News

Journalists in Thailand have been caught in the crossfire in the anti-government protests. Paris-based Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) condemned a shooting and grenade attack in Bangkok on November 28 on the satellite station ASTV in Bangkok, owned by Sondhi Limthongkul, a leader of the opposition Popular Alliance for Democracy (PAD). A pro-government radio station in Bangkok was also attacked and...

Nigeria President Umaru Yar’Adua has initiated action against independent daily Leadership after it carried an article on the state of health of Yar’Adua saying he had to cancel official engagements for two days because of ill health. The article also said that doctors had been flown in from Saudi Arabia to treat him, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. The publisher of Leadership, Sam...

Freelance journalist Hadis Mohammed Hadis has been released after being held for two weeks at the Criminal Investigation Department in Hargeisa, capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland in northern Somalia, Reporters sans Frontières has reported. Hadis Mohammed Hadis has already been arrested on several occasions over the last two years. He told Paris-based RSF after being released on...

Four journalists were abducted on Wednesday in the northern Somali breakaway state of Puntland. The abduction took place in the port city of Bosasso, from where several foreigners have been abducted over the past year. The journalists were reported to have been investigating the spate of piracy incidents in Somali waters. There was some confusion over the nationalities of those taken, according to...

An independent Jordanian newspaper has refused to publish a Palestinian advertisement promoting an Arab peace initiative with Israel because it contains the Jewish state's flag, Agence France-Presse (AFP) has reported. The AFP report said: [ Link] "We refused to publish the paid advertisement because the source, the Palestine Liberation Organisation's (PLO) negotiations department, refused to...

Somali police have arrested the director of a radio station in the south-western town of Baidoa. According to the National Union of Somali Journalists (NUSOJ), Hilal Sheikh Shuayb of Warsan Radio was arrested following the orders of the governor of Bay Region, Abdifatah Mohamed Ibrahim. The journalist was accused of airing live the judgment of a Baidoa Court judge who ruled on a Transitional...

Singapore's High Court has found the Wall Street Journal Asia in contempt of court for a commentary it published about the city-state in June and July. The court fined Dow Jones Publishing Co (Asia), a subsidiary of News Corp's Dow Jones & Co unit and publisher of the Wall Street Journal's Asian edition, 25,000 Singapore dollars (US$16,573)—the highest amount ever levied for such a case in...

A correspondent of Hindi daily Hindustan was shot dead by miscreants in Bihar's Samastipur district Tuesday night. Vikas Ranjan (32) was gunned down by three motorcycle-borne men in front of his office in Rosera town in the district. The Hindustan Times reported: [ Link] Ranjan was out on the field and had just come out of the newspaper office when the three miscreants, who were waiting for him...

Press freedom groups have condemned the killing of a reporter in Assam's Kokrajhar district and urged the Indian government to ensure the safety of journalists working in conflict zones in the Northeast. "The police in Assam must thoroughly and transparently investigate Jagjit Saikia's killing," said Bob Dietz, Asia Programme Coordinator of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)...

A Russian judge has lifted a ban on journalists covering the trial of three men accused of helping to murder journalist and Kremlin critic Anna Politkovskaya even as prosecutors asked for his removal over his flip-flops on media coverage. Judge Yevgeny Zubov ruled last week that the politically charged trial would be held behind closed doors, drawing fierce criticism from Politkovskaya's family...