News

(HRW/IFEX) - (Brussels, June 14, 2006) - Despite the welcome release from prison expected today for newspaper director Mohamed Benchicou, critics of Algeria's government continue to risk reprisal in the form of a barrage of defamation suits and, on occasion, dubious criminal charges, Human Rights Watch said today. Such prosecutions and other pressures have significantly curbed press freedom in...

Thai caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has filed criminal and civil defamation suits against the opposition Democrat Party and three newspaper editors, and is seeking 800-million-baht (around US$20 million) in damages. Thaksin said he was libeled by Democrat Party spokesman Thepthai Senpong when the latter suggested that Thaksin is clinging to power. Thaksin has been running government...

(CEHURDES/IFEX) - The Center for Human Rights and Democratic Studies (CEHURDES), a Kathmandu-based freedom of expression monitoring group, condemns the threat against journalist Binod Tripathi by Communist Party of Nepal (CPN) - Maoist rebels. Maoist cadres threatened Tripathi over a news report published in "Kantipur", a leading private-sector daily, on 11 June 2006, which said the rebels had set...

The sacking of Serge July, the editor of the French daily newspaper Liberation , marks a turning point in the history of French journalism. It is also seen as a test case for editorial independence and the viability of print media in France. "If my departure can contribute to the refinancing of the newspaper (by its main shareholder, Edouard de Rothschild), I will not stand in the way," July (63)...

"We were wrong!" You almost never see these words on the cover of a major magazine, but on June 5, Newsweek said just that. The magazine headlined, in boxcar type, "20 years ago, Newsweek predicted that a single, 40-year-old woman had a better chance of being killed by a terrorist than getting married." Over a photograph of a bride and groom, the magazine admitted its 1986 story had been incorrect...

NEW DELHI: India's largest media house, The Times of India Group, on Thursday signed an agreement to acquire 100% stake in Vijayanand Printers Ltd (VPL) - which publishes two Kannada newspapers Vijay Karnataka and Usha Kiran, and the English daily Vijay Times. The move is part of Times Group's efforts to deepen its local presence and develop a larger regional identity. "This agreement highlights...

On 14 June 2006, operatives of the State Security Service (sss), Nigeria's intelligence agency, invaded the premises of the country's largest private television network, the Africa Independent Television (ait), in Abuja and arrested Gbenga Mike Aruleba, jost of the popular "Focus On Nigeria" programme. About 12 security agents carried out the raid and arrest at about 8:00 a.m. (local time)...

In attempt to revive an aging but still well-known Internet brand, AOL is turning its Netscape.com site into a collection of links to news articles, submitted by users and expanded upon by a staff of bloggers. AOL, part of Time Warner, has been trying to move away from its rapidly declining Internet access business by building a series of advertising-supported Web sites. Netscape.com, a broad Web...

MOSCOW -- Earlier this month Moscow hosted a congress of the World Association of Newspapers. The organization's president, Gavin O'Reilly, deplored the Russian government's encroachments on media freedom. Then President Vladimir Putin took the podium to respond. The media's situation has grown better, not worse, he said: "From year to year increasingly favorable conditions are emerging in Russia...

WASHINGTON, DC, United States (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush has apologized for teasing a legally blind reporter about wearing sunglasses during a news conference. The incident happened Wednesday at a Rose Garden media briefing when Bush, who was in high spirits, responded to Los Angeles Times reporter Peter Wallsten`s raised hand and asked if Wallsten was going to ask his question 'with...