News

The Sri Lanka military air strike last week on the Voice of Tigers, the radio station of the Tamil Tiger rebels in the north of the country, is being described as a war crime. Three of the station’s staff, who had not been given any warning, and six other civilians were killed in the bombardment by air force jets. Sri Lankan troops in Colombo, November 2007. Twenty-seven people were killed in...

The US military is to finally bring a court hearing against Associated Press (AP) photographer Bilal Hussein on December 9, 606 days after the Iraqi was first taken into custody, the agency has reported. The move would be the first legal step in initiating formal charges against Hussein, who was seized in Ramadi on April 12, 2006. A public affairs officer had notified AP last week that the...

Consumer and corporate Internet usage could outstrip network capacity both in North America and worldwide in a little more than two years, says a new study. Young boys and girls surf in the internet in Carlsbad in California, October 2007. Nearly 75 percent of U.S. Internet users watched an average of 158 minutes of online video in May and viewed more than 8.3 billion video streams, according to...

A European court has awarded damages to an investigative journalist whose home was raided and computers confiscated after he published articles alleging fraud within the European Union. In its ruling for the German reporter, Hans-Martin Tillack, the European Court of Human Rights said Tuesday that the right to protect the identity of sources is an essential pillar of freedom of the press. Though...

Supporters of Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein, who has been held without charge by U.S. officials in Iraq for 18 months, marked the year-and-a-half anniversary Friday by presenting an online petition with 1,500 signatures to several top federal officials, organizers said. In a letter faxed Friday to the White House, U.S. State Department, the Speaker of the House of Representatives...

Kazakhstan will become the first ex-Soviet state to assume the chairmanship of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE). President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev passes by the guard of honor during a welcoming ceremony before his meeting with his Hungarian counterpart Laszlo Solyom, not seen, in Budapest, Hungary Friday, November 23, 2007. Nazarbayev arrived to Hungary...

A journalist’s claim that 11 of his close relatives were murdered in Iraq last weekend is false. Amman-based Iraqi journalist Dia al-Kawwaz had claimed on November 26 that 11 members of his immediate family were shot by gunmen the previous day in Baghdad. “We are obviously relieved to learn that the Kawwaz family is safe and sound but this journalist’s behaviour is unacceptable,” Reporters sans...

LAUSANNE, Switzerland: The International Olympic Committee said Friday it expects Chinese authorities to give the media full freedom to report on the Beijing Games, responding to complaints from a media rights group. The group, Reporters Without Borders, said the IOC has remained silent while China clamps down on reporters during preparations for the Aug. 8-24 Olympics. "It is becoming clearer and...

(RSF/IFEX) - RSF has voiced deep dismay after Mexico's Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation (SCJN) ruled narrowly that there was "no serious violation of the individual rights" of freelance journalist Lydia Cacho when she was arrested and held in December 2005 on the orders of governor of Pueblo state, Mario Marín. Cacho brought out a book in 2004, entitled "Los Demonios del Edén" (Demons in...

MEXICO CITY, Nov. 29 — In a setback for journalistic freedom in Mexico, the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the governor of Puebla did not violate the rights of a journalist when he had her jailed on defamation charges. The judges ruled 6 to 4 against the journalist, Lydia Cacho, despite an investigation by one of them that concluded that at least 30 public officials, among them Gov. Mario Marín...