News

(FNJ/IFEX) - Sharad Chandra Bhandari, a reporter with the news agency Rastray Samachar Samitte (RSS), was manhandled on 21 January 2007 while covering the indefinite nation-wide traffic strike in Gaushala, called by the National Federation of Nepal Transport Entrepreneurs (FNNTE). The transport entrepreneurs roughed up Bhandari even though he had shown them his press card. They also threatened to...

(CJES/IFEX) - In the city of Omsk, three lawsuits entailing demands for damages totalling 1.7 million rubles (approx. US$64,000), have been filed against the newspaper "Omskoe Vremya" ("The Omsk Times"). As the editor of the newspaper, Mr. Yury Perminov, told CJES, all three claims were filed under clause 129 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (slander in a public statement or media)....

(FLIP/IFEX) - FLIP is concerned about contradictions and confusion regarding the right to make public the version libre" ("freely given") testimony of paramilitary group leaders participating in the peace process with the government, under which sentence reductions are provided to paramilitary members at all levels who voluntarily provide full details of their crimes. In December 2006, the...

HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) - When a lovesick German got marooned in Montana after typing the wrong destination in his Internet plane booking, he sold his story to a popular paper and -- as Germany's "biggest fool" -- earned cash to try again. Kai Diekmann (C), editor-in-chief of Germany's Bild newspaper, selects pictures with picture editors in Hamburg January 16, 2007. Bild was not the first in...

Bhutan�s remarks that it is heading towards democratisation are nothing short of an attempt to fool the international community. There can be no democracy until it guarantees freedom of press and freedom of speech and expression. The work of holding the first momentous election scheduled for 2008 has been going on in full swing. However, there are already reports from the different media that some...

New York, January 19, 2007—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on authorities in Burkina Faso to drop criminal defamation charges against two private newspaper journalists over stories on the unsolved 1998 murder of editor Norbert Zongo. The articles discussed a report by the Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) that raised questions about the role of President...

(IPYS/IFEX) - On 18 December 2006, TV Récord television station cameraman Marcelo Assunção and his assistant Fábio Souza were threatened, assaulted and arrested by members of the Metropolitan Civilian Guard Mediation Troop (Tropa de Mediación de la Guardia Civil Metropolitana, GCM), while they were covering a student demonstration near the mayor's office in São Paulo. The journalists were...

(IPA/IFEX) - Geneva, 19 January 2007 - According to sources in Istanbul, Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink was the victim of an armed assault. Apparently he was shot dead today by an 18-year-old man in front of his newspaper offices, Agos. Ana Maria Cabanellas, IPA President, declared: "IPA is outraged by what has happened in Istanbul today. We urge the Turkish authorities to lead all the...

(RSF/IFEX) - Reporters Without Borders expressed concern after a freelance journalist, Taghi Rahmani, was prevented from leaving Iran as he prepared to travel to Denmark on 13 January 2007 to receive a prize awarded by the local section of the freedom of expression organisation, PEN International. "We are very disturbed by this step, which has no legal basis," the worldwide press freedom...

(FMM/IFEX) - It was reported in newspapers today that officials of the income tax department visited the offices of the newspapers "Mawbima" and "The Sunday Standard", purportedly to look into income tax issues. The same officials also visited two other commercial enterprises owned by the owner of "Mawbima". FMM was informed that the officials seized files containing details regarding advertising...