News

Four suspects, including a policeman, have been arrested over Franco-Spanish journalist Christian Poveda's murder in El Salvador, police said, indicating the killing was ordered by a jailed gang member, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. "After an investigation, four people have been detained for involvement in the murder of Mr Poveda," assistant police director Mauricio Ramirez said. Poveda...

An independent Russian journalist who wrote scathing articles after the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydroelectric dam disaster last month has been attacked in the city of Abakan, according to the Other Russia website. Mikhail Afanasyev, who works as the editor-in-chief of the Novy Fokus internet newspaper, related the news himself to the Kasparov.ru online newspaper on September 9. Details about the...

Internet giant Google is planning to roll out a payment platform for newspapers that would allow them to charge for content online. The Google plan, which was revealed by the Nieman Journalism Lab, was elaborated in a document that company sent to the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) in response to a request for paid-content proposals that the association sent to several technology companies...

Insult laws are designed to protect politicians, government leaders and officials and state institutions, arming the state with access to resources and legal doctrines that no other citizen has, says a new report by the World Press Freedom Committee (WPFC). The report, "The Right to Offend, Shock or Disturb: A Guide to Evolution of Insult Laws in 2007 and 2008", points out that these laws are...

The Director of Venezuela's National Commission on Telecommunications (CONATEL), has announced that 29 unidentified radio stations will soon be forced to cease operations. the move, which will bring the number of closures in the last couple of months to 63 radios and TV stations, was announced Saturday last by Minister Diosdado Cabello. CONATEL has said that all the cases involve stations whose...

A woman journalist convicted of public indecency for wearing trousers outdoors was freed Tuesday, despite her own desire to serve a month in prison as protest against Sudan's draconian morality laws, the Associated Press (AP) has reported. The judge who convicted Lubna Hussein had imposed a $200 fine as her sentence, avoiding the maximum sentence of 40 lashes in an apparent attempt to put an end...

A New York Times reporter held by the Taliban in Afghanistan was freed during a dramatic airborne commando raid on Wednesday in which his Afghan colleague was killed, officials and the newspaper said. Gunmen snatched Stephen Farrell, who is Irish, and Sultan Munadi, on Saturday while they were reporting on the aftermath of a NATO air strike that killed civilians and dozens of insurgents in the...

Vietnam has freed a detained blogger and a journalist who were critical of government policies towards China and involved in a plan to distribute anti-China T-shirts, the blogger and a lawyer said on Sunday, according to Reuters. The releases came ahead of a Sept 6-9 visit by Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh to Australia and New Zealand, where he is sure to face protests and pressure over human...

At least four journalists have been physically attacked by security guards or police in the past eight days in China. Chinese, Hong Kong and foreign journalists have been the victims of violence and harassment, according to Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF). “The authorities will be hard put to rein in the disturbing rise in cases of violence against the press unless those responsible are dealt with...

Negotiations are under way in Paris to select a new Director-General for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to replace Koichiro Matsuura of Japan, who has held the position for 10 years. UNESCO’s executive council will choose his successor by secret vote in a session that began Monday and ends on September 23. Egyptian culture minister Farouk Hosni is one...