2005-2014

(MISA/IFEX) - The general manager of Blantyre Newspapers Limited (BNL), Jika Nkolokosa, and one of his reporters, Maxwell Ng'ambi, have been charged with criminal libel for writing negatively about Health Minister Hetherwick Ntaba. Both journalists pleaded not guilty before the Lilongwe Magistrate Court on 29 May 2006. According to the charge sheet, the journalists, "knowing it to be false and...

(SEAPA/IFEX) - A Tamil-language daily, "Makkal Osai", has received phone calls from individuals threatening to burn down its offices and legal notice of defamation suits after publishing reports revealing "controversial" comments allegedly made by a cabinet minister. S.M. Periasamy, group general manager of Makkal Osai Group, said he received anonymous telephone calls on 18 and 23 May 2006, as...

(IFJ/IFEX) - The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) welcomes the move by the National Assembly of Cambodia to abolish the jail term for defamation. The move to decriminalise defamation was passed in Cambodia's National Assembly on Friday May 26, and is welcomed as a considerable development towards press freedom and democratic rights in Cambodia. "The IFJ and the Cambodian Association...

(RSF/IFEX) - Twenty-five journalists were injured on 29 May 2006 when members of the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) attacked a demonstration in the western city of Kushtia by journalists protesting against the violence and threats many of them have received there. "We call on BNP activists to immediately refrain from further acts of violence against journalists and we call on the party...

(RSF/IFEX) - On 30 May 2006, Patrice Booto, the editor of the tri-weekly "Le Journal" and its supplement "Pool Malebo", was sentenced to six months in prison and a fine of US$500 that must be paid within a week or his prison term will be extended by three months. The sentence was passed by a lower court in Assossa after it found him guilty of insulting the president and government. He was retried...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, May 30, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the killing of Munir Ahmed Sangi, a cameraman for the Sindhi-language Kawish Television Network (KTN). Sangi was shot on Monday afternoon while covering a gunfight between members of the Unar and Abro tribes in the town of Larkana, in southeast Pakistan's Sindh district, according to local media reports. At least...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, May 30, 2006 - At least three local journalists were detained by the Gambia's National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on Friday as part of a growing crackdown on the U.S.-based news site Freedom Newspaper, local sources told the Committee to Protect Journalists. The three were arrested after their names and addresses appeared on a list of purported Freedom Newspaper contributors...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, May 30, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the detention of independent Cuban journalist Armando Betancourt, who was arrested a week ago while covering the evictions of dozens of families from their homes in the central city of Camagüey, sources told CPJ. On May 23, authorities forcefully evicted families allegedly occupying homes illegally, according to...

(CPJ/IFEX) - New York, May 30, 2006 - CBS News correspondent Kimberly Dozier, who was critically wounded in Iraq by a bomb that killed her two colleagues, was flown today to a U.S. military hospital in Germany. Dozier, 39, is being treated for injuries to her head and lower body, CBS reported. Col. Brian Gamble of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center said Dozier "was responsive, opening her eyes to...

Krishna Bharat, Google's principal scientist and inventor of the controversial Google News service, argues that he is not out to crush newspapers - but he does have advice on why most have got the internet wrong. "We don't want to replace anyone's favourite newspaper, we are complementary and add value," he says matter-of-factly. This is not, however, the view the World Association of Newspapers...