Asia

Al-Qaida-linked militants freed a popular TV news anchor, and her two assistants late Tuesday, more than a week after snatching them in the volatile southern Philippines island of Jolo. The abductors, identified by police as Abu Sayyaf militants, released ABS-CBN anchor Ces Drilon and the two other captives on Jolo island around 11 p.m. following talks with negotiators, said Director Avelino Razon...

Fears of attacks on journalists are on the rise in China after a recent string of attacks on media that have ranged from unexplained detentions to violent physical assaults on reporters. Huang Qi, founder of website www.64tianwang.com, was Tuesday charged with illegally obtaining state secrets by the security bureau of Chengdu, Sichuan, after he and two colleagues were reportedly abducted by plain...

Thailand's interior minister is under fire for moving to pull a private television channel off of cable networks nationwide, according to the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). Cable operators, opposition senators, and free expression advocates are calling a directive by Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung - which media reports say threatens cable operators with imprisonment unless they pull...

Burmese authorities have arrested a journalist in Magway, and are holding him in Rangoon in what observers say is part of a continuing effort to stifle news and information coming out of Burma's cyclone-ravaged provinces, according to the Southeast Asian Press Alliance (SEAPA). SEAPA Alerts partner Mizzima News says journalist Zaw Thet Htwe, the former editor-in-chief of First Eleven Sports...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has joined the five leading journalists’ organisations in Sri Lanka to demand that senior Tamil journalist JS Tissainayagam, who spent his 100th day in detention on June 15, be released as no evidence has been provided to sustain a charge against him. Tissainayagam, the editor of the newly formed OutreachSL.com news website, was arrested by the...

Thailand's interior minister is under fire for moving to pulling a private television channel off cable networks nationwide. Cable operators, opposition senators, and free expression advocates are calling a directive by Interior Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung—which media reports say threatens cable operators with imprisonment unless they pull the plug on cable channel ASTV—illegal and...

The Free Media Movement (FMM) has expressed alarm that another well-known journalist has received a death threat from an unknown caller. Former deputy editor of the Sunday Leader, editor of the monthly magazine Montage and leading investigative journalist and South Asia cocoordinator of the International News Safety Institute (INSI) Frederica Jansz received the death threat at on June 14. The...

Militants who abducted Philippine Television journalist Ces Drilon has set a deadline of Tuesday noon for a ransom of 15 million pesos (337,079 U.S. dollars), local media reported Monday. According to a Xinhua report, the government negotiator for the hostage's release, Alvarez Isnaji, a local town mayor, said Drilon called him around 8:30 a.m. Monday to relay the abductors' message and pleaded...

Another well-known journalist in Sri Lanka received a death threat Saturday morning from an unknown caller. Former deputy editor of the Sunday Leader, editor of the monthly magazine Montage and leading investigative journalist and South Asia co-coordinator of the International News Safety Institute (INSI) Frederica Jansz received the death threat at approximately 11:30 a.m. The Free Media Movement...

The Chinese police arrested Internet writer Zeng Hongling in Chengdu, the capital of the earthquake-hit province of Sichuan, on Monday for publishing personal accounts of the earthquake on overseas Chinese-language websites, according to news reports and a Chinese press freedom advocate. Three days later, a well-known Internet publisher and human rights advocate, Huang Qi, went missing in Chengdu...