News

The Committee to Protect Journalists condemns the continued imprisonment of New York Times researcher Zhao Yan, who has been re-indicted on charges of fraud and revealing state secrets. The Times reported the reinstated charges today. Zhao has been imprisoned for 21 months without once appearing before a judge. Charges against Zhao were dropped in March prior to the visit to the United States of...

KHARTOUM (Reuters) - Sudan has tightened restrictions on foreign press traveling to Darfur and has not issued any travel permits to its violent western region since a peace deal was signed earlier this month. Experts who have watched Darfur since the conflict erupted in early 2003 say this is the most restrictive the government has been on access since the height of the conflict in 2004. U.N...

Manila - A Filipino correspondent for Time magazine was barred from leaving the Philippines on Thursday to compel her to shed light on the alleged plot to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in late February, a justice official said. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Nelly Sindayen was placed under the immigration bureau watch list until she responded to the summons of the National Bureau of...

Three Kushtia-based journalists had to flee the south-western district last week and take refuge in the capital in the face of what they said were death threat from a local BNP lawmaker and false cases filed by him against them. Shahidul Islam, lawmaker from Kushtia-2, and his accomplices became hostile to them for reporting about their corrupt and criminal activities including extortion...

Baghdad - A journalist working for the independent Iraqi News Network has been killed in Iraq, witnesses said Thursday. Sadek al-Shammari of the German-based news organization was shot dead by insurgents in Jisr Diyala, south of the Iraqi capital. More than 100 foreign and local journalists have been killed in Iraq since the US-led occupation of the country in 2003. The US army meanwhile reported...

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution Tuesday urging Russia to continue the inquiry into the murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov, RIA Novosti news agency reports. "The House of Representatives ... urges the Government of Russia to take appropriate action to protect the independence and freedom of the Russian media and all visiting members of the media. A group of U.S...

KARACHI, Pakistan (AP) - An Islamic militant sentenced to death in the killing of journalist Daniel Pearl was transferred Thursday to a new prison for security reasons, a police official said. British-born Ahmed Omar Sheikh was flown by helicopter from a jail in Hyderabad to Central Prison in Karachi, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to make...

Whoever is trying to keep track of the events in Turkmenistan knows of the difficulties with availability of information in this country. For example, it is impossible to subscribe to a Russian newspaper in Turkmenistan, Radio Mayak is not on the air, and Channel One or ORT broadcasts of the Russian TV are restricted to only two hours per day. Let us focus our attention precisely on the latter...

AMMAN, 18 May (IRIN) - Press freedom in Jordan regressed over the course of the last year, with journalists being harassed and denied access to information, a recent survey by a local press-freedom organisation found. "Press freedom and political reform remain at a standstill," said Nidal Mansour, director of the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ), which conducted the survey....

POLICE were holding two jail guards for questioning in the shooting of tabloid photo journalist Alberto Orsolino, who was killed in Caloocan City Tuesday morning. Orsolino, 43, covered Malacañang for Saksi, but police said yesterday that his killing was probably not work-related. Orsolino was shot dead in the Hannibal gas station on Letre Road after the scooter-riding gunmen chased him from his...