News

Reporters Without Borders voiced deep concern today about the fate of Eyob Kessete, a journalist with the Amharic-language service of public radio station Dimtsi Hafash, who was arrested as he tried to flee across the border into Ethiopia and has since been held in the May Srwa detention centre, north of Asmara. “The Eritrean government is not evolving, and those who do not toe the single party...

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about the safety of journalists in southern Nepal where armed groups are becoming increasingly active. At least 72 journalists have been attacked or threatened since 1 January by groups that use violence against the media and the civilian population in general. A list of the main incidents involving armed groups accompanies this release. "This is...

The World Association of Newspapers (WAN) has called on democratic governments to take specific measures to protect freedom of the press in the face of widespread tightening of anti-terrorism measures. The WAN Board, meeting at the 60th World Newspaper Congress in Cape Town, South Africa, expressed its concern that following major terrorist attacks worldwide, tightened security and surveillance...

Three gunmen shot dead a female journalist in the north of Afghanistan capital Kabul, the second such killing in less than a week. Zakia Zaki, who also served as headmistress of a school in Parwan province, ran a private radio station, partially funded by a Western media group, Reuters reported. The 35-year-old married woman was killed at her house late on Tuesday night. Zaki was threatened...

(SEAPA/IFEX) - The Cambodian government has banned a report by a London-based environmental watchdog that accuses Prime Minister Hun Sen and top government officials, as well as their relatives and cronies, of plundering the country's forests through illegal logging. On 5 June 2007, government officials seized copies of the report and accused Global Witness, the organisation which produced it, of...

Armed men attacked the headquarters of a Palestinian press agency in Gaza City Tuesday, employees said. The militants, most of them masked, broke into the offices of Palmedia and scared staff with aimless gunshots before seizing a computer and television editing equipment. Injuries were not reported. Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) Wednesday condemned the impunity with which journalists are being...

New York, June 6, 2007—A court in the capital, Banjul, on Tuesday fined a reporter for a now-banned newspaper in connection with a March 2006 story reporting the arrest of several suspects in the aftermath of a purported coup attempt, according to local journalists and news reports. Lamin Fatty of the private bi-weekly The Independent was fined 50,000 dalasi (US$1,850) on charges of publishing...

Despite the government’s claims to the contrary, Yemen’s press is still struggling against confining shackles, said a new report on press freedom issued by Freedom House, an independent nongovernmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that supports the expansion of freedom in the world. The new report gives Yemen a mark of 80 out of 100, which is considered a low mark, said the report. The...

Leaders of the world’s press have called on African governments "as a matter of urgency" to abolish all laws that restrict press freedom, and have pledged to increase "aggressive and persistent campaigning against press freedom violations and restrictions in Africa." The Declaration of Table Mountain, approved on the eve of the World Newspaper Congress and World Editors Forum in Cape Town, calls...

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Six Apart, a blogging software pioneer that is the top blog supplier to businesses, is looking to help organizations create full-featured Web sites, blurring the lines between blogs and business sites. "Blogging is evolving," said Chris Alden, general manager of the professional business unit at Six Apart. "Maybe the era of pundit blogging is maturing: The adoption of...