Asia

China's inconsistency in applying its own new rules and regulations for non-mainland journalists amounts to obstacle-setting in which bureaucrats continue to restrict reporting regardless of government edicts, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has said. According to local media reports, officers of the Sichuan provincial government sought to bar journalists from entering...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over the safety of Khadija Abdul Qahaar, publisher of the website Jihad Unspun, who has been held by abductors in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas for more than four months. Qahaar, a Canadian who changed her name from Beverly Giesbrecht when she converted to Islam in 2002, disappeared on November 11, 2008, while...

Veteran Pakistani journalist Raja Assad Hameed was murdered in the northeastern city of Rawalpindi last Thursday night. Hameed, who worked for local broadcaster Waqt TV and the English-language daily the Nation, and appeared regularly on Al-Jazeera broadcasts, was shot several times at close range outside his home at around 10 p.m., according to local and international news reports. The reports...

The Committee to Protect Journalists has expressed concern over the safety of Khadija Abdul Qahaar, publisher of the website Jihad Unspun, who has been held by abductors in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas for more than four months. Qahaar, a Canadian who changed her name from Beverly Giesbrecht when she converted to Islam in 2002, disappeared on November 11, 2008, while travelling...

Pakistani authorities must not allow Thursday's shooting death of veteran Pakistani reporter Raja Assad Hameed in Rawalpindi go uninvestigated and unprosecuted, the Committee to Protect Journalists has demanded. Hameed, who worked for local broadcaster Waqt TV and the English-language daily the Nation, and appeared regularly on Al-Jazeera broadcasts, was shot several times at close range outside...

Chun Keun Lee, a journalist employed by public TV station MBC, who was arrested March 24 evening in Seoul on the orders of the prosecutor’s office, Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has reported. When a RSF representative met Lee on March 25, he said he knew he might be arrested in connection with a report about beef imports from the United States. After Lee’s arrest, the representative went to MBC...

The two American women journalists who were arrested at the border between North Korea and China on March 17 have been transferred by the North Korean authorities to Pyongyang for questioning, according to Reporters sans Frontières (RSF). The detention of Euna Lee (who is of Korean descent) and Laura Ling (who is of Chinese descent) was confirmed by the North Korean press on March 21. The fact...

A grenade attack was carried out on the headquarters of the Tamil daily newspaper Uthayan in the northern Sri Lankan city of Jaffna at about 11 p.m. Monday night. The grenade exploded in the patio of the building, causing considerable damage and injuring a police guard. “This was yet another attempt to stop distribution of Uthayan and comes less than a month after the arrest of N Vithyatharan, the...

Three-month bans have been imposed on two opposition party newspapers in Malaysia— Suara Keadilan of the Keadilan party and Harakah of the Islamic party PAS—just days ahead of Najib Razak’s expected installation as Malaysia’s new prime minister on March 28. The two newspapers were notified of the bans in fax messages that gave no reason, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “There is...

Two commercial TV presenters, Fahim Kohdamani of Emroz and Ajmal Alamzai of Ariana TV, were arrested in Kabul on Monday. Alamzai was released late Monday night but Kohdamani is still being held, Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has reported. “We call for Kohdamani’s immediate and unconditional release,” Paris-based said. “The Afghan government has again failed to respect press freedom, arbitrarily...