Asia

An Australian magazine has apologised to readers and troops serving abroad for publishing a story revealing that Prince Harry was fighting with British troops in Afghanistan, the Associated Press (AP) reported. New Idea magazine said when it ran the story in January it was unaware of an agreement between the British Ministry of Defense and major news organizations not to disclose Harry's...

Deported US freelance journalist William Nessen left Aceh province for Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, according to Indonesian news agency Antara. Nessen who was barred from entering the province for having allegedly violated immigration rules left the Sultan Iskandar Muda Airport at Blang Bintang for the Malaysian capital at 02.37 p.m. by a chartered plane, an Antara journalist observed. Nessen arrived...

Reporters sans Frontières (RSF) has welcomed the release on March 8 of reporter Khalil Khosa of Azadi, a daily based in Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province of Pakistan. Khosa had been missing for eight days, after failing to return from a news conference in Nasirabad, in the south of the province, on February 29. Khosa has not described the circumstances of his abduction but he said his...

The suspect in the 2004 killing of radio broadcaster Herson Hinolan surrendered to the authorities on after a key witness retracted his earlier testimony against the suspect, according to the Manila-based Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR). Alfredo Arcenio, a former mayor of Lezo town in Aklan, approximately 345 km south of Manila, surrendered to the Kalibo Regional Trial Court...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has announced a new factfinding mission to Pakistan and issued a challenge to the new government and media to work together for a “fresh start for press freedom.” “The time is right for change and for all sides to break out of the cycle of violence, political pressure, and media indifference that has created crisis conditions for journalism in the...

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has rejected the Sri Lankan government’s proposed national media policy in favour of a self-generated, self-regulated and independent framework that encompasses journalists from all sides of the nation’s conflict. According to the Free Media Movement (FMM), an IFJ affiliate, Media and Information Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa refused to divulge...

The editor of a women’s rights magazine in Afghanistan was arrested in Iran on March 4 and continues to be held without charge. The Afghan Independent Journalists’ Association (AIJA) has reported that Ali Mohaqiq Nasab, editor of the monthly Haqoq-e-Zan (Women’s Rights) magazine, was reportedly detained by Iranian officials in Qumm, near the Iranian capital Tehran. Documents, phones and a computer...

Six people affiliated with the Sri Lankan news website OutreachSL have been detained by the Terrorist Investigation Division of the Sri Lankan police force in Colombo since last week, according to Agence France-Presse and local news reports. The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CJ) has urged the government of Sri Lanka to charge these journalists and media workers or release them...

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has welcomed the surrender of a suspect to police in the 2004 murder of Filipino broadcaster Herson Hinolan, but is concerned that the move came shortly after the withdrawal of an important prosecution witness from the case. Alfredo Arcenio, a former mayor of the town of Lezo, turned himself in to the Regional Trial Court in the nearby town of Kalibo...

The air transport office (ATO) prevented aerial news coverage by a local television news network of one of the largest protest rallies against Phillipines President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo recently. ATO declared the air space above Makati City, where the rally was held, a "no fly zone" on February 29, according to the Manila-based Centre for Media Freedom and Responsibility. The news helicopter of...