2005-2014

May 5 (Bloomberg) -- A Russian jury absolved two Chechens in the murder of Paul Klebnikov, the American editor of Forbes Inc.'s Russian edition whose killing in 2004 heightened concerns about press freedoms in the former Soviet state. Kazbek Dukuzov and Musa Vakhayev were found not guilty today by a jury of eight women and four men after a three-month closed trial in Moscow, a spokesman for the...

A Russian court on Friday acquitted both defendants standing trial for the 2004 murder of U.S. journalist Paul Klebnikov, the Reuters news agency reported citing a lawyer for one of the defendants. "The jurors have completely acquitted all of them on all charges. I am very pleased that (the jury) have worked out what’s what in this case and looked at all the evidence fully," said Ruslan Khasanov...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A Pakistani student who was arrested for allegedly trying to hurt a German newspaper editor for publishing Prophet Muhammad cartoons has died in custody in Berlin, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said on Friday. Tasnim Aslam identified the student as Amer Cheema, but would not say exactly when he had been arrested. She said an initial report from Berlin suggested that Cheema...

The publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad caused outrage and violence across the Muslim world several months ago. Now a militant Muslim group with a presence in Germany and other European nations has published a list of newspapers that reprinted the cartoons, urging Muslims to take action against Western journalists. The article in the latest issue of an online journal published...

THE snub was too great for Gallic pride. France had suffered an indignity when, in February 2003, CNN failed to broadcast applause at the United Nations for a speech by Dominique de Villepin, then the Foreign Minister, opposing the war in Iraq. For President Chirac it was time for action. If CNN would not show the world’s diplomats clapping his ministers, then he would have to do it himself. He is...

WINDHOEK, 4 May 2006 (IRIN) - Media freedoms remain under pressure in Southern Africa, but governments have turned to less conventional methods to limit journalists' rights, according to a new report by a regional watchdog. The annual publication 'So this is Democracy? – State of Media Freedom in Southern Africa 2005' by the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA), said while fewer rights...

(FLIP/IFEX) - Daniel Muñoz, a photographer with the international news agency Reuters, was attacked by a police officer during the 2 May 2006 disturbances associated with the transit strike in the capital city of Bogotá. The incident took place in the environs of one of the stations of the mass transit system "Transmilenio" in the northwest of Bogotá, when demonstrators who were trying to block a...

(New York, May 4, 2006) - Libya's most prominent political prisoner, Fathi al-Jahmi, faces a possible death sentence for slandering Libyan leader Mu'ammar al-Qadhafi and talking with a foreign official, who may be a U.S. diplomat, Human Rights Watch said today. "The Libyan government is taking great pains to introduce a democratic face to the world," said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director...

New York, May 4, 2006 - The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the recent suspension of the twice-monthly private newspaper L'Enquêteur by Guinea's National Communications Council after it published an article critical of President Lansana Conté's government. Council Chairman Boubacar Yacine Diallo confirmed to CPJ via e-mail that the paper was suspended for two months on April 27 for...

NEW DELHI: This year clearly marks the second coming of dotcom companies in India judging by how heavily private equity investors and VCs are pumping money. Around $75 million has been invested by eight private equity players in seven Internet companies since the beginning of the year. So whether it is a Kleiner Perkins, Norwest, Westbridge or Reliance Capital, their funds have been directed...