Asia

A Pakistani court has ordered the federal and provincial governments to restore the transmission of Geo News and three other channels whose programmes have been blocked after they aired reports about a man hurling shoes at President Asif Ali Zardari. The ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) has said it had not ordered cable operators to block these channels and described reports about their...

Journalist too have been among the victims of the floods in Pakistan. One journalist has died and the houses of over 200 others have been damaged, according to the Pakistan Federal Union of Journalists (PFUJ). The union has appealed to the international community, journalists, human rights organisations and overseas Pakistanis to generously support journalists affected by the floods. In an appeal...

The transmissions of Pakistan's two leading private TV news channels were blocked, and copies of two newspapers were burnt in Karachi and some other parts of the country. The incidents were carried out Sunday by activists of the ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP) in reaction to the airing and printing of news about the hurling of shoes at PPP Co-Chairman and President of Pakistan, Asif Ali...

Authorities have passed a restrictive order that has stopped journalists from going to report on Sunday's deadly mudslide in north-west China. The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has learnt that a restrictive order was sent by China's Central Propaganda Department on August 8 which stated that no journalists should be sent to the vicinity of the mudslide in Zhouqu County, Gannan...

The All-China Journalists Association (ACJA) wants better protection for journalists' rights after a reporter was beaten when attempting to interview a stand-up comedian, according to People's Daily. "It is imperative to safeguard journalists' legitimate rights to interview and stop any misconduct that interferes with journalists' legitimate interviews," said a brief announcement posted on the...

If you’re a journalist trying to capture footage of political unrest in Thailand, be warned. Only a few have escaped unscathed from the hands of death while being among the fierce battles between security forces and protesters. Two journalists died and several others were injured during the country’s political unrest. New York-based press freedom group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has

Three Uighur-language website managers were sentenced Friday to prison terms of three to 10 years after being found guilty under broad charges of “endangering state security.” The men had been jailed after ethnic rioting in July 2009 in Urumqi, capital of the far-western, predominantly Muslim, Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region. Nijat Azat, who managed the website Shabnam, was sentenced to a 10...

A jailed Cambodian journalist whose Appeal Court hearing is scheduled for later this month said Monday that he had been asked to pay US$1,000 before court officials would tell him the exact date, the Phnom Penh Post has reported. Speaking from Prey Sar prison, freelance journalist Ros Sokhet said his lawyer, Sam Sokong, who was provided free of charge by the legal aid NGO Cambodian Defenders...

Two reporters working for Nippon Television Network Corp. were confirmed dead Sunday after they had climbed to a mountain in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture of Japan to cover the fatal crash a week earlier of a rescue helicopter, local media reported. Kyodo News said the two men, with whom the broadcaster had lost contact, are Yuji Kita, a 30-year-old reporter who lives in the city of Saitama, and...

A radio reporter died on Saturday, three weeks after he was shot by a gunman in the eastern Philippines, a provincial police chief said, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur (DPA). Miguel Belen, 48, died two days after his third operation at a hospital in Iriga City, 350 kilometres south-east of Manila, Senior Superintendent Jonathan Ablang said. "He died before dawn," he said. "His body could no...