News

A top editor of an independent Rwandan newspaper that was recently banned by the government was assassinated in front of his home late Thursday. An assailant shot Jean-Léonard Rugambage, acting editor of Umuvugizi as he drove through the gate of his home in the capital, Kigali, around 10 p.m., Rwanda National police spokesperson Eric Kayiranga told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). “At...

Leading Iranian journalist Emadoldin Baghi has been freed on bail after six months in detention, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) . He is to be tried on July 4. “Baghi’s conditional release after six months in solitary confinement, in appalling conditions and subjected to arbitrary interrogations, is obviously good news,” Paris-based RSF said. “But is Iran is still holding 36 other...

Kyrgyz authorities have detained independent journalists Ulugbek Abdusalomov and Azimjon Askarov in the southern part of the country engulfed by ethnic violence since early June, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). On June 14, unknown men picked up Abdusalomov, chief editor of independent newspaper Diydor, from a street in the Jalal-Abad region; police are holding him in a...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Egyptian Minister of Finance, Youssef Boutros-Ghali, to drop charges against Wael al-Abrashy, the editor-in-chief of the weekly Sawt al-Umma, and Samar al-Dawi, a reporter for the weekly. In January, al-Abrashy mounted an editorial campaign to oppose a new and controversial property tax law, which would require property owners to submit...

CNN said Monday that it's no longer using Associated Press content after the two sides could not agree on a contract extension. The AP confirmed that the two news organisations differed on terms for licensing AP stories, photos, video and other content beyond the June 30 expiration of the existing contract. CNN has been an AP customer since the cable network launched in 1980. The details: [ Link]...

Syrian authorities are still holding freelance journalist Ali al-Abdallah even after he completed a 30-month prison sentence in Damascus, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ). Ali al-Abdallah, who has regularly written for numerous prominent Arabic-language newspapers outside Syria, was supposed to be released on June 17 but a military court informed him that he will be given...

The Peruvian Supreme Court on Friday ordered the release of Alejandro Carrascal Carrasco, editor of weekly newspaper Nor Oriente, who was sentenced on January 12 to one year in prison on defamation charges. Peru’s Supreme Court overturned a ruling by a court in Bagua, Utcubamba province, the local press said. Carrascal was convicted in January over a series of articles he wrote in 2005 alleging...

Newspaper reporter Nestor Bedolido was shot and killed by an unidentified gunmen on Saturday evening in Digos City, Davao del Sur province, in the southern Philippines, according to local and international news reports. He is the third journalist to be murdered over the past week in the Philippines, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said. Bedolido, 50, a reporter with The Kastigador...

The Committee to Protect Journalist (CPJ) has welcomed the arrival in the United States of Sri Lankan journalist JS Tissainayagam, who arrived at Washington’s Dulles International Airport on Saturday morning. He was met there by friends. According to CPJ representative Kamel Labidi, who was on hand to meet Tissa, “He was all smiles, and said to thank everyone who helped him gain his freedom.”...

Iceland’s parliament, the Alpinghi, has unanimously approved a resolution known as the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative (IMMI) that calls on the government to draft legislation in line with its recommendations for the protection of media, journalists and bloggers. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) hailed this ambitious and positive initiative, adopted on June 15, and called on the government to do...