan, said the bill was intended to keep pace with new technology, which she said was being used to commit horrible crimes.

But internet service providers in Canada have warned that, although they're willing to close down child pornography websites if they're ordered to, the new measure will be difficult to police.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service