2005-2014

Public awareness of the number of American military fatalities in Iraq has declined sharply since last August. Today, just 28 per cent of adults are able to say that approximately 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war. As of March 10, the Department of Defence had confirmed the deaths of 3,974 US military personnel in Iraq. In August 2007, 54 per cent correctly identified the fatality level at...

Freedom of expression in Yemen remains in peril. there have been a series of blows to press freedom in the past few days in this peninsular country. Authorities banned distribution of the monthly Abwab and the weekly Al-Sabah on March 14. The website www.aleshteraki.net, the mouthpiece of the main opposition party, has been inaccessible since March 12. At the same time, the daily Al-Sharea, its

Senior IPS officer RK Sharma was Monday awarded life imprisonment by a Delhi court in the Shivani Bhatnagar murder case. The court said he did not deserve the death penalty due to his "excellent" service record. Three other convicts were also sentenced to life imprisonment for the gruesome killing. Additional Sessions Judge Rajender Kumar Shastri, disallowing the prosecution's plea that the...

A reporter was shot dead by his sister-in-law's brother at Panki area in the district, the Kanpur police has said, according to a Press Trust of India (PTI) report. Vinay, who was a reporter with a Delhi-based news organisation, had come to Allahabad to meet his brother and sister-in-law on Holi, SSP Anand Swaroop said. The trio, then went to Priya's brother's place, Ajay, at Panki where Vinay and...

Syrian authorities are insisting on having a military tribunal examine charges against journalist Mazen Darwish, head of the Syrian Centre for Media Freedom and Freedom of Expression. He is accused of "libelling and defaming the state's bodies" by publishing a feature report about the January 2008 riots in Damascus, and for criticising the security bodies' failure to protect the citizens killed in...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has expressed serious concern over four Afghan journalists being held in detention. Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, Ghows Zelmay, Jawed Ahmad and Ali Mohaqiq Nasab have been denied human rights including legal representation, the ability to receive visitors and access to time outdoors. Sayed Parvez Kambakhsh, 23, a journalism student and reporter for the

Tesco Lotus, one of the biggest retailers in Thailand, has filed two staggering defamation cases against a Thai columnist and a former Member of Parliament, sending a strong message to civil society and the press to tread carefully before criticising the retailing giant in Thailand. Tesco Lotus is suing columnist/academic Kamol Kamoltrakul and former Thai National Legislative Assembly (NLA) member...

The Burmese Press Scrutiny and Registration Board has suspended the 7 Days News journal for a week for reporting on a multiple-murder case in its March 13 issue, according to Mizzima News. The report quoted police and covered the funeral of a family of four and their domestic help who were shot dead in broad daylight near the home of imprisoned leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon on March 3, said...

Journalist Sanjuana Martínez Montemayor has been informed that her services will not longer be required by the daily Milenio, in Monterrey, Mexico, due to a "restructuring of the newspaper." The last article published by the journalist was titled "Ernestina: a year of ignominy" in the newspaper's 'A Bocajarro' column. In the article, Martínez Montemayor criticised the federal government's handling...

Authorities in in the Russian republic of Ingushetia want to see the back of a private television channel that has shown critical reports from the region. In an open letter to the Russian parliament, the prosecutor-general, the FSB security service and the interior ministry, delegates of the region’s Popular Assembly demanded that Moscow-based REN-TV stop broadcasting in the Republic, according to...