News

Four persons were killed and 10 others injured in Baghdad on Monday when a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle by the offices of Al Arabiya, its correspondent in Baghdad and interior ministry officials said. The bomber struck at around 9:30 am (0630 GMT) in front of the station's bureau in the city centre, leaving a massive crater and sending a plume of smoke into the air that could be seen from...

Teofil Pancic, a journalist for the independent weekly Vreme and a columnist with Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), was attacked by unknown assailants who beat him with a metal bar on a Belgrade bus late on July 24, RFE/RL's Balkan Service reported. He was diagnosed with concussion and arm injuries. Pancic, who was recovering following the assault, told RFE/RL that he suspects the two...

The first Sanskrit newspaper in Gujarat christened Sanskritvartmanpatram will roll out on Sunday. It is only the third of its kind in the country and is the result of enthusiasm of three persons connected with teaching the language and dealing with ancient scriptures. Their effort will now be to provide current affairs and news in Sanskrit, says a Times of India report. A faculty at Baroda...

Officers from the Oluta municipal police force, in the state of Veracruz, recently abducted and attempted to kill Edgar Irán López Hernández, a reporter for the Órale newspaper. The incident took place on July 17 after López Hernández witnessed police officers and the municipality's mayor harassing another reporter, according to the Center for Journalism and Public Ethics (CJPE). At approximately...

The House of Representatives of Liberia has passed into law the Liberia Freedom of Information Law, according to the Monrovia-based Centre for Media Studies and Peace Building (CMSPB). The House, during its regular plenary session held on July 22, unanimously voted to pass the FOI law which has been in the Legislative room for over two years. The passage of the law by members of the House of...

Newspapers in Manipur failed to hit the stands on Friday as publishing houses and journalists decided against bringing out the issues in protest against threat to a scribe by hill-based militants. The All-Manipur Working Journalists' Union (AMWJU) had launched a sit-in protest against the threat and decided to cease work on Thursday. AMWJU took the decision after Singlianmang Guite, a reporter of...

A Chinese court in the restive western region of Xinjiang has given a Uighur journalist and website manager 15 years in jail for endangering state security by speaking to foreign journalists, his employer said on Friday. Uighurbiz.net, where Gheyret Niyaz worked as an administrator, posted a notice saying he had been sentenced at a hearing on Friday, quoting his wife who was in the court. "Gheyret...

Referans newspaper writer Cengiz Çandar is facing a prison sentence of between one and three years in Turkey over an allegation of "insulting a public servant in the commission of his duty". The charges are based on Çandar's criticism of the fact that a secret witness in the Hrant Dink murder case was not brought to the court in an February 8, 2010 hearing, according to IPS Communication...

Presidential Administration guards in Azerbaijan on Tuesday detained photographers covering a demonstration over flood relief measures, according to Institute for Reporters' Freedom and Safety (IRFS). IRFS and Turan Information Agency employees Javid Gurbanov and Mehman Huseynov, Radio Liberty correspondent Abbas Atilay and "Bizim Yol" newspaper correspondent Haji Zeynalov were detained by the...

President Hugo Chávez's government is about to acquire a majority stake in Globovisión, a privately-owned TV station that is critical of his administration. By acquiring the shares of some of the station’s directors, the government says it will be able to control 48.5 per cent of its capital, according to Reporters sans Frontieres (RSF). Federal Bank chairman Nelson Mezerhane stepped in last month...